Mar. 8, 1965: The lead elements of 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines begin coming ashore at Da Nang, South Vietnam. Within hours, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines will arrive aboard transport aircraft at the nearby airbase. The Marines of 3/9 and 1/3 – both part of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade – are the first of America’s ground-combat forces destined for offensive operations against the enemy in Southeast Asia, once again putting teeth in the Marine Corps’ claim that it is “first to fight.”

Mar. 9, 1847: Thousands of American soldiers and a company-sized force of Marines (though referred to as a battalion) under the overall command of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott and “Home Squadron” Commodore David E. Conner begin landing at Collado Beach, Mexico, just south of Vera Cruz.

In what will prove to be “a model” for future amphibious operations, the landings are unprecedented: The largest American amphibious operation to date, conducted in less than five hours without a single loss of life.

A portion of Conner’s dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy reads:

“Gen. Scott has now with him upwards of 11,000 men. At his request, I permitted the Marines of the squadron, under Capt. [Alvin] Edson, to join him, as a part of the 3rd Regiment of artillery. The general-in-chief landed this morning, and the army put itself in motion at an early hour, to form its lines around the city. There has been some distant firing of shot and shells from the town and castle upon the troops as they advanced, but without result.”

Though the landings are bloodless, grim fighting will continue in the Mexican-American War.

Mar. 9, 1862: In day-two of the now-famous Battle of Hampton Roads (Virginia), the Confederate Navy’s ironclad warship, CSS Virginia (built from the remains of the previously scuttled frigate USS Merrimack) and her Union rival, the also-ironclad USS Monitor, begin exchanging shots in one of history’s first clashes of ironclads.

The battle ends in a draw with both vessels inflicting marginal damage on one another before breaking off the fight: Technically it is a tactical victory for Virginia because she has inflicted greater damage on the blockading ships than they on her (Virginia had attacked and destroyed the Union Navy’s wooden warships USS Congress and USS Cumberland the previous day before the arrival of the Monitor). But it may also be seen as a strategic victory for the Union because Virginia fails to break the blockade. The battle however will not be remembered for which side might have carried the day – though that is still being debated – but rather the lessons learned in this particular clash which greatly contributed to the ongoing revolution in Naval tactics and ship-design and construction.

Mar. 10, 1783: The Duc De Lauzun, a Continental Navy transport-vessel (laden with Spanish silver currency), and her escort, the frigate Alliance (the first of two so-named American warships), are spotted by three Royal Navy ships – HMS Sybil, HMS Alarm, and HMS Tobago –off Cape Canaveral, Florida. Sybil pursues the two American vessels, fires on the slow-moving Duc De Lauzun, then is aggressively engaged by Alliance. In less than one hour, the badly damaged Sybil disengages and flees, ending the last Naval battle of the American Revolution.

Alliance is commanded by Capt. (future commodore) John Barry, who – as we said Feb. 4 – is considered in some circles to be “the Father of the American Navy,” though some would argue that title belongs to Capt. John Paul Jones.

Mar. 11, 1862: President Abraham Lincoln – frustrated over Union Army Gen. George B. McClellan’s unwillingness to attack the Confederate Army – relieves McClellan of his post as general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, but keeps him on as commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan – who will lose his command after failing to destroy Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s wounded army following the Battle of Antietam – becomes the second well-known casualty in Lincoln’s series of firing, hiring, and firing generals until the Union Army (like the already well-commanded Confederate Army) is led by some of the most able generals in American military history.

Mar. 11, 1943: “The Flying Tigers” – the famous volunteer group of American fighter pilots contracted to the Chinese Air Force during World War II and ultimately brought under U.S. Army Air Forces command as the China Air Task Force – is absorbed into the 14th Air Force.

Commanded by Gen. Claire L. Chennault, “the Flying Tigers” were so-named because of the tiger-shark faces painted on the noses of their P-40 fighters.

Today, according to the U.S. Air Force, airmen of the 14th Air Force are “the day-to-day operators of Air Force Space Command’s space forces.” And the centerpiece of the 14th Air Force emblem is a tiger with wings.

Mar. 2, 1943: Elements of the U.S. Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force intercept and all-but-destroy an entire Japanese troop-transport convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Several enemy ships, scores of enemy aircraft, and thousands of enemy soldiers will be sent to the bottom. Gen. Douglas MacArthur will remark that Bismarck Sea “cannot fail to go down in history as one of the most complete and annihilating combats of all time.” Japanese Navy Capt. Tameichi Hara will refer to the battle as “shocking” and “unbelievable.”

Mar. 3, 1776:  A force of 250 Continental Marines and sailors under the command of Marine Capt. (future major) Samuel Nicholas land on New Providence in the British-held Bahamas and quickly seize Fort Montague in the first amphibious operation in American military history. The landing – largely unopposed (the British garrison spiking their own guns and fleeing) – nets for the Americans much-needed powder, shot, nearly 50 serviceable cannon, and a few mortars.

An avid foxhunter and the highest-ranking leatherneck in the American Revolution, Nicholas will lead Marines alongside Army forces in the future battles of (second) Trenton and Princeton. He is considered to be the first commandant of the Marine Corps.

Mar. 3, 1815:  The U.S. Congress authorizes American Naval action against the pirate state of Algiers.

Mar. 3, 1883:  The U.S. Congress approves the creation of the “new Navy” with an authorization to build three “steel-protected cruisers” and a “steel dispatch boat.” The authorization begins a steel-ship renaissance for the U.S. Navy.

Mar. 3, 1931:  The U.S. Congress adopts “The Star Spangled Banner” as the official national anthem.

The anthem’s lyrics were initially penned as a poem by Washington, D.C. lawyer Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812. Key wrote his now-famous words on an envelope as he witnessed the British night-bombardment of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Sept. 13-14, 1814, from the deck of a Royal Navy ship aboard which had been detained.

Portions of the anthem read:

“…Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
…
“Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Mar. 4, 1944:  B-17 Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Army Air Forces participate in the first daylight bombing raid over Berlin. A massive B-17 raid over the German capitol will follow in two days.

Mar. 5, 1770:  A contingent of armed British soldiers fire into a crowd of protesting colonists in what will become known as the Boston Massacre. Five colonists are killed. The soldiers, charged with murder, will contend the protestors were threatening them with rocks and clubs. The killings will spark public outrage, demands for the death penalty for the soldiers responsible, and draw America even closer toward revolution.

Ironically, patriot and future U.S. President John Adams is the lawyer who will successfully defend the British soldiers. A portion of Adams’ argument reads:

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact; if an assault was made to endanger their [the soldiers’] lives, the law is clear, they had a right to kill in their own defense.”

Mar. 5, 1776:  Six years to the day after the Boston Massacre, British Gen. Sir William Howe awakens to find Continental Army Gen. George Washington’s artillery well-positioned atop Boston’s commanding Dorchester Heights. Howe purportedly says, “The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month.”

Washington’s men continue to strengthen their gun-batteries and fortifications over the next 10-plus days forcing Howe to deem the American positions “impregnable.” The British will begin evacuating Boston on the 17th.

Mar. 5, 1942:  The Seabees – the U.S. Navy’s celebrated combat-capable Construction Battalions (CBs) – are established.

Mar. 5, 1966:  The “Ballad of the Green Berets” composed by U.S. Army Special Forces Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler and author Robin Moore hits the number-one spot on the Billboard Chart where it will remain for five weeks.

A portion of the lyrics read:

“Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret.

“Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America’s best
One hundred men we’ll test today
But only three win the Green Beret. …”

Mar. 6, 1836:  The Alamo – commanded by Lt. Col. William Barret Travis – falls to Mexican forces after the garrison puts up one of the most heroic defenses in American military history (see previous week’s military milestones).

Mar. 7, 1942:  The first group of black airmen – including Capt. (future general) Benjamin O. Davis Jr. – graduates from the U.S. Army Air Forces flight school at Tuskegee, Alabama.

Mar. 7, 1945:  U.S. Army armored forces race to seize the strategically vital Ludendorff Bridge (also known as the Remagen bridge) before the Germans blow the structure. The Americans are successful, thus enabling the allies to establish a bridgehead on the enemy side of the Rhine River.

Just because the perpetrator of a crime may be of a certain religion is no reason to dismiss threats.

Today W. Thomas Smith, Jr. writes at Family Security Matters:

The State newspaper and WIS TV, both based in Columbia, S.C., are reporting tonight that four of the Fort Jackson Five – the Muslim soldiers allegedly involved in a plot to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson, S.C. – have been removed from active duty.

According to The State, U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson – a member of the House Armed Services Committee – “disclosed for the first time that four of the Muslim soldiers had been ‘administratively separated’ from the Army, a military designation that means they were discharged with neither honorable nor dishonorable status.”

WIS TV adds, “for petty crimes.”

No mention of what the crimes were.

The fifth soldier has been removed from active service, but returned to his unit in the Virginia National Guard.

What are we not being told and why?

Jan. 31, 1974:  The first of three U.S. Army Ranger battalions since World War II is activated.

Yes, there were post-war Rangers and Ranger units of varying sizes, but the modern battalion-organization is launched in 1974 by Gen. Creighton Abrams, who proclaims: “The Ranger battalion is to be an elite, light and [the] most proficient infantry battalion in the world; a battalion that can do things with its hands and weapons better than anyone. The battalion will contain no hoodlums or brigands, and if the battalion is formed of such persons it will be disbanded. Wherever the battalion goes it will be apparent that it is the best.”

Feb. 1, 1800:  The frigate USS Constellation (the first of four so-named American warships) under the command of Capt. Thomas Truxtun defeats the French frigate La Vengeance under Capt. F.M. Pitot in a night battle lasting several hours. The engagement, fought during America’s Quasi War with France, is — according to Truxtun — “as sharp an action as ever was fought between two frigates.”

Feb. 1, 1862:  Julia Ward Howe’s poem “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which begins “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” is published in the Atlantic Monthly. It will become a Union Army ballad. Today, the ballad is a martial hymn sung in American military chapels worldwide and by descendents of Union and Confederate soldiers alike.

Feb. 1, 1961:  The Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) — the first three-staged, solid-fueled ICBM — is launched for the first time in a successful “all systems” test.

Minuteman I is the first missile in the still-operational Minuteman family. Minuteman IIIs are still deployed. The name “Minuteman” comes from the famous “minutemen” of America’s colonial militia.

Feb. 1, 2003:  The doomed Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) disintegrates upon reentering the earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crewmembers, including:

•    U.S. Air Force Col. Rick D. Husband, mission commander
•    U.S. Navy Commander William C. McCool, pilot
•    U.S. Navy Capt. David M. Brown, mission specialist
•    U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson, payload specialist
•    U.S. Navy Commander Laurel B. Clark, mission specialist
•    Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon, payload specialist
•    Civilian research scientist Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist

Feb. 2, 1848:  The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — which begins, “In the name of Almighty God” — is signed by representatives of the United States and Mexico, officially ending the Mexican-American War.  According to the Library of Congress, the treaty “[extends] the boundaries of the United States by over 525,000 square miles. In addition to establishing the Rio Grande as the border between the two countries, the territory acquired by the U.S. included what will become the states of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.”

Feb. 2, 1901:  Congress authorizes the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps under the Army Medical Department.

Feb. 3, 1801:  Nearly one year to the day after Constellation’s thrashing of La Vengeance, the U.S. Senate ratifies the Mortefontaine treaty, officially ending the Quasi War with France.

Feb. 3, 1961:  Two days after the Minuteman I test-launch, the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) launches its EC-135 flying command post — codenamed “Looking Glass” — in order to maintain seamless and secure command-and-control of U.S. nuclear forces in the event ground-based command-and-control is wiped out in a nuclear attack. “Looking Glass” aircraft will be airborne 24/7 for the next three decades. According to the U.S. Strategic Command (which replaced SAC): “On July 24, 1990, Looking Glass ceased continuous airborne alert, but remained on ground or airborne alert 24 hours a day.”

Today, the U.S. Navy’s E-6B Mercury is America’s “Looking Glass.”

Feb. 4, 1779:  Continental Navy Capt. John Paul Jones takes command of the former French frigate, Duc de Duras, renaming her Bonhomme Richard (after Benjamin Franklin’s pen name). It will be aboard the Richard — badly damaged and sinking during the famous battle in the North Sea with the Royal Navy frigate HMS Serapis on Sept. 23 — that Jones refuses a surrender demand, allegedly replying, “I have not yet begun to fight!” It has also been widely reported that when the Serapis’ Captain Richard Pearson inquired as to whether or not Jones had lowered or struck his colors, Jones shouted back, “I may sink, but I’ll be damned if I strike!”

Incidentally, Bonhomme Richard (the first of five so-named American warships) does sink: But not before Pearson himself surrenders (believed to be “the first time in naval history that colors are surrendered to a sinking ship”), and Jones transfers his flag to his newly captured prize, Serapis.

Jones is destined to become “the Father of the American Navy,” though — in some circles — it is argued that title belongs to Commodore John Barry.

Feb. 4, 1787:  Shays’ Rebellion — a short-lived Massachusetts uprising led by former Continental Army Capt. Daniel Shays and spawned by crippling taxes and an economic depression in the wake of the American Revolution — is quashed by Massachusetts militia.

Feb. 4, 1944:  Kwajalein Atoll is secured by U.S. forces.

Feb. 4, 1945:  The Big Three — U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin — meet at the Crimea Conference (best known as the Yalta Conference) to discuss among other points what was to become of soon-to-be conquered Germany and the nations the Nazis had previously defeated.

Feb. 5, 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 bomber as a gunner on one of their missions. It is on that mission that 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 U.S. Air Force’s 1st Reconnaissance Squadron traces its lineage back to the 1st Aero Squadron.

Feb. 6, 1899:  Nearly 98 years to the day after ratifying the treaty ending the Quasi War with France, the U.S. Senate ratifies another war-ending treaty: this one ending the war with Spain.

Let’s increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society’s 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2010 (for more information, click here).

Jan. 26, 1945: U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Audie L. Murphy’s B Company, 15th Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division is positioned on the outskirts of Holtzwihr, France, when suddenly the company is attacked by six tanks and at least 250 snow-white camouflaged German infantrymen – members of the elite 2nd Gebirgsjaeger (Mountain Hunter) Division.

Murphy, the ranking officer (previous fighting had decimated the officer ranks), immediately orders his men to fall back. He remains forward on the command post telephone directing artillery fire against the enemy. When an officer on the other line asks how close the advancing enemy is to Murphy’s position. Murphy replies, “If you just hold the phone a minute, I’ll let you talk to one of the bastards.”

According to his subsequent citation for the Medal of Honor, “With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2nd Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer [the tank destroyer located behind Murphy which had just taken a direct hit], which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver.”

The fighting continues for at least an hour. Murphy is wounded. At one point the Germans close to within 10 yards of his position. When his ammunition is exhausted, Murphy leaps off the tank destroyer (the vehicle explodes shortly thereafter), limps and crawls back to his company, organizes a counterattack, and drives the remaining enemy from the field.

For his actions, Murphy is awarded the Medal of Honor. That and previous decorations make him one of the most-decorated American soldiers in history (He is widely recognized as “the most decorated American soldier of World War II.”). Murphy becomes a post-war Hollywood film star, and is killed in a plane crash in 1971.

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 commandant of the Marine Corps – 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.

Known to every Marine since as “the grand old man of the Marine Corps,” Henderson was the longest-serving commandant in Marine Corps history (becoming commandant in 1820 when he was a lieutenant colonel and serving for the next 38 years). Prior to departing Headquarters Marine Corps for the journey south, Henderson purportedly tacked a note to his door which read: “Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over.”

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 — almost one year to the day after she was launched (Jan. 25, 1941) at Mare Island, California.

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.

A second Gudgeon is commissioned in 1952.

Jan. 27, 1943: 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 by “the Mighty Eighth” 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.”

Jan. 30, 1862: The U.S. Navy’s first ironclad ship, USS Monitor, is launched at Greenpoint, N.Y. Designed by Swedish engineer John Ericsson, the turreted gunship will make history in March when it trades shots with the Confederate ironclad Virginia in a duel ending in a draw at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Jan. 30, 1968: The Vietnamese TET Offensive (which we will expound on over the coming weeks) kicks off across South Vietnam.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “This Week in American Military History,” appears every Wednesday as a feature of HUMAN EVENTS.

[Let's increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society's 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 2010. For more information, click here.]

Jan. 17, 1991: Two-hundred-ten years to the day after the Battle of Cowpens (see last week); American, British, and French forces — this time all three on the same team — kick off what Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein predicted would be “the Mother of all Battles” with a series of blistering air attacks aimed at destroying the Iraqi Air Force, Iraq’s air-defense forces and overall command and control. It is day one of Operation Desert Storm.

Jan. 18, 1911: Flying over San Francisco Bay in his Curtiss Pusher Model “D” aircraft, pioneer aviator Eugene B. Ely approaches the anchored cruiser USS Pennsylvania and manages to land onto a special platform fitted with a makeshift tailhook system aboard the ship. Upon landing, he purportedly says, “It was easy enough. I think the trick could be successfully turned nine times out of ten.”

Ely’s landing is the first-ever airplane landing aboard a ship. Ely already had become the first man to take off from a ship in November. In July, he will be commissioned a second lieutenant in the California National Guard. In October, he will be killed in a crash during an aerobatic demonstration in Macon, Georgia.

Jan. 19-20, 1770: The little-known but historically significant Battle of Golden Hill erupts in New York City between a group of angry Manhattan patriots and a contingent of British soldiers.

The clash begins when members of the patriot organization “Sons of Liberty” snatch a few of the King’s men, who are cutting down wooden “liberty poles” (symbols of resistance against British rule) which had been erected by the “Sons.” The redcoats also were reportedly posting bills condemning the Sons of Liberty as “the real enemies of society.” A struggle ensues. Redcoats from the nearby barracks respond, and a bayonet charge is ordered. Several are wounded on both sides, and one civilian is killed.

Less than seven weeks before the Boston Massacre, the Battle of Golden Hill is considered by some historians as the first armed clash of the American Revolution.

Jan. 20, 1914: Nearly three years to the day after Eugene Ely lands his airplane on USS Pennsylvania, “the cradle of Naval aviation” is born at Pensacola, Florida.

According to the American Naval Historical Center: “The aviation unit from Annapolis [Maryland], consisting of nine officers, 23 men, seven aircraft, portable hangars, and other gear, under Lieutenant J. H. Towers” arrives at Pensacola aboard the battleship USS Mississippi and the bulk-cargo ship USS Orion “to set up a flying school.”

Jan. 21, 1903: The Militia Act of 1903 — also known as the “Dick Act” (Congressman and Maj. Gen. Charles Dick authored much of the legislation) — is passed, establishing federal standards and greater federal control over state militias, essentially creating the modern National Guard.

Jan. 21, 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.

Nautilus is the U.S. Navy’s sixth vessel bearing the name. The first Nautilus, a schooner built in 1799, saw action against the Barbary pirates and in the War of 1812.

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.

It is during the subsequent fighting (which continues for several months) that a dead German officer’s diary is found, a portion of which reads:

“American parachutists — devils in baggy pants — are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can’t sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “This Week in American Military History,” appears every Wednesday as a feature of HUMAN EVENTS.

[Let's increase awareness of American military tradition and honor America’s greatest heroes by supporting the Medal of Honor Society's 2010 Convention to be held in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 2010. For more information, click here.]

Jan. 12, 1945: Warplanes from the U.S. Navy’s carrier Task Force 38 under the command of Vice Adm. John Sidney McCain Sr. (father of Adm. John S. McCain Jr. and grandfather of Sen. John S. McCain III), attack enemy convoys and bases along the coast of Japanese-held French Indochina (Vietnam) in the Battle of the South China Sea.

Codenamed “Operation Gratitude,” the attacks are wildly successful. Despite rough seas and high winds from a dangerously close typhoon, Japanese bases at Saigon, Cape Saint Jacques (Vung Tau), Cam Ranh Bay, Qui Nhon, and Tourane Bay (Da Nang) are hit hard, resulting in the destruction of docks, barracks, weapons depots, hangars, and scores of Japanese seaplanes and other aircraft, as well as the sinking of more than 40 enemy ships.

Adm. McCain – who Adm. William “Bull” Halsey refers to as “”not much more than my right arm” – will die of a heart attack on Sept. 6, 1945, four days after witnessing the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri. He is posthumously awarded a fourth star.

Jan 13, 1865: U.S. soldiers, sailors, and Marines under the joint command of Maj. Gen. Alfred Howe Terry and Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter begin landing operations – in what will prove to be the largest American amphibious operation until World War II – aimed at seizing Fort Fisher, N.C., a Confederate stronghold near the port city of Wilmington.

The fort — commanded by Confederate Col. William Lamb (the fort’s ultimate responsibility was that of Gen. Braxton Bragg, and yes, Fort Bragg, N.C. is named in his honor) – will fall to Union forces within two days.

More than 50 Medals of Honor will be awarded to those who participated in the assault.

Jan. 14, 1784: The U.S. Congress, temporarily meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, ratifies the Treaty of Paris, officially ending America’s War of Independence.

Jan. 16, 1781: Three years prior to the ratification, Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan — commanding Continental infantry, cavalry, dragoons (horse-mounted infantry), and militia — strolls his encamped forces in a sprawling pastureland known as Hannah’s Cowpens in the South Carolina upcountry.

There, throughout the night, Morgan urges his men to take heart in the coming fight against a better-equipped, more-experienced force of British Army regulars and Loyalists under the command of Lt. Col. Banastre “Bloody Ban” Tarleton.

In specific instructions to his militia, Morgan directs them to fire two volleys at the attacking redcoats (and green-coated dragoons), then fall back on the veteran Continental regulars.

The forthcoming battle of Cowpens (Jan. 17) will end with a decisive victory for Morgan – who will defeat Tarleton in a classic double-envelopment – and a near-irrevocable loss of men, equipment, and reputation for the infamous Tarleton and his “British Legion.”

Tarleton’s boss, Gen. Sir Charles Cornwallis, will abandon South Carolina and in less than two months chalk up a pyrrhic victory at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (N.C.). Meanwhile, word of Morgan’s victory will spread like wildfire throughout the Carolinas and up into Virginia where – at Yorktown – Cornwallis’ entire army (including Tarleton and his feared green-jacketed horsemen) will surrender to the combined American-French forces of Generals George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau on October 19, almost nine months to the day after Cowpens.

[Originally published at Blackfive]

U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) Sergeant First Class Robert L. Howard is operating deep in the South Vietnamese backcountry (some sources say Cambodia) when suddenly his 40-man hatchet platoon is attacked by a force of some 250 North Vietnamese soldiers.

As the attack unfolds, Howard and his lieutenant are struck by an exploding claymore. Howard is knocked unconscious. He comes to, but with blood in his eyes, he initially believes he has been blinded. Momentarily he can see, but he quickly realizes his body is riddled with shrapnel, his weapon is destroyed, and the enemy is all around him.

Howard manages to toss a grenade at an enemy soldier who is burning the bodies of Howard’s dead comrades with a flamethrower. Howard then crawls under heavy fire to his wounded lieutenant, and drags the officer toward a position of relative safety. Howard survives a second blast when his lieutenant’s ammunition pouch is struck and detonates. Despite his shredded hands, Howard manages to shoot several enemy soldiers with a pistol. He is then shot in the foot and no longer able to walk. Nevertheless, he organizes what’s left of the platoon into a defensive position, then crawls from one man to the next, tending to the wounded and dying, shouting encouragement to the living and fighting, and directing airstrikes on the attacking enemy. Though surrounded, Howard successfully repels attack-after-attack, saves his platoon, and ultimately receives the Medal of Honor.

Retired as a colonel in 1992, Howard is the only soldier to be nominated three times for the Medal of Honor for three separate actions over a period of just over a year.

Unfortunately, Col. Howard passed away last month. He was a great man – the 70 year-old found time to visit U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere this past year. I was looking forward to meeting him in the upcoming Medal of Honor convention in South Carolina this September.

Also Smith writes that SEAL Teams One (Coronado, Calif.) and Two (Little Creek, Va.) were established on Jan.1, 1962 to the horror of Communists and evil-doers worldwide.

[Originally published at Blackfive]