In the last half of August, during the War of 1812, the British captured Washington, DC. The International Red Cross was founded. The city of Paris, France, was freed from German control and enjoyed a parade. Japan formally surrendered, thus ending WWII. CIA employee and U2 pilot was shot down while flying a spying mission over Russia.

 

On 16 Aug 1945, during WWII, the Japanese Emperor issued a decree ordering all Japanese forces to cease fire. The Cabinet resigned. General Prince Higashikumi became the prime minister and formed a new government. He ordered the Imperial Army to obey the Emperor’s call and lay down their arms.

On the same day, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, (captured by the Japanese in the Philippines), was freed by Russian forces from a POW camp in China. When President Franklin Roosevelt transferred Gen. Douglas MacArthur from the Philippines to Australia in March 1942, Maj. Gen. Wainwright was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of all Philippine forces. When Bataan was taken by the Japanese, and the infamous Bataan “Death March” of captured Allies was underway, Corredigor became the next battle ground. Wainwright and his 13,000 troops held out for a month despite heavy artillery fire. Finally, already exhausted, they surrendered on May 6. Upon Japan’s surrender, Russian forces in Manchuria liberated the POW camp. The years of captivity took its toll on the general. The man who had been nicknamed “Skinny” was now emaciated. His hair had turned white, and his skin was cracked and fragile. He was also depressed, believing he would be blamed for the loss of the Philippines to the Japanese. When he arrived in Japan to attend the formal surrender ceremony, Gen. MacArthur, his former commander, was stunned at his appearance. Wainwright was given a hero’s welcome upon returning to America, promoted to full general, and awarded the Medal of Honor.

 

On 16 Aug 1999, for the first time, weapons were fired from a Coast Guard HITRON helicopter “to execute the interdiction of a maritime drug smuggler.”

 

On 18 Aug 1812, during the War of 1812, returning from a cruise into Canadian waters, Captain Isaac Hull’s USS Constitution of the fledgling US Navy encountered British Captain Dacre’s HMS Guerriere about 750 miles out of Boston. After a 55-minute battle that left 101 dead, Guerriere rolled helplessly, was smashed beyond salvage. Dacre struck his colors and surrendered. In contrast, Constitution suffered little damage and only 14 casualties. The outcome shocked the British while it heartened America through the dark days of the War of 1812.

 

On 18 Aug 1951, during the Korean War, the Battle of Bloody Ridge began. During the battle, our 2nd Infantry Division and its attached units sustained 326 killed in action, 2,032 wounded and 414 missing. The enemy’s dead totaled 1,389. The 15th Field Artillery Battalion set a record of 14,425 rounds fired in a 24-hour period.

 

On 18 Aug 1965, during the Vietnam War, after a deserter from the First Vietcong Regiment revealed that an attack was imminent against our base at Chu Lai, the Marines launch Operation Starlite in Quang Ngai Province. In this, the first major US ground battle of the Vietnam War, 5,500 Marines destroyed a Viet Cong stronghold, scoring a resounding victory. During the operation, which lasted six days, ground forces, artillery from Chu Lai, close air support, and naval gunfire combined to kill nearly 700 Vietcong soldiers. US losses included 45 Marines dead and over 200 wounded.

 

On 18 Aug 1976, two US Army officers were killed in Korea’s demilitarized zone as a group of North Korean soldiers wielding axes and metal pikes attacked US and South Korean soldiers. Major Arthur Bonifas was attacked and beaten to death by North Korean soldiers as he attempted to cut down a poplar tree in the DMZ.

 

On 18 Aug 2002, US federal agents said they had seized over 2,300 unregistered missiles at a “counter-terrorism” school, High Energy Access Tools (HEAT), in Roswell, New Mexico, that was training students from Arab countries and arrested its Canadian leader.

 

On 19 Aug 1960, in the USSR, captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for his confessed espionage. On May 1, 1960, Powers took off from Pakistan at the controls of an ultra-sophisticated Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. A CIA-employed pilot, he was to fly over some 2,000 miles of Soviet territory to a military airfield in Norway, collecting intelligence information enroute. Roughly halfway through his journey, he was shot down by the Soviets over Sverdlovsk in the Ural Mountains. Forced to bail out at 15,000 feet, he survived the parachute jump but was promptly arrested by Soviet authorities.

 

On 23 Aug 1864, during the Civil War, the Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field was adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva. The agreement, advocated by Swiss humanitarian Jean-Henri Dunant, called for nonpartisan care to the sick and wounded in times of war and provided for the neutrality of medical personnel. It also proposed the use of an international emblem to mark medical personnel and supplies. In honor of Dunant’s nationality, a red cross on a white background–the Swiss flag in reverse–was chosen. In 1901, Dunant was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize. In 1881, American humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons founded the American National Red Cross, an organization designed to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross.

 

On 23 Aug 1958, in the Taiwan Straits Crisis, Units of our 7th Fleet moved into the Taiwan area to support Taiwan against Chinese Communists. This massive concentration of the Pacific Fleet in Quemoy-Matsu area prevented an invasion of islands by China. Marines from Okinawa prepared to reinforce Chinese Nationalists at Taiwan.

 

On 23 Aug 1994, a new Coast Guard record for people rescued was set when 3,253 Cubans were rescued from dangerously overloaded craft during Operation Able Vigil.

 

On 24 Aug 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces under General Ross overwhelmed American militiamen at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, and marched unopposed into Washington, DC. Most congressmen and officials fled the nation’s capital as soon as word came of the American defeat, but President James Madison and his wife, Dolley, escaped just before the invaders arrived. Earlier in the day, President Madison had been present at the Battle of Bladensburg and had at one point actually taken command of one of the few remaining American batteries, thus becoming the first and only president to exercise in actual battle his authority as commander in chief.

 

On 25 Aug 1944, during WWII, after over four years of Nazi occupation, Paris was liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and our 4th Infantry Division. German resistance was light, and General von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees.

 

On 27 Aug 1901, in Havana, Cuba, Army physician James Carroll allowed an infected mosquito to feed on him in an attempt to isolate the means of transmission of yellow fever. Days later, Carroll developed a severe case of yellow fever, helping his colleague, Army doc Walter Reed, prove that mosquitoes can transmit the sometimes-deadly disease.

 

On 27 Aug 1945, the Allied fleets anchor in Tokyo Bay within sight of Mount Fujiyama. Admiral Halsey, commander of our 3rd Fleet, was present for what was probably the greatest display of naval might in history. The armada included 23 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 26 cruisers, 116 destroyers and escorts, 12 submarines and 185 other vessels. In addition to the American and British ships, there were ships from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

 

On 30 Aug 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed in Japan to oversee the formal surrender ceremony and to organize the postwar Japanese government.