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January 7 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Another valiant warrior awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on this day in 1945. Curtis Shoup - Recipient -

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January 8 | This Day in U.S. Military History

The Battle of New Orleans in 1815 happens after a peace agreement had been signed but word had not reached the British forces.

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January 9 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Medal of Honor award given to *CAREY, CHARLES F., JR. for actions on January 9, 1945.

Charles F. Carey Jr - Wikipedia.

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January 10 | This Day in U.S. Military History

William G. Fournier and Lewis Hall both received posthumously awarded Medals of Honor for actions on Guadacanal. This bravery was on this day in 1943. William G. Fournier - Wikipedia Lewis Hall - Wikipedia

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January 11 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Quite an interesting set of events --

1944 – Aircraft from Escort Carrier USS Block Island make first aircraft rocket attack on German submarine. Departing San Diego in May 1943 Block Island steamed to Norfolk, Va., to join the Atlantic Fleet. After two trips from New York to Belfast, Ireland, during the summer of 1943 with cargoes of Army fighters, she operated as part of a hunter-killer team. During her four anti-submarine cruises Block Island’s planes sank two submarines. At 2013, 29 May 1944, Block Island was torpedoed by U-549 which had slipped undetected through her screen. The German submarine put one and perhaps two more torpedoes into the stricken carrier before being sunk herself by the avenging Eugene E. Gilmore (DE-686) and Ahrens (DE-575). Block Island (CVE-21) received two battle stars for her service.

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January 12 | This Day in U.S. Military History

US Air Force launched Operation Ranch Hand which involved using Agent Orange and other defoliating herbicides.

Operation Ranch Hand - Wikipedia

1962 – The United States Air Force launches Operation Ranch Hand, a “modern technological area-denial technique” designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet Cong. Flying C-123 Providers, U.S. personnel dumped an estimated 19 million gallons of defoliating herbicides over 10-20 percent of Vietnam and parts of Laos between 1962-1971. Agent Orange – named for the color of its metal containers – was the most frequently used defoliating herbicide. The operation succeeded in killing vegetation, but not in stopping the Viet Cong. The use of these agents was controversial, both during and after the war, because of the questions about long-term ecological impacts and the effect on humans who either handled or were sprayed by the chemicals. Beginning in the late 1970s, Vietnam veterans began to cite the herbicides, especially Agent Orange, as the cause of health problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer to birth defects in their children. Similar problems, including an abnormally high incidence of miscarriages and congenital malformations, have been reported among the Vietnamese people who lived in the areas where the defoliating agents were used.

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1942 – German U-Boats begin operations of the US East Coast. The move is called operation Paukenschlag (Drum Roll). Admiral Doenitz has faced arguments from his superiors in the German Navy who do not favor the operation, and he has had the difficulty that only the larger 740-ton U-Boats are really suitable for such long range patrols. When Doenitz gives the order for the attack to begin there are 11 U-Boats in position and 10 more en route. Together they sink more than 150,000 tons during the first month. Intelligence sources have given reasonable warning of the attack but the U-Boats find virtually peace-time conditions in operation. Ship sail with lights on at night; lighthouses and bouys are still lit; there is no radio discipline – merchant ships often give their positions in plain text; there are destroyer patrols (not convoys with escorts) but these are regular and predictable and their crews are naturally inexperienced.

Wyatt Earp died in 1929 on this among other events.

January 13 | This Day in U.S. Military History

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US troops occupy Ft. Taylor in Key West in 1861 following Florida's succession from the Union on this day.

January 14 This Day in U.S. Military History

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January 15 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Pentagon dedicated in 1943 on January 15.

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Hitler goes into his Berlin bunker on January 16, 1945 and stays there until his suicide 105 days later.

January 16 | This Day in U.S. Military History

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The Battle of Cowpens - Cowpens National Battlefield (U.S. National Park Service)

The Battle of Cowpens was on this day in 1781.

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January 18 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Gordon Ynetma's selfless bravery on this day in face of overwhelming odds results in his death this day in 1968 in Vietnam and a Medal of Honor.

Gordon Douglas Yntema - Wikipedia

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January 19 | This Day in U.S. Military History

Robert E. Lee - Birthday, Children & Quotes - HISTORY

Robert E. Lee born in 1807 on January 19.

He was a brilliant soldier and gentleman.

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January 20 | This Day in U.S. Military History

President Theodore Roosevelt puts Midway Island under US control in 1903 on this day.

Midway Islands | United States territory, Pacific Ocean | Britannica

1903 – Theordore Roosevelt issues Executive Order placing Midway Islands under jurisdiction of the Navy Department. The Midway Islands consist of a circular atoll, 6 miles in diameter, enclosing two islands. Lying about 1,150 miles west-northwest of Hawaii, the islands were first explored by Captain N. C. Brooks on July 5, 1859, in the name of the United States. The atoll was formally declared a U.S. possession in 1867, and in 1903 Theodore Roosevelt made it a naval reservation. The island was renamed “Midway” by the U.S. Navy in recognition of its geographic location on the route between California and Japan. Air traffic across the Pacific increased the island’s importance in the mid-1930s; the San Francisco–Manila mail route included a regular stop on Midway. Its military importance was soon recognized, and the navy began building an air and submarine base there in 1940.

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January 21 | This Day in U.S. Military History

The USS Nautilus lunched in 1954. This was our first nuclear submarine.