Fall of Corregidor

                                                    6 MAY 1942                                           FALL OF CORREGIDOR The Japanese invasion of the Philippines began within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Landing in the Lingayen Gulf, they swept southward across the island of Luzon toward Manila, Subic Bay, and the Bataan Read More

Colombian Intervention

                                         11 MARCH-25 MAY 1885                                      COLOMBIAN INTERVENTION As Prestan’s fires left 8,000 homeless in Colon, the rebellious Azipuru was stirring again on the Pacific side.  Having initially been chased into the hills, Azipuru regained Panama City when Colombian troops crossed the isthmus Read More

PhM1c John Harlan Willis

                                              28 FEBRUARY 1945                                     PhM1c JOHN HARLAN WILLIS By D-Day + 9 on Iwo Jima, intense fighting was raging in several acres of low hills and gullies that would come to be known as the “meat grinder” just west of the central Read More

Second Fijian Expedition

                                             6-16 OCTOBER 1859                                      SECOND FIJIAN EXPEDITION American traders plying the Pacific in the 19th century occasionally ran afoul of angry natives.  Such was the case in the summer of 1859 with two sailors from a US merchant freighter.  They were captured Read More

Dodson/Eckes Escape

                                             6 MAY-22 JUNE 1966                                          DODSON/ECKES ESCAPE On the 6th of May 1966, USMC SGT James Dodson was surveying for a road construction team in friendly territory just south of Da Nang, South Vietnam.  While investigating a peasant hut about 200 yards Read More

LTJG Weedon Osborne

                                                    6 JUNE 1918                                         LTJG WEEDON OSBORNE The US entry into World War I prompted Chicago dentist Weedon Osborne to seek a commission in the Navy Dental Corps, which he received 8 May 1917.  He reported for duty 26 March 1918 with Read More

“India” 3/2’s Stand at Husaybah

                                                  11 APRIL 2005                                “INDIA” 3/2’S STAND AT HUSAYBAH The Marines of Company India, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, had been posted to Camp Gannon, near secluded Husaybah, on Iraq’s border with Syria.  There they became accustomed to Read More

“Live” Patient

                                                4 JANUARY 1966                                                 “LIVE” PATIENT Dr. James H. Chandler completed his residency at Columbia University, then under one of a series of Vietnam-era physician recruitment plans, reported for duty with the US Navy.  He received orders to the Marine Corps’ Field Read More

The “Apache” (cont.)

                                     TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY                                              TWO WEEKS LATER                                             THE “APACHE” (cont.) Two weeks had gone by since a captured Marine had suffered a grizzly death at the hands of the notorious female Viet Cong sniper and interrogator “the Apache” (see story Read More