Today in US military history: special ops raids in World War II and Vietnam

Unto the Breach ^ | Nov. 21, 2017 | Chris Carter

[fugazi]

1817: The First Seminole War begins when Gen. (and future president) Andrew Jackson leads forces into Spanish-held Florida to reclaim escaped slaves from Seminole tribal areas.

1943: USS Nautilus (SS-168) surfaces and disembarks Capt. James L. Jones and his Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance Company off the beaches of Abemama Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The raiders board rubber rafts and paddle ashore under cover of darkness, spending the next several days wiping out the defenders and capturing the islands along with fire support from the sub. The Marine Corps' modern-day Force Reconnaissance companies trace their roots to Jones' team.

1947: Grumman's first jet fighter, the F9F "Panther" makes its first flight. The F9F will serve as the Navy and Marine Corps' primary jet fighter during the Korean War and will be flown by Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams (USMC) and Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong (USN).

1967: Gen. William Westmoreland, the commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, tells the American press that "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."

1970: Col. Arthur D. "Bull" Simons leads a 56-man rescue operation on the Son Tay POW camp, just 23 miles from

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The Grumman F9F-2 "Panther" - Ensign Neil Armstrong (future Apollo 11 astronaut) is flying the jet in the background

[yarddog]

Bull Simons had a hog farm (of all things for a Jewish Man) near where I grew up.

He also led a successful rescue of employees of Ross Perot in Iran.

[gunnyg]

Hmmm...........

WTF Hoppen to......... Carlson’s Raiders and the Makin Island Raid????