Download May 11

This Day in U.S. Military History
May 11
1690 – In the first major engagement of King William’s War, British
troops from Massachusetts seized Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick) from the French, their objective was to take
Quebec.
1846 – Congress declares war against Mexico at request of the President
James Polk.
1862 – C.S.S. Virginia blown up by her crew off Craney Island to avoid
capture.
1864 – A dismounted Union trooper fatally wounds J.E.B. Stuart, one of
the most colorful generals of the South, at the Battle of Yellow Tavern,
just six miles north of Richmond.
1866 – Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after
spending two years in prison for his role in the American Civil War.
1889 – Major Joseph Wham and group of soldiers, carrying a military
payroll of $29,000, were attacked by a dozen outlaws near Fort Thomas,
Arizona Territory.
1898 – Revenue Cutter Hudson towed the crippled USS Winslow from
certain destruction under the Spanish forts at Cardenas, Cuba during
the Spanish-American War.
1898 – Sailors and Marines from USS Marblehead and USS Nashville
cut trans-oceanic cable near Cienfuegos, Cuba, isolating Cuba from
Spain.
1920 – The 16th Marine Regiment organized at Philadelphia for duty in
Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1942 – The Air Medal was authorized by President Roosevelt by
Executive Order 9158 and established the award for “any person who,
while serving in any capacity in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or
Coast Guard of the United States subsequent to September 8, 1939,
distinguishes, or has distinguished, himself by meritorious achievement
while participating in an aerial flight.” Executive Order 9242-A, dated 11
September 1942 amended the previous Executive Order to read “in any
capacity in or with the Army”.
1943 – The US 7th Division (commanded by General Brown) lands on
Japanese occupied Attu Island.
1943 – Hermann Goering division in Tunisia surrendered.
1944 – The US 5th Army launches new attacks against the German-held
Gustav Line.
1944 – The US 9th Air Force begins a series of raids on airfields around
Caen.
1944 – The Japanese begin to assemble most of their remaining heavy
warships at Tawitawi. Admiral Ozawa commands the forces. The build up is
in anticipation of the American offensive against the Mariana Islands to the
northeast.
1945 – On Okinawa, American forces conduct a coordinated attack on
the Japanese held Shuri Line.
1945 – Four days after Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to
the Allies, the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escorts USS Vance and
USS Durant, underway off the Azores escorting their last convoy to the
Mediterranean, sighted a light ahead of the convoy.
1945 – On Luzon, elements of US 1st Corps make contact on Kapintalan
Ridge.
1945 – Units of the Soviet 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts eliminate most of
the German resistance in Czechoslovakia and make contact with American
forces at Pilsen.
1951 – Communist forces conducted a massive shift eastward, completing
the move and commencing a new attack on May 16.
1961 – President Kennedy approves sending 400 Special Forces troops
and 100 other U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam.
1962 – US sent troops to Thailand.]
1962 – Secretary of Defense McNamara makes the first of many trips to
Vietnam and meets with Diem. After 48 hours in the country he concludes,
‘every quantitative measurement…shows that we are winning the war.’
1965 – U.S. destroyers deliver first shore bombardment of Vietnam War.
1965 – General Westmoreland and Deputy Premier Nguyen Van Thieu
make a parachute jump together.
1965 – The 1st marine Aircraft Wing flies in to establish its advance
headquarters at Danang.
1967 – In Vietnam the siege of Khe Sanh ended, with the base still in
American hands.
1967 – Civilian-operated pacification programs in South Vietnam are
handed over to the US military command. The projects are aimed at reestablishing South Vietnamese government control over rural villages and
hamlets.
1968 – US and North Vietnamese negotiators complete procedural
arrangements for the formal talks. They agree that, for the time being,
participation will be limited to representatives of the United States and North
Vietnam.
1969 – U.S. and South Vietnamese forces battle North Vietnamese
troops for Ap Bia Mountain (Hill 937), one mile east of the Laotian
border.
1975 – The Cambodian government seized an American merchant ship, the
Mayaguez.
1989 – President Bush ordered nearly 2,000 troops to invade Panama.
1991 – President Bush dispatched an amphibious task force with thousands
of Marines and dozens of helicopters to help cyclone-ravaged Bangladesh
with disaster relief efforts.
1999 – In Beijing, protests outside the US Embassy over NATO’s bombing
of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade eased after state-run television aired US
and NATO apologies for the attack.
1999 – NATO bombings continued in Serbia with strikes against radio and
TV towers, oil storage tanks, bridges and army barracks.
1999 – US and British warplanes bombed air defense targets in northern and
southern Iraq after they were targeted by radar.
2004 – The Bush administration ordered economic sanctions against Syria
for supporting terrorism. Food and medicine were excepted.
2004 – A video, posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site, showed the
beheading of Nick Berg, an American civilian in Iraq. Abu Musab alZarqawi, aka Ahmad Fadhil al Khalayeh, was later identified as the
beheader. Nick Berg (26) was from West Chester, Pa.