Download Military History Anniversaries 0516 thru 0615

Military History Anniversaries 16 May thru 15 Jun
Events in History over the next 30 day period that had U.S. military involvement or impacted in
some way on U.S military operations or American security
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May 16 1771 – The Battle of Alamance: Pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local
militia and a group of rebels (The Regulators) occurs in present-day Alamance County, North
Carolina. It was a protest against local taxation and corrupt government. Casualties and losses:
Militia 9 to 27 killed + 61 wounded – Regulators 9 killed + 7 later executed for treason.
May 16 1940 – WW2: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins invasion of France.
May 16 1943 – The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends. Casualties and losses: Ger
110 – Jews ~16,000 killed + 56,885 deported.
May 17 1987 – An Iraqi missile hits the American frigate USS Stark in the Persian Gulf. 37
sailors die.
May 17 2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial
reef.
May 18 1863 – Civil War: The 47 day Siege of Vicksburg begins. Casualties and losses: US
4,835 - CSA 32,697.
May 18 1917 – WWI: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the
United States the power of conscription.
May 18 1944 – WW2: Battle of Monte Cassino – 122 day battle ends after seven days of the 4th
battle as German paratroopers evacuate. Casualties and losses: Allies 55,000 - Axis ~20,000.
May 18 1974 – India conducted its first nuclear test explosion at Pokhran, the first confirmed
nuclear test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council.
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May 19 1776 – American Revolution: A Continental Army garrison surrenders in the Battle of
The Cedars.
May 19 1848 – Mexican*American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus
ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern–day U.S.
states to the United States for US$15 million.
May 19 1951 – Korea: United Nations forces begin counter offensive in Korea.
May 19 1967 – Vietnam: U.S. planes bomb Hanoi for the first time.
May 20 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church – in the Virginia Bermuda Hundred
Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory. Combined casualties ~1500.
May 20 1902 – Latin America Interventions: U.S. military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1,
1899) ends.
May 20 1940 – The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at
Auschwitz.
May 20 1941 – WW2: Battle of Crete - German paratroops invade Crete.
May 20 1951 – Korea: U.S. Air Force Captain James Jabara becomes the first jet air ace in
history.
May 20 1956 – Cold War: Operation Redwing - The first United States airborne hydrogen bomb
is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
May 20 1969 – Vietnam: US troop capture Hill 937/Hamburger Hill after 10 days of fighting.
Casualties and losses: US 444 - NVN 678.
May 21 1863 – Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from
Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
May 21 1864 – Civil War: The 13 day Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends. Casualties and
losses: US 18,399 - CSA 13,421.
May 21 1941 – First U.S. ship sunk by a German U-boat. SS Robin Moore crew and passengers
allowed to man lifeboats by U-69 Commander before he torpedoed and shelled the ship. Event
happened before U.S. entered into war with Germany.
May 21 1951 – Korea: The U.S. Eighth Army counterattacks to drive the Communist Chinese
and North Koreans out of South Korea.
May 22 1863 – Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson – Union forces begin to lay siege to the
Confederate–controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
May 22 1864 – Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army's Red River Campaign ends with
the Union unable to achieve any of its objectives. Casualties and losses: US 5,500 - CSA 4,300.
May 22 1871 – Indian Wars: The U.S. Army issued an order for abandonment of Fort Kearny in
Nebraska. The fort had been utilized mostly as a supply post, and not as defensive position in the
Indian Wars.
May 22 1939 – WW2: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel. Generally, the Pact obliged
Germany and Italy to aid the other country immediately, militarily or otherwise, in the event of
war being declared, and to collaborate in military and wartime production
May 22 1942 – WW2: Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies after German
submarines attacked two Mexican oil tankers. Some 300,000 Mexican citizens went to the U.S. to
work in factories that produced war supplies and to help in any way that would benefit the Allies.
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May 22 1942 – WW2: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox enlists in the United States Marine
Corps as a flight instructor.
May 22 1944 – WW2: Anzio Beachhead, Italy - Allied forces, including elements of three
National Guard divisions—the 34th (IA, MN, ND), 36th (TX) and 45th (AZ, CO, OK)—begin
their final push to break out of the besieged positions just south of Rome for four months. The
breakout would be completed on May 31, with the Allies entering Rome on June 5.
May 22 1945 – WW2: Operation Paperclip - United States Army Major Robert B. Staver
recommends that the U.S. evacuate German scientists and engineers to help in the development of
rocket technology.
May 22 1947 – Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, U.S. President Harry
S. Truman signs an act into law that will later be called the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400
million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece, each battling an internal Communist
movement.
May 22 1967 – Vietnam: Vinh Xuan massacre conducted by South Korean forces resulted in the
deaths of at least 15 unarmed women and children, and old men who refused to leave their
villages.
May 22 1968 – Last radio message received from USS Scorpion (SSN–589). Declared lost 6
JUN. Cause not ascertainable; most probable inadvertent activation of battery of torpedo resulting
in a possible "hot run" torpedo detonation off Azores. 99 died.
May 23 1846 – Mexican*American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially
declares war on the United States.
May 23 1900 – MOH: Civil War hero Sgt. William H. Carney becomes the first African
American to receive the Medal of Honor, 37 years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.
May 23 1939 – USS Squalus (SS-192) foundered in a test dive off Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
26 died. The remaining 33 were rescued the next day.
May 23 1915 – WWI: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
May 23 1945 – WW2: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in
Allied custody.
May 23 1945 – WW2: The short lived Flensburg Government formed after the suicide of Adolf
Hitler to rule Germany under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are
captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.
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May 24 1846 – Mexican*American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
Casualties and losses: US 450 - Mex 450.
May 24 1861 – Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
May 24 1941 – WW2: In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks thenpride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three of her 1,419 crewmen.
May 25 1915 – WWI: Second Battle of Ypres ends with 105,000 casualties.
May 25 1953 – First atomic cannon is fired in Nevada.
May 26 1783 – American Revolution: A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut
celebrated end of fighting in American Revolution.
May 26 1865 – Civil War: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the
Confederate Trans–Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender,
at Galveston, Texas.
May 26 1940 – WW2: The Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French
garrison. Casualties and losses: Allies 4,000 – Ger 750 to 800.
May 26 1940 – WW2: Battle of Dunkirk – In France, Allied forces begin a massive 9-day
evacuation from Dunkirk, France. Casualties and losses: Allies 51,000 + 50,000 vehicles + 9
destroyers + 200 marine vassals + 177 aircraft – Ger 20 to 30,000 + 100 tanks + 240 aircraft.
May 26 1942 – WW2: Battle of Gazala - Western Desert Rommel Campaign fought around the
port of Tobruk. Casualties and losses: Allies ~50,000 + 1,188 tanks – Axis ~5,000 + 400 tanks.
May 26 1945 – WW2: U.S. drop fire bombs on Tokyo.
Tokyo burns under B-29 firebomb assault
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May 26 1948 – The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557, which permanently establishes the
Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
May 26 2004 – The U.S. Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges
for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
May 27 1813 – War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
May 27 1863 – Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at the 48 day Siege of Port
Hudson.
May 27 1940 – WW2: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment
unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.
May 27 1941 – WW2: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing
almost 2,100 men.
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May 27 1942 – WW2: Operation Anthropoid - Reinhard Heydrich, one of the main architects of
the Holocaust is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.
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May 27 1944 – WW2: American General MacArthur lands on Biak Island in New Guinea.
May 27 1958 – The F-4 Phantom II makes its first flight.
May 27 1965 – Vietnam: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation
Front targets within South Vietnam.
May 27 1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline
Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.
May 28 1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under
22–year–old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the
Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
May 28 1940 – WW2: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.
May 28 1940 – WW2: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in
Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.
May 28 1942 – WW2: In retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in
Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people.
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May 29 1780 – American Revolution: At the Battle of Waxhaws the British continue fighting
after the Continentals lay down their arms killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that
remained.
May 29 1916 – U.S. forces invade the Dominican Republic and stay until 1924.
May 29 1931 – Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military
firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.
May 29 1932 – Some 43,000 veterans, their families, and supporters begin to assemble in
Washington, D.C. in the Bonus Army to request immediate payment of cash bonus certificates
issued to them for redemption in 1945.
May 29 1940 – The first flight of the Vought F4U Corsair.
May 29 1945 – WW2: U.S. 1st Marine division conquerors Shuri–castle Okinawa.
May 29 1945 – First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber.
May 29 2004 – The National WW2 Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
May 30 1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in
the United States for the first time (By "Commander–in–chief of the Grand Army of the
Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5). It begins when two women place flowers on
both Confederate and Union graves.
May 30 1912 – First Nicaraguan Campaign: U.S. Marines are sent to Nicaragua to protect
American interests.
May 30 1958 – Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in
action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
May 30 1965 – Vietnam: Viet Cong offensive against U.S. base Da Nang, begins.
May 31 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Seven Pines begins.
May 31 1900 – U.S. troops arrive in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
U.S. Marines - Part of the international relief expedition sent to lift the siege of Peking.
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May 31 1912 – Cuban Pacification Campaign: U.S. Marines land on Cuba to help quell the
Negro Rebellion
Jun 00 1943 – WW2: USS Runner (SS–275) missing. Date of sinking unknown. Possibly sunk
by a Japanese mine or combined air and surface attack off northeastern Honshu, Japan. 78 killed
Jun 01 1779 - Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American
Revolutionary War, is court-martialed for malfeasance.
Jun 01 1812 – War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on
the United Kingdom.
Jun 01 1813 – James Lawrence, the mortally–wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake,
gives his final order: "Don't give up the ship!"
Jun 01 1861 – Civil War: Battle of Fairfax Court House - First land battle of American Civil War
after Battle of Fort Sumter, first Confederate combat casualty. Casualties and losses: US 8 – CSA
8.
Jun 01 1862 – Civil War: Peninsula Campaign - Battle of Seven Pines (or the Battle of Fair Oaks)
ends inconclusively after 2 days, with both sides claiming victory. Casualties and losses: US
5,031 - CSA 6,134.
Jun 01 1918 – WWI: Western Front - 26 day Battle for Belleau Wood began. Allied Forces under
John J. Pershing and James Harbord engage Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German
Crown Prince. Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines uttered the
now-famous retort "Retreat? Hell, we just got here."
American Marines in Belleau Wood (1918)
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Jun 01 1944 – WW2: USS Herring (SS–233) sunk by Japanese Army shore battery (Guards
Division 52) off Matsuwa Island, Kuriles. 83 killed.
Jun 02 1944 – WW2: Allied "shuttle bombing" of Germany begins, with bombers departing from
Italy and landing in the Soviet Union.
Jun 03 1861 – Civil War: Union defeats Confederacy at Philippi West Virginia in first land battle
of the war. Casualties and losses: US 4 - CSA 26.
Jun 03 1864 – Civil War: Gen Lee wins his last victory of Civil War at Battle of Cold Harbor.
Casualties and losses: US 12,737 - CSA 4,595.
Jun 03 1942 – World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska
Island.
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Jun 03 1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United
States National Guard by 450,000 men.
Jun 03 1952 – Korea: A rebellion by North Korean prisoners in the Koje prison camp in South
Korea is put down by American troops.
Jun 03 1969 – The USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754) is cut in half by the HMAS Melbourne after
inexplicably cutting across the Melbourne's bow killing 74 of the Evan's crew when the bow
section sunk. The stern section was sunk as a target in Subic Bay on 10 Oct 1969.
The stern section of USS Frank E. Evans on the morning after the collision.
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Jun 04 1845 – Mexican American War: Conflict begins over dispute of the Rio Grande being the
southern border of the U.S.
Jun 04 1862 – Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River,
leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
Jun 04 1919 – Latin America Interventions: U.S. Marines invade Costa Rica.
Jun 04 1939 – Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied
permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba.
Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
Jun 04 1940 – WW2: The Dunkirk evacuation ends - British forces complete evacuation of
338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill
delivers his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech.
Jun 04 1942 – WW2: Battle of Midway Island begins. Japan's 1st major defeat in WWII.
Jun 04 1944 – WW2: A hunter–killer group of the United States Navy captures the German
submarine U–505 – the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since
the 19th century.
Jun 04 1944 – WW2: Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.
Jun 04 1944 – WW2: USS S–28 (SS–133) lost during ASW exercises off the Hawaiian Islands.
50 died
Jun 05 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a
Confederate army at Piedmont, Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners. Casualties and losses: US
875 - CSA 1,500.
Jun 05 1917 – WWI: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day". Ten
million U.S. men begin registering for draft.
Jun 05 1942 – WW2: United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.
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Jun 06 1813 – War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek – A British force of 700 under John Vincent
defeats an American force two times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
Casualties and losses: US 154 - UK 214.
Jun 06 1862 – Civil War: 1st Battle of Memphis – Union naval forces capture Memphis,
Tennessee from the Confederates. Casualties and losses: US 1 - CSA ~180
Jun 06 1918 – WWI: Battle of Belleau Wood – The U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single
day's casualties while attempting to recapture the wood at Chateau–Thierry. In the first U.S.
victory of the war, 9 officers and most of the 325 men of the battalion were lost.
Jun 06 1942 – WW2: Battle of Midway. U.S. Navy dive bombers sink the Japanese cruiser
Mikuma and four Japanese carriers.
Jun 06 1944 – WW2: Battle of Normandy begins. D–Day, code named Operation Overlord,
commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France.
The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest
amphibious military operation in history.
Jun 07 1866 – 1,800 Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after they loot and
plunder around Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg, Quebec. The ultimate goal of the Fenian raids
was to hold Canada hostage and therefore be in a position to blackmail the United Kingdom to
give Ireland its independence.
Jun 07 1932 – Over 7,000 war veterans march on Washington, D.C., demanding their bonus pay
for service in World War I.
Jun 07 1942 – WW2: The 4 day Battle of Midway ends. Casualties and losses: US 307 - JP 3,057.
Jun 07 1944 – WW2: Battle of Normandy – At Abbey Ardennes members of the SS Division
Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisoners of war.
Jun 07 1965 – Vietnam: US troops ordered to fight offensively.
Jun 08 1776 – American Revolution: Battle of Trois–Rivières – American attackers are driven
back at Trois–Rivières, Quebec. Casualties and losses: Colonies 316 - Brit 16.
Jun 08 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys – Confederate forces under General Stonewall
Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by
General George B. McClellan. Confederate victory. Casualties and losses: US 664 - CSA 287.
Jun 08 1959 – The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via
Missile Mail.
Jun 08 1967 – Six Day War: The Naval Intelligence ship USS Liberty attacked in the
Mediterranean by Israel killing 34 and wounding 171.
Jun 08 1972 – Vietnam: Associated Press photographer Nick Ut takes his Pulitzer Prize–winning
photo of a naked 9–year–old Phan Thi Kim Phúc running down a road after being burned by
napalm.
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Jun 08 1985 – Bosnia: Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S.
Marines in Bosnia.
Jun 09 1862 – Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley
Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic; his tactics during the campaign are now
studied by militaries around the world. Casualties and losses: US 1,002 - CSA 816
Jun 09 1863 – Civil War: the Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia. Casualties and losses: US 907 CSA 523. Result inconclusive.
Jun 09 1945 – WW2: Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declares that Japan will fight to the last
rather than accept unconditional surrender.
Jun 09 1959 – The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first submarine to carry ballistic
missiles.
Jun 09 1965 – Vietnam: The 5 day Battle of Dong Xoai begins. Viet Cong victory. Casualties and
losses: US 33 - ARVN 723 - VC 126
Jun 09 1999 – Kosovo War: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.
Jun 10 1861 – Civil War: Battle of Big Bethel. Confederate troops under John B. Magruder defeat
a much larger Union force led by General Ebenezer W. Pierce in Virginia. Casualties and losses:
US76 - CSA 8.
Jun 10 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Brice's Crossroads. Confederate troops under Nathan Bedford
Forrest defeat a much larger Union force led by General Samuel D. Sturgis in Mississippi.
Casualties and losses: US 2610 - CSA 492.
Jun 10 1871 – Korean Expedition (Sinmiyangyo): Captain McLane Tilton leads 109 U.S. Marines
in a naval attack on Han River forts on Kanghwa Island, Korea. Casualties and losses: US 3 - Kor
200+.
Jun 10 1898 – Spanish-American War: U.S. Marines land on the island of Cuba.
Jun 10 1940 – WW2: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his
"Stab in the Back" speech at the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
Jun 10 1953 – Korea: Battle of Outpost Harry begins and lasts through the18th. Casualties and
losses: US ~514 - VC 4000+.
Jun 10 1999 – Kosovo War: NATO suspends its air strikes after Slobodan Miloševic agrees to
withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
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Jun 11 1775 – American Revolution: 1st Battle of Machias begins. The war's first naval battle.
After 2 days the Unity (U.S.) manned by Patriot militia captures the schooner Margaretta
(British). Casualties and losses: US 14 - Brit 13.
Jun 11 1862 – Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley
Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic; his tactics during the campaign are now
studied by militaries around the world.
Jun 11 1863 – Civil War: Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia.
Jun 11 1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet
Union.
Jun 12 1775 – American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in
Massachusetts. The British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would
be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be
hanged.
Jun 12 1864 – Civil War, Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor – Ulysses S. Grant gives the
Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee a victory when he pulls his Union troops from their
positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south. Casualties and losses: US 12,737 - CSA
4,505.
Jun 12 1898 – Spanish American War: U.S. war ships set sail for Cuba.
Jun 12 1918 – WWI: First airplane bombing raid by an American unit, France
Jun 12 1943 – USS R12 (SS–89) foundered after battery flooded while off Key West, Florida. 42
died.
Jun 12 1944 – USS Missouri (BB–63) the last battleship built by the United States Navy and
future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
Jun 12 1944 – WW2: American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of
Carentan, France.
Jun 12 1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington
officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
Jun 12 1987 – Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly
challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
Jun 13 1777 – American Revolution: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston S.C. in order to
help the Continental Congress to train its army.
Jun 14 1775 – American Revolution: The U.S. Army is founded when the Continental Congress
authorizes the muster of troops.
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Jun 14 1846 – Bear Flag Revolt begins – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion
against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
 Jun 14 1863 – Civil War: Battle of Second Winchester – a Union garrison is defeated by the
Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia. Casualties
and losses: US 4,443 - CSA 269.
 Jun 14 1863 – Civil War: Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson
is a costly failure for Major General Nathaniel Banks. Casualties and losses:US ~10,000 - CSA
~7,500.
 Jun 14 1944 – WW2: First B–29 raid against mainland Japan.
 Jun 14 1944 – WW2: USS Golet (SS–361) missing. Most likely sunk by Japanese guardboat
Miya Maru, auxiliary submarine chaser Bunzan Maru, and naval aircraft off northern Honshu,
Japan. 82 killed
 Jun 14 1945 – WW2: Battle of Bessang Pass – In Ilocos Sur province in Northern Luzon U.S and
Filipino forces assault the last stronghold of the Japanese imperial forces in a four month
campaign resulting in the first Filipino military victory of the war. It paved the way to the
entrapment of Yamashita’s forces in the Cordillera until the general’s surrender in September
1945. Casualties and losses: US & RP 3,400 - JP 19,100.
 Jun 15 1775 – American Revolution: George Washington is appointed commander–in–chief of
the Continental Army.
 Jun 15 1859 – Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary
Dispute" between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers.
 Jun 15 1864 – Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.
 Jun 15 1864 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.81 km2) around
Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set
aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
 Jun 15 1898 – Spanish American War: U.S. Marines attack Spanish off Guantánamo Cuba.
 Jun 15 1913 - Philippine American War: The 4 day Battle of Bud Bagsak ends with U.S.
Brigadier General John "Black Jack" J. Pershing troops completely annihilating the Moro
resistance fighters armed mostly with kris (dagger having a wavy double-edged blade), barongs
(long, broad, leaf-shaped knifes), spears, and few guns.
 Jun 15 1940 - World War II: The 10 day Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate
France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
 Jun 15 1944 – WW2: Battle of Saipan: The United States invade Japanese–occupied Saipan. The
battle lasts 24 days with an ultimate U.S. victory.
[Source: Various May 2015 ++]
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