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On 15 August 1944, 2,000 U.S. Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force heavy bombers, supported by hundreds of fighter escorts, lifted off to strike 11 Luftwaffe bases in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. One of those targets was Fliegerhorst Weisbaden, which would become a U.S. Air Force base during the Cold War. Intense enemy flak damaged 11 aircraft, but 39 Hell's Angels B-17s were soon over the enemy airfield, dropping 164,000 pounds of explosive and incendiary ordinance on the runway and its facilities. Approximately 45 miles away from Weisbaden on their return trip, shortly after the fighter escorts left,...

1777: A force of militiamen from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont - led by Gen. John Stark - clash with a detachment of British General John Burgoyne's army in the Battle of Bennington (near present-day Bennington, Vt.). The Americans rout the British, and the amount of supplies captured during the engagement leads to Burgoyne's forthcoming defeat at Saratoga - which convinces the French to join the war. 1780: Following his successful campaign in the south, Lord Cornwallis engages Gen. Horatio Gates' force in Camden, S.C.. The Americans are annihilated, taking nearly 2,000 casualties in just one hour. The infamous cavalry...

1934: The Marines depart Haiti, ending the United States' 19-year occupation of the Caribbean island. 1942: U.S. Navy destroyers finally manage to deliver the first load of supplies to Marines on Guadalcanal, who have been coping with limited rations and ammunition since landing nearly ten days ago. Also on this day, Maj. Gen. Matthew Ridgway's 82d "All-American" Infantry Division is redesignated as the 82d Airborne Division, becoming the first airborne division in American military history. The division's first combat jumps will take place in Sicily and Italy the following year. 1943: 35,000 American and Canadian troops conduct an amphibious landing...

Before dawn on 14 August 1942 a lone B-17 Flying Fortress taxied to the end of the runway at a remote jungle airstrip seven miles from Port Moresby, New Guinea to scout for Japanese shipping. Aboard are four veterans of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Royal Australian Air Force copilot, a former cavalry trooper, a Scottish gunner, and a navigator that, despite having just turned 21, was already a veteran of 45 sorties. The pilot runs up the throttles and the bomber disappears into the pre-dawn sky for a nine-hour reconnaissance patrol. The crew will never be seen again....

1900: After fighting their way 80 miles from the port of Tientsin, an eight-nation relief force (the United States, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, and Italy) arrives at the walls of Peking. A young Marine private named Dan Daly earns his first of two Medals of Honor during the battle by single-handedly holding off hundreds of Chinese soldiers. Meanwhile, U.S. Army Cpl. Calvin P. Titus (depicted above, holding flag) earns the Medal of Honor for volunteering to scale the city wall surrounding Peking. The troops break the siege, effectively bringing an end to the Boxer Rebellion. In our...

By April 1972, the American military presence in Vietnam had largely been reduced to air power. North Vietnam launched their Easter Offensive — the largest military invasion since China crossed the Yalu River during the Korean War. Soon, the 5th Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam'(ARVN) was surrounded by three enemy divisions at An Loc, the capital of Binh Phuoc province. Their only hope of the defenders was American air power, calling on B-52s and AC-130 gunships to hammer the enemy infantry and armor. The ARVN troops were holding out, but badly needed supplies. The roads to...

1763: With Ottawa chief Pontiac laying siege to Fort Pitt (modern-day Pittsburgh), a force marches to the frontier fort to break the siege, consisting of Pennsylvania rangers and Scottish soldiers of the 42d Royal Highlanders – the famed “Black Watch.” Allied natives ambush the relief force at a creek known as Bushy Run and a bloody two-day battle kicks off. Col. Henry Bouquet’s men emerge victorious, routing the Indians – although at high cost to the Scottish/American troops – and lifting the siege at Fort Pitt. Today’s 111th Infantry Regiment traces its lineage to the Philadelphia “Associators” militia regiment (formed...

If you had to sit down with a pencil and paper and come up with who you think is the best soldier in American history, who would you choose? Before we ask who we would choose, we better think of HOW we would choose, because to call this a hard question would be an epic understatement. How would we even pick what elements factor in? To make things easier, perhaps we could name some of our most famous fighting men and work backwards to the question. General George S. Patton and Gen. "Chesty" Puller probably come to mind for most...

1897: A crowd of over 10,000 greets the black soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division’s “Bicycle Corps” (featured image) as they ride into St. Louis’ Forest Park, completing a 41-day, 1,900-mile trip from Fort Missoula, Montana. 1944: Thanks to a custom-built landing vehicle known as the “Doodlebug,” specially modified to carry ladders that allows vehicles to scale rocky shorelines, the Fourth Marine Division avoids the heavily defended beaches on Tinian and catches the island’s Japanese defenders off guard. By August 1, the island is secured and Seabees begin construction on the runways that the B-29s Enola Gay and Bock’s Car...

On this day in 1950, the 8th Cavalry Regiment is falling back to the Pusan Perimeter during the opening days of America’s involvement in the Korean War. The job of holding up the North Koreans goes to Cpl. Tibor Rubin, who over the next 24 hours, single-handedly fights-off overwhelming numbers of enemy, inflicting “staggering” casualties while his fellow troopers withdraw. In October, Chinese forces hammer his unit and Rubin is captured. Almost every night during his captivity, Rubin sneaks out to gather food and supplies from enemy depots and gardens to assist his fellow captives. When offered the chance to...

1863: At 7:45 p.m., Union soldiers led by Brig. Gen. Truman Seymore launch a second attack against Battery Wagner, in Charleston (S.C.) Harbor. Spearheading the attack is Col. Robert G. Shaw's all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (portrayed in the 1989 film GLORY). Shaw's regiment reaches the fortification walls, fighting hand-to-hand until they are driven back by devastating fire. The Confederates inflict 1,500 casualties on the attackers, killing several of the top Union officers, including Shaw. During the battle, Sgt. William H. Carney (featured image) becomes the first African-American soldier awarded the Medal of Honor. 1918: When Marine Corps Sgt. Matej...

I came across an old photo while digging into the history of the Apollo 11 astronauts, which oddly enough dates back to 1916. Lt. James Lawton Collins served as an aide to Gen. John J. Pershing during the Philippine-American War and the Punitive Expedition into Mexico just before World War I. Lt. Collins would go on to serve in both World Wars, ultimately becoming a major general. Collins served in the 8th Cavalry Regiment, and this was back when troopers still rode into battle on horses. Apart from when they began carrying firearms in the 18th Century, cavalry hasn’t changed...

55 years ago, Capt. Roger H.C. Donlon’s Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 726 manned a camp at Nam Dong, situated just east of the Laotian border and 30 miles west of Da Nang. Accompanying them was a few dozen Nung mercenaries, a team of South Vietnamese Special Forces, an Australian advisor, and a civilian anthropologist who was an expert on Vietnamese mountain tribes. For the last month, the team used the post to protect the locals and train fighters. The base was also a thorn in the Viet Cong’s sandals, as it was situated on Ho Chi Minh Trail, the...

The United States was a mere 28 years old by the time Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery were working their way up the Missouri River. In 1804, the men were nearing present-day Doniphan, Kansas. They spotted a stream on the Kansas side of the river, and as Clark writes: “as this Creek has no name, and this day is the 4th of July, we name this Independence us. [U.S.] Creek.” That night, they camped at a spot which Clark called “one of the most butifull [beautiful] Plains, I ever Saw.” They would dub the area “Joe...

As you likely know, it’s the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when 160,000 Allied troops invaded the beaches of Normandy, undertaking the largest from-the-sea invasion in the history of human warfare and marking the beginning of the end for the Axis. The actual business of getting over 100,000 soldiers and a metric crapton of vehicles and equipment from the ocean on to land is a decidedly non-trivial problem, one that the Allies solved with a brilliant but simple patented plywood boat: the Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel (LCVP), also called the Higgins Boat.      The Higgins Boat, named after its inventor, Andrew...

the #2 16 inch gun In number two turret on USS Iowa BB 61 exploded. Forty seven sailors were killed in the blast.

Today's post is in honor of Cpl. Nathan B. Carse, who was killed by an improvised explosive device on this day in 2011 in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. The 32-year-old native of Harrod, Ohio was the son of a Green Beret and was assigned to 2d Engineer Battalion, 176th Engineer Brigade. [...] 1910: William D. Boyce incorporates the Boy Scouts of America. Countless boys will cut their teeth as young adventurers in Boyce's scouting program before joining the military. When sub commander Eugene Fluckey - one of nine Medal of Honor recipients to earn the Boy Scouts' top distinction of Eagle...

Today’s post is in honor of Spc. Allen D. Kokesh Jr. who was died on this day in 2006 from wounds sustained by an improvised explosive device attack on his vehicle in Baghdad. The 21-year-old from Yankton, S.D. was assigned to the South Dakota Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 147th Field Artillery. 1943: The submarine USS Growler (SS-215) spots the supply ship Hayasaki and begins a nighttime battle. The Japanese ship turns to ram the sub and rakes Growler‘s bridge with machine gun fire, wounding the skipper, Commander Howard W. Gilmore. Unable to get off the bridge, Gilmore orders the...

Today’s post is in honor of Capt. Lucius L. Heiskell, who was lost in a helicopter crash on this day in 1967 in North Vietnam. The 27-year-old Naval Academy graduate (Class of 1962) from Memphis, Tenn. was a forward air control pilot with the Air Force’s 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron. Also listed as missing were Maj. Patrick H. Wood, Capt. Richard A. Kibbey, and Staff Sgt. Donald J. Hall of the 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron’s Detachment 5. Wood’s and Hall’s remains were identified in 2017 and Kibbey’s in 2018. The story of Heiskell’s attempted rescue follows. 1787:...

1914: Austrian doctors examine a young Adolf Hitler, determining him unfit for service in the Austro-Hungarian military. Hitler will volunteer for the German army when war breaks out in August, serving as a runner for a reserve infantry regiment. 1918: U.S. Army Lt. Stephen W. Thompson, a member of the American 1st Aero Squadron, is invited by French aviators to fly in a French "Breguet" biplane bomber as a gunner on one of their missions. Thompson shoots down a German Albatross fighter over Saarbrucken, Germany, making him the first American in uniform to shoot down an enemy airplane. Today, the...