Military Firsts
Despite objections from the Pentagon, on July 26, 1948, Harry Truman issued an executive order telling the military to do this.
What is abolish discrimination in the armed forces?
Gold Beach was at the center of the five designated landing areas during this 1944 military operation.
What is Operation Neptune or D-Day?
The story goes that 19th century Marines wore collar protection from bayonets—hence this nickname.
What are leathernecks?
In 2013, the government officially said this "numeric" military facility in Nevada existed, but aliens...not yet. Not...yet.
What is Area 51?
This cheek-haired general's attack on Fredericksburg in 1862 saw 12,000 Union losses with little change in the rebel lines.
Who is (Gen. Ambrose) Burnside?
The first jet-to-jet aerial victory took place during this war when a USAF Lockheed F-80C shot down a MiG-15 over the Yalu River.
What is the Korean War?
Student occupation of a Harvard building led to the end of this military education program at the school for 43 years.
What is ROTC?
The Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas, boasts the original plaster statue of the flag-raising here.
What is Iwo Jima?
The first two names inscribed on the [Vietnam Veterans] Memorial were not combat soldiers but military these, helping the South Vietnamese.
What are advisors?
It's the title of a 1972 David Halberstam book on the U.S. military failure in Vietnam.
What is 'The Best and Brightest'?
The first women to fly U.S. military aircraft made up WASP, the "Women Airforce Service" these.
What are pilots?
This wave of attacks in early 1968 was a military defeat for North Vietnam but turned many Americans against the war.
What is the Tet Offensive?
It's the name of a 3-day weekend in the Marine Corps.
What is a 72?
The oldest U.S. military decoration still in use; its reverse says, "For Military Merit."
What is the Purple Heart?
His military career did much to swell this seventh president's reputation.
Who is Andrew Jackson?
Graduates of this military college in Charleston, S.C., fired the first shots at Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War.
What is the Citadel?
On July 21, 1861, with Manassas Junction to the south, Gen. McDowell's Union forces sent a decoy force and a flanking force toward Confederates at this waterway, which gave its name to the battle.
What is the Battle of Bull Run?
The Marines Hymn' famously begins "From the Halls of Montezuma" and refers to this battle of 1847.
What is the Battle of Chapultepec?
In 1997, Vernon Baker became one of only seven African Americans and the only one living to receive this award for valor in World War II.
What is the Congressional Medal of Honor?
It's the U.S. military's equivalent of a prison.
What is a stockade?
The first successful wartime attack by one of these occurred by the Hunley off Charleston in 1864.
What is a submarine?
On Oct. 7, 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom began in this country; by December, the U.S. had dropped 12,000 bombs and missiles.
What is Afghanistan?
First authorized as part of the Marine Corps uniform in 1859, this helped Marines fighting on the decks of ships to be easily recognized by the Marine sharpshooters located above in the ship's rigging.
What is the quatrefoil?
This Chiricahua Apache leader's surrender to Gen. Nelson Miles in 1886 ended major military action with Native Americans.
Who is Geronimo?
In August 1992 the U.S. military began relief efforts in this African nation but soon got involved in interclan fighting.
What is Somalia?