Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
TAYLOR, JOHN
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Biography not available. G.O. No.: 71, 15 January 1866. Citation: Seaman in charge of the picket boat attached to the Navy Yard, New York, 9 September 1865. Acting with promptness, coolness and good judgment, Taylor rescued from drowning Commander S. D. Trenchard, of the U.S. Navy, who fell overboard in attempting to get on a ferryboat, which had collided with an English steamer, and needed immediate assistance.
HAY, FRED S.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Upper Wichita, Tex., 9 September 1874. Entered service at:------. Birth: Scotland. Date of issue: 23 April 1875. Citation: Gallantry in action.
KELLY, JOHN J. H.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company I, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Upper Wichita, Tex., 9 September 1874. Entered service at. ------. Birth: Schuyler County, 111. Date of issue: 23 April 1875. Citation: Gallantry in action.
KELLY, THOMAS
Rank and organization: Private, Company I, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Upper Wichita, Tex., 9 September 1874. Entered service at:------. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 23 April 1875. Citation: Gallantry in action.
KITCHEN, GEORGE K.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company H, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Upper Wichita, Tex., 9 September 1874. Entered service at:------. Birth: Lebanon County, Pa. Date of issue: 23 April 1875. Citation: Gallantry in action.
KNOX, JOHN W.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Upper Wichita, Tex., 9 September 1874. Entered service at: ------. Birth: Burlington, lowa. Date of issue: 23 April 1875. Citation: Gallantry in action.
KOELPIN, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 5th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Upper Wichita, Tex., 9 September 1874. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: Prussia. Date of issue: 23 April 1875. Citation: Gallantry in action.
SMITH, ROBERT
Rank and organization: Private, Company M, 3d U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Slim Buttes, Mont., 9 September 1876. Entered service at: ------. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 16 October 1877. Citation: Special bravery in endeavoring to dislodge Indians secreted in a ravine .
BELL, J. FRANKLIN
Rank and organization: Colonel, 36th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: Near Porac, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 9 September 1899. Entered service at: Shelbyville, Ky. Born: 9 January 1856, Shelbyville, Ky. Date of issue: 11 December 1899. Citation: While in advance of his regiment charged 7 insurgents with his pistol and compelled the surrender of the captain and 2 privates under a close fire from the remaining insurgents concealed in a bamboo thicket.
GROVE, WILLIAM R.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, 36th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: Near Porac, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 9 September 1899. Entered service at: Denver, Colo. Birth: Montezuma, lowa. Date of issue: 16 July 1902. Citation: In advance of his regiment, rushed to the assistance of his colonel, charging, pistol in hand, 7 insurgents, and compelling surrender of all not killed or wounded.
SMITH, EUGENE P.
Rank and organization: Chief Watertender, U.S. Navy. Born: 8 August 1871, Truney, Ill. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 189, 8 February 1916. Citation: Attached to U.S.S. Decatur; for several times entering compartments on board of Decatur immediately following an explosion on board that vessel, 9 September 1915, and locating and rescuing injured shipmates.
LOGAN, JAMES M.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 36th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Salerno, Italy, 9 September 1943. Entered service at: Luling, Tex. Birth: McNeil, Tex. G.O. No.: 54, 5 July 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action involving actual conflict on 9 September 1943 in the vicinity of Salerno, Italy. As a rifleman of an infantry company, Sgt. Logan landed with the first wave of the assault echelon on the beaches of the Gulf of Salerno, and after his company had advanced 800 yards inland and taken positions along the forward bank of an irrigation canal, the enemy began a serious counterattack from positions along a rock wall which ran parallel with the canal about 200 yards further inland. Voluntarily exposing himself to the fire of a machinegun located along the rock wall, which sprayed the ground so close to him that he was splattered with dirt and rock splinters from the impact of the bullets, Sgt. Logan killed the first 3 Germans as they came through a gap in the wall. He then attacked the machinegun. As he dashed across the 200 yards of exposed terrain a withering stream of fire followed his advance. Reaching the wall, he crawled along the base, within easy reach of the enemy crouched along the opposite side, until he reached the gun. Jumping up, he shot the 2 gunners down, hurdled the wall, and seized the gun. Swinging it around, he immediately opened fire on the enemy with the remaining ammunition, raking their flight and inflicting further casualties on them as they fled. After smashing the machinegun over the rocks, Sgt. Logan captured an enemy officer and private who were attempting to sneak away. Later in the morning, Sgt. Logan went after a sniper hidden in a house about 150 yards from the company. Again the intrepid Sgt. ran a gauntlet of fire to reach his objective. Shooting the lock off the door, Sgt. Logan kicked it in and shot the sniper who had just reached the bottom of the stairs. The conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity which characterized Sgt. Logan's exploits proved a constant inspiration to all the men of his company, and aided materially in insuring the success of the beachhead at Salerno.
TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
9 September
◆9 Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. An alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius of the Cherusci ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions along with their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.★
◆1087 King William I "the Conqueror" died of England (1066-1087).
◆1513 Battle of Flodden Field: English defeat James IV of Scotland.
◆1675 New England colonial authorities officially declared war on the Wampanoag Indians. War soon spread to include the Abenaki, Norwottock, Pocumtuck and Agawam warriors.
◆1753 The 1st steam engine arrived in US colonies.
◆1776 The term "United States" was adopted by the second Continental Congress to be used instead of the "United Colonies."
◆1786 George Washington called for the abolition of slavery.
◆1825 USS Brandywine sails for France to carry the Marquis de Lafayette home after his year long visit to America.
◆1841 First iron ship authorized by Congress.
◆1850 Though it had only been a part of the United States for less than two years, California becomes the 31st state in the union (without ever even having been a territory) on this day in 1850.
◆1850 Territories of New Mexico and Utah were created.
◆1861 Sally Louisa Tompkins (b.1833) was commissioned as a Confederate captain of cavalry. Born into a wealthy and altruistic family in coastal Mathews County, Virginia, Tompkins was destined for a life of philanthropy. After moving to Richmond, she spent much of her time and a considerable portion of her fortune assisting causes she considered worthy. With the onset of civil war, she labored on the behalf of the South's wounded soldiers, and for this she became the first and only woman to receive an officer's commission in the Confederate army.
◆1862 Gen’l. Lee split his army and sent Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry.
◆1922 Turkish troops capture Smyrna from the Greeks.
◆1940 A new $5,500,000,000 appropriations bill becomes law in the United States. Contracts are placed for 210 vessels for the navy, including seven battleships and 12 carriers.
◆1940 The first of the 50 old destroyers given to Britain is taken over by a Royal Navy crew.
◆1942 A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary bombs on an Oregon state forest-the first and only manned attack on the U.S. mainland in the war. Launching from the Japanese sub I-25, Nobuo Fujita piloted his light aircraft over the state of Oregon and firebombed Mount Emily, alighting a state forest--and ensuring his place in the history books as the only man to ever bomb the continental United States. The president immediately called for a news blackout for the sake of morale. No long-term damage was done, and Fujita eventually went home to train navy pilots for the rest of the war.
◆1942 Japanese General Hyakutake, commander of the 17th Army, with elements of the 2nd Infantry Division lands at Tassafaronga as part of the Japanese build up for the attack on the main American position at Guadalcanal.
◆1942 Aussie 25th Bde rushes up the Kokoda Trail to support Egofi.
◆1943 Operation Avalanche, Western Naval Task Force under VADM Hewitt, USN, lands Allied forces at Salerno, Italy.
◆1944 Three groups of US Task Force 38, with 12 carriers, conduct air strikes on Japanese airfields on Mindanao Island.
◆1944 Beaune, Le Cresot and Autun are all captured by French elements of US 7th Army.
◆1945 Japanese in S. Korea, Taiwan, China, Indochina surrendered to Allies.
◆1945 American servicemen begin to returning to the United States (Operation Magic Carpet). The effort is marred, on this first day, by a Typhoon Louisa which batters the Okinawa area. Up to March 1946, a total of 1,307,859 troops are brought home aboard a fleet that eventually totals 369 ships.
◆1945 A "computer bug" is first identified and named by LT Grace Murray Hopper while she was on Navy active duty in 1945. It was found in the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard University. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, where it still resides, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found." They "debugged" the computer, first introducing the term.
◆1950 Captain Leslie E. Brown became the first Marine Corps aviator to a fly a jet in combat.
◆1951 Fourth Fighter-Interceptor Wing Captains Richard S. Becker and Ralph D. Gibson became the second and third aces of the Korean War, with five kills each.On this day, they each shot down a MiG-15 in an air battle that pitted 28 Sabres against 70 MiGs.
◆1970 U.S. Marines launched Operation Dubois Square, a 10-day search for North Vietnamese troops near DaNang. Marine pilots in their diminutive Douglas A-4 Skyhawks provided vital close air support for ground forces in Vietnam.
◆1972 U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue (Weapons Systems Officer) flying with his pilot, Capt. John A. Madden, in a McDonnell Douglas F-4D, shoots down two MiG-19s near Hanoi. These were Captain DeBellevue's fifth and sixth victories, which made him the leading American ace (an unofficial designation awarded for having downed at least five enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat) of the war. All of his victories came in a four-month period. Captain Madden would record a third MiG kill two months later.
◆1976 Mao Zedong, who led the Chinese people through a long revolution and then ruled the nation's communist government from its establishment in 1949, dies.
◆1990 President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev held a one-day summit in Helsinki, Finland, after which they joined in condemning Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
◆1993 About a hundred Somali gunmen and civilians were killed when U.S. and Pakistani peacekeepers fired on Somalis attacking other peacekeepers.
◆1994 The space shuttle Discovery blasted off on an 11-day mission.
◆1998 The Tripartite Gold Commission closed. It was set up in 1946 by Britain, France and the United States to oversee the return of some $4 billion in gold plundered by the Nazis from European treasuries.
◆2004 US jets pounded the rebel stronghold of Fallujah, and American and Iraqi forces entered the central city of Samarra for the first time in months to try to reseat the city council and regain control.