TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
22 September
◆1554 Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez, his health badly deteriorated from injuries and the toll of his strenuous travels, dies. He never found the fabled cities of gold that he had sought for decades.
◆1711 The Tuscarora Indian War began with a massacre of settlers in North Carolina, following white encroachment that included the enslaving of Indian children.
◆1776 In New York City, Nathan Hale, a Connecticut schoolteacher and captain in the Continental Army, is executed by the British for spying. A graduate of Yale University, Hale joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and served in the successful siege of British-occupied Boston. In the summer of 1776, he crossed behind British lines on Long Island in civilian clothes to spy on the British. While returning with the intelligence information, British soldiers captured Hale near the American lines and charged him with espionage. Taken to New York, he was hanged without trial the next day. Before being executed, legend holds that Hale said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." There is no historical record to prove that Hale actually made this statement, but if he did he may have been inspired by the lines in English author Joseph Addison's 1713 play Cato: "What a pity it is/That we can die but once to serve our country."
◆1776 John Paul Jones in Providence sails into Canso Bay, Nova Scotia, and attacks British fishing fleet.
◆1855 Marines and Seamen landed in Fiji Islands.
◆1862 Motivated by his growing concern for the inhumanity of slavery as well as practical political concerns, President Abraham Lincoln changes the course of the war and American history by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
◆1864 Union General Philip Sheridan defeated Confederate General Jubal Early's troops at the Battle of Fisher's Hill, in Virginia. Gen Early retreated to Brown's Gap. Sheridan set up camp in Harrisonburg, Va.
◆1893 America's first automobile was not built by a Henry Ford or Walter Chrysler, but by Charles and Frank Duryea, two bicycle makers.
◆1942 The Communications Branch of the OSS is formed by General Donovan.
◆1943 The US 5th Army is preparing to advance in Italy.
◆1943 The invasion of Finschafen, New Guinea: an Allied invasion fleet, including Coast Guard-manned landing ships, landed Australian troops at Finschafen. Coast Guard-manned ships in the invasion fleet included USSs LST-18, LST-67, LST-168, and LST-204. There were no casualties among the Coast Guard LSTs.
◆1944 On Peleliu, US 3rd Amphibious Corps (Geiger) deploys a regiment of US 81st Infantry Division to replace depleted elements of the US 1st Marine Division.The marines have suffered heavy casualties in attacks on Mount Umurbrogol.
◆1944 US Task Force 38 conducts air strikes on Japanese targets on Luzon, particularly Manila and Manila Bay. Twelve American carriers are involved.
◆1945 President Truman accepted U.S. Secretary of War Stimson's recommendation to designate the war World War II.
◆1945 Gen. George S. Patton tells reporters that he does not see the need for "this denazification thing" and compares the controversy over Nazism to a "Democratic and Republican election fight."★
◆1945 The 5thMarDiv landed at Sasebo, Japan, for occupation duty.
◆1947 A Douglas C-54 Skymaster made the first automatic-pilot flight over the Atlantic.
◆1950 Omar N. Bradley was promoted to the rank of five-star general, joining an elite group that included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall and Henry H. “Hap” Arnold.
◆1950 Eighth Army completed its breakout from the Pusan Perimeter. Outflanked by the Inchon invasion in the north and under relentless pressure of the U.N. Forces' attack from the south, the In Mun Gun began a wholesale withdrawal to the north.
◆1951 The 2nd Infantry Division's struggle for Heartbreak Ridge continued. By the time the battle was over Oct. 15, 1951, the division has suffered 3,700 casualties.
◆1958 The nuclear submarine USS Skate remained a record 31 days under the North Pole.
◆1980 Iraq invaded Iran following border skirmishes and a dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway. This marked the beginning of a war that would last eight years. Iraq invaded Iran striking refineries and an oil-loading terminal on Kharg Island. The Iraqis used the political instability in Iran to try to capture long-disputed territory. They attacked across the Shatt al Arab River, a trunk of the great Tigris-Euphrates river system.
◆1987 U.S. forces attack an Iranian mine-laying vessel in the Persian Gulf.
◆1993 The space shuttle "Discovery" and its five astronauts landed at Kennedy Space Center, ending a 10-day mission.
◆2001 In Afghanistan there was heavy fighting in the northern provinces of Balkh and Samangan. 39 Taliban were reported killed along with 2 opposition fighters.Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken this Day
CONNORS, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 43d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Fishers Hill, Va., 22 September 1864. Entered service at:------. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 6 October 1864. Citation: Capture of flag.
CREED, JOHN
Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 23d Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Fishers Hill, Va., 22 September 1864. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 6 October 1864. Citation: Capture of flag.
MOORE, GEORGE G.
Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 11th West Virginia Infantry. Place and date: At Fishers Hill, Va., 22 September 1864. Entered service at: ------. Birth: Tyler County W. Va. Date of issue: 6 October 1864. Citation: Capture of flag.
RHODES, SYLVESTER D.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Fishers Hill, Va., 22 September 1864. Entered service at: Wilkes_Barre, Pa. Birth: Plains, Pa. Date of issue: 16 February 1897. Citation: Was on the skirmish line which drove the enemy from the first entrenchment and was the first man to enter the breastworks, capturing one of the guns and turning it upon the enemy.
WHITTIER, EDWARD N.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 5th Battery, Maine Light Artillery. Place and date: At Fishers Hill, Va., 22 September 1864. Entered service at: Gorham, Maine. Birth: Portland, Maine. Date of issue: 13 January 1892. Citation: While acting as assistant adjutant general, Artillery brigade, 6th Army Corps, went over the enemy's works, mounted, with the assaulting column, to gain quicker possession of the guns and to turn them upon the enemy.
WILLIS, GEORGE
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1839, Boston, Mass. Accredited to: Massachusetts. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Tigress, Willis displayed gallant and meritorious conduct on the night of 22 September 1873 off the coast of Greenland.
BLOCH, ORVILLE EMIL
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company E, 338th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Firenzuola, Italy, 22 September 1944. Entered service at: Streeter, N. Dak. Birth: Big Falls, Wis. G.O. No.: 9, 10 February 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Bloch undertook the task of wiping out 5 enemy machinegun nests that had held up the advance in that particular sector for 1 day. Gathering 3 volunteers from his platoon, the patrol snaked their way to a big rock, behind which a group of 3 buildings and 5 machinegun nests were located. Leaving the 3 men behind the rock, he attacked the first machinegun nest alone charging into furious automatic fire, kicking over the machinegun, and capturing the machinegun crew of 5. Pulling the pin from a grenade, he held it ready in his hand and dashed into the face of withering automatic fire toward this second enemy machinegun nest located at the corner of an adjacent building 15 yards distant. When within 20 feet of the machinegun he hurled the grenade, wounding the machinegunner, the other 2 members of the crew fleeing into a door of the house. Calling one of his volunteer group to accompany him, they advanced to the opposite end of the house, there contacting a machinegun crew of 5 running toward this house. 1st Lt Bloch and his men opened fire on the enemy crew, forcing them to abandon this machinegun and ammunition and flee into the same house. Without a moment's hesitation, 1st Lt. Bloch, unassisted, rushed through the door into a hail of small-arms fire, firing his carbine from the hip, and captured the 7 occupants, wounding 3 of them. 1st Lt. Bloch with his men then proceeded to a third house where they discovered an abandoned enemy machinegun and detected another enemy machinegun nest at the next corner of the building. The crew of 6 spotted 1st Lt. Bloch the instant he saw them. Without a moment's hesitation he dashed toward them. The enemy fired pistols wildly in his direction and vanished through a door of the house, 1st Lt. Bloch following them through the door, firing his carbine from the hip, wounding 2 of the enemy and capturing 6. Altogether 1st Lt. Bloch had single-handedly captured 19 prisoners, wounding 6 of them and eliminating a total of 5 enemy machinegun nests. His gallant and heroic actions saved his company many casualties and permitted them to continue the attack with new inspiration and vigor.
CHILDERS, ERNEST
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 45th Infantry Division. Place and date: At Oliveto, Italy, 22 September 1943. Entered service at: Tulsa, Okla. Birth: Broken Arrow, Okla. G.O. No.: 30, 8 April 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action on 22 September 1943, at Oliveto, Italy. Although 2d Lt. Childers previously had just suffered a fractured instep he, with 8 enlisted men, advanced up a hill toward enemy machinegun nests. The group advanced to a rock wall overlooking a cornfield and 2d Lt. Childers ordered a base of fire laid across the field so that he could advance. When he was fired upon by 2 enemy snipers from a nearby house he killed both of them. He moved behind the machinegun nests and killed all occupants of the nearer one. He continued toward the second one and threw rocks into it. When the 2 occupants of the nest raised up, he shot 1. The other was killed by 1 of the 8 enlisted men. 2d Lt. Childers continued his advance toward a house farther up the hill, and single-handed, captured an enemy mortar observer. The exceptional leadership, initiative, calmness under fire, and conspicuous gallantry displayed by 2d Lt. Childers were an inspiration to his men.