TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
19 August
◆1099 First Crusaders defeat the Saracens at Ascalon.
◆1388 Battle of Otterburn: The Scots defeat the English.
◆1534 Khyar-adin Barbarossa seizes Tunis.
◆1779 Americans under Major Henry Lee took the British garrison at Paulus Hook, New Jersey.
◆1818 CAPT James Biddle takes possession of Oregon Territory for U.S.
◆1864 The 2nd day of battle at Globe Tavern, Virginia.
◆1905 Fitzhugh Lee, US pilot, vice-admiral (WW II, Navy Cross), was born.
◆1919 "The Marines' Hymn" was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
◆1921 Gene Roddenberry was born, B-17 Pilot, creator of "Star Trek", died 1991.
◆1942 A major raid by mainly Canadian Forces (2nd Canadian Division, under General Roberts), with a British commando component (Nos. 3 & 4 commandos under Lord Lovat) and 50 American Rangers, is staged on the French coast, at Dieppe.★
◆1942 19 US Marines died during a commando raid on Makin atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The raid was 2,000 miles behind enemy lines and 9 Marines were left behind. The 1943 movie, "Gung Ho," was based on the raid and starred Randolph Scott as Lt. Col. Evans Carlson, leader of the raid. In 2001 the bodies of 13 Marines, who died on Makin, were reburied at Arlington National Cemetery.
◆1942 Guadalcanal: 5th Marines skirmish with Ichiki Detachment.
◆1942 Japanese convoys land reinforcements at Buna, NE New Guinea.
◆1942 Japanese dispatch 1500 troops from Rabaul by convoy for Guadalcanal.
◆1943 Italians have approached the Allies about negotiating a surrender. General Bedell Smith, General Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, and General Strong, his chief of intelligence areeive to continue talks with approaches to the British ambassador, Sir Samuel Hoare. The leading Italian representative is General Castellano.
◆1944 Elements of the US 3rd Army reach the Seine River at Mantes Grassicourt. There is heavy fighting between Falaise and Argentan.
◆1945 Japanese representatives of the government arrive in Manila to conclude the surrender of the remaining Japanese troops and receive instructions on the plans for the occupation of Japan and the signing of the surrender documents. Meanwhile, General MacArthur ordered a halt to all amphibious landing operations.
◆1946 Bill Clinton, US President from 1992-2000, was born as William J. Blythe III in Hope, Arkansas.
◆1950 The United Nations accepted offers of troops from Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Thailand and the Philippines.
◆1950 The USS Missouri, the only active battleship in the Navy fleet at that time, departed Norfolk, Va., for Korea, arriving Sept. 15.
◆1953 Gen'l. Zahedi ousted Prime Minister Mossadegh and became the Premier of Iran in a bloody coup that left 300 dead. The US CIA under Allen Dulles planned a secret mission to overthrow the government. The US government made a formal apology for the coup in 2000.
◆1957 The first balloon flight to exceed 100,000 feet took off from Crosby, Minnesota. US Major David Simons reached 30,933 m. in a balloon.
◆1960 A tribunal in Moscow convicted American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage.About 18 months later, the Soviets agreed to release him in exchange for Rudolph Abel, a Soviet spy convicted 5 years earlier. The CIA and the Senate cleared Powers of any personal blame for the incident.
◆1965 U.S. forces destroyed a Viet Cong stronghold near Van Tuong, in South Vietnam.
◆1967 Operation Coronado IV begins in Mekong Delta.
◆1981 Two US Navy F-14 jet fighters from the USS 'Nimitz' (CVN-68) shot down two Soviet-built Libyan SU-22.★
◆1987 A third convoy of U.S. warships and reflagged Kuwaiti tankers slipped into the Persian Gulf before dawn and headed up the waterway behind a screen of mine-seeking helicopters.
◆1990 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offered to free all foreigners detained in Iraq and Kuwait provided the United States promise to withdraw its forces from Saudi Arabia and guarantee that an international economic embargo would be lifted.