Military History Anniversaries 1 thru 31 Dec Significant events in U.S. Military History for the next 30 days are: Dec 01 1918 – WWI: An American army of occupation enters Germany. Dec 01 1941 – WW2: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gave the final approval to initiate war against the United States. Dec 01 1959 – Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent. Dec 01 1964 – Vietnam: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top–ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam. Dec 01 1969 – Vietnam: America’s first draft lottery since 1942 is held. Dec 02 1943 – WW2: A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbor of Bari, Italy, sinks numerous cargo and transport ships, including an American Liberty ship, the John Harvey, with a stockpile of World War I era mustard gas. Dec 02 1944 – WW2: General George S. Patton’s troops enter the Saar Valley and break through the Siegfried line. Dec 03 1775 – The USS Alfred became the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Stars and Stripes); the flag is hoisted by John Paul Jones. Dec 03 1950 – Korea: The Chinese close in on Pyongyang, Korea, and UN forces withdraw southward. Pyongyang falls 2 days later. Dec 03 1942 – WW2: U.S. planes make the first raids on Naples, Italy. Dec 04 1864 – Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General William T. Sherman's campaign destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to the Atlantic Ocean from Atlanta, Georgia. Dec 04 1942 – WW2: Carlson's patrol during the Guadalcanal Campaign ends. Dec 05 1943 – WW2: U.S. Army Air Force begins attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow Dec 05 1944 – WW2: Allied troops occupy Ravenna. Dec 05 1965 – Vietnam: First Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam awarded to Army Capt. Roger Donlon Dec 06 1917 – WWI: USS Jacob Jones is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine SM U–53. Dec 06 1941 – WW2: President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues a personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito to use his influence to avoid war. Dec 07 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas. Casualties and losses: US 1,251 – CSA 1,317. Dec 07 1917 – WWI: The United States declares war on Austria–Hungary with only one dissenting vote in Congress. Dec 07 1941 – WW2: The Imperial Japanese Navy attacks the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army Air Forces and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing a declaration of war upon Japan by the United States. Japan also invades Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch Ea Dec 07 1942 – WW2: The U.S. Navy launches USS New Jersey, the largest battleship ever built. Dec 08 1861 – Civil War: CSS Sumter captures the whaler Eben Dodge in the Atlantic. The American Civil War is now affecting the Northern whaling industry. Dec 08 1941 – WW2: Roosevelt declares war on Japan noting the previous day’s events mark it as a date that will live in infamy. Dec 08 1943 – WW2: U.S. carrier–based planes sink two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands. Dec 08 1944 – WW2: The United States conducts the longest, most effective air raid on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. 1 Dec 08 1965 – Vietnam: Operation Tiger Hound – Aerial raids begin to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail to reduce North Vietnamese infiltration down the trail into South Vietnam. Became Operation hunt after 1968. Dec 09 1775 – American Revolution: British troops lose the Battle of Great Bridge, and leave Virginia soon afterward. Casualties and losses: US 1 – GB 62 to 102. Dec 09 1835 – The Texan Army captures San Antonio, Texas. Dec 09 1941 – WW2: The 19th Bombardment Group attacks Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon Dec 09 1950 – Cold War: Harry Gold gets 30 years imprisonment for passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II. Dec 09 1992 – Operation Restore Hope: U.S. Marines land in Somalia to ensure food and medicine reaches the deprived areas of that country. Dec 10 1861 – Civil War: the Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy. Dec 10 1864 – Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia. Dec 10 1898 – Spanish American War: The U.S. and Spain sign the Treaty of Paris, ending the war and ceding Spanish possessions, including the Philippines, to the United States. Dec 10 1941 – WW2: Japanese troops invade the Philippine island of Luzon. Dec 11 1862 – Civil War: Union General Ambrose Burnside occupies Fredericksburg and prepares to attack the Confederates under Robert E. Lee. The battle ends two days later with the bloody slaughter of onrushing Union troops at Marye's Heights. Dec 11 1941 – WW2: Germany and fascist Italy declare was on America. The U.S. reciprocates. Dec 12 1862 – Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine. Dec 12 1863 – Civil War: Orders are given in Richmond, Virginia, that no more supplies from the Union should be received by Federal prisoners. Dec 12 1937 – USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze River in China. Dec 12 1941 – WW2: Fifty–four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa becomes the first Filipino pilot killed in combat. Dec 12 1941 – WW2: USMC F4F Wildcats sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island. Dec 13 1775 – The Continental Congress authorizes the building of 13 frigates. Dec 13 1774 – Mass militiamen successfully attacked arsenal of Ft. William and Mary Dec 13 1862 – Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside. Casualties and losses: US 12,863 – CSA 5,377. Dec 13 1964 – Vietnam: North Vietnamese commence attack on Phuoc Long Province. Decisive North Vietnamese victory. Dec 14 1814 – War of 1812: The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borgne, Louisiana. Dec 14 1964 – Vietnam: Operation Barrel Roll – Covert U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division (later the Seventh Air Force) and U.S. Navy Task Force 77, interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos begins. Limited tactical U.S. success but strategic failure. Dec 15 1864 – Civil War: In the 2 day Battle of Nashville, Union forces under George H. Thomas almost completely destroy the Army of Tennessee under John B. Hood. Casualties and losses: US 3.061 – CSA Approx. 6,000. Dec 15 1942 – WW2: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign. Casualties and losses: US Est. 250 – Japan Est. 2,700 to 3,300. Dec 16 1917 – USS F–1 (SS–20) sunk after collision with USS F 3 (SS–22) off San Diego, California. 19 died Dec 16 1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan. Dec 16 1950 – Korea: President Harry Truman declares a state of National Emergency as Chinese communists invade deeper into South Korea. 2 Dec 16 1998 – Iraq: The United States launches a missile attack on Iraq for failing to comply with United Nations weapons inspectors. Dec 17 1777 – American Revolution: France recognized American independence. Dec 17 1812 – War of 1812: U.S. forces attack Lenape and Miami Indian villages in the Battle of the Mississinewa which was considered the first American victory of the war. Casualties and losses: US 56 – Indians 80. Dec 17 1862 – Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. Dec 17 1939 – WW2: Battle of the River Plate – The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo. Dec 17 1941 – WW2: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo. Dec 17 1943 – WW2: U.S. forces invade Japanese held New Britain Island in New Guinea. Dec 17 1944 – WW2: The German Army renews the attack on the Belgian town of Losheimergraben against the defending Americans during the Battle of the Bulge. Within 5 days the 101st Airborne Division is surrounded at Bastogne Belgium. Dec 17 1944 – WW2: Battle of the Bulge Malmedy massacre – 90 American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper. Dec 17 1944 – WW2: U.S. approves end to internment of Japanese Americans. Dec 17 1950 – The F–86 Sabre's first mission over Korea. Dec 17 1969 – The U.S. Air Force ended its "Project Blue Book" and concluded that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial activity behind UFO sightings. Dec 18 1916 – WWI: The 10 month Battle of Verdun (the longest engagement of the war) ends when German forces are defeated by the French. Casualties and losses: France 442k to 540k with 362k KIA – Germany 355k to 435k with 336k KIA. Dec 18 1941 – WW2: Defended by 610 fighting men, the American held island of Guam falls to more than 5,000 Japanese invaders in a 3 hour battle.