THIS MONTH IN MILITARY HISTORY

 

A monthly update from the desk of:

Bob Hogan

Director of Burlington’s Office of Veterans Services

 

May

            The Month of May has it’s notable events, and we begin by reminding everyone that this May 27, 2002,Memorial Day will be celebrated as a day to remember the men and women who gave their lives so that we can enjoy the long holiday weekend in peace and prosperity. Without the sacrifices of the men and women who serve their country in the armed services, both in peace and in war, here and around the world, there would be no security against the tyranny that engulfs much of the world.

 

            On May 6, 1942, General Jonathan Wainwright surrendered Corregidor and it’s 11,500 man garrison to the Japanese. The men on The Rock bravely withstood a month long siege until lack of food and supplies made further resistance impossible.

 

            On May 7th of that same year, the Battle of the Coral Sea marked the first naval encounter in history in which the opponents fought each other with air power alone. During the two day battle, American planes sank one light cruiser, the Shoho, and damaged two others. The Japanese sank the USS. Lexington. The Battle of the Coral Sea halted the Japanese advance on Australia.

 

            In 1943, on May 13 to be specific, the German forces in Africa surrendered. After Tunis fell to the British and Bizerte to the Americans, the German forces in Africa under General Jungen von Armin surrendered. The Allies captured 250,000 German soldiers. This marked the end of the North Africa campaign that cost the Americans about 18,500 casualties.

 

            On May 2nd, 1945, the German forces in Italy surrendered to the Allies. The Italian campaign cost the United States 114,000 casualties; however, the Allied presence in Italy forced the Germans to maintain a large defensive army, thus preventing the use of some 26 German divisions against Allied Forces in France.

 

            On the 7th of that month in 1945, the German High Command surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. The German delegation led by Field Marshal Alfred Jodl went to General Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims, France, and signed the instrument of surrender. The official end of the war in Europe, VE Day, became effective May 8th.     

 

            Jumping in time to 1951, the U.S. Far East Air Force launched a 300-plane strike on Sinuiju on the Yalo River. It is the largest raid of the war to date. Also in May 1951, The battle of the Soyand River began. It was also called the May Massacre and it occurred along the No Name Line. The second Infantry Division stems the enemy tide, inflicting severe casualties on the Chinese 23^rd Infantry Regiment.

 

And in May of 1953, a dramatic raid by the 59^th Fighter Bomber Wing called The Raid on Taksan Dam, destroys a major irrigation system.

 

1955, the first known airborne H-bomb exploded over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific proving grounds. Major David Critchlow, USAF, dropped the hydrogen bomb from a Boeing B-52 8-engine jet bomber from an altitude of 50,000 feet.

 

            On May 1st, 1960 Soviet guns shot down an American U-2 photographic reconnaissance plane flying over the USSR. The pilot was Francis Gary Powers, an Air Force Captain on loan to the CIA. A Soviet court in Moscow convicted Powers of espionage and sentenced him to a 10-year term. He was released on February 10, 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, who had completed five years of his 30 year sentence for spying on the U.S.

 

            The first American in space went there on May 5, 1961. He was Commander Alan B. Shepard Jr. USN. He became the first American to cross the space frontier in a Redstone rocket which blasted the Project Mercury (MR-3) “Friendship 7” capsule to an altitude of 115 miles at a maximum speed of 51,000 mph. The flight lasted 15 minutes and traveled 302 miles.

 

            The second American to orbit the earth was Lt. Commander Scott Carpenter, USN. He did it on May 24, 1962. he made a three orbit tour of the earth, duplicating John Glenn’s trip. The four hour and 56 minute flight reaching a speed of 17,532 mph.

 

            Also in May, on the 15th of May, 1963, the last and longest of the Project Mercury flights occurred. Major Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. USAF, orbited the earth 22 times in an MA-9 “Faith-7” capsule. Cooper made a manual re-entry after the automatic control system failed. He was the first American to orbit the earth for more than a day, spending 34 hours, 20 minutes and 9 seconds in flight.

 

            Reconnaissance of Laos began on May 21 in 1964. The United States disclosed that unarmed U.S. jets had been flying recon missions over the Plain of Jars, Laos, to gather information on attacking Communist forces.

 

            American and South Vietnamese forces launched a 10-day assault on “Hamburg Hill in the A Shau Valley, on May 10, 1969. There was heavy criticism in the United States over the battle, since the hill had little strategic value and was abandoned within two weeks of the bloodiest fighting of the war.

 

            Although the United States Government does not recognize them as Vietnam Veterans, their names are on the Vietnam Memorial (The Wall). They are the forty-one men who died on May 15, 1975 during the rescue mission of the U.S. registered container ship SS Mayaguez.           

 

            On May 12, 1975, the Mayaguez incident occurred when a Cambodian gunboat seized the SS Mayaguez, an American merchant ship, in transit from Hong Kong to Thailand. The ship and it’s 39 member crew were taken to the Cambodian island of Poulo Wai. The Khmer government said the ship was spying inside Cambodian waters, and President Ford called it an act of Piracy. The final 15 men to die in the Southeast Asian conflict known as the Vietnam War, are those who died trying to rescue the Mayaguez and her crew. There names are forever listed on “The Wall”.

  Bob Hogan, the Director of Veterans Services for the Town of Burlington, can be reached by calling 781 270-1959 or dropping by the office at 61 Center Street, the Human Services Building.