TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
4 December
◆1110 The First Crusaders sack Sidon.
◆1489 The Spanish liberate Baza from the Moors.
◆1619 America's first "Thanksgiving Day" was held in Virginia.
◆1674 Father Marquette built the 1st dwelling at what is now Chicago.
◆1676 Battle of Lund: The Swedes defeat the Danes.
◆1783 Gen. George Washington said farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in NYC.
◆1816 James Monroe of Virginia was elected the fifth president of the United States. He defeated Federalist Rufus King.
◆1844 James K. Polk was elected 11th president of US. His wife, Sarah, recognized that James was insufficiently impressive to draw attention on appearance and therefore began the tradition of having “Hail to the Chief” played when he made a public showing.
◆1863 Seven solid days of bombardment ended at Charleston, S.C. The Union fired some 1,307 rounds.
◆1864 Eight days of cavalry clashes in Georgia come to an end when Union General Judson Kilpatrick and Confederate General Joseph Wheeler skirmish for a final time at Waynesboro.
◆1895 Marines in Tientsin, China, were awarded the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal for the period 4 December 1894 - May 1895.
◆1915 Automobile tycoon Henry Ford set sail for Europe on this day in 1915 from Hoboken, New Jersey, aboard the Ford Peace Ship. His mission: to end World War I. His slogan, "Out of the trenches and back to their homes by Christmas," won an enthusiastic response in the States, but didn't get very far overseas. Ford's diplomatic mission was not taken seriously in Europe, and he soon returned.
◆1918 President Wilson set sail in USS George Washington for France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference. He was the 1st chief executive to travel outside US while in office.
◆1941 The Chicago Tribune and the Washington Herald published FDR's top secret plan to invade Europe in 1943.
◆1942 The US 9th Air Force bombs the harbor at Naples causing damage and sinking two cruisers. First American raid on the mainland of Italy.
◆1942 US President Roosevelt receives a petition from 244 Congressman in support of the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.
◆1943 The Japanese escort carrier Chuyo is sunk by the US submarine Sailfish in Japanese home waters.
◆1943 The US divisions on Bougainville receive further reinforcements and extend their perimeter.
◆1943 Task Force 50 (Admiral Pownall) and a task force commanded by Admiral Montgomery attack Kwajalein with a combined fleet of 6 carriers and nine cruisers. The Japanese lose 6 transports and 2 cruisers are damaged. A claimed 55 Japanese aircraft are shot down for the loss of 5 attacking American planes. The USS Yorktown conducts an air raid on Wotje.
◆1944 USS Flasher (SS-249) sinks Japanese destroyer Kishinami and damages a merchant ship in South China Sea. Flasher is only U.S. submarine to sink over 100,000 tons of enemy shipping in World War II.
◆1944 US 9th Army ceases the offensive toward the Roer River. The US 3rd Army forces of US 20th Corps concentrates forces for the capture of Saarlautern, where reconnaissance indicates there is an intact bridge over the Saar River.
◆1945 The Senate approved U.S. participation in the United Nations.
◆1950 Marines rescued over 300 soldiers of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division, survivors of a communist ambush on the shores of the Chosin/Changjin Reservoir.
◆1952 The Grumman XS2F-1 made its first flight.
◆1965 Launch of Gemini 7 piloted by CDR James A. Lovell, USN. This flight consisted of 206 orbits at an altitude of 327 km and lasted 13 days and 18 hours. Recovery by HS-11 helicopters from USS Wasp (CVS-18).
◆1967 Elements of the U.S. mobile riverine force and 400 South Vietnamese in armored personnel carriers engage communist forces in the Mekong Delta. During the battle, 235 of the 300-member Viet Cong battalion were killed.★
◆1966 A Viet Cong unit penetrates the 13-mile defense perimeter around Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport and shells the field for over four hours. South Vietnamese and U.S. security guards finally drove off the attackers, killing 18 of them in the process. One U.S. RF-101 reconnaissance jet was badly damaged in the attack. The guerrillas returned that same night and resumed the attack, but security guards again repelled them, killing 11 more Viet Cong during the second battle.
◆1981 President Reagan broadened the power of the CIA by allowing spying in the U.S. This was Executive Order on Intelligence No 12333.
◆1983 Aircraft from USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and USS Independence (CV-62) launch strike against anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon that fired on U.S. aircraft. Two U.S. Navy planes shot down. This is a retaliatory measure for the bombing of the Beirut Marine Barracks in October.
◆1992 President Bush ordered American troops to lead a mercy mission to Somalia, threatening military action against warlords and gangs who were blocking food for starving millions.
◆1994 Bosnian Serbs released 53 of some 400 U.N. peacekeepers held as insurance against further NATO airstrikes.
◆1995 In a near-freezing drizzle, the first NATO troops landed in the Balkans to begin setting up a peace mission that brought American soldiers into the middle of the Bosnian conflict.
◆1996 The Mars Pathfinder [delayed from Dec 2] was launched from Cape Canaveral on a 310 million-mile odyssey to explore the planet's surface. It had a remote-controlled 22-pound, 6-wheel, roving vehicle to sample Martian soil and rock and send data back beginning on Jul 4, 1997.
◆1999 NASA scientists continued to wait in vain for a signal from the Mars Polar Lander, raising questions about the whereabouts of NASA’s $165 million probe. It’s believed the spacecraft was destroyed after it plunged toward the Red Planet.