In the last half of May. During the Civil War Gen Grant captured Vicksburg. President Lincoln began the process to grant the same care for the families of black men killed in battle as were granted to white families. Decoration Day was established to honor those who died fighting for the Union during the Civil War; it later became Memorial Day. And the battle of Hamburger Hill was fought during the Vietnam War.

 

On 18 May 1863, during our Civil War, Union General Ulysses Grant surrounded Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, in one of the most brilliant campaigns of

the war. Beginning in the winter of 1862-63, Grant made several attempts to capture Vicksburg. In March, he marched his army down the west bank of the Mississippi, while Union Admiral David Porter’s flotilla ran past the substantial batteries that protected the city. They met south of the city, and Grant crossed the river and entered Mississippi. He then moved north to approach Vicksburg from its more lightly defended eastern side. In May, he had to split his army to deal with a threat from Joseph Johnston’s Rebels in Jackson, the state capital that lay 40 miles east of Vicksburg. After defeating Johnston’s forces, Grant moved toward Vicksburg.

On May 16, Grant fought the Confederates at Champion Hill and defeated them decisively. He then attacked again at the Big Black River the next day, and Pemberton fled into Vicksburg with Grant following close behind. The trap was now complete, and Confederate General Pemberton was stuck in Vicksburg, although his forces would hold out until July 4.

In the three weeks since Grant crossed the Mississippi in the campaign to capture Vicksburg, his men marched 180 miles and won five battles. They took nearly 100 Confederate artillery pieces and nearly 6,000 prisoners, all with relatively light losses.

 

On 19 May 1864, President Abraham Lincoln wrote to anti-slavery Congressional leader Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts proposing that widows and children of soldiers should be given equal treatment regardless of race.

Lincoln shared many of his friend Sumner’s views on civil rights. In an unprecedented move, Lincoln allowed a black woman, the widow of a black Civil War soldier, Major Lionel Booth, to meet with him at the White House. Mary Booth’s husband had been killed at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, in April 1864. The massacre of African-American Union forces that followed the subsequent fall of the fort was considered one of the most brutal of the Civil War. After speaking with Mrs. Booth privately, Lincoln wrote a letter of introduction for Mrs. Booth to carry to Sumner and asked him to consider the hardships imposed on families of black soldiers killed or maimed in battle. The letter introduced Booth’s widow and said she makes a point widows and children of colored soldiers who fall in our service [should receive the same] benefit of the provisions [given] to widows and orphans of white soldiers.

As a result of his meeting, Senator Sumner influenced Congressional members in 1866 to introduce a resolution to provide for the equal treatment of the dependents of black soldiers.

 

On 20 May 1815, Commodore Stephen Decatur (Frigate Guerriere) sailed with 10 ships to suppress Mediterranean pirates’ raids on US shipping.

 

On 20 May 1951, Air Force Captain James Jabara, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, became the first Korean War ace and the first jet ace in aviation history after downing his fifth MiG. He accomplished this feat in an F-86 Sabre with one hung drop tank.

 

On 20 May 1969, during the Vietnam War, after 10 days and 10 bloody assaults, Hill 937 in South Vietnam was finally captured by US and South Vietnamese troops. The Americans who fought there cynically dubbed Hill 937 “Hamburger Hill” because the battle and its high casualty rate reminded them of a meat grinder. Located one mile east of the Laotian border, Hill 937 was ordered taken as part of Operation Apache Snow, a mission intended to limit enemy infiltration from Laos that threatened Hue to the northeast and Danang to the southeast. On May 10, following air and artillery strikes, a US-led infantry force launched its first assault on the North Vietnamese stronghold but suffered a high proportion of casualties and fell back. Ten more infantry assaults came during the next 10 days, but Hill 937′s North Vietnamese defenders did not give up their fortified position until May 20. Almost 100 Americans were killed and over 400

wounded in taking the hill, amounting to a shocking 70% casualty rate. Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts called the operation “senseless and irresponsible” and attacked the military tactics of President Richard Nixon’s administration. His speech before the Senate was seen as part of a growing public outcry over our military policy in Vietnam. US military command had ordered Hill 937 taken primarily as a diversionary tactic, and on May 28 it was abandoned. This led to further outrage in America over what seemed a senseless loss of American lives. North Vietnamese forces eventually returned and re-fortified their original position.

 

On 23 May 1777, during the Revolutionary War, at Sag Harbor, New York, Patriot troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Meigs captured several British vessels and burned Redcoat supplies. With the help of two local men, Meigs and his Connecticut raiders grabbed the British commander from his bed in the wee hours of the morning, firing only one gunshot. Instead of guns, the Patriots used silent but deadly bayonets to capture the British fort, successfully avoiding announcing their presence with gunfire.

The British had built their fort on the site of a burial ground because it was the highest land in the area and had the best view of the harbor. The Redcoats desecrated colonists’ family gravesites, and in the process, lost the important battle for the hearts and minds of the residents. Nearly half of Sag Harbor’s families fled to Connecticut during the British occupation.

With six Redcoats dead and 53 captured, the Patriots moved towards the harbor. The British ships anchored there eventually noticed the body of men moving towards them and opened fire. The Patriots, though, went on to burn 24 British ships and their cargoes of hay, rum, grain and other merchandise. With an additional 37 prisoners in custody, the 170 Yankee raiders returned without having lost a single man in their party.

The Sag Harbor ambush was the only successful Patriot attack on Long Island between the British takeover in 1776 and their departure following the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

 

On 23 May 1900, Sergeant William Harvey Carney was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery on July 18, 1863, while fighting for the Union as a member of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry. He was the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor. On July 16, 1863, the regiment saw its first action at James Island, South Carolina, performing admirably in a confrontation with experienced Confederate troops. Three days later, they volunteered to lead the assault on Fort Wagner, a highly fortified outpost on Morris Island that was part of the Confederate defense of Charleston Harbor. Struggling against a lethal barrage of cannon and rifle fire, the regiment fought their way to the top of the fort’s parapet over several hours. Sergeant Carney was wounded there while planting the US flag. The regiment’s white commander, Colonel Robert Shaw, was killed, and his soldiers were overwhelmed by the fort’s defenders and had to fall back. Despite his wound, Carney refused to retreat until he removed the flag, and though successful, he was shot again in the process. The 54th lost 281 of its 600 men in its brave attempt to take Fort Wagner, which throughout the war never fell by force of arms. Carney eventually recovered and was discharged with disability on June 30, 1864.

 

On 26 May 1945, during WWII, 464 American B-29 bombers fire-bombed Tokyo with about 4000 tons of incendiaries. Parts of the imperial palace were damaged as was the nearby business district, which was the targeted area. A total of 26 of the Marianas-based bombers were lost.

 

On 28 May 1754, in the first engagement of the French and Indian War, a Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeated a French reconnaissance party in southwestern Pennsylvania. In a surprise attack, the Virginians killed 10 French soldiers, including the French commander, and took 21 prisoners. Only one of Washington’s men was killed. The French and Indian War was the last and most important of a series of colonial

conflicts between the British and the American colonists on one side, and the French and their broad network of Native American allies on the other.

 

On 28 May 1945, during WWII, 100 Japanese planes were shot down near Okinawa. This was the last major effort against the Allied naval forces surrounding the island. One American destroyer was sunk.

 

On 28 May 1984, President Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery at the Tomb of the Unknowns for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. The remains were unearthed in 1998 for DNA testing. They were later identified as those of Air Force First Lieutenant Michael Blassie and were sent to St. Louis for hometown burial.

 

On 30 May 1868, by proclamation of General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance was held to honor those who died “in defense of their country during the late rebellion.” Known to some as “Decoration Day,” mourners honored the Civil War dead by decorating their graves with flowers. By the late 19th century, many communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day, and after WWI, folks began to honor the dead of all of our wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.

 

 

On the weekend of May 18, 19: Col David Grossman will share his views. Junior CoHost Cedar Coryell will discuss our nation’s issues. Steve Goreham will discuss his book on the effect of AI on Climate Change. And Gen Chris Petty will present the Battle of the Month.

 

And on the weekend of 25, 26: Gen Arnold Punaro will discuss some of our nation’s issues. Allison Jaslow, the CEO of the Iraq and Afghan Veterans of America will share their goals. Diane Raver will present the Movie of the Month.

 

Undercooked steaks are a rare situation. Be careful or you will get a raw deal.

 

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God. ~ Thomas Paine