Military History by Month for June
Historian’s Report
https://americanlegionpost642.com/index.php?id=102
National Days and Months:
There is a neat description of June here with regard to the National Days and also where the rest of these links can be found. https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/June Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, and Alaska were all admitted to the Union in June. There are also quite a few culinary days like National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day (a personal favorite as we grew Rhubarb in backyard in Detroit) and Martini Day.
NATIONAL HEIMLICH MANEUVER DAY - June 1 https://youtu.be/GFCYB4vMw9E?si=6QwdQpNzeAoIyDPj
D-Day | June 6 https://youtu.be/Abk0mhu4a-g?si=7Hgvwp__RQeMle7P
VA cover eyeware? https://youtu.be/zPcCJfl_38M?si=6M1vFGzdpFQGsabX
Types of Lenses: https://youtu.be/ggsz3B3lo7E?si=n-0uktoswOS_aa-N
ARMY BIRTHDAY - June 14 https://youtu.be/Bcfk1WHC33o?si=qWOc-zQsQzpGhKIL
NATIONAL FLAG DAY - June 14 https://youtu.be/qy6jTFkEbA8?si=HqWfBszKXmChZ5tB
NATIONAL AMERICAN EAGLE DAY - June 20 https://youtu.be/FaS515ZkFQU?si=F3sfQMdJv4R5xgB7
FATHER'S DAY - Third Sunday in June https://youtu.be/WVGo0m_DOxY?si=e5-vwxa2-iKLhyy6
NATIONAL PTSD AWARENESS DAY-June 27 https://youtu.be/YMC2jt_QVEE?si=LHRNPSv_klmV6mHI
Military History: D-Day
June 5
ft 1794: The first six officers of the new United States Navy receive their commissions: Captain John Barry (the first captain in the Continental Navy and considered the "father of the American Navy), Samuel Nicholson, Silas Talbot, Joshua Barney, Richard Dale, and Thomas Truxtun.
1917: The First Naval Aeronautical Detachment lands at Brest, France, becoming the first American military unit deployed for World War I. The Naval aviators, commanded by Lt. Kenneth Whiting, will conduct anti-
submarine patrols throughout the war. The service collier USS Jupiter that carried the detachment across the Atlantic will be converted to the United States' first aircraft carrier, USS Langley (CV-1) in 1920.
1944: As the sun sets on airfields across England, 13,328 American paratroopers with the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions (along with nearly 8,000 British and Canadian paratroopers) board the C-47 transports and
gliders that will carry them behind Nazi lines on "the Great Crusade." 1,000 British bombers pound German defenses at the beaches of Normandy while thousands of ships carrying some 130,000 Allied soldiers steam towards France After months of planning, Operation Overlord is finally underway. Earlier in the day, Lt. Col. Leon R. Vance led a diversionary bombing mission over Wimereaux, France. Anti-aircraft fire cripples his plane, killing the pilot and wounding Vance and several crew members. Despite only one engine still functioning, he regains control of the aircraft and continues to lead the formation as they successfully bomb the target. With the assistance of another airman, he applies a tourniquet to his leg and orders the crew to bail out of the
fatally wounded bomber. When he learns that one of the airmen is too injured to bail, he ditches the aircraft in the English Channel to help give his comrade a fighting chance of survival. Vance is pinned in the cockpit as the bomber slips under the waves, but is blown clear of the bird by an explosion. Vance is awarded the Medal of Honor after being recovered by search-and-rescue crews.
Meanwhile, the B-29 "Superfortress" flies its first combat mission. Bombers flying out of airfields in India attack Japanese rail lines and other targets in Bangkok, Thailand.
1951: Benjamin F. Wilson served as an infantry officer during World War II before resigning his commission. He re-enlists as a private shortly after leaving the service volunteers for combat in Korea. When Master Sgt.
Wilson's company is ordered to take the well-fortified Hell Hill, Wilson leads a bayonet charge that nets 27 dead Chinese soldiers. The enemy mounts a counterattack and Wilson makes a one-man charge that drives off the communists. The battlefield is littered with dead and wounded soldiers taken out by Wilson's rifle, bayonet, grenades, and entrenching tool. Just four days after the actions that would earn him the Medal of Honor, Wilson ignores his wounds and conducts another valiant one-man charge when his unit is forced to seek cover during another assault on an enemy-held hill near Nodong-ni, Korea. Wilson is again recommended for the Medal of Honor, but since Army policy forbids awarding the prestigious honor to the same soldier more than once, he is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
1971: Special Forces Staff Sgt. Jon R. Cavaiani's platoon is attacked by a numerically superior enemy force at a camp in Vietnam. Cavaiani, acting as the platoon leader, delivers heavy fire on the enemy using a variety of
weapons and when the decision is made to evacuate the camp, he organizes the withdrawal by helicopter. The next morning, the enemy attacks again before helicopters can lift out the remaining defenders. Cavaiani mans a machine gun and orders his fellow soldiers to escape. After inflicting severe losses on the enemy soldiers, he is captured and spends the next two years in captivity. Upon his return to the States, the Irish-born Cavaiani is awarded the Medal of Honor.
June 6
1918: Two battalions of Marines, led by Brig. Gen. James Harbord, advance against four German divisions in Belleau Wood, the site of an old French hunting preserve near Chateau-Thierry. The Marines face withering fire, with over 1,000 casualties in the first day of battle alone. In three weeks, the Marines drive out the Germans, but at a high cost; Enemy machine guns, artillery, and gas attacks inflict 10,000 American casualties. But the tenacity of the "Devil Dogs" at Belleau Wood becomes legend.
During the battle, Lt. (j.g.) Weedon E. Osborne - a medical officer attached to the 6th Marines - is killed by an enemy shell while carrying the wounded to safety. He is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Meanwhile, a wounded Gunnery Sgt. Ernest A. Janson (serving under the name of Charles Hoffman) and his fellow Marines are consolidating the ground they recently gained at Hill 142. The Germans attempt a counterattack, and when Janson spots 12 enemy soldiers making their way towards the Americans, he rushes forward, killing the leaders with his bayonet and scattering the remaining men. The Army and Navy both award Janson with the Medal of Honor.
1942: Commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku orders his fleet to withdraw from the Battle of Midway. Although the Americans have lost the carrier Yorktown and a destroyer, Japanese losses are staggering: all four of the fleet's aircraft carriers (whose aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor six months ago) and a heavy cruiser are sent to the bottom. After a long string of defeats, the United States Navy has dealt Japan "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare."
1944: Just after 2 a.m., some 13,000 American and British paratroopers and glider troops begin landing behind enemy lines in France. 2,000 Allied aircraft bombard German positions in preparation of the invasion. And five hours later, nearly 150,000 American, British, and Canadian troops hit the beaches at Normandy. 1,200 warships and over 4,000 landing ships from eight different navies support the invasion. "Utah" Beach (VII Corps) and "Omaha" Beach (V Corps) are on the right flank. To the left are Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches, which fall under British command. Losses are heavy for both sides and 4,414 American and Allied soldiers die on "D-Day" - the first day of the largest amphibious operation in history.
On Utah Beach, Pvt. Carlton W. Barrett, 1st Lt. Jimmie W. Montieth Jr., and Technician 5th Grade John J. Pinder Jr. are each awarded the Medal of Honor for valor. On Omaha Beach, World War I veteran and son of former president Theodore Roosevelt, Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. also earns the Medal of Honor.
1957: Two Navy F-8U "Crusaders" and two A-3D "Skywarriors" launch from the deck of USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA 31) off the coast of California and fly to USS Saratoga (CVA 60), operating off Florida in the first
transcontinental, carrier-to-carrier flight. The Crusaders land after three hoursand 28 minutes, while the Skywarriors make the trip in four hours and one minute.
1964: Navy Lt. Charles F. Klusmann's RF-8A Crusader was hit for the second time in two days by communist anti-aircraft fire while flying an armed reconnaissance mission in Laos' Plain of Jars. Klussman was hit the day
before and as his damaged plane burned for 20 minutes during the return trip to the deck of USS Kitty Hawk. On this day, however, he is forced to eject and is captured by enemy forces. Rescue Combat Air Patrol aircraft launch as soon as the first fixed-wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia goes down and nearby "Air America"
helicopters stand by for the order to launch, but all assets are ordered to stand down. Klussman has been abandoned by his government. As word of the betrayal passes up the military's chain of command, Adm. Harry D. Felt phones Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who confirms that Klussman is on his own. Felt demands to be put through to the President Lyndon Johnson, and finally gets authorization for the rescue mission. By then, it is too late; two helicopters are turned around by heavy enemy fire, critically wounding the would-be rescuers. Klussman incredibly manages to escape in August - one of only a handful of downed airmen to slip out of captivity during what will become the Vietnam War.
June 7
9 1830: Following nearly four years at sea, the sloop of war USS Vincennes arrives at New York, becoming the first United States warship to circumnavigate the globe.
1942: Japan lands an invasion force and occupies the Alaskan islands of Attu and Kiska. 25 American soldiers are killed on Attu and the inhabitants of both islands are relocated and placed in internment. The attack was originally intended to be a diversion for the U.S. Navy during the Battle of Midway, which by this time has been cancelled. Less than a year later, U.S. and Canadian troops will wipe out the Japanese occupying force nearly to a man.
1944: (D-Day Plus 1) Allied warplanes pound enemy armor and vehicles moving towards the beaches of Normandy. The 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions make slow progress expanding the beachhead at Omaha Beach, where casualties are heavier than all other sectors combined. On Utah Beach, the 4th Infantry Division begins linking up with the heavily scattered paratroopers (only ten percent landed in their drop zones) of the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions. Three companies of 2d Battalion Rangers, which famously scaled the 100-ft. cliffs at Pointe du Hoc under fire the day before, have taken 50 percent casualties, with their commander Lt. Col. James Rudder having been shot twice. The isolated Rangers will endure numerous counterattacks by
Germany's 914th Grenadier Regiment throughout the day and won't be relieved until D-Day Plus 2.
Meanwhile, construction begins on harbors that will deliver soldiers, vehicles, and materiel to the new Western Front.