[Featured image: Marines (left to right), PFC J. L. Hudson, Jr., Pvt. K.L. Lofter, PFC Paul V. Parces, (top of pillbox), Pvt. Fred Sizemore, PFC Henrey Noviech, and Pvt. Richard N. Pearson pose with a captured Japanese flag atop a Japanese pillbox on Iwo Jima. (National Archives photo)
1802: President Thomas Jefferson signs into law the establishment of a corps of engineers, which “shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York and shall constitute a Military Academy.” The United States Military Academy is born.
Lt. Foulois and Orville Wright in 1909. (Air Force Historical Research Agency photo)
1916: A day after deploying to Columbus, N.M. as part of Gen. John J. Pershing’s Punitive Expedition, Capt. Townsend F. Dodd and his observer, 1st Aero Squadron Commander Capt. Benjamin D. Foulois, fly across the Mexican border on the United States military’s first reconnaissance flight over enemy territory.
1945: After 25 days of fighting described as a “nightmare in hell,” Iwo Jima is declared secure. Japanese resistance will continue for several more days, but of the original 21,000 defenders, only 216 are captured alive. After the battle, Adm. Chester Nimitz states, “By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans serving on Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.”
1966: Neil A. Armstrong (USN, ret.) and David R. Scott (USAF) rocket into space aboard Gemini VIII, conducting the first docking operation in space. Gemini VIII suffered NASA’s first critical in-space system failure and had to abort the mission, splashing down safely in the Pacific Ocean instead of the planned site in the Atlantic.
A view from the cockpit of Gemini VIII as it approaches the Agena Target Docking Vehicle. (NASA photo)
Since re-entry took place three days earlier than planned, Air Force Pararescuemen were flown to the landing site to attach the flotation collar to the capsule.
Astronauts David R. Scott (left) and Neil Armstrong, along with Air Force Pararescuemen await the destroyer USS Leonard F. Mason. (NASA photo)
1984: The terrorist group Hezbollah captures CIA Beirut (Lebanon) station chief William F. Buckley on his way to work. The former Special Forces Lt. Col. and veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam Wars will spend 14 brutal months in captivity before dying. His remains are repatriated in 1991 and is given a funeral with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
1988: When forces from Nicaragua’s leftist government crossed into Honduras to strike Contra rebel targets, President Ronald Reagan deploys two battalions of the 82d Airborne Division and another two battalions of the 7th Light Infantry Division – 3,200 troops in total – to Honduras as a show of force. Once American troops begin landing, the Sandanistas withdraw.
