TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
31 December
◆406 The Vandals, Alans, and Seuvi cross the frozen Rhine after dark, to invade Gaul.
◆535 Belisarius takes Syracuse, completing the liberation of Sicily from the Vandals.
◆870 Battle of Englefield: Earl Aethelwulf defeats the Danes.
◆1229 James I "the Conqueror" of Aragon captures Palma, completing the liberation of the Baleares from the Moors.
◆1494 Charles VIII of France occupies Rome without a fight.
◆1775 George Washington ordered recruiting officers to accept free blacks into the army.
◆1775 During the American Revolution, Patriot forces under generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery are defeated by the British defenders of the city of Quebec in Canada.★
◆1815 George Gordon Meade (d.1872), Union general, was born. He defeated Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.
◆1861 Biloxi, Mississippi, surrendered to a landing party of seamen and Marines covered by U.S.S. Water Witch, New London, and Henry Lewis; a small Confederate battery was destroyed, two guns and schooner Captain Spedden captured.
◆1862 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest narrowly escapes capture during a raid in western Tennessee.
◆1862 The Battle of Stones River (Murfeesboro) begins in central Tennessee. The armies struggled in the bitter cold for three days before the Union army, commanded by General William Rosecrans, defeated the Confederates under Braxton Bragg.
◆1879 In the first public demonstration of his incandescent lightbulb, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison lights up a street in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
◆1880 George Catlett Marshall, Chief of Staff who led the U.S. Army to victory in World War II and later became Secretary of State for President Harry Truman, was born. He won Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for the Marshall Plan.★
◆1941 American and Filipino forces form a new defense line north of the Bataan Peninsula, on Luzon.
◆1941 General Brett takes command of US forces in Australia.
◆1941 Admiral Chester W. Nimitz assumes command of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
◆1942 Commissioning of USS Essex (CV-9), first of new class of aircraft carriers, at Norfolk, VA
◆1942 After five months of battle, Emperor Hirohito allowed the Japanese commanders at Guadalcanal to retreat.
◆1943 Both the US 5th Army and the British 8th Army continue their offensive operation in Italy without significant success.
◆1944 On Leyte, various Japanese counterattacks in the northwest are repulsed by American forces. Up to this point, the Japanese have suffered about 70,000 casualties, almost all killed, in the battles on Leyte. American casualties number 15,500 dead and wounded. The US 6th Army is being withdrawn from the island, in preparation for the invasion of Luzon, and the US 8th Army is replacing it.
◆1944 The British 30th Corps (part of US 1st Army) captures Rochefort on the western tip of the German-held Ardennes salient.
◆1950 The Chinese began their Third-Phase Offensive.
◆1950 The 726th Transportation Truck Company, the first Army National Guard unit in Korea, arrived at Pusan.
◆1951 The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Marshall fired over 5,600 five-inch shells at enemy positions in eastern Korea during the month of December. This was more than she had fired against the enemy during all of her service in World War II.
◆1958 Cuba’s dictator Juan Batista fled as Rebels under Fidel Castro marched into Havana.
◆1961 The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.
◆1964 Syrian-based al-Fatah guerrillas of Yasser Arafat launched their 1st raid on Israel with the aim of provoking a retaliation and sparking an Arab war against Israel. Fatah, a Palestinian movement for independence, made the first terror attack on Israel and initiated the armed struggle for a state.
◆1991 This was the last day of existence for the USSR.
◆1992 President Bush visited Somalia, where he saw firsthand the famine racking the east African nation. He praised U.S. troops that provided relief to the starving population.
◆1994 Bosnian government officials and Bosnian Serb leaders signed a U.N.-brokered cease-fire agreement.
◆1995 The first US tanks crossed a pontoon bridge over the Sava River from Croatia to Bosnia to start the deployment of 20,000 US troops under IFOR, the Implementation Force under NATO command.
◆1999 The US was by a 1977 treaty required to give up control of the Panama Canal and withdraw its forces by this date. The treaty also required the US to pay for environmental cleanup.
◆2001 The US planned to deploy elements of the 101st Airborne Division to replace Marines near Kandahar. US troops moved by helicopter to Helmand province, the region where Mohammed Omar was suspected to be.31 December 1968
The bloodiest year of the war comes to an end. At year's end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967. Estimates from Headquarters US Military Assistance Command Vietnam indicated that 181,150 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were killed during the year. However, Allied losses were also up: 27,915 South Vietnamese, 14,584 Americans (a 56 percent increase over 1967), and 979 South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Thais were reported killed during 1968. Since January 1961, more than 31,000 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Vietnam and over 200,000 US personnel had been wounded. Contributing to the high casualty number was the Tet Offensive launched by the communists. Conducted in the early weeks of the year, it was a crushing military defeat for the communists, but the size and scope of the attacks caught the American and South Vietnamese allies completely by surprise. The early reporting of a smashing communist victory went largely uncorrected in the media and this led to a psychological victory for the communists. The heavy US casualties incurred during the offensive coupled with the disillusionment over the earlier overly optimistic reports of progress in the war accelerated the growing disenchantment with President Johnson's conduct of the war.31 December 1880
George Catlett Marshall, Jr. was born. An American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. Once noted as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Secretary of State, his name was given to the Marshall Plan, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.
31 December
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
BOURKE, JOHN G.Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862-1 January 1863. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 16 November 1887. Citation: Gallantry in action.
FARQUHAR, JOHN M.Rank and organization: Sergeant Major, 89th Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: Scotland. Date of issue: 6 August 1902. Citation: When a break occurred on the extreme right wing of the Army of the Cumberland, this soldier rallied fugitives from other commands, and deployed his own regiment, thereby checking the Confederate advance until a new line was established.
FOLLETT, JOSEPH L.Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company G, 1st Missouri Light Artillery. Place and date: At New Madrid, Mo., 3 March 1862; at Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Birth: Newark, N.J. Date of issue: 19 September 1890. Citation: At New Madrid, Mo., remained on duty though severely wounded. While procuring ammunition from the supply train at Stone River, Tenn., was captured, but made his escape, secured the ammunition, and in less than an hour from the time of his capture had the batteries supplied.
FREEMAN, HENRY B.Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 18th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: Mount Vernon, Ohio. Birth: Mount Vernon, Ohio. Date of issue: 17 February 1894. Citation: Voluntarily went to the front and picked up and carried to a place of safety, under a heavy fire from the enemy, an acting field officer who had been wounded, and was about to fall into enemy hands.
PHISTERER, FREDERICK Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 18th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: Medina County, Ohio. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 12 December 1894. Citation: Voluntarily conveyed, under a heavy fire, information to the commander of a battalion of regular troops by which the battalion was saved from capture or annihilation.
PRENTICE, JOSEPH R.Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 19th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: ------. Born: 6 December 1838, Lancaster, Ohio. Date of issue: 3 February 1894. Citation: Voluntarily rescued the body of his commanding officer, who had fallen mortally wounded. He brought off the field his mortally wounded leader under direct and constant rifle fire.
VANCE, WILSON Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 21st Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: ------. Birth: Hancock County, Ohio. Date of issue: 17 September 1897. Citation: Voluntarily and under a heavy fire, while his command was falling back, rescued a wounded and helpless comrade from death or capture.
WAGG, MAURICE Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1837, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Rhode Island, which was engaged in saving the lives of the officers and crew of the Monitor off Hatteras, 31 December 1862. Participating in the hazardous task of rescuing the officers and crew of the sinking Monitor, Wagg distinguished himself by meritorious conduct during this operation.
WHITEHEAD, JOHN M.Rank and organization: Chaplain, 15th Indiana Infantry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tenn., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: Westville, Ind. Born: 6 March 1823, Wayne County, Ind. Date of issue: 4 April 1898. Citation: Went to the front during a desperate contest and unaided carried to the rear several wounded and helpless soldiers.
*COOK, DONALD GILBERT Rank and organization: Colonel, United States Marine Corps, Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong in the Republic of Vietnam. Place and date: Vietnam, 31 December 1964 to 8 December, 1967. Entered Service at: Brooklyn, New York. Date and place of birth: 9 August 1934, Brooklyn New York. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while interned as a Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong in the Republic of Vietnam during the period 31 December 1964 to 8 December 1967. Despite the fact that by so doing he would bring about harsher treatment for himself, Colonel (then Captain) Cook established himself as the senior prisoner, even though in actuality he was not. Repeatedly assuming more than his share of their health, Colonel Cook willingly and unselfishly put the interests of his comrades before that of his own well-being and, eventually, his life. Giving more needy men his medicine and drug allowance while constantly nursing them, he risked infection from contagious diseases while in a rapidly deteriorating state of health. This unselfish and exemplary conduct, coupled with his refusal to stray even the slightest from the Code of Conduct, earned him the deepest respect from not only his fellow prisoners, but his captors as well. Rather than negotiate for his own release or better treatment, he steadfastly frustrated attempts by the Viet Cong to break his indomitable spirit. and passed this same resolve on to the men whose well-being he so closely associated himself. Knowing his refusals would prevent his release prior to the end of the war, and also knowing his chances for prolonged survival would be small in the event of continued refusal, he chose nevertheless to adhere to a Code of Conduct far above that which could be expected. His personal valor and exceptional spirit of loyalty in the face of almost certain death reflected the highest credit upon Colonel Cook, the Marine Corps, and the United States Naval Service.