Posted on 07/24/2019 1:48:57 PM PDT by fugazi
1897: A crowd of over 10,000 greets the black soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division’s “Bicycle Corps” (featured image) as they ride into St. Louis’ Forest Park, completing a 41-day, 1,900-mile trip from Fort Missoula, Montana.
1944: Thanks to a custom-built landing vehicle known as the “Doodlebug,” specially modified to carry ladders that allows vehicles to scale rocky shorelines, the Fourth Marine Division avoids the heavily defended beaches on Tinian and catches the island’s Japanese defenders off guard. By August 1, the island is secured and Seabees begin construction on the runways that the B-29s Enola Gay and Bock’s Car will use to deliver the atomic bombs that bring World War II to an end.
1945: 600 aircraft from Task Force 38, commanded by Vice Adm. John S. McCain, and hundreds of B-29 “Superfortress” bombers attack mainland Japan. Five Japanese warships are destroyed and several more damaged in the raid.
Meanwhile, President Harry Truman authorizes the use of the new atomic weapon, and Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold is presented with a list of potential targets. Truman informs his Soviet counterpart Joseph Stalin that America has developed such a weapon, but the Stalin has already learned this from spies within the Manhattan Project.
1950: A captured German V-2 rocket with a WAC Corporal missile fitted on top as a second stage blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida’s Atlantic coast. “Bumper 8” traveled 200 miles downrange and reached a height of 10 miles in the first-ever launch from a facility that will soon begin sending men rockets — and later, men — into space.
1965: Soviet
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
The picture of soldiers on bicycles in 1897 cannot not be the 25th Infantry Division since it didn’t exist until 1941. The picture is probably of the 25th Infantry Regiment, an all black infantry regiment.
I hadn’t considered that... You’re right about it being the 25th Regiment.
My father’s cousin has a picture of himself standing in front of Alan Shepard’s Mercury craft on the deck of the USS Lake Champlain.
Doodlebug on Tinian:
https://seabeemuseum.wordpress.com/2015/03/
images:
general search:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Doodlebug+Tinian
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