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TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

1 December

◆1299 Battle of Falconaria: King Frederick II of Sicily defeats Philip I of Taranto, to oust Neapolitan invaders.
​◆1641 Massachusetts became the 1st colony to give statutory recognition to slavery. It was followed by Connecticut in 1650 and Virginia in 1661.
◆1642 Battle of Piercebridge: the Earl of Newcastle's Cavaliers beat the Roundheads.
◆1822 Battle of Monrovia: Americo-Liberians defeat local tribes.
◆1814 The shallow-draft steamboat Enterprise, completed in Pittsburgh under the direction of keelboat captain Henry Miller Shreve, left for New Orleans to deliver guns and ammunition to Gen. Jackson.
◆1842 Midshipman Philip Spencer (18) on the brig-of-war Somers, the 1st US naval officer condemned for mutiny, was hanged. Spencer was the son of John Canfield Spencer, the Sec. of War under Pres. John Tyler. Boatswain Samuel Cromwell and Seaman Elisha Small also hanged.
◆1863 Belle Boyd, a Confederate spy, was released from prison in Washington. 
◆1864 Franklin-Nashville Campaign began with an action at Owen’s Crossroads, TN.
◆1896 Armored cruiser 'Brooklyn' (CA-3) commissioned, at Philadelphia.
◆1909 President Taft severed official relations with Nicaragua’s Zelaya government, and declared support for the revolutionaries.1914 Following the outbreak of World War I, the nation's markets temporarily shut down to safeguard against a debilitating bear run. But, this day, traders were back at it again, at least on the West Coast, where the San Francisco Stock & Bond Exchange became the first U.S. exchange to re-open its doors for business.
◆1918 An American army of occupation entered Germany.
◆1921 In first flight of airship filled with helium, Blimp C-7 piloted by LCDR Ralph F. Wood left Norfolk, VA, for Washington, DC.
◆1941 The first Civil Air Patrol in the U.S. was organized. 
◆1941 Japanese emperor Hirohito signed a declaration of war. Japan’s Tojo rejected U.S. proposals for a Pacific settlement as fantastic and unrealistic.
◆1942 Nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States.
◆1943 The first operational use of the American P-51D Mustang is in a fighter sweep over occupied Belgium.★
◆1943 The US 5th Army in Italy becomes more active as preparations for a resumption of its offensive proceed. Diversionary attacks in support of the British 8th Army offensive continue.
◆1944 Office of Air-Sea Rescue set up in the Coast Guard. The Secretary of the Navy at the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff early in 1944 established the Air-Sea Rescue Agency, an inter-department and inter-agency body, for study and improvement of rescue work with the Commandant of Coast Guard as head.
◆1944 Elements of the US 9th Army advance northeast of Aachen. Linnich is captured by the US 102nd Division. To the right, attacks by US 3rd and 7th Armies report slow progress.
​◆1947 The Corps' first helicopter squadron, HMX-1, was commissioned at Quantico. HMX-1’s greatest distinction may be its special place in history as the first U.S. Marine Corps helicopter squadron ever established. The establishment of HMX-1 started a revolution in Marine Corps aviation and tactical doctrine. On 23 May 1948, the first airborne ship-to-shore movement began at Onslow Beach, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The first wave of the assault commenced with all five HO3S-1s taking off from Palau and arriving 30 minutes later in the land-ing zone. HMX-1 pilots made continuous flights, putting 66 Marines in the right place at the right time. With the helicopter firmly entrenched in Marine warfighting doctrine, HMX-1’s mission evolved into developmental testing of new helicopter systems and products destined for the Fleet Marine Force. Today HMX-1 is the Marine unit tasked with helicopter transportation of the President.
◆1950 Eighth Army and X Corps began withdrawing in the face of the massive Chinese offensive.The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, the British 27th Brigade and the Turkish Brigade, began to fight their way south from the Kunu-ri area through the bloody Gauntlet, under continuous fire from Chinese forces occupying the terrain commanding the route to safety. The 2nd Infantry Division was virtually destroyed during the Battle of Kunu-ri where over 4,000 men were lost. The division's overall combat capability was rated equivalent to a single regimental combat team by the end of the action. The ROK Capitol Division withdrew under heavy pressure to Pukchong.
◆1950 Task Force MacLean/Faith, composed of elements of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division's 31st and 32nd Infantry Regiments, was annihilated east of the Chosin/Changjin Reservoir. Only 385 soldiers of its 3,200-man force were able-bodied following their withdrawal.★
◆1959 Bureau of Ordnance (BUORD) merges with Bureau of Aeronautics (BUAER) to form the Bureau of Naval Weapons (BUWEPS).
◆1959 Twelve nations, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign the Antarctica Treaty, which bans military activity and weapons testing on that continent. 
◆1965 An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.
◆1969 The U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II in 1942.
◆1971 In Cambodia, communist fighters renew their assaults on government positions, forcing the retreat of Cambodian government forces from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, six miles northeast of Phnom Penh. 
◆1980 IBM delivered its 1st prototype PC to Microsoft.