Portal:Military of the United States/Selected anniversaries/May

Selected anniversaries in May

May 1

• 1778 - American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay - The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
• 1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking off a diplomatic crisis.
• 1970 - Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, United States following the announcement of President Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
• 2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, President George W. Bush declares "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" on board USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California.

May 2

• 1863 - American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering for the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia 8 days later.
• 1945 - World War II: Fall of Berlin – The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building. German forces surrender in Italy. German forces surrender to the New Zealand Army in Trieste.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship.
• 2000 - Bill Clinton announces that GPS access equivalent to the U.S. military would be available for regular citizens.

May 3

• 1923 - Lieutenants John Macready and Oakley Kelly land their Fokker T-2 aircraft in San Diego, California. This is the first non-stop transcontinental flight. It took nearly 27 hrs.
• 1951 - The United States Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
• 1952 - U.S. Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the North Pole.

May 4

• 1776 - Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville – The battle ends with a Union retreat.
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of the Coral Sea – The battle begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands.
• 1946 - In San Francisco Bay, US Marines from the Treasure Island Marine Barracks stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people are killed in the riot.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Kent State shootings – The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after the ROTC building was burnt down, opens fire on students protesting at the United States' invasion of Cambodia. Four students are killed, nine are wounded.

May 5

• 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
• 1877 - Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
• 1886 - The Bay View Tragedy occurs, militia fire upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven.
• 1916 - American marines invade the Dominican Republic.
• 1980 - Operation Nimrod: The Special Air Service storm the Iranian embassy in London after a six day siege.

May 6

• 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
• 1877 - Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
• 1941 - At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
• 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
• 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.

May 7

• 1864 - American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
• 1915 - World War I: a German submarine U-20 sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turned many formerly pro-Germans in the United States of America against the German Empire.
• 1945 - World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
• 1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.

May 8

• 1846 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
• 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
• 1945 - World War II: VE Day. German forces agree to an unconditional surrender.
• 1972 - Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
• 1999 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college.

May 9

• 1926 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of his diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).
• 1945 - World War II: Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army.

May 10

• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Fort Ticonderoga is taken by a small force led by Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Representatives from the 13 colonies of the United States meet in Philadelphia and raise the Continental Army to defend the new republic. They place it under command of Cavalier George Washington of Virginia.
• 1801 - First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Colonel Emory Upton leads a 10-regiment assault against the Confederate works at The Battle of Spotsylvania, which, though ultimately unsuccessful, would provide the idea for the massive assault against the Bloody Angle on May 12.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill in Kentucky, who lingers until his death on June 6.
• 1960 - The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

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