1900: The Chinese empress Cixi formally declares war on foreign powers. 100,000 members of the nationalist “Righteous and Harmonious Fists” movement (nickamed the “Boxers” by the British) launch attacks against Christian and foreign targets in Peking’s (modern-day Beijing) Legation Quarter. The siege lasts nearly two months before Western reinforcements arrive. Marine legend Dan Daly will earn his first of two Medals of Honor (one of only two men to accomplish the feat) when he single-handedly kills some 200 Boxers.
1916: During Gen. John J. Pershing’s “Punitive Expedition” into Mexico to capture or kill Pancho Villa, Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment clash with – and defeat – a Mexican Army force at Carrizal. The incident nearly puts the two countries on a war footing, but with the “War to End All War” raging across the Atlantic, tensions would soon dissipate.
Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment
1921: Army and Navy aircraft attack the former German battleship Ostfriesland, sinking the massive vessel and giving support to famed World War I aviator Brig. Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell’s theory that dreadnought battleships could be easily sunk by planes and are taking up too much of the military budget.
SMS Ostfriesland bomb exploding near bow 1921
1942: The Japanese submarine I-25 surfaces at the mouth of the Columbia River, off the coast of Oregon, and targets Fort Stevens. The sub’s gun inflicts virtually no damage, but the attack marks the only time that a stateside U.S. military installation is bombarded.
Japanese submarine I-25
Halfway across the Pacific, a PBY Catalina from Patrol Squadron 24 (VP-24) rescues two downed aviators floating in the ocean, 360 miles north of Midway. The men have been drifting since their TBD Devastator torpedo bomber went down during the Battle of Midway 17 days ago.
1945: (featured image) After 82 days of the bloodiest fighting during World War II, the last remaining Japanese resistance on Okinawa collapses. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the Japanese forces on the island, commits ritual suicide. The Battle of Okinawa is over. Over 100,000 Japanese soldiers perish and 12,500 American Marines, soldiers, and sailors are killed in combat. Kamikaze attacks account for the sinking of dozens of American ships.
1967: When a U.S. helicopter is shot down in South Vietnam’s Binh Dinh Province, a platoon of 5th Cavalry Regiment troopers rushes to secure the site. Specialist 4th Class Carmel B. Harvey Jr.’s squad is hit on three sides by heavy enemy machinegun fire. When an enemy round hits and arms a grenade on Harvey’s belt, he screams at the enemy and rushes the machine gun, but the grenade detonates just before he reaches the position. The explosion, which kills Harvey, stuns the communists and the pause in fire enables the wounded to escape the kill zone.
During the same engagement, Edgar M. McWethy Jr. rushes through a hail of bullets to treat the wounded. He provides care for the wounded platoon leader, enabling the officer to carry out his duties. McWethy moves to another casualty, and is hit three times in the process. While attempting to resuscitate his fellow soldier, the medic is hit a fourth – and final – time. Both Harvey and McWethy are posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
1969: Following two days of artillery attacks, a 600-man North Vietnamese Army force assaults the American combat base of Tay Ninh, 50 miles northwest of Saigon. After two days of fighting, the communist attack is repulsed; 196 NVA soldiers and ten Americans lay dead.
