Today’s post is in honor of Sgt. Shawn F. Hill, who on this date in 2008, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan’s Khowst province. The 37-year-old native of Wellford, S.C. was assigned to the South Carolina National Guard’s 178th Engineer Battalion, 218th Infantry Brigade.
1863: Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland narrowly defeats Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Losses were heavy: roughly one-third of the 42,000 Union and 35,000 Confederate soldiers are killed, wounded, or missing. In fact, casualty percentages were higher during the Battle of Stones River than during any other engagement during the Civil War.
1942: In the Philippines, Manila falls to Japanese Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma’s 14th Army, as well as the naval base at Cavite and Clark Field.
1951: When enemy machine gun fire from an adjacent hill tears into Sgt. 1st Class Junior D. Edwards and his platoon near Changbong-ni (South Korea), Edwards rushes the nest. He temporarily drives off the enemy gun crew until he runs out of ammunition and has to cross the kill-zone a second time for additional grenades. Upon returning, he kills the remaining communists, but another machine gun opens fire on his position. Racing through enemy fire again for more grenades, he manages to neutralize the second position. Edwards falls while making yet another assault against the enemy, and will posthumously be awarded the Medal of Honor.
1967: (Featured Image) In just one day, Col. Robin Olds’ 8th Tactical Fighter Wing – the “Wolfpack” – wipes out half of North Vietnam’s MiG 21 fighter fleet in Operation BOLO. Olds’ advanced F-4C Phantoms tricked communist intelligence into thinking the advanced fighters were just another easy target of F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers by flying at altitudes, speeds, routes, and using radio callsigns typical to the less maneuverable F-105s. When the MiGs flew into Olds’ ambush, seven “Fishbeds” are shot down in 12 minutes. Col. Olds scores one of the victories, making him the only Air Force ace with kills in both World War II and Vietnam.
1994: In the skies over southern Iraq, the highly advanced F-4G “Wild Weasel V” flies its last combat mission. During Operation DESERT STORM, the Wild Weasel crews took on the dangerous role of targeting Iraqi air defense networks, destroying some 200 sites.
