A Brief History On June 4, 1942, the Battle of Midway began with Admiral Nagumo of the Imperial Japanese Navy ordering an airstrike on the US held island of Midway in the Central Pacific. Flush with victory after victory, the powerful Japanese task force expected another rousing victory on the road to defeating the United States, but “you can’t always get what you want!” Digging Deeper The Japanese took America by surprise on December 7, 1941, with a crippling blow struck at the Pacific Fleet headquarters at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, quickly followed up by equally devastating strikes against other…
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A Brief History On June 3, 1969, off the coast of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, an Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS Melbourne, hit the port side of the US destroyer, USS Evans, cutting the smaller ship in half. Digging Deeper In the early morning darkness at 3 am (0300 hours) the ships were running without lights when the carrier changed course for air operations. Though the message was sent to the USS Evans to take up position as rescue destroyer (traveling behind the carrier), the order was misinterpreted and the destroyer crossed in front of the turning carrier,…
A Brief History On June 1, 1918, the Battle of Belleau Wood began in France near the River Marne. The United States Army 2nd and 3rd Divisions reinforced by a brigade of US Marines consisting of the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments (with smaller units of French and English soldiers) faced off against 5 German divisions determined to continue their advance into Belleau Wood. This action produced real evidence that United States soldiers and Marines had the guts to fight on the biggest stage in the world. Digging Deeper The Germans were determined to advance as far as possible into…
A Brief History On May 31, 1866, Irish nationalists known as Fenian Brotherhood invaded Canada in an attempt to force Britain into granting Ireland independence. This invasion was not the first raid into Canada by the Fenians, an American based Irish Republican group, nor would it be the last, with raids starting in April of 1866 and continuing until 1871. Digging Deeper As many as 10,000 Irish Americans were involved in the Fenian movement, a movement motivated by the British crushing of the Irish Independence movement in 1865. Those Fenians involved with the raids were mostly battle hardened veterans of…
A Brief History On May 28, 1802, 400 former slaves revolting against the reinstatement of slavery by the French under Napoleon Bonaparte in the Caribbean department of Guadalupe blew themselves up rather than surrender to the French. Digging Deeper Revolutionary France had abolished slavery, but after Napoleon Bonaparte took control of the country his wife, Josephine, herself a native of Martinique, talked the Emperor into reinstating slavery in the West Indies, as slaves were vital to the plantation way of life for the rich French overseers. Resistance to the French authorities was led by Louis Delgres, a mulatto (half white,…