18 January
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
ENRIGHT, JOHN Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1864, Lynn, Mass. Accredited to: Massachusetts. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Ranger off Ensenada, Mexico, 18 January 1886. Jumping overboard from that vessel, Enright rescued John Bell, ordinary seaman, and George Svensson, ordinary seaman, from drowning.
WALKER, FRANK O. Rank and organization. Private, Company F, 46th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: Near Taal, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 18 January 1900. Entered service at: Burlington, Mass. Birth: South Boston, Mass. Date of issue: 11 March 1902. Citation: Under heavy fire of the enemy he rescued a dying comrade who was sinking beneath the water.
*YNTEMA, GORDON DOUGLAS Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company D, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Place and date: Near Thong Binh, Republic of Vietnam, 16-18 January 1968. Entered service at: Detroit, Mich. Born: 26 June 1945, Bethesda, Md. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life and above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Yntema, U.S. Army, distinguished himself while assigned to Detachment A-431, Company D. As part of a larger force of civilian irregulars from Camp Cai Cai, he accompanied 2 platoons to a blocking position east of the village of Thong Binh, where they became heavily engaged in a small-arms fire fight with the Viet Cong. Assuming control of the force when the Vietnamese commander was seriously wounded, he advanced his troops to within 50 meters of the enemy bunkers. After a fierce 30 minute fire fight, the enemy forced Sgt. Yntema to withdraw his men to a trench in order to afford them protection and still perform their assigned blocking mission. Under cover of machinegun fire, approximately 1 company of Viet Cong maneuvered into a position which pinned down the friendly platoons from 3 sides. A dwindling ammunition supply, coupled with a Viet Cong mortar barrage which inflicted heavy losses on the exposed friendly troops, caused many of the irregulars to withdraw. Seriously wounded and ordered to withdraw himself, Sgt. Yntema refused to leave his fallen comrades. Under withering small arms and machinegun fire, he carried the wounded Vietnamese commander and a mortally wounded American Special Forces advisor to a small gully 50 meters away in order to shield them from the enemy fire. Sgt. Yntema then continued to repulse the attacking Viet Cong attempting to overrun his position until, out of ammunition and surrounded, he was offered the opportunity to surrender. Refusing, Sgt. Yntema stood his ground, using his rifle as a club to fight the approximately 15 Viet Cong attempting his capture. His resistance was so fierce that the Viet Cong were forced to shoot in order to overcome him. Sgt. Yntema's personal bravery in the face of insurmountable odds and supreme self-sacrifice were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect the utmost credit upon himself, the 1st Special Forces, and the U.S. Army.
18 January 1911
Naval aviation born
Eugene Ely made the first successful shipboard landing of an aircraft by landing his Curtiss pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay. Ely flew from the Tanforan airfield in San Bruno, California and landed on the Pennsylvania. This was not only the first shipboard landing, but it was also the first ever using a tailhook system, designed and built by circus performer and aviator Hugh Robinson. Ely told a reporter: "It was easy enough. I think the trick could be successfully turned nine times out of ten."TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
18 January
◆1567 Battle of Watrelots: Dutch Revolt against Spain begins.
◆1775 The Continental Congress presents its petitions to the British Parliament.
◆1778 Captain James Cook becomes the first European to discover the Hawaiian Islands when he sails past the island of Oahu.
◆1787 The newly activated Massachusetts militia force of 4400 men led by General Benjamin Lincoln assembles to combat the insurgents led by Daniel Shays in Springfield. This new force was called up bythe governor in response to Shays’ march from Wocester to Springfiled on December 26, 1786. There Shays linked up with forces lead by Lucas Day and together they out number the troops of General Shepherd. Shepherd’s men are guarding the federal arsenal in Springfield which Shays and Day have been menacing ever since.
◆1813 Joseph Farwell Glidden, inventor of barbed wire, was born.
◆1817 Jose de San Martin's revolutionary army begins an epic crossing of the Andes from Argentina to Chile.
◆1826 British capture the Mahratta city of Bhurtope after a two month siege.
◆1836 Jim Bowie arrives at the Alamo to assist its Texas defenders.
◆1836 Marines reinforced Army to repulse Indians at Ft. Brooke, Florida the Army’s headquarters during the Second Seminole War.
◆1854 William Walker, a US citizen, establishes himself as president of a new republic, Sonora, made up of the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California. He will be tried in the US for breaching neutrality in the area.
◆1902 The famous "March Across Samar" ended during the Philippine Insurrection.
◆1911 Naval aviation was born when pilot Eugene B. Ely flew a Curtis biplane onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.★
◆1943 A wartime ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread in the United States--aimed at reducing bakeries' demand for metal replacement parts--went into effect.
◆1943 Tiger tanks are used for the first time at Bau Arada, Tunisia. Neither the British nor the US have anything which can face them on equal terms.
◆1943 Two American cruisers and four destroyers bombard Japanese-held Attu Island.
◆1951 FEAF Combat Cargo Command flew an extraordinary 109 C-119 sorties to drop more than 550 tons of supplies to front-line troops in Korea
◆1951 China rejected the U.N. cease-fire proposal as the Eighth Army re-entered Wonju without opposition.
◆1951 Marines of the 1st Marine Division began mopping-up operations against guerrillas in the Pohang area, South Korea, following the Division's return from its epic battle with Communist Chinese troops at the Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir.
◆1953 U.S. Navy carrier aircraft hit targets at Wonsan, Songjin, Hungnam and Changyon on the North Korea's east coast while surface elements fired on Sinchon and Kosong targets.
◆1957 Averaging speeds of over 500 miles per hour, three US Air Force jets complete a nonstop around-the-world flight.
◆1962 The United States begins spraying foliage with herbicides in South Vietnam, in order to reveal the whereabouts of Vietcong guerrillas.
◆1968 Operation Coronado X begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam. This was a reaction operation where the Mobile Riverine Force drives the enemy from My Tho, Cai Lay, and Vinh Long cities during the Tet offensive. Prior to Tet, the MRF was operating in western Binh Tuong Province hoping to make contact with another large VC force as it had done there in early December. Thus the MRF was widely dispersed and well removed from the scene of the major battles that erupted during Tet; however, mobility was its great asset and the MRF moved quickly to participate in several sharp battles connected with Tet
◆1977 The Trident (C-4) missile development flight test program commenced when C4X-1 was launched from a flight pad at Cape Canaveral, FL
◆1977 President Gerald Ford pardons Tokyo Rose, convicted during WWII for making propaganda broadcasts to US troops.
◆1991 Iraq starts firing Scud missiles at Israeli cities
◆1991 Round-the-clock bombing of Iraqi targets continued in Operation Desert Storm.
◆1991 USS Nicholas attacks and captures Iraqi offshore oil platforms.
◆1993 Allied warplanes attacked targets in "no fly" zones in southern and northern Iraq.
◆2002 Five Colombian police officers died while protecting a downed UH-1N helicopter. The US helicopter was destroyed to keep it out of rebel hands.