Jan. 22, 1944: Allied forces, including the U.S. VI Corps under the command of Maj. Gen. John P. Lucas (of Lt. Gen. Mark Clark’s Fifth Army), begin a series of landings along a stretch of western Italian coastline in the Anzio-Nettuno area. Codenamed Operation Shingle, the Allies achieve complete surprise against – and encounter little initial resistance from – the Germans. But the landings kick off what will become one of the most grueling campaigns of World War II.

Jan. 22, 1954: First Lady Mamie Eisenhower breaks a bottle of champagne across the bow of USS Nautilus in Groton, Connecticut, launching the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. The following year, Nautilus gets underway, begins breaking numerous sea-travel records, and becomes the first “ship” to cross the North Pole.

Jan. 22, 1969: Operation Dewey Canyon, the Marine Corps’ last major offensive of the Vietnam War, begins. Marines under the command of Col. Robert H. Barrow spent 56 days clearing out the North Vietnamese Army’s stronghold near the A Shau Valley.

Jan. 25, 1856: Marines and seamen from the sloop USS Decatur land at Seattle to protect settlers from an Indian attack. The Battle of Seattle lasted seven hours and the Indians suffered severe casualties, while only two settlers died.

Jan. 26, 1948: Pres. Harry S. Truman signs executive order 9981, which essentially directs the desegregation of the armed forces.

Jan. 27, 1837: U.S. soldiers and Marines under the command of Col. Archibald Henderson – a serving Marine Corps commandant – defeat a force of Seminole Indians in the running battle of Hatchee-Lustee Creek (Florida). For his actions, Henderson will receive a brevet promotion to brigadier general, becoming the Corps’ first general officer.

Jan. 27, 1862: Pres. Abraham Lincoln issues the first of two war orders. The first, General War Order No. One, directs U.S. Army and Naval forces to move “against the insurgent forces [of the Southern states].” In four days, Lincoln will issue Special War Order No. One, calling for an expeditionary force to seize and hold “a point” along the railroad southwest of Manassas Junction.

Jan. 27, 1942: The submarine USS Gudgeon sinks a Japanese submarine – becoming the first American sub to send an enemy warship to the bottom during World War II. Gudgeon also becomes the first sub to patrol Japanese waters. She will go on to rack up more than a dozen kills. She will conduct rescue missions and special operations. But in 1944, on her 12th patrol, she mysteriously disappears with all hands.

Jan. 27, 1943: American bombers – specifically B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators – of the U.S. Eighth Air Force strike German U-boat facilities at Wilhelmshaven. The bombing raid is the first U.S. Army Air Forces mission over Germany.

Jan. 28, 1915: Pres. Woodrow Wilson signs into law the congressionally approved merger of the “Life Saving” and “Revenue Cutter” services, thus establishing the U.S. Coast Guard. Still, the officially recognized birthday of the Coast Guard is Aug. 4, 1790, the day Congress approved Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s proposal to “build ten cutters to protect the new nation’s revenue.”

Adapted (and abridged) in part from “This Week in US Military History” by W. Thomas Smith Jr. at Human Events.

“This Week in US Military History” is a project of the Center for American Military History. See more or submit content here.

Gen. John J. Pershing (second from left) decorates Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (third from left) with the Distinguished Service Cross. Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher (left) reads out the citation. Col. George E. Leach (fourth from left) and Col. William Joseph Donovan await their decorations. (US Army photo)

Brady

On this day in military history, two American soldiers earned the Medal of Honor – the nation’s highest decoration for valor. 44 years ago on January 6, 1968, Major Patrick Henry Brady (citation), commander of the 54th Medical Detachment, volunteered for a dangerous “dust off” mission near Chu Lai, Vietnam. Wounded soldiers were pinned down in enemy-held territory that was also reportedly blanketed with dense fog. Upon arrival, Brady descended through the dense fog and smoke to reach the two South Vietnamese soldiers. Despite the close proximity to enemy forces who were firing at the unarmed helicopter, Brady landed his aircraft and evacuated the men.

On his next mission, American troops were wounded and pinned down 50 meters from an enemy position. Two helicopters had been shot down and other attempts to rescue the troops were unsuccessful. Maj. Brady made four flights into the contested area and evacuated all of the wounded.

Next, Brady flew into another area surrounded by enemy forces. This time, his helicopter was badly damaged, but he was able to extract the wounded. Brady was called upon once more, this time to assist a platoon trapped in a minefield. Upon landing, a mine detonated near his aircraft, injuring two crewmembers and damaging the helicopter. Brady would return with yet another helicopter – his third of the day – and evacuate six more wounded soldiers.

“If you cared enough about the lives you were trying to save, you would find a way,” Brady stated in an interview at the Pritzker Military Library in 2007. That day, Brady rescued 51 seriously-wounded soldiers, many of whom would have died had it not been for his “unmatched skill and extraordinary courage.”

Over his two tours, Brady flew 2,000 missions and rescued 5,000 wounded soldiers. In Brady’s first tour, he was part of the only medevac company (five helicopters) in Vietnam. He retired as a Major General in 1993 after 34 years in the Army.

Jenkins

One year after Brady’s actions, helicopters inserted members of the 39th Infantry Regiment into the Kien Phong Province on a reconnaisance mission. After landing, Private First Class Don Jenkins (citation)and the men of his unit immediately began receiving heavy crossfire from North Vietnamese Army bunkers that encircled the landing zone.

Jenkins ran to an exposed area and opened fire on enemy soldiers gathering near log bunkers with his M-60. When his machine gun jammed, Jenkins grabbed another rifle and fired upon the enemy while a teammate attempted to repair the M-60. He repeatedly charged through open terrain to grab ammunition from fallen soldiers until he could no longer find any ammunition. Then Jenkins picked up two anti-tank weapons from another fallen soldier. Despite incoming enemy fire, he closed within 20 yards of the enemy bunkers and destroyed two of them.

Then the resourceful soldier picked up an M-79 grenade launcher and resumed his destruction until that weapon was exhausted as well. Meanwhile, an group of soldiers was pinned down just meters away from the enemy. Previous rescue attempts had resulted in one death and many injuries, but that news must not have phased Jenkins. Ignoring serious shrapnel wounds in his stomach and legs, Jenkins crawled forward 100 meters to the embattled position three times over the course of the night, each time bringing back a wounded comrade.

Following the battle, Jenkins was promoted to Staff Sergeant. Oddly enough however, Jenkins’ commanding officer had threatened to bust him down to Private the day prior to his heroic actions: Jenkins needed to be resuscitated due to drinking a poisoned bottle of wine.

Following his discharge, Jenkins returned to the coal mines of Kentucky, and received notification that he was to be awarded the Medal in 1971.

1861: Florida militia forces seize the Union Apalachicola Arsenal, which is defended by only Ordnance Sergeant Edwin Powell and three laborers. Although hopelessly outnumbered, Powell was prepared to fight if ordered to hold and initially refuses to surrender the keys to the magazines or armory. But when the militia allows him to send a telegram to his command for instruction – and he receives no response – he reluctantly concedes.

1927: U.S. Marines return to Nicaragua to protect American lives and property.

1942: Pres. Franklin Roosevelt informs Congress that he is authorizing the largest armaments production in United States history: 8 million tons of shipping, 45,000 planes, and 45,000 tanks, and 20,000 anti-aircraft guns will roll off assembly lines within the year.

1944: Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill is designated to lead the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), a long-range penetration special operations unit, now popularly known as Merrill’s Marauders. Of the 2,750 men to enter the unit at Burma, only two were not wounded or killed. Today’s 75th Ranger Regiment is a descendant of Merrill’s Marauders.

Medal of Honor: 44 years ago in South Vietnam, Army helicopter pilot Maj. Patrick H. Brady conducted multiple medical evacuation missions in dense fog and in the face of heavy enemy fire. Over the course of the day, he rescued 51 soldiers and 400 bullet holes were counted in the three helicopters he flew.

The late Col. Robert Howard (second from left), one of America's highest-decorated soldiers during the Vietnam War. (Source: Militaryphotos.net)

Col. Howard was nominated for the Medal of Honor three times in just over a year. Read Howard’s Medal of Honor citation here.

A long range reconnaissance patrol soldier poses with a tiger killed in Vietnam (source: Militaryphotos.net)

1855: A landing party from the USS Plymouth skirmishes with Chinese forces near Canton during the Taiping Rebellion.

1861: The civilian merchant vessel Star of the West departs New York for Fort Sumter with supplies and 250 troops. South Carolina had seceded from the Union and the base was surrounded by Confederate forces and in need of supplies. Upon arriving in Charleston Harbor four days later, shore batteries attacked the vessel, forcing it to turn around. The standoff would continue until April, when the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter.

1875: Cdr. Edward Lull (USN) leads an expedition to locate the best route for the Panama Canal.

1904: Marines arrive in Korea to defend the U.S. legation assembly at Seoul.

1945: Japanese pilots receive their first order to become kamikaze suicide attackers. At Okinawa alone, 1,465 kamikaze pilots destroy at least 30 U.S. warships and kill 5,000 Americans.

1967: U.S. and South Vietnamese Marines conduct a joint amphibious assault of the Mekong Delta. The goal of Operation Deckhouse V is to capture Viet Cong prisoners from the Thanh Phu Secret Zone, and it is the first time U.S. troops operate in the delta.

Medal of Honor: 42 years ago, SSgt. Franklin D. Miller was leading a long range patrol of Special Forces soldiers and Montagnards in Laos when a booby trap wounded several members. Eventually, the entire patrol was wounded – including Miller, who was shot in the chest. The last man able to fight, Miller held off repeated enemy assaults against their position, despite being vastly outnumbered.

Miller would serve over six years in Southeast Asia. When asked by Pres. Richard Nixon at his award ceremony where he wanted to be assigned next, Miller answered “Vietnam.”

1910: The USS Michigan (BB-27), the first US dreadnought battleship, is commissioned.

1943: The USS Helena (CL-50), operating off the coast of Munda Island, shoots down a Japanese Type 99 Val bomber, marking the first kill using Variable Timing (proximity-fused) anti-aircraft shells.

1944: U.S. Army Air Force bombers begin dropping weapons and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe during Operation Carpetbagger.

1989: Two F-14 Tomcats from the carrier USS John F. Kennedy shoot down two Libyan MiG-23 Flogger aircraft in the Gulf of Sidra.

1812: The USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Java in a three-hour battle off the coast of Brazil.

1862: Plans to capture Vicksburg, Tenn., the last remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, are thwarted when Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s frontal assault fails against entrenched Confederate forces in the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs.

1890: 7th Cavalry troops surround a Sioux encampment at Wounded Knee Creek (present-day South Dakota), attempting to disarm the Indians under Chief Big Foot. The soldiers attack when a shot is fired (it is not known who fired) and massacre over 150 Sioux, including many women and children. The Massacre at Wounded Knee is the last major engagement in the Plains Wars.

1943: The submarine USS Silversides (SS-236) sinks three Japanese cargo ships and damages a fourth off the Palau Islands.

Wrecked Grumman F4F-3 "Wildcat" fighters of Marine Fighting Squadron 211 (VMF-211), photographed by by the Wake airstrip sometime after the Japanese captured the island on 23 December 1941. The plane in the foreground, "211-F-11" was flown by Captain Henry T. Elrod during the 11 December attacks that sank the Japanese destroyer Kisaragi. Damaged beyond repair at that time, "211-F-11" was subsequently used as a source of parts to keep other planes operational. (National Archives photo)

70 years ago, Japanese troops overwhelmed the heavily outnumbered Marine garrison on Wake Island, which lays about 2,000 miles west of Pearl Harbor. The defenders had valiantly held out since the first attack on Dec. 8 and inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese.

Leatherneck magazine’s article on the Battle of Wake is a great read.

Note: the plane pictured above belonged to Capt. Henry T. Elrod, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the defense of Wake Island. His citation can be read here.