3 January
Medal of Honor Citation for Actions Taken This Day
TURNER, GEORGE B.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Battery C, 499th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 14th Armored Division. Place and date. Philippsbourg, France, 3 January 1945. Entered service at: Los Angeles, Calif. Born: 27 June 1899, Longview, Tex. G.O. No.: 79, 14 September 1945.
Citation: At Phillippsbourg, France, he was cut off from his artillery unit by an enemy armored infantry attack. Coming upon a friendly infantry company withdrawing under the vicious onslaught, he noticed 2 German tanks and approximately 75 supporting foot soldiers advancing down the main street of the village.
Seizing a rocket launcher, he advanced under intense small-arms and cannon fire to meet the tanks and, standing in the middle of the road, fired at them, destroying 1 and disabling the second. From a nearby half-track he then dismounted a machinegun, placed it in the open street and fired into the enemy infantrymen, killing or wounding a great number and breaking up the attack.
In the American counterattack which followed, 2 supporting tanks were disabled by an enemy antitank gun. Firing a light machinegun from the hip, Pfc. Turner held off the enemy so that the crews of the disabled vehicles could extricate themselves. He ran through a hail of fire to one of the tanks which had burst into flames and attempted to rescue a man who had been unable to escape; but an explosion of the tank's ammunition frustrated his effort and wounded him painfully.
Refusing to be evacuated, he remained with the infantry until the following day, driving off an enemy patrol with serious casualties, assisting in capturing a hostile strong point, and voluntarily and fearlessly driving a truck through heavy enemy fire to deliver wounded men to the rear aid station. The great courage displayed by Pfc. Turner and his magnificently heroic initiative contributed materially to the defense of the French town and inspired the troops about him.3 January 1777
THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON was a battle in which General George Washington's revolutionary forces defeated British forces. On the night of January 2, 1777 George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek in Trenton. That night, he evacuated his position, circled around General Lord Cornwallis' army, and went to attack the British garrison at Princeton.
Brigadier General Hugh Mercer of the Continental Army, clashed with two regiments under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood of the British Army. Mercer and his troops were overrun and Washington sent some militia under Brigadier General John Cadwalader to help him.
The militia, on seeing the flight of Mercer's men, also began to flee. Washington rode up with reinforcements and rallied the fleeing militia. He then led the attack on Mawhood's troops, driving them back. Mawhood gave the order to retreat and most of the troops tried to flee to Cornwallis in Trenton.
In Princeton itself, Brigadier General John Sullivan encouraged some British troops who had taken refuge in Nassau Hall to surrender, ending the battle. After the battle, Washington moved his army to Morristown, and with their third defeat in 10 days, the British evacuated southern New Jersey. With the victory at Princeton, morale rose in the ranks and more men began to enlist in the army. The battle (while considered minor by British standards) was the last major action of Washington's winter New Jersey campaign.3 January 1834
STEPHEN AUSTIN IMPRISONED BY MEXICO
Escalating the tensions that would lead to rebellion and war, the Mexican government imprisons the Texas colonizer Stephen Austin in Mexico City. Stephen Fuller Austin was a reluctant revolutionary. His father, Moses Austin, won permission from the Mexican government in 1821 to settle 300 Anglo-American families in Texas. When Moses died before realizing his plans, Stephen took over and established the fledgling Texas community on the lower reaches of the Colorado and Brazos Rivers.
Periodic upheavals in the government of the young Mexican Republic forced Austin to constantly return to Mexico City where he argued for the rights of the American colonists in Texas, representing their interests as a colonial founder. Yet, Austin remained confident that an Anglo-American state could succeed within the boundaries of the Mexican nation. Mexican authorities were less certain.
Alarmed by the growing numbers of former Americans migrating to Texas (8,000 in Austin's colonies alone by 1832) and rumors the U.S. intended to annex the region, the Mexican government began to limit immigration in 1830. Though Austin found loopholes allowing him to circumvent the policy, the Mexican policy angered many Anglo-American colonists who already had a long list of grievances against their distant government.
In 1833, a group of colonial leaders met to draft a constitution that would create a new Anglo-dominated Mexican state of Texas by splitting away from the Mexican-dominated Coahuila region it had previously been tied to. The colonists hoped that by decreasing the influence of native Mexicans, whose culture and loyalties were more closely wedded to Mexico City, they could argue more effectively for American-style reforms.
Once they had hammered out a new constitution, the colonial leaders directed Austin to travel to Mexico City to present it to the government along with a list of other demands. Austin conceded to the will of the people, but President Santa Ana refused to grant Texas separate status from Coahuila and threw Austin in prison on suspicion of inciting insurrection. When he was finally released eight months later in August 1835, Austin found that the Anglo-American colonists were on the brink of rebellion.
They were now demanding a Republic of Texas that would break entirely from the Mexican nation. Reluctantly, Austin abandoned his hope that the Anglo Texans could somehow remain a part of Mexico, and he began to prepare for war. The following year Austin helped lead the Texan rebels to victory over the Mexicans and assisted in the creation of the independent Republic of Texas. Defeated by Sam Houston in a bid for the presidency of the new nation, Austin instead took the position of secretary of state. He died in office later that year.3 January 1945
BATTLE OF THE BULGE
In the Ardennes the fighting continues. There are desperate German attacks on the narrow corridor leading to Bastogne which manage to upset the timetable of the US attacks a little but achieve nothing else. Forces from the US Third and now also the First Armies are attacking toward Houffaliza from the south and north. In Alsace the German attacks and the American retreat continue. The US VI Corps is being pressed particularly hard around Bitche. Farther south there is also fighting near Strasbourg.
TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
3 January
◆1099 Count Bertrand of Toulouse sets out on Crusade.
◆1387 Battle of Castagnaro: Giovanni Acuto/John Hawkwood leads the Carrarans to victory over the Scaligers.
◆1504 French surrender Gaeta to Gonzalo de Cordoba (invested Dec 30).
◆1777 General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey. Howe had sent troops south to take on Washington in Trenton. The American troops sidestepped the British forces in Trenton, instead battling them in Princeton. The British are driven back with heavy losses, to New Brunswick. This is Washington's second victory.★
◆1781 Mutinous Pennsylvania troops make camp near Princeton, New Jersey, and elect representatives to bargain with the Pennsylvania state officials. Negotiations resolve the crisis, although over half of the mutineers will leave the army.
◆1794 In answer to British orders in council of November 3, 1793, calling for the seizure of neutral ships carrying French West Indian exports. President James Madison presents seven commercial resolutions in the House of Representatives. These resolutions seek remedies against any nations threatening American shipping and trade. After much discussion, none of the resolutions are passed.
◆1799 Gaeta surrenders to the French without a fight.
◆1823 Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas.
◆1834 Escalating the tensions that would lead to rebellion and war, the Mexican government imprisons the Texas colonizer Stephen Austin in Mexico City.★
◆1847 General Winfield Scott, who has taken command of the Gulf expedition in Mexico, orders 9000 men from General Taylor's force to assault Vera Cruz.
◆1861 The state of Georgia takes over Federal Fort Pulaski. It will return to Federal hands in April of 1862.
◆1904 Marines from USS Dixie arrive in Panama.
◆1916 Three armored Japanese cruisers are ordered to guard the Suez Canal.
◆1920 The last of the U.S. troops depart France.
◆1925 In Italy, Mussolini announced that he would take dictatorial powers.
◆1933 The Japanese take Shuangyashan, China, killing 500 Chinese.
◆1940 British warships detain the American SS Mormacsun.
◆1940 President Roosevelt requests $1.8 billion for national defense in his annual budget request to Congress.
◆1942 Chiang Kai-shek is named Commander in Chief of all Allied forces in China.
◆1943 A US B-17 bomber was downed over France following a bombing run over a German submarine base in southern France. John Roten, navigator, was the only survivor. Roten spent 28 months as a POW.
◆1944 CDR Frank Erickson flies plasma in a Coast Guard HNS-1 helicopter from Brooklyn to a hospital in Sandy Hook, NJ in the first recorded mission of mercy conducted by a rotary wing aircraft.
◆1944 Top Marine ace MAJ Boyington captured after shooting down 28 aircraft.
◆1944 Fighting in the Borgen Bay area of New Britain continues but US forces are still unable to bring up armor.
◆1945 In preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and mainland Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur is placed in command of all U.S. ground forces and Adm. Chester Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. naval forces.
◆1945 Third Fleet carriers begin a 2 day attack against Formosa destroying 100 aircraft with loss of only 22 aircraft. VMF-124 and VMF-213 from the USS Essex struck Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands in the first Marine land strike off a carrier.
◆1945 In the Ardennes the fighting continues. There are desperate German attacks on the narrow corridor leading to Bastogne which manage to upset the timetable of the US attacks a little but achieve nothing else.★
◆1951 As massive numbers of Chinese troops crossed the frozen Han River east and west of Seoul, Eighth Army began evacuating the South Korean capital. The ROK government began moving to Pusan. In one of the largest FEAF Bomber Command air raids, more than sixty B-29s dropped 650 tons of incendiary bombs on Pyongyang. UN forces burned nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel and 23,000 gallons of napalm at Kimpo in preparation for abandoning the base to the advancing enemy. Far East Air Forces flew 958 combat sorties, a one-day record.
◆1958 The Air Force forms two squadrons of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) armed with medium-range ballistic missiles.
◆1959 Fidel Castro takes command of the Cuban army.
◆1959 President Eisenhower signs a special proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska into the Union as the 49th and largest state.
◆1966 Cambodia warns the United Nations of retaliation unless the United States and South Vietnam end intrusions.
◆1967 Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who killed the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, dies of cancer in a Dallas hospital.
◆1978 North Vietnamese troops reportedly occupy 400 square miles in Cambodia. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging areas for attacks against allied forces.
◆1990 Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission. He is flown to Florida and arraigned on drug-trafficking charges.
◆2003 US warplanes hit an al Qaeda compound in the Khost region south of Tora Bora and Islamic fighters near Baghran were reported to be in negotiations.
◆2004 The NASA spacecraft Spirit landed on Mars at the Gusev Crater. It was the 4th successful US landing on Mars.