June 2014 - Argghhh!

They're both high-mileage, and probably both have replacement parts keeping 'em going. Bill Prindible, a veteran U.S. Army pilot who flew on D-Day, takes the controls of a C-47 Skytrain aircraft during a flight over Normandy, France, June 5, 2014, as part of the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. The morning of June 6, 1944, Allied forces conducted a massive airborne assault and amphibious landing in the Normandy region of France. The invasion marked the beginning of the final...

There are 19 Medals awarded on this day in history, all of them from the 19th century, starting with the Civil War through the Indian Campaigns. First up - here's an interesting story in this citation from a battle at Aldie, Virginia, in 1863. Colonel DiCesnola of the 4th New York was under arrest (which also means unarmed) when his unit was attacked. He led his regiment anyway - under circumstances where he actually could have sat the fight out. Turns out he was an interesting fellow , very...

Three Medals were awarded for actions on the day, one during the Civil War, and two during WWII. A fight during the Siege of Petersburg, 1864, where Union General Grant tries to sever the Weldon Railroad, one of Confederate General Lee's major supply arteries for the Army holding Petersburg, and thus, Richmond. While the Army of the Potomac was able to capture a a segment of the line (after a bitter 5 day fight that started on 23 June) the rebel forces simply stopped the trains short of the the...

There are four Medals awarded for action in the Civil War, all on the exact same day, in two battles, at opposite ends of Virginia. We're back for the last day of the Battle of Petersburg. Let's let Confederate General Beauregard relate what it was to face men such as the three who earned Medals on that last day of the battle, before the Armies settled down to the Siege. From "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Volume 4." On that morning the troops arrayed against us consisted...

There are five Medals awarded for actions on this day. We start with the Civil War, the battles of Weldon Railroad, and Saint Mary's (Samaria) Church. We discussed Weldon Railroad yesterday, a 5 day fight in 1864 where Grant was trying to isolate Lee's army in Petersburg from its supply base to the west. First up is a pretty classic Civil War medal for capturing an enemy color. HUGHES, OLIVER Rank and organization: Corporal, Company C, 12th Kentucky Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad...

By 5 June 1944, there were close to 3 million Allied soldiers cramming the nooks and crannies of southern England. 2,876,000 Allied troops were gathered in Devon, Dorset, Sussex and Kent. Brits, Canadians, and the ubiquitous American GI - "over-sexed, over-paid, and over here," as the locals noted somewhat wryly. While they were awaiting their embarkment orders, they continued their training for the invasion by conducting live fire exercises on hastily arranged ranges scattered across the...

To go from a Fighter Wing to an ISR wing - except, in fact, the 188th started life as a reconnaissance unit. But still, to go from A-10s to RQ-9 Reapers (i.e., piloted aircraft to UAS) has got to sting. A pair of U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft assigned to the 188th Fighter Wing, Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Fort Smith, Ark., fly in formation over Kansas, June 7, 2014. The aircraft were the final two A-10s to depart Fort Smith as the 188th transitions from a fighter mission to an intelligence...

There are 29 Medals awarded for actions on this day. Today is a very representative day for the Medal of Honor. We have Medals awarded to take the sting out of failure, we have Medals awarded that are classics of the genre, and we have Medals awarded that would not be awarded under today's criteria. A little microcosm of the changes the Medal has gone through over the decades.