1814: Days after proving America’s mettle against the British in the Battle of Chippawa, Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown again clashes with the King’s Men in Upper Canada, near Niagara Falls. British artillery commands the high ground, but Americans capture the guns and the two armies engage in close combat throughout the evening with neither side able to gain a tactical advantage. The Battle of Lundy’s Lane is one of the bloodiest engagements of the War of 1812, with both Brown and Brig. Gen. Winfield Scott (who would command the Union Army during the Civil War nearly 50 years later) receiving serious wounds.
1866: David Glasgow Farragut – best known for purportedly uttering the command, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” during the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama – is appointed to the rank of admiral (the first such rank in U.S. Naval history). Also, future American President Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first “full [four star] general” in the history of the U.S. Army.
David Glasgow Farragut
1944: Thousands of Allied bombers begin a bombardment of German positions, kicking off Operation “Cobra” – the breakout of American, British, and Canadian forces in Normandy. Near Saint-Lô, a seriously wounded U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Urban limps out of the hospital and rejoins his armored company on the front lines. Urban dashes through German fire and takes command of a tank and leads the pinned-down element on an assault against the German armor. For his actions on this day, in addition to a series of other valorous events both before and after, Urban is awarded the Medal of Honor.
(Circa 1944) U.S. Army Major Matthew Urban
Days later, the 24-year-old captain will become a battalion commander (despite receiving additional wounds on multiple occasions – each time refusing evacuation) and the Allies will shatter the Germans, beginning a campaign of fast-moving maneuver warfare, driving the Wehrmacht back to Germany with a highly effective coordination of air power in support of ground forces.
U.S. Army Lt. Col Matthew Urban
1945: As a transport plane carrying the uranium destined for the Little Boy bomb flies towards Tinian, Gen. Carl Spaatz (commander of the Strategic Air Forces) is ordered to prepare for the upcoming atomic attacks – with the estimated target date of August 3rd.
Little Boy
1946: (featured image) A 23-kiloton atomic bomb named Helen of Bikini detonates 90 feet underwater in the Bikini Atoll in one of the first nuclear tests since the attacks on Japan the previous year. One target ship is completely vaporized and numerous others, including the obsolete battleship USS Arkansas, are sunk or seriously damaged by the underwater shockwave.
1950: The Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Boxer (CV-21) crosses the Pacific in record time, delivering 145 P-51 “Mustangs”, 1,000 Air Force crewmembers, and over 2,000 tons supplies for the Far East Air Force in Korea. Boxer departs Japan and Sets a new trans-Pacific record on the return trip, covering some 5,000 miles in just 7 days and 10 hours.
USS Boxer (CV-21) underway in January 1950
