March 24 in U.S. military history

1945: Paratroopers of Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway’s XVIII Airborne Corps — composed of the U.S. 17th Airborne “Thunder from Heaven” Division and their British 6th Airborne Division comrades – strike and seize key German positions on the enemy side of the Rhine River. The airborne assault is the last major parachute and gliderborne operation of World War II.

1959: Elvis Presley is sworn into the Army as a private. He would attend basic and advanced training at Fort Hood, Texas and later serve in Europe in the 3d Armored Division. He ultimately reached the rank of sergeant before completing his two years of active duty service. Elvis was a jeep driver and reconnaissance scout, although he could also drive, load, and fire the M-48 Patton tank.

1986: After dictator Muammar Gaddhafi declares the entire Gulf of Sidra to be Libyan territorial waters, the U.S. Navy begins freedom of navigation operations. When the U.S. Sixth Fleet, consisting of three aircraft carriers and their air wings, as well as nearly two dozen cruisers, frigates, and destroyers ships cross Gaddhafi’s so-called “Line of Death,” Libyan warplanes and vessels begin challenging the Americans.

Things go poorly for the Libyans: after day’s end, several patrol boats and corvettes are sunk or heavily damaged.

1999: NATO’s bombing campaign against Slobodan Milosevic’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia begins. NATO pilots will fly thousands of missions over the next few weeks of Operation ALLIED FORCE, which will mark the combat debut of Northrop Grumman’s B-2 “Spirit” stealth bomber.

U.S. Air Force F-15C pilots pilots Lt. Col. Cesar “Rico” Rodriguez and Capt. Mike Shower each shoot down an enemy MiG-29 on the first night of combat operations. This marks Rico’s third victory, having splashed two Iraqi MiGs during Operation DESERT STORM. All of the campaign’s aerial victories belong to the same unit: the 493rd “Grim Reapers” Fighter Squadron out of RAF Lakenheath, England.