Posted on 06/21/2017 1:59:12 PM PDT by fugazi
1900: The Chinese empress Cixi formally declares war on foreign powers. 100,000 members of the nationalist "Righteous and Harmonious Fists" movement (nickamed the "Boxers" by the British) launch attacks against Christian and foreign targets in Peking's (modern-day Beijing) Legation Quarter. The siege lasts nearly two months before Western reinforcements arrive. Marine legend Dan Daly will earn his first of two Medals of Honor (one of only two men to accomplish the feat) when he single-handedly kills some 200 Boxers.
1916: During Gen. John J. Pershing's "Punitive Expedition" into Mexico to capture or kill Pancho Villa, Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment clash with - and defeat - a Mexican Army force at Carrizal. The incident nearly puts the two countries on a war footing, but with the "War to End All War" raging across the Atlantic, tensions would soon dissipate.
1921: Army and Navy aircraft attack the former German battleship Ostfriesland, sinking the massive vessel and giving support to famed World War I aviator Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell's theory that dreadnought battleships could be easily sunk by planes and are taking up too much of the military budget.
1942: The Japanese submarine I-25 surfaces at the mouth of the Columbia River, off the coast of Oregon, and targets Fort Stevens. The sub's gun inflicts virtually no damage, but the attack marks the only time that a stateside U.S. military installation is bombarded.
Halfway across the Pacific, PBY "Catalina" crew members rescue two downed aviators floating in the ocean, over 300 miles north of Midway. The men have been drifting since their TBD "Devastator" torpedo bomber went down during the Battle of Midway on June 4.
1945: After 82 days of the bloodiest fighting during World War II,
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
Ah yes, Okinawa. If there was ever a solid reason for nuking Japan and not risking one more American life with an invasion.........................
Amen to that observation regarding Okinawa.
Suicide cliffs. Bayoneting crying babies to hide location of soldiers. Nothing man made or natural left standing on the island that was over 24 inches tall.
Great movie.
My father, who served on the USS Bream in the Pacific during WWII, was of the mind that if the US had produced another 50 Gato/Balao class submarines in 1943-1944, we never would have had to invade Okinawa or Iwo Jima for that matter. By mid 1944 Japan was already literally starving to death. After the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Imperial Navy was finished. And Japan’s merchant fleet was in shambles.
The US Navy was strangling Japan and with the additional subs, the US could have shut down the rest of Japan’s shipping routes. By 1945, our subs were having a hard time finding any large enemy transports...everything Japan needed to carry out war was imported by sea, but as bad as that was, Japan could not feed her people anymore.
If Macarthur hadn’t taken over the Japanese government there would have been mass starvation on a scale measured in the millions.
The according to my father, this was the general feeling throughout the submarine service. All those tens of thousands of lives lost for nothing, because in the end we never did invade mainland Japan.
“The only other American to be awarded two Medals of Honor (for separate engagements) is Marine Smedley Butler.”
You forgot to mention Thomas Ward Custer, who was awarded two MOH during the Civil War. He was the younger brother of George Armstrong Custer, and was killed with him at the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876.
What is the name of the movie?
Probably “55 Days at Peking”.
Yes
Interesting. I had never heard of Custer’s actions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.