16 JULY 1847 THE MARINES IN MEXICO The period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War could be called the “doldrums” of US Marine Corps history, suffering as they did from insufficient manning and even scantier funding. The end Read More
11 JULY 1944 NAZI POWs IN AMERICA On this day, German POWs Wolfgang Kurzer and Karl Tomola quietly slipped away from the camp at Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, and headed north. They crossed the Canadian border where they found employment washing dishes Read More
6 JULY 1960 PROJECT VIGILANT On 16 May 1960, in response to the Soviet shoot-down of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spyplane, Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a United Nations lectern vowing, “We will bury you!” The USSR was now Read More
29 JUNE 1776 BATTLE OF TURTLE GUT INLET The six-gun civilian brig Nancy headed north from St. Thomas and St. Croix. Her Master, Hugh Montgomery, had shipped a cargo that would bring a handsome profit in his homeport of Philadelphia. Nancy Read More
26 JUNE 1993 BAGHDAD MISSILE ATTACK The decade following Operation “Desert Storm” was marked by Iraqi frustration over continuing United Nations sanctions and Coalition policing. Then seemingly to rub salt in Iraq’s wounds, on 14 April 1993 a specially chartered Kuwait Read More
21 JUNE-21 JULY 1921 BILLY MITCHELL’S COUP As an early advocate of air power, one of Army Air Service BGEN William “Billy” Mitchell’s loud proclamations was the invincibility of his aircraft over any Navy ship. His assertion was one of several Read More
15 JUNE 1959 NAS SIGONELLA After World War II, Americans found it impossible to return to the isolation from European events we had enjoyed since our Revolution. The vast Atlantic and Pacific Oceans no longer presented obstacles to an attacker, and Read More
9 JUNE 1942 CONTROVERSIAL SILVER STAR This dawn saw eleven Army Air Corps Martin B-26 Marauder bombers of the Army Air Corps 22nd Bomb Group waiting on the runway at Port Moresby, New Guinea. They were one of three squadrons on Read More
4 JUNE 1942 THE SACRIFICE OF VT-8 Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8) from HORNET (CV-8) flew an early version of the TBD Devastator. A three-seater, behind the pilot a navigator/radioman sat ahead of a rear-most gunner operating the only defensive weapon, a Read More
28 MAY 1754 WASHINGTON STARTS A WAR (cont.) (Now) LTC George Washington had no authority to do what he was about to do. There had been no declaration of war between France and England, nor did Washington’s orders require him to Read More