December 6 in U.S. military history
1846: Gen. Stephen Watts Kearney’s U.S. Army of the West, accompanied by a small detachment of mounted rifle volunteers commanded
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Mexican-American War
September 13 in U.S. military history
1814: Unable to break the strong American defensive lines around Baltimore after a series of attacks, British troops return to
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September 12 in U.S. military history
1847: “From the halls of Montezuma…” Gen. Winfield Scott’s army of Marines and soldiers begin their attack on the castle
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July 7 in U.S. military history
1798: The “Quasi War” with France begins when Congress rescinds treaties with the revolutionary French government. Leading up to and
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May 11 in U.S. military history
As U.S. Army private John R. McKinney (featured image, far left) rests following his watch, 100 Japanese troops sneak up on a three-man machine gun position at Luzon Island’s Dingalan Bay on this day in 1945. McKinney receives a glancing head blow from a Japanese saber. He grabs a rifle and bludgeons the sword-wielding foe before turning his attention to the machine gun, which has been captured by ten enemy soldiers – and is about to be turned on the Americans.
McKinney fires as he charges the position, finishing off the remaining enemy with his rifle butt upon reaching the pit. As mortar and rifle fire hammers his position, he uses his rifle (the machine gun being rendered inoperable) to “cut down waves of the fanatical enemy.” When the smoke clears, 40 Japanese bodies litter the battlefield. McKinney – “the Pacific War’s Audie Murphy” – has single-handedly carried the day.
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