1791: The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States, become law. 1862: Union Army Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside ends his disastrous series of frontal attacks against Gen. Robert E. Lee’s well-entrenched Confederate forces along Marye’s Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg. It is during the battle that Lee – emotionally moved by the valor of the Federal Army, which, despite terrible losses, attacks his impregnable position time-and-again – says, “It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.” 1864: Gen. John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee is routed in the Battle of Nashville by a Union army under command of Gen. George Thomas. After the battle, Hood's once formidable army would no longer be an effective fighting force. 1944: A plane carrying Capt. Glenn Miller, leader of the world-famous "Glenn Miller Orchestra" prior to World War II, disappears in bad weather over the English Channel. Miller volunteered for service and led the Army Air Force Band from 1942 until his disappearance. Meanwhile, the US Seventh Army enters Germany. 1945: Gen. Douglas MacArthur orders the end of Shintoism as the state religion of Japan, which viewed Emperor Hirohito as a divine authority. 1948: The Navy and State Department sign a memorandum establishing the Marine Security Guard program for US embassies across the world. 1950: F-86 Sabres make their combat debut in Korea. Meanwhile, UN forces withdraw south of the 38th Parallel. 1964: The AC-47, the Air Force's first gunship, makes its combat debut in Vietnam. 1965: US bombers conduct their first major attack against North Vietnamese industrial targets, destroying a power plant north of Haiphong that supplied 15 percent of the country's electricity. Meanwhile, Walter M. Schirra (USN) and Thomas P. Stafford (USAF) blast off aboard Gemini VI. The crew test rendezvous procedures in space with Gemini VII, which had already been in space for several days. 1969: President Lyndon Johnson announces that 50,000 additional US troops will be withdrawn from Vietnam. Medal of Honor: 44 years ago, Private Allen J. Lynch crossed a kill zone multiple times and killed numerous enemies in order to rescue three wounded comrades. Photo/Video of the Day: Image and videos of Gemin VI and VII. It's amazing what men could do with slide rules, cigarettes, and coffee back then when you think how complex it is to have two tiny capsules launched on different days meet up in orbit.
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Posted
Dec 15 2011, 05:28 AM
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BLACKFIVE