The world’s oldest commissioned warship, USS Constitution, sails under her own power. This is only the second time in 131 years traveling without help. The last time Constitution sailed was 1997. This exercise commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Constitution’s victory over the British frigate Guerriere during the War of 1812.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Andrew Meyers / Released
RIP Elvis Presley
“We think it bad enough to send Elvis Presley in the Army, but if you cut his side burns off we will just die!”
-Linda Kelly, Sherry Bane, and Mickie Mattson writing to President Eisenhower, circa 1958
For some historical connect-the-dots, here’s the “Elvis Letter” referred to in the “I Found It in the National Archives” story submitted by Stuart Leibiger.
Thanks for the memories, Stuart!
From the holdings of the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
Back when the U.S. Air Force was still a part of the U.S. Army, Tuskegee Airman “Marvelous” Mal Whitfield became the first American service member to win Olympic gold while on active duty.
U.S. Army Col. Eddie Eagan, a veteran of both World War I and World War II, won gold medals both as a boxer in the 1920 Summer Olympics and on a bobsled team in the 1932 Winter Olympics.
Now, 80 years later, he’s still the only American to win gold in the Summer and Winter Olympic games.
US Navy Celebrates War of 1812 in Baltimore
The city of Baltimore is currently putting on a “Star Spangled Sailabration” to remember the role it played during the war. Over the weekend, the U.S. Navy put on quite a show on the water and in the skies above Baltmore. The Blue Angels performed two separate shows, and Naval Special Warfare Command (Navy SEALs) performed multiple demonstrations on the waters around Fort McHenry.
SP4 Leslie H. Sabo Jr. distinguished himself May 10, 1970, in Se San, Cambodia, while serving as a rifleman in Company B, 3d Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.
Members of B. Co. were ambushed by a large enemy force. While conducting a reconnaissance patrol, 22-year-old Sabo, charged an enemy position, killing several enemy soldiers. Immediately thereafter, he assaulted an enemy flanking force, successfully drawing their fire away from friendly soldiers and ultimately forcing the enemy to retreat.
When a grenade landed nearby a wounded comrade, Sabo picked up the grenade threw it away while shielding his buddy with his own body, thus absorbing the brunt of the blast and saving the man’s life.
Seriously wounded by the blast, Sabo, nonetheless, retained the initiative and single- handedly charged an enemy bunker that had inflicted severe damage on the platoon. He received several serious wounds from withering automatic weapons fire in the process. Despite being mortally injured, he crawled towards the enemy emplacement and, when in position, threw a grenade into the bunker. The resulting explosion silenced the enemy fire, but also ended Sabo’s life.
Learn more about Sabo’s story by going to www.army.mil
The last MRAP to cross the Iraq-Kuwait border comes home to be displayed at Fort Hood, Texas. This historic crossing of this vehicle brought an end to Operation New Dawn. The MRAP is finally back on American soil.
They called themselves the Battling Belles of Bataan, but to the GIs fighting a desperate and doomed battle for the Philippines in 1941 and 1942, and later to their fellow civilian internees, they were, simply, angels.
The Angels of Bataan and Corregidor, as they’re best known, were a group of 88 Army nurses and 12 Navy nurses stationed in the Philippines in early December 1941. “They were trailblazers for women in the military, for the Army Nurse Corps,” said nurse and ANC historian Lt. Col. Nancy Cantrell. “They set the example for the rest of the services. Their story told the world … that women are tough, they can serve in combat and they can survive.”
The nurses hadn’t received any military or survival training and only held relative rank. Most were the equivalent of second lieutenants, albeit with far lower pay, and were universally addressed as “Miss.”
(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Center of Military History)
SEA PORT OF DEBARKATION/EMBARKATION, Kuwait - A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, the last vehicle from Iraq, is being lifted to be placed on the Ocean Crescent before being shipped back to the U.S. The symbolic MRAP will be heading to Fort Hood, Texas, to be displayed at the 1st Cavalry Division Museum and represent the end of an era.
