TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
7 June
◆1099 The First Crusade arrives at Jerusalem.
◆1416 Battle of Sant'Egidio: The Bracceschi defeat the Malatesti.
◆1424 Battle of Malesov: Jan Ziska defeats the Ultraist Hussites.
◆1494 Treaty of Tordesillas: America is divided between Spain and Portugal, which gets Brazil.
◆1498 Christopher Columbus left on his third voyage of exploration.
◆1586 Sir Francis Drake sacks and burns St. Augustine, Florida.
◆1769 Daniel Boone first began to explore the present-day Kentucky.
◆1775 The United Colonies changed their name to United States.
◆1776 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress the resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence: that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States..." Congress delayed the vote on the resolution until July 1.
◆1819 LT John White on merchant ship Franklin, anchored off Vung Tau is first U.S. naval officer to visit Vietnam.
◆1828 A party led by Jedediah Smith completed a journey down the Klamath River and were on the verge of starvation when they were visited by Indians who brought food. Smith's party proceeded north to Oregon and most of the party was killed by Umpqua Indians. Smith was killed in 1831 by Comanches on the Cimarron River. Smith’s party were the first white people to see Lake Earl, the biggest lagoon on the West Coast.
◆1863 A Confederate attempt to rescue Vicksburg and a Rebel garrison held back by Union forces to the east of the city fails when Union troops turn back the attack.
◆1868 The American flag was raised over Fort Wrangell, formerly known as Fort Stikine and Fort Dionysius.
◆1880 Chileans capture Arica from the Peruvians by storm.
◆1900 Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China.
◆1912 US army tested the first machine gun mounted on a plane.
◆1912 Company A, 1st Marines landed at Santiago, Cuba.
◆1914 The first vessel passed through the Panama Canal.
◆1916 Germans capture Fort Vaux, Verdun.
◆1917 U.S. subchasers arrive at Corfu for anti-submarine patrols.
◆1918 French and Americans capture Veuilly-la-Poterie and Vinly (west of Chateau-Thierry), Bouresches and Hill 204 (west of Chateau-Thierry).
◆1942 THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY; one of the most decisive U.S. victories in its war against Japan, comes to an end.
◆1942 ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN: Japanese soldiers occupy the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, as the Axis power continues to expand its defensive perimeter.
◆1944 D-DAY+1: Allied forces attempt to link up the beachheads. Gold and Juno beach are already joined. Elements of US 7th Corps, on Utah beach, attempts to link up with the paratroops of 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and advances toward Carentan and Montebourg.
◆1944 Elements of US 5th Army capture Bacciano and Civitavecchia. The port facilities are serviceable. Elements of British 8th Army advance as well. Subiaco is taken. The South African 6th Armored Division captures Civita Castellana and advances to Orvieto.
◆1944 On Biak Island, elements of US 41st Division capture Mokmer Airfield. Japanese resistance continues.
◆1945 On Luzon forces from US 1st Corps take Bambang and move northeast toward the Cagayan Valley. Other units are moving around the coast from the northwest to the north of the island.
◆1945 On Okinawa, in the Oroku peninsula, Japanese forces hold attacks by the US 6th Marine Division while the US 1st Marine Division advances southward and isolates the peninsula defenders. The US 24th Corps is engaged in artillery bombardments.
◆1962 Joseph A. Walker, NASA civilian test pilot, took the X-15 to 31,580 meters.
◆1965 General Westmoreland requests a total of 35 battalions of combat troops, with another nine in reserve.
◆1968 In Operation Swift Saber, U.S. Marines swept an area 10 miles northwest of Danang in South Vietnam.
◆1968 Tuy Hoa Air Base, Vietnam; New Mexico’s 188th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) arrives, becoming the third Air National Guard unit to serve in Vietnam.
◆1981 Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq at Osirak, Iraq, before it went into operation, a facility the Israelis charged could have been used to make nuclear weapons. Ilan Ramon (d.2003) flew the last of the 8 planes that bombed the reactor.
◆1999 NATO dropped cluster bombs on an estimated 800-1,200 Yugoslav troops near the Kosovo-Albanian border. An estimated 650 sorties were flown in the last 24 hours.