US special forces raid on Son Tay to rescue POWs from a camp outside Hanoi. 56 volunteers were selected from more than 500 volunteers by invitation only. We first learned of the camp in May from SR71 recon and began meticulous planning and rehearsed training shortly thereafter. I cannot think of a more bold operation by SOF at any time in our country's history. I can think think of no finer example of the best American men with the courage to risk their lives to save American men.
OTD in 1783 -- "Evacuation Day" is when the British officially handed NYC over to the Americans at the end of the Revolution.
Evacuation Day used to be celebrated each year as a holiday, but over time gradually got replaced by Thanksgiving
Here, Washington and his troops pass St Paul’s Chapel on Broadway (which is still there). Of course, the brits had to be dicks on the way out of town. Washington’s entry into the city was delayed by a British flag still flying at the tip of lower Manhattan. The losers nailed the Union Jack to the flag pole and then greased the pole. A young sergeant John Van Arsdale finally managed to climbed the pole and yanked down the flag to the cheers of the crowd.
the battle of Chosin Reservior started........... in temps as low as -35 degrees the 1st Marine division virtually destoyed 5 Chinese divisions as they fought their way to the Port of Hungnam for evacuation. My dad got there as replacement right after they got back and he said the 7th Marines were down to less than 100 able bodied men when they got back.
For 25-30 years I've put out my American flag on December 7th. I've visited the Pearl Harbor museum and the Arizona memorial 3 times in my life and read numerous books about the attack and the aftermath. Still very sad to me.
The USS Arizona sank - 1177 sailors were killed. USS Oklahoma capsized due to numerous torpedo hits on one side with hundreds of sailors trapped in various ship compartments. Several other battleships sustained significant damage but were repaired and saw action again: Nevada, West Virginia, California, Tennessee, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
America would rally and begin to fight back starting with the Doolittle raid over Tokyo, launched off the deck of the USS Hornet March 1942. Then at Midway early June 1942 when Texan Admiral Chester Nimitz's fleet including the carriers Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet, caught the Japanese Naval task force by surprise sinking 4 carriers while shooting down about 80% of their planes, changing the course of the war in the Pacific.
When the Soviets liberated Auschwitz, they forgot to bring a camera to document it.
So they came back with one and had the starved inmates reenact the liberation for their propaganda.