https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/october-21/21 October
1774 – First display of the word “Liberty” on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America. The Sons of Liberty were in the habit of meeting under a large tree (most village greens had one), which was called the “Liberty Tree”. In cities or towns that lacked a tree big enough, the rebels would erect a tall pole as a symbolic tree. This flag was raised on one such “Liberty Pole.”
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1797 – The 44-gun 204-foot U.S. Navy frigate USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, was launched in Boston’s harbor. It was never defeated in 42 battles. 216 crew members set sail again in 1997 for its 200th birthday. Although her construction is almost halted by a 1796 peace treaty with Algiers, the CONSTITUTION is launched-christened by visiting Capt. James Sever using a bottle of Madeira. It is actually the third attempt to launch her; the first was a month earlier, when the ship sticks after moving only 27 feet. Two days later she moves another 31 feet before sticking once again. For the third attempt, workers make the launching ways steeper, which finally enables a successful event. The public, which includes several French aristocrats, is warned beforehand that the launch of such a large ship might cause a dangerously large wave, but none actually materializes during the event.
1837 – Under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops sieged the Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida. Osceola, who was sick with malaria, knew the Indians could fight no more. He went to the General’s fort at St. Augustine with a white flag. When Osceola went to General Jesup the General had his men surround Osceola. They threw the white flag to the ground and put chains on his hands and feet. The Seminoles were so angry with Osceola’s capture that they continued to fight for the next five years.
1861 – A Union assault across the Potomac River north of Washington, DC, at a site named Harrison’s Landing or better known to history as “Ball’s Bluff” was repulsed with heavy losses. While Confederate loses were rather light the Union forces suffered 223 men killed and more than 700 captured, several hundred of them wounded. Among the dead was Colonel and U.S. Senator from Oregon Edward D. Baker. Born in England he came to America as a child and spent his early life in Illinois, where he met and became life-long friends with Abraham Lincoln. While there he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1844. He resigned his seat in 1846 to command the 4th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the Mexican War. He commanded the unit at the Siege of Vera Cruz and Battle of Cerro Gordo in Mexico. After the war he moved to California. He later moved to Oregon and was elected as a one of its two new senators in 1860. When the war started in April 1861, he raised a regiment in New York, but soon after took a commission (while still seated in the Senate) as the commander of the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. During the Battle of Ball’s Bluff his regiment found itself backed up against the river by Colonel William Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade (13th, 17th and 18th Mississippi regiments). Baker is killed instantly by a shot in the head. He was the only seated member of Congress to die in combat during the Civil War. Several other interesting notes stem from this battle. Due to Baker’s death and the high losses suffered in this operation, questions were raised in Congress about the Army’s leadership. A “Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War” was established to oversee how the war effort was being handled. On the military side, Barksdale’s Brigade would meet some of the very same units it fought at Ball’s Bluff again at Antietam and Fredericksburg in 1862. Among these were the 7th Michigan and the 19th and 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry regiments.
1867 – Many leaders of the Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache signed peace treaties at Medicine Lodge, Kan. Comanche Chief Quanah Parker refused to accept the treaty terms. The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed between the United States government and southern Plains Indian tribes, intended to bring peace to the area by relocating the Native Americans to reservations in Indian Territory and away from European-American settlement. The treaty was negotiated after investigation by the Indian Peace Commission, which in its final report in 1868 concluded that the wars had been preventable. They determined that the United States government and its representatives, including the United States Congress, had contributed to the warfare on the Great Plains by failing to fulfill their legal obligations and to treat the Native Americans with honesty. The U.S. government and tribal chiefs met at a place traditional for Native American ceremonies, at their request. The first treaty was signed with the Kiowa and Comanche tribes. The second, with the Kiowa-Apache, was signed the same day. The third treaty was signed with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho on October 28. Under the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the tribes were assigned reservations of diminished size compared to territories defined in an 1865 treaty. Because of the outstanding issues with the treaty and subsequent government actions, in the mid-20th century, the Kiowa, Arapaho and Comanche filed several suits for claims against the U.S. government. Over decades, they won substantial settlements of monetary compensation in the amount of tens of millions of dollars, although it took years for the cases to be resolved.
1872 – The U.S. Naval Academy admitted John H. Conyers, the first African American to be accepted.
1879 – Thomas Edison invents a workable electric light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. which was tested the next day and lasted 13.5 hours. This would be the invention of the first commercially practical incandescent light. Popular belief is that he invented the first light bulb, which he did not.
1904 – Panamanians clashed with U.S. Marines in Panama in a brief uprising.
1916 – US Army formed Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Congress recognized the need for an expanded military reserve to supplement the National Guard, and it passed the National Defense Act. The National Defense Act provided for the establishment of the Officers’ Reserve Corps, to be comprised of men trained in ROTC and in Army training camps. These officers not only served in World War I, but also went on to form the basis of the Officer’s Reserve Corps in the 1930’s. Consequently, when World War II broke out, ROTC was able to provide the necessary military leadership required for the Army to mobilize. Within six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, more than 56,000 Army ROTC officers had served our country. Later, in Korea and Vietnam, Army ROTC graduates reaffirmed our national commitment to a defense force, led in part by citizen soldiers who had been prepared for leadership on the campuses of our colleges and universities. Because of the conflict, Congress added additional strength to the program with the passage of the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964. The act provided for the establishment of Army ROTC scholarships, the creation of the two-year program, and an increase in the amount of money ROTC students receive. These additional incentives stimulated enrollment in the program and introduced the rewards of military life to thousands of qualified young students.
1917 – Members of the First Division of the U.S. Army training in Luneville, France, became the first Americans to see action on the front lines of World War I. The first U.S. troops entered the front lines at Sommervillier under French command. During the night, a battalion from each regiment and designated batteries of the division moved in beside corresponding units of the 18th French Division and began training in caring for themselves in the trenches, in patrolling, observation, and artillery procedures. The battalions and batteries were rotated at ten-day intervals until all had been at the front.
1942 – On Guadalcanal, the Japanese forces, mainly 2nd Infantry Division, under General Maruyama now number 20,000. The plan for the attack on the main American position involves simultaneous attacks to be made northward in the area between the Lunga and Tenaru Rivers, while secondary attacks are made on the American western outposts along the Matanika River. The Japanese lack accurate intelligence concerning the numbers and dispositions of the American troops.
1942 – General MacArthur orders the Australian troops fighting on Kokoda Trail advance to the main Japanese positions in Eora, New Guinea to speed up their advance.
1942 – Eight American and British officers landed from a submarine on an Algerian beach to take measure of Vichy French to the Operation Torch landings. The transports and escorts in support of the Allied invasion of French North Africa, sail. Despite the presence of 21 German U-boats in the waters off Gibraltar and the Moroccan coast, the transports are only mentioned vaguely in dispatches to Italy and Germany.
1944 – During World War II, U.S. troops captured the German city of Aachen. The Battle of Aachen was a major combat action of World War II, fought by American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany, beginning on 2 October 1944. The city had been incorporated into the Siegfried Line, the main defensive network on Germany’s western border; the Allies had hoped to capture it quickly and advance into the industrialized Ruhr Basin. Although most of Aachen’s civilian population was evacuated before the battle began, much of the city was destroyed and both sides suffered heavy losses. It was one of the largest urban battles fought by U.S. forces in World War II, and the first city on German soil to be captured by the Allies. The battle ended with a German surrender, but their tenacious defense significantly disrupted Allied plans for the advance into Germany.
1944 – Organized Japanese resistance on Angaur, Palau Islands ends. A total of 1300 Japanese are killed and 45 are captured. American forces have suffered 265 dead and 1335 wounded. US heavy bombers are operating from the airfield. The Japanese garrisons on the remaining islands in the group are left isolated.
1944 – Elements of US 24th Corps capture Dulag Airfield; Tacloban village is taken by forces of US 10th Corps. American forces are unable to link the two beachheads. Ships of the US 7th Fleet and one group of US Task Force 38 (part of US 3rd Fleet) provide naval and air support to the land battles. Meanwhile, two groups of TF38 launch air strikes against targets on Panay, Cebu, Negros and Masbate.
1949 – Northrop launches the YB-49 Flying Wing, big brother to the B-2 stealth bomber. The Northrop YB-49 was a prototype jet-powered heavy bomber aircraft developed by Northrop Corporation shortly after World War II for service with the U.S. Air Force. The YB-49 featured a Flying Wing design and was a jet-powered development of the earlier, piston-engined Northrop XB-35 and YB-35. The two YB-49s actually built were both converted YB-35 test aircraft. The YB-49 never entered production, being passed over in favor of the more conventional Convair B-36 piston-driven design. Design work performed in the development of the YB-35 and YB-49 nonetheless proved to be valuable to Northrop decades later in the eventual development of the B-2 stealth bomber, which entered service in the early 1990s.
1959 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA. By the late 1960s their rockets were taking men to the moon.
1963 – The United Sates announces that it will deny funds to the Vietnamese Special Forces, which have been heavily use din attacks against the Buddhist populations, if they are used for purposes other than fighting the Vietcong, and will not renew the annual agreement supplying the government with surplus food which is sold to pay South Vietnamese troops.
1972 – US Sec. of State Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam reached a cease-fire agreement. It was signed Jan 27, 1973.
1983 – The United States sent a ten-ship task force to Grenada, one of the smallest independent nations in the Western Hemisphere and one of the southernmost Caribbean islands in the Windward chain. The Cuban government had decided to utilize the former British colony as a holding place for arms and military equipment, complete with a major airport. Eastern Caribbean nations fully understood the implication of the communist threat and called upon the United States for help. The response was Operation Urgent Fury, a multinational, multiservice effort. Commanding officers of the US Navy ships have not yet been told what the mission in Grenada–to evacuate U.S. citizens, neutralize any resistance, stabilize the situation and maintain the peace—will be.
1986 – Pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon claimed to have abducted American Edward Tracy (he was released in August 1991). Tracy, a self-described poet and author of children’s books, disappeared in Muslim west Beirut. The Revolutionary Justice Organization later claimed to have kidnapped him. Tracy spent most of his adult life traveling. At the time of his disappearance, Tracy’s mother said she had not seen her son for 21 years.
1991 – American hostage Jesse Turner was freed by his kidnappers in Lebanon after nearly four years in captivity. Jesse Turner, pale and slightly unsteady on his feet after nearly five years in captivity in Lebanon, was turned over to American officials in Damascus. `I am happy to be out, finally,’ he said in a soft voice. `I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends.’ The 44-year-old Mr. Turner, who was held by a pro-Iranian group called Islamic Holy War for the Liberation of Palestine, was an assistant professor of computer science and mathematics at Beirut University College when he was kidnapped by men posing as Lebanese police officers on Jan. 24, 1987.
1993 – NATO ministers endorsed a U.S. plan to form limited partnerships with Russia and other former East bloc foes, but stopped short of offering full membership.
1994 – United States and North Korea signed an agreement requiring the communist nation to halt its nuclear program and agree to inspections.
1996 – President Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military survived its first Supreme Court test.
1997 – It was reported that The Energy Dept. and the Arthur D. Little company had developed a new fuel system for cars that uses fuel cell technology first developed by NASA. Electricity would be produced by extracting hydrogen from gasoline and combining it with oxygen.
1997 – Pictures of the Antennae galaxies, two intermeshed colliding galaxies, were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1996 and revealed to the public for the first time.
1998 – A radical environmental group, the Earth Liberation Front, claimed responsibility for fires that caused $12 million in damage at the nation’s busiest ski resort in Vail, Colo.
1999 – Organizers called for a “Jam Echelon Day,” an effort to overload US National Security Agency (NSA) supercomputers with e-mail containing words such as “bomb.” Echelon was a worldwide surveillance network run by the NSA and partners in Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
2001 – US warplanes hit Taliban frontline troops north of Kabul in the fiercest hits to date. A 1000-pound bomb hit near a senior citizens home in Herat. US air strikes at Thorai killed 21 civilians.
2001 – A DC postal worker was diagnosed with the deadly inhalation form of anthrax. DC postal worker Thomas L. Morris Jr. (55) died. Officials began testing thousands of postal employees.
2002 – Pres. Bush said he would try diplomacy “one more time,” but did not think Saddam Hussein would disarm, even if doing so would allow him to remain in power.
2002 – APEC delegates, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam began meetings at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to discuss terrorism and the world economy.
2003 – Iran agreed to snap UN inspections of its nuclear sites and to freeze uranium enrichment.
2004 – Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, the highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison case, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
2011 – With the collapse of the discussions about extending the stay of any U.S. troops beyond 2011, where they would not be granted any immunity from the Iraqi government President Obama announced at a White House press conference that all remaining U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of the year as previously scheduled, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an end.
Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
FREEMEYER, CHRISTOPHER
Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
KAY, JOHN
Rank and organization: Private, Company L, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Arizona, 21 October 1868. Entered service at:—— Birth: England. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Brought a comrade, severely wounded, from under the fire of a large party of the enemy.
KENNEDY, PHILIP
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
KREHER, WENDELIN
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company C, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Prussia. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
McCANN, BERNARD
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 22d U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
McCORMlCK, MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Rutland, Vt. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action .
McGAR, OWEN
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: Pawtucket, R.I. Birtil: North Attleboro, Mass Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
McHUGH, JOHN
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Syracuse, N.Y. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Cltation: Gallantry in action.
McLOUGHLlN, MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
McPHELAN, ROBERT
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
MILLER, GEORGE
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Brooklyn, N.Y. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
MONTROSE, CHARLES H.
Rank and organization: Private, Company I, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Birth: St. Paul, Minn. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
ROCHE, DAVID
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
RODENBURG, HENRY
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
ROONEY, EDWARD
Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Birth: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
RYAN, DAVID
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
SHEPPARD, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Birth: Rocky Hill, Conn. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Bravery in action with Sioux.
WALLACE, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
WHITEHEAD, PATTON G.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Russell County, Va. Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
WILSON, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Cedar Creek, etc., Mont., 21 October 1876 to 8 January 1877. Entered service at: Beardstown, Ill. Birth: Petersburg, Ill Date of issue: 27 April 1877. Citation: Gallantry in action.
BIEGLER, GEORGE W.
Rank and organization: Captain, 28th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: Near Loac, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 21 October 1900. Entered service at: Terre Haute, Ind. Birth: Terre Haute, Ind. Date of issue: 11 March 1902. Citation: With but 19 men resisted and at close quarters defeated 300 of the enemy.
*MOON, HAROLD H., JR.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company G, 34th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division. Place and date: Pawig, Leyte, Philippine Islands, 21 October 1944. Entered service at: Gardena, Calif. Birth: Albuquerque, N. Mex. G.O. No.: 104, 15 November 1945. Citation: He fought with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity when powerful Japanese counterblows were being struck in a desperate effort to annihilate a newly won beachhead. In a forward position, armed with a submachinegun, he met the brunt of a strong, well-supported night attack which quickly enveloped his platoon’s flanks. Many men in nearby positions were killed or injured, and Pvt. Moon was wounded as his foxhole became the immediate object of a concentration of mortar and machinegun fire. Nevertheless, he maintained his stand, poured deadly fire into the enemy, daringly exposed himself to hostile fire time after time to exhort and inspire what American troops were left in the immediate area. A Japanese officer, covered by machinegun fire and hidden by an embankment, attempted to knock out his position with grenades, but Pvt. Moon, after protracted and skillful maneuvering, killed him. When the enemy advanced a light machinegun to within 20 yards of the shattered perimeter and fired with telling effects on the remnants of the platoon, he stood up to locate the gun and remained exposed while calling back range corrections to friendly mortars which knocked out the weapon. A little later he killed 2 Japanese as they charged an aid man. By dawn his position, the focal point of the attack for more than 4 hours, was virtually surrounded. In a fanatical effort to reduce it and kill its defender, an entire platoon charged with fixed bayonets. Firing from a sitting position, Pvt. Moon calmly emptied his magazine into the advancing horde, killing 18 and repulsing the attack. In a final display of bravery, he stood up to throw a grenade at a machinegun which had opened fire on the right flank. He was hit and instantly killed, falling in the position from which he had not been driven by the fiercest enemy action. Nearly 200 dead Japanese were found within 100 yards of his foxhole. The continued tenacity, combat sagacity, and magnificent heroism with which Pvt. Moon fought on against overwhelming odds contributed in a large measure to breaking up a powerful enemy threat and did much to insure our initial successes during a most important operation.
*WILSON, RICHARD G.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Co. 1, Medical Company, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment. Place and date: Opari, Korea, 21 October 1950. Entered service at: Cape Girardeau Mo. Born: 19 August 1931, Marion, Ill. G.O. No.: 64, 2 August 1951. Citation: Pfc. Wilson distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. As medical aid man attached to Company I, he accompanied the unit during a reconnaissance in force through the hilly country near Opari. The main body of the company was passing through a narrow valley flanked on 3 sides by high hills when the enemy laid down a barrage of mortar, automatic-weapons and small-arms fire. The company suffered a large number of casualties from the intense hostile fire while fighting its way out of the ambush. Pfc. Wilson proceeded at once to move among the wounded and administered aid to them oblivious of the danger to himself, constantly exposing himself to hostile fire. The company commander ordered a withdrawal as the enemy threatened to encircle and isolate the company. As his unit withdrew Private Wilson assisted wounded men to safety and assured himself that none were left behind. After the company had pulled back he learned that a comrade previously thought dead had been seen to be moving and attempting to crawl to safety. Despite the protests of his comrades, unarmed and facing a merciless enemy, Pfc. Wilson returned to the dangerous position in search of his comrade. Two days later a patrol found him lying beside the man he returned to aid. He had been shot several times while trying to shield and administer aid to the wounded man. Pfc. Wilson’s superb personal bravery, consummate courage and willing self-sacrifice for his comrades reflect untold glory upon himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the military service.
