1897: (featured image) A crowd of over 10,000 greets the black soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division’s “Bicycle Corps” as they ride into St. Louis’ Forest Park, completing a 41-day, 1,900-mile trip from Fort Missoula, Montana.
1944: Thanks to a custom-built landing vehicle known as the “Doodlebug,” specially modified to carry ladders that allows vehicles to scale rocky shorelines, the Fourth Marine Division avoids the heavily defended beaches on Tinian and catches the island’s Japanese defenders off guard. By August 1, the island is secured and Seabees begin construction on the runways that the B-29s Enola Gay and Bock’s Car will use to deliver the atomic bombs that bring World War II to an end.
Tinian airfield, taken from the control tower, facing straight south along the center taxiway.
1945: 600 aircraft from Task Force 38, commanded by Vice Adm. John S. McCain, and hundreds of B-29 “Superfortress” bombers attack mainland Japan. Five Japanese warships are destroyed and several more damaged in the raid.
Vice Admiral McCain (L) and AsstSecNav Sullivan aboard USS Shangri-La
Meanwhile, President Harry Truman authorizes the use of the new atomic weapon, and Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold is presented with a list of potential targets. Truman informs his Soviet counterpart Joseph Stalin that America has developed such a weapon, but the Stalin has already learned this from spies within the Manhattan Project.
1965: Four F-4 “Phantoms,” flying escort for a bombing raid north of Hanoi, are targeted for the first time by North Vietnamese surface to air missiles (SAMs), shooting down one fighter and damaging the other three. The Soviet Union has sent thousands of advisers to train the North Vietnamese to use the weapons, and for the next couple years, any American warplane downed by missiles are done so by Soviet missile men. By war’s end, SAMs account for 205 American aircraft.
SA-2 North Vietnam
SAM Missile Strike
