1942 – American submarines move into patrol positions as part of the countermeasures to the expected Japanese attack on Midway.
1943 – The Trident Conference ends. Roosevelt and Churchill, and their staffs, reach compromises on all of the significant differences. Among the decisions taken is the target date for the invasion of western Europe (D-Day) — May 1, 1944. British General Morgan is appointed to prepare plans for the invasion. His is designated Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC).
1943 – There was a riot at Mobile, Al., shipyard over upgrading 12 black workers.
1944 – Patrols of the US 2nd Corps link up with forces of the US 6th Corps from Anzio near Latina (Pontine Marshes). In its advance, the US 6th Corps captures Cisterna and Cori. The German 10th Army is in danger of being cut off and Army Group C (Kesselring) sends its last reserve, the “Hermann Goring” Division, for reinforcement. The US 5th Army (Clark), however, now puts the weight of its forces into the capture of Rome. Meanwhile, the British 8th Army crosses the Melfa River in strength.
1944 – American forces advancing from Arare cross the Tirfoam River after engaging Japanese defenders.
1945 – The American armed forces Chiefs of Staff set November 1, 1945 as the start date for the invasion of Japan — Operation Olympic.
1945 – On Okinawa, the US 4th Marine Regiment eliminates the Japanese casemates and underground positions on Machishi Hill. The US 29th Regiment secures Naha.
1951 – Eighteen U.S. Marines and one U.S. Army infantryman captured during the Chosin/Changjin Reservoir campaign were returned to U.N. control.
1952 – ROK President Syngman Rhee declared martial law in Pusan and arrested members of the Korean National Assembly.
1952 – The USS Iowa made its heaviest attack to date against the industrial seaport of Chongjin.
1953 – The first atomic cannon was fired at Frenchman Flat, Nevada. Fired as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole and codenamed Shot GRABLE, a 280 mm (11 inch) shell with a gun-type fission warhead was fired 10,000 m (6.2 miles) and detonated 160 m (525 ft) above the ground with an estimated yield of 15 kilotons. This was the only nuclear artillery shell ever actually fired in the U.S. nuclear weapons test program. The shell was 1384 mm (4.5 ft) long and weighed 365 kg (805 lb). It was fired from a special, very large artillery piece, nicknamed “Atomic Annie”, built by the Artillery Test Unit of Fort Sill, Oklahoma. About 3,200 soldiers and civilians were present. The warhead was designated the W9 nuclear warhead and 80 were produced in 1952 to 1953 for the T-124 shell. It was retired in 1957.
1961 – President Kennedy asked the nation to work toward putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
1961 – NASA civilian pilot Joseph A. Walker took the X-15 to 32,770 meters.
1962 – US performed an atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island.
1962 – A report of the International Control Commission (ICC) for Vietnam charges North Vietnam with subversion and aggression into South Vietnam. It also charges that the United States is violating the Geneva Agreements with its military buildup in South Vietnam, and accuses South Vietnam of violating the 1954 Geneva Accords by accepting US military aid and establishing ‘a factual military alliance’ with the US. The report is adopted by the Indian and Canadian members of the ICC but is opposed by the Polish member.
1967 – Fighting resumes in the southeastern section of the DMZ when two Marine battalions assault a North Vietnamese position on Hill 117, three miles west of the base at Conthien. They withdraw after blowing up enemy bunkers there on the 27th.
1968 – The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, was dedicated.
1968 – The communists launch their third major assault of the year on Saigon. The heaviest fighting occurred during the first three days of June, and again centered on Cholon, the Chinese section of Saigon, where U.S. and South Vietnamese forces used helicopters, fighter-bombers, and tanks to dislodge deeply entrenched Viet Cong infiltrators. A captured enemy directive, which the U.S. command made public on May 28, indicated that the Viet Cong saw the offensive as a means of influencing the Paris peace talks in their favor.
1969 – South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu assumes personal leadership of the National Social Democratic Front at its inaugural meeting in Saigon. Thieu said the establishment of this coalition party was “the first concrete step in unifying the political factions in South Vietnam for the coming political struggle with the communists,” and emphasized that the new party would not be “totalitarian or despotic.” The six major parties comprising the NSDF coalition were: the Greater Union Force, composed largely of militant Roman Catholic refugees from North Vietnam; the Social Humanist Party, successor to the Can Lao party, which had held power under the Ngo Dinh Diem regime; the Revolutionary Dai Viet, created to fight the French; the Social Democratic Party, a faction of the Hoa Hao religious sect; the United Vietnam Kuomintang, formed as an anti-French party; and the People’s Alliance for Social Revolution, a pro-government bloc formed in 1968.
1972 – US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1973 – Launch of Skylab 2 mission, which was first U.S. manned orbiting space station. It had an all Navy crew of CAPT Charles Conrad, Jr., USN. (commanding), CDR Joseph P. Kerwin, USN and CDR Paul J. Weitz, USN. During the 28 day mission of 404 orbits, the craft rendezvoused with Skylab to make repairs and conduct science experiments. Recovery by USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14)
1977 – US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1978 – A package bomb injured Terry Marker, a Northwestern Univ. security guard. It was later attributed to the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.
1990 – A congressional report cast doubts on the US Navy’s official finding that a troubled sailor probably had caused the blast that killed 47 servicemen aboard the battleship USS “Iowa.”
1995 – NATO warplanes struck Bosnian Serb headquarters. Serbs answered with swift defiance, storming UN weapons depots, attacking safe areas and taking peacekeepers as hostages.
1996 – President Clinton, honoring the men and women who died in military service, used his weekly radio address to defend America’s global military role, saying it “is making our people safer and the world more secure.”
1999 – The US government released a bipartisan congressional report that said China stole design secrets for nuclear warheads that included every weapon in the current US nuclear arsenal. The systematic espionage campaign was dated back to the 1970s. Stolen technology included data on an Army antitank weapon, fighter airplanes and all the elements needed to launch a major nuclear attack. President Clinton responded that his administration was already “moving aggressively to tighten security.”
1999 – NATO approved plans for 50,000 ground soldiers to move into Kosovo.
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