TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
25 September
◆1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge: Harold II Godwinson of England defeats Harald Hardrada of Norway.★
◆1396 Battle of Nicopolis: Sultan Bayazid I defeats Crusaders.
◆1493 Christopher Columbus set sail from Cadiz, Spain, with a flotilla of 17 ships on his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
◆1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Spanish explorer, crossed the Isthmus of Panama and claimed the Pacific Ocean for Spain. He was named governor of Panama and the Pacific by King Ferdinand. In 2004 Hugh Thomas authored “Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire from Columbus to Magellan.”
◆1639 The 1st printing press in America began operating.
◆1775 British troops captured Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, when he and a handful of Americans led an attack on Montreal, Canada.
◆1777 English general William Howe conquered Philadelphia.
◆1780 American General Benedict Arnold joined the British.
◆1789 The first Congress of the United States approves 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and sends them to the states for ratification.★
◆1804 The 12th Amendment was ratified. It required electors to vote separately for the president and vice-president.
◆1839 France recognizes the Republic of Texas.
◆1846 American General Zachary Taylor's forces captured Monterrey, Mexico.
◆1861 U.S.S. Jacob Bell, Lieutenant Edward P. McCrea, and U.S.S. Seminole, Lieutenant Charles S. Norton, engaged Confederate battery at Freestone Point, Virginia.
◆1862 U.S.S. Kensington, Acting Master Crocker, U.S.S. Rachel Seaman, Acting Master Hooper, and mortar schooner Henry Janes, Acting Master Lewis Pennington, bombarded Confederate batteries at Sabine Pass, Texas.
◆1890 President Benjamin Harrison signed a measure establishing Sequoia National Park. Sequoia National Park, the nation’s 2nd oldest, was created by Congress. The army was assigned park patrol duty.
◆1915 Battle of Petit Rivers, Haiti.
◆1941 In first successful U.S. Navy escort of convoys during World War II, Navy escort turn over HX-150 to British escorts at the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point. All ships reach port safely.
◆1942 Camp Pendleton was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
◆1943 A Lend-Lease agreement is signed by American and Free French representatives.
◆1943 The Japanese begin to evacuate the garrison on the island of Kolombangara.
◆1944 On Peleliu, US forces employing flamethrowers and tanks advance in the north of the island toward Mount Amiangal. On Angaur, pockets of Japanese resistance persist near Lake Salome.
◆1948 Iva Toguri D'Aquino (b.1916), a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose," arrived in SF aboard the General Hodges and was taken away by FBI agents. On Sep 9, 1949, she was found guilty of speaking into a microphone concerning the loss of US ships. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She was released in 1956 and pardoned by Pres. Ford in 1977.
◆1950 U.S. Marines and infantry pushed across the Han River into Seoul. The infantry crossing came after an airlift had brought heavy reinforcements to Kimpo Airfield.
◆1957 Under escort from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
◆1957 In project Stratoscope, Office of Naval Research obtains sharp photographs of sun's corona from first balloon-borne telescope camera.
◆1960 The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Va.
◆1973 The three-man crew of the U.S. space laboratory Skylab Two splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean after spending 59 days in orbit.
◆1989 President Bush, addressing the U.N. General Assembly, offered to slash American stocks of chemical weapons by more than 80 percent, provided the Soviets did the same.
◆1990 In a videotaped message to Americans, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warned that if President Bush launched a war against his country, “it would not be up to him to end it.”
◆1990 The UN Security Council voted 14-to-1 to impose Resolution 677 an air embargo against Iraq. Cuba cast the lone dissenting vote.
◆1992 The Mars Observer blasted off on a $980 million mission to the red planet. The probe disappeared just before entering Martian orbit in August 1993.
◆1993 Three U.S. soldiers in Somalia were killed when their helicopter was downed by a rocket-propelled grenade.
◆1996 NATO generals were ordered to prepare plans for an extension of allied military force in Bosnia beyond the Dec. 20 deadline.
◆2001 The US campaign against terrorism was renamed “Operation Enduring Freedom.”
◆2001 NATO agreed to keep troops in Macedonia beyond the Sep 26 expiration of its mission.
◆2002 US military C-130s and U.S. troops landed in Ivory Coast to rescue Americans in the West African nation's deadliest-ever uprising.Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken this Day
CONNOR, WILLIAM C.
Rank and organization: Boatswain's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1832, Pennsylvania. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Howquah on the occasion of the destruction of the blockade runner Lynx, off Wilmington, 25 September 1864. Performing his duty faithfully under the most trying circumstances, Connor stood firmly at his post in the midst of a crossfire from the rebel shore batteries and our own vessels.
ROBINSON, ALEXANDER
Rank and organization: Boatswain's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1831, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as boatswain's mate on board the U.S.S. Howquah on the occasion of the destruction of the blockade runner, Lynx, off Wilmington, 25 September 1864. Performing his duty faithfully under the most trying circumstances, Robinson stood firmly at his post in the midst of a crossfire from the rebel shore batteries and our own vessels.
ORMSBEE, FRANCIS EDWARD, JR.
Rank and organization: Chief Machinist's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 30 April 1892, Providence, R.l. Accredited to: Florida. G.O. No.: 436, 1918. Citation: For extraordinary heroism while attached to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., on 25 September 1918. While flying with Ens. J. A. Jova, Ormsbee saw a plane go into a tailspin and crash about three-quarters of a mile to the right. Having landed near by, Ormsbee lost no time in going overboard and made for the wreck, which was all under water except the 2 wing tips. He succeeded in partially extricating the gunner so that his head was out of water, and held him in this position until the speedboat arrived. Ormsbee then made a number of desperate attempts to rescue the pilot, diving into the midst of the tangled wreckage although cut about the hands, but was too late to save his life.
RICKENBACKER, EDWARD V. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 94th Aero Squadron, Air Service. Place and date: Near Billy, France, 25 September 1918. Entered service at: Columbus, Ohio. Born: 8 October 1890, Columbus, Ohio. G.O. No.: 2, W.D., 1931. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy near Billy, France, 25 September 1918. While on a voluntary patrol over the lines, 1st Lt. Rickenbacker attacked 7 enemy planes (5 type Fokker, protecting two type Halberstadt). Disregarding the odds against him, he dived on them and shot down one of the Fokkers out of control. He then attacked one of the Halberstadts and sent it down also.
*NEW, JOHN DURY
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 12 August 1924, Mobile, Ala. Accredited to: Alabama. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu Island, Palau Group, 25 September 1944. When a Japanese soldier emerged from a cave in a cliff directly below an observation post and suddenly hurled a grenade into the position from which 2 of our men were directing mortar fire against enemy emplacements, Pfc. New instantly perceived the dire peril to the other marines and, with utter disregard for his own safety, unhesitatingly flung himself upon the grenade and absorbed the full impact of the explosion, thus saving the lives of the 2 observers. Pfc. New's great personal valor and selfless conduct in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his