Unerased History – July 7th
Tell the Truth Day
Mexican- American War
The Mexican-American War was a conflict that occurred as the result of Mexican resentment over the US annexation of Texas and a border dispute. The causes of the Mexican-American War can be traced back to Texas winning its independence from Mexico in 1836. After the end of the war, Mexico refused to acknowledge the new Republic of Texas, but was prevented from taking military action due to the United States, Great Britain, and France conferring diplomatic recognition.
The war was fought primarily in northeastern and central Mexico and resulted in a decisive American victory. As a result of the war, Mexico was forced to cede its northern and western provinces, which today comprise a significant portion of the western United States.
In 1845, following the election of the pro-annexation candidate, James K. Polk, Texas was admitted to the Union. Shortly thereafter, a dispute began with Mexico over the southern border of Texas. Both sides sent troops to the area, and on April 25, 1846, a US cavalry patrol, led by Captain Seth Thornton, was attacked by Mexican troops. Following the “Thornton Affair,” Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war, which was issued on May 13, 1846.
“The energy to get things done comes from knowing that what you’re doing right now is what’s most important.”
~ E. Haas
euphonious yoo-FOH-nee-uhs, adjective:
Pleasing or sweet in sound; smooth-sounding.
1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
1534 – European colonization of the Americas: first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in New Brunswick.
1585 – Treaty of Nemours abolishes tolerance to Protestants in France.
1668 - Isaac Newton received his M.A. from Trinity College in Cambridge.
1754 – Kings College opened in New York City. It was renamed Columbia College 30 years later.
1776 – Continental Congress resolves “these United Colonies are & of right ought to be Free & Independent States”
1777 – Revolutionary War: Battle of Hubbardton. British forces, under General Simon Fraser, caught up with the American rear guard of the forces retreating after the withdrawal from Fort Ticonderoga.
1797 – For the first time in U.S. history, the House of Representatives exercises its constitutional power of impeachment and votes to charge Senator William Blount of Tennessee with “a high misdemeanor, entirely inconsistent with his public duty and trust as a Senator.”
1798 – Quasi-War: the U.S. Congress rescinds treaties with France sparking the ‘war.’
1801 - The U.S. fleet arrived in Tripoli after Pasha Yusuf Karamanli declared war for being refused tribute.
1821 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1846 – Mexican-American War: U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after Commodore Sloat reached Monterey and claimed California for the US.
1861 – Civil War: Two floating torpedoes (mines) in the Potomac River were picked up by U. S. S. Resolute- the earliest known use of torpedoes by the Confederates.
1862 – The first railroad post office was tested on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri.
1863 – Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee, in Hagerstown, Maryland, reported his defeat at Gettysburg to President Jefferson Davis.
1863 – Civil War: United States begins first military draft; exemptions cost $100.
1863 – Civil War: Orders barring Jews from serving under US Grant were revoked.
1863 – Lt. Colonel Christopher “Kit” Carson leaves Santa Fe with his troops, beginning his campaign against the Indians of New Mexico and Arizona.
1865 – Civil War: Four conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln are hanged. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold were sentenced “to be hanged by the neck until he [or she] be dead.” Mary Surrat was and is the only woman to ever be hanged by the neck.
1885 – G. Moore Peters of Xenia, OH patented the cartridge-loading machine and incorporated the Peters Cartridge Company. The company developed a round-table loading machine for mechanically loading shotgun shells. These were the first machine-loaded shotgun shells.
1891 – Travelers cheque patented. William Fargo, son of James Fargo, president of American Express, got the first one.
1897 - The Steamer Portland arrived into Seattle from Alaska with 68 prospectors carrying more than a ton of gold. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced that men with gold from Alaska were landing.
1898 – President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
1905 - The International Workers of the World founded their labor organization in Chicago. The IWW was formed by William Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners, Daniel De Leon of the Socialist Labor Party and Eugene V. Debs of the Socialist Party.
1908 – Great White Fleet leaves San Francisco Bay.
1914 - Robert Goddard was issued a U.S. patent, the first of the 214 he would obtain in his lifetime as a pioneer rocket scientist.This patent was for a “Rocket Apparatus” (U.S. No. 1,102,653) which described the multi-stage rocket concept.
1916 – Thomas A. Edison becomes head of Naval Consulting Board which screens inventions for use by the Navy.
1920 – A device known as the radio compass was used for the first time on a U.S. Navy airplane near Norfolk, VA.
1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri. It is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped”.
1930 – Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser begins construction of the Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam). It took the labour of 21,000 men to produce what is now the second-highest dam in the country.
1936 – Several U.S. patents were issued for the Phillips-head screw and screwdriver to its inventor, Henry F. Phillips (Nos. 2,046,343, 2,046,837 -40). General Motors was convinced to use the screws on its 1936 Cadillac. By 1940 virtually every American automaker had switched to Phillips screws.
1941 – World War II: The neutral United States moves closer to war with Germany when U.S. forces land on Iceland to take over its garrisoning from the British. From there, the U.S. Navy had the responsibility of protecting convoys in the nearby sea routes from attack by German submarines.
1941 – The First Marine Aircraft Wing was commissioned at Quantico, VA.
1942 – World War II: General Spaatz is appointed to command US air forces in Europe.
1942 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, in league with three others, including a physician, decides to begin experimenting on women in the Auschwitz concentration camps and to investigate extending this experimentation on males.
1943 – World War II: Adolf Hitler made the V-2 missile program a top priority in armament planning.
1944 – World War II: US 5th Army forces advance along the coast. The US 34th Division captures Pignano.
1944 - World War II: The US 1st Army continues its offensive toward Coutances and St. Lo. The US 8th, 7th and 19th Corps attack along a line from La Haye du Puits to Vire. German forces resist effectively.
1944 - World War II: On Saipan, most of the remaining Japanese garrison, about 3000 men, assault American lines south of the village of Makunsha. The Japanese are forced to retreat with heavy losses.
1945 - World War II: US Navy Privateer patrol bombers (modified B-24 bombers) damage or sink numerous small Japanese vessels in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea.
1946 – Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized. 1946 – Howard Hughes nearly dies when his XF-11 spy plane prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood.
1946 – Six female reservists become first women sworn into regular US Navy. The Navy WAVES in Naval Reserve, who were the first to transfer to the Regular Navy, were Kay Louise Langdon, Aviation Storekeeper First Class; Wilma Juanita Marchal, Chief Yeoman; Frances Teresa Dovaney, Storekeeper, Second Class; Edna Earle Young, Yeoman, Second Class; Doris Roberta Robertson, Teleman, Second Class; and Ruth Flora, Hospital Corpsman, First Class.
1948 – CHART TOPPERS – “You Can’t Be True, Dear” by The Ken Griffin Orchestra 
(vocal: Jerry Wayne), “Nature Boy” by Nat King, “Woody Woodpecker Song” by The Kay Kaiser Orchestra (vocal: Gloria Wood & The Campus Kids) and “Bouquet of Roses” by Eddy Arnold all topped the charts.
1949 – “Dragnet” premiers on NBC radio; also a TV series in 1951 and in 1967.
1950 – The First Provisional Marine Brigade was activated at Camp Pendleton, Calif.. The brigade, formed around the 5th Marine Regiment, began embarkation for Korea within a week.
1950 – Johnny Cash enlisted in the US Air Force.
1952 - The American ocean liner SS United States, known as “the Big U,” crossed the Atlantic in record 82:40, while on her maiden voyage.
1954 – Elvis Presley made his radio debut. “That’s All Right (Mama),” was heard for the first time on radio station WHBQ in Memphis, Tennessee.
1956 – CHART TOPPERS – “The Wayward Wind” by Gogi Grant, “Be-Bop-A-Lula” by Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps, “Born to Be with You” by The Chordettes and “Crazy Arms” by Ray Price all topped the charts.
1956 - Seven Army trucks loaded with dynamite exploded in middle of Cali, Columbia, killing up to 1,200 people and approximately 2000 buildings were destroyed.
1958 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
1959 – 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event was used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
1964 – CHART TOPPERS – “I Get Around” by The Beach Boys, “My Boy Lollipop” by Millie Small, “Memphis” by Johnny Rivers and “Together Again” by Buck Owens all topped the charts.
1965 – Otis Redding records “Respect“.
1966 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Marine Corps launched Operation Hasting to drive the North Vietnamese Army back across the Demilitarized Zone in Vietnam.
1966 – Vietnam War: Female nurses of the 150th Aeromedical Flight, New Jersey Air National Guard, receive men injured or ill from their duty in Vietnam to treat them on their return flights to stateside hospitals for convalesce.
1967 – Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” is released.
1969 - A battalion of the U.S. 9th Infantry Division leaves Saigon in the initial withdrawal of U.S. troops. The 814 soldiers were the first of 25,000 troops that were withdrawn in the first stage of the U.S. disengagement from the war.
1972 – CHART TOPPERS – “Song Sung Blue” by Neil Diamond, “Outa-Space” by Billy Preston, “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers and “Eleven Roses” by Hank Williams, Jr. all topped the charts.
1973 – “Will It Go Round in Circles” by Billy Preston topped the charts.
1975 – TV soap opera “Ryan’s Hope” premieres.
1976 – For the first time in history, women are enrolled into the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
1976 - The US 94th Congress amended the Flag Code.
1980 – CHART TOPPERS – “Coming Up” by Paul McCartney & Wings, “The Rose” by Bette Midler, “It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me” by Billy Joel and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones all topped the charts.
1980 – Jim King completes riding Miracle Strip Roller coaster 368 hours or 15 days straight.
1981 – U.S. President Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
1983 – Cold War: Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov.
1984 – “When Doves Cry” by Prince topped the charts.
1987 – Lt. Col. Oliver North began his long-awaited public testimony at the Iran-Contra hearing, telling Congress that he had “never carried out a single act, not one,” without authorization.
1988 – CHART TOPPERS – “Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson, “The Flame” by Cheap Trick, “Mercedes Boy” by Pebbles and “If It Don’t Come Easy” by Tanya Tucker all topped the charts.
1990 – “Step by Step” by New Kids on the Block topped the charts.
1995 – The space shuttle “Atlantis” landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, bringing back American astronaut Norman Thagard, who’d spent three and a-half months aboard the Russian space station “Mir.”
1997 - Three days after landing on Mars, the Pathfinder spacecraft yielded what scientists said was unmistakable photographic evidence that colossal floods scoured the Red Planet’s now-barren landscape more than a billion years ago.
1997 - Montgomery Wards, the nation’s largest privately owned retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
1998 – A jury in Santa Monica, CA, convicted Mikail Markhasev of murdering Ennis Cosby, Bill Cosby’s only son, during a roadside robbery.
1998 - The American League defeated the National League 13-8 in baseball’s All-Star Game, played in Denver.
1999 – President Clinton became the first president since President Franklin D. Roosevelt to visit an Indian reservation as he toured the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
1999 - In the first class-action lawsuit by smokers to go to trial, a jury in Miami held cigarette makers liable for making a defective product that causes emphysema, lung cancer and other illnesses.
2000 – Amazon.com announced that they had sold almost 400,000 copies of “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,” making it the biggest selling book in e-tailing history.
2000 - A $100 million US test missile failed to hit a dummy warhead from another missile. It was the second failure of three tests.
2000 - President Clinton postponed the first federal execution since 1963 so that death row inmate Juan Raul Garza could ask for clemency under guidelines being updated by the government. Garza was executed June 19, 2001.
2002 - Lleyton Hewitt crushed David Nalbandian in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, in the Wimbledon final to win his second Grand Slam title.
2003 - A chunk of foam insulation fired at shuttle wing parts blew open a gaping 16-inch hole, yielding what one member of the Columbia investigation team said was the “smoking gun” proving what brought down the spaceship on Feb 1.
2003 – NASA’s 2nd Mars Lander, named Opportunity, was launched.
2003 - The CDC confirmed the year’s first case of West Nile Virus, which killed 284 in the US in 2002.
2004 - Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay was indicted on criminal charges related to the energy company’s collapse.
2005 - Morgan Stanley disclosed that Philip Purdell had been given an exit package worth an estimated $113.7 million. 2 days earlier John Mack was signed on as CEO on a contract worth as much as $25 million a year.
2006 - The Arkansas state board barred Dr. Randeep Mann from prescribing narcotics after officials said 10 of his patients died from a lethal mix of drugs or an overdose of prescription medicines.
2007 – Flight from Oregon to Idaho … in a lawn chair! Kent Couch of Bend, OR decided to spend a pleasant day relaxing in his lawn chair. But Kent doesn’t relax like you and I. Attached to the lawn chair were 105 balloons of various colors, each 4 feet around. Nine hours later, 193 miles from home Couch landed in a farmer’s field near Union, ID.
2007 - A Big Mac in the US cost an average $3.41. At current exchange rates the cheapest Big Mac was in China at $1.45, in Germany it was $3.22 and the most expensive in New Zealand at $5.89.
2007 - Wildfires in California consumed 17,000 acres in Inyo National Forest and 7,500 acres in Los Padres National Forest. An 8,000-acre wildfire forced hundreds of people in the town of Winnemucca to leave their homes,
2008 - Tropical storm Bertha strengthened to become the first hurricane of the Atlantic season.
2010 - In Philadelphia, Pa., a 250-foot barge collided on the Delaware River with a stalled amphibious sightseeing boat. 2 visitors from Hungary were killed. In 2011 tug pilot Matt Devlin agreed to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter following evidence that he was talking on a cell phone during the accident.
2011 – The world’s first artificial organ transplant was achieved. It was an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells.
2012 – In a complete repudiation of American morals, House of Representatives Barney Frank (D – MA) shocked the nation by becoming the first Congressman in history to enter into a homosexual “marriage.”
1746 – Giuseppe Piazzi, Italian astronomer (d. 1826)
1752 – Joseph-Marie Jacquard, French inventor (d. 1834)
1851 – Charles Tindley, American gospel music composer (d. 1933)
1891 – Virginia Rappe, Silent Film Actress (d. 1921)
1900 – Earle E. Partridge, United States Air Force general (d. 1990)
1906 – Satchel Paige, American baseball player (d. 1982)
1907 – Robert A. Heinlein, American writer (d. 1988)
1922 – Pierre Cardin, French fashion designer
1924 – Mary Ford, American singer (d. 1977)
1925 – Wally Phillips, American radio personality (d. 2008)
1927 – Doc Severinsen, American composer and musician
1933 – David McCullough, American historian and author
1940 – Ringo Starr, English drummer and singer (The Beatles)
1949 – Shelley Duvall, American actress
1959 – Jessica Hahn, American model
1959 – Ben Linder, American engineer (d. 1987)
1960 – Kevin A. Ford, American astronaut
1967 – Jackie Neal, American singer (d. 2005)
1968 – Amy Carlson, American actress
1968 – Jorja Fox, American actress
1968 – Jeff VanderMeer, American writer
1972 – Lisa Leslie, American basketball player
1980 – Michelle Kwan, American figure skater
*AGERHOLM, HAROLD CHRIST
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 29 January 1925, Racine, Wis. Accredited to: Wisconsin. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 4th Battalion, 10th Marines, 2d Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianas Islands, 7 July 1944. When the enemy launched a fierce, determined counterattack against our positions and overran a neighboring artillery battalion, Pfc. Agerholm immediately volunteered to assist in the efforts to check the hostile attack and evacuate our wounded. Locating and appropriating an abandoned ambulance jeep, he repeatedly made extremely perilous trips under heavy rifle and mortar fire and single-handedly loaded and evacuated approximately forty-five casualties, working tirelessly and with utter disregard for his own safety during a grueling period of more than three hours. Despite intense, persistent enemy fire, he ran out to aid two men whom he believed to be wounded Marines but was himself mortally wounded by a Japanese sniper while carrying out his hazardous mission. Pfc. Agerholm’s brilliant initiative, great personal valor and self-sacrificing efforts in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
*BAKER, THOMAS A.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Troy, N.Y. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty . When his entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small-arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company, Sgt. (then Pvt.) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within one hundred yards of the enemy. Through heavy rifle and machinegun fire that was directed at him by the enemy, he knocked out the strong point, enabling his company to assault the ridge. Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy, Sgt. Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon two heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by two officers and ten enlisted men which had been bypassed. Without regard for such superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them. Five hundred yards farther, he discovered six men of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them. On 7 July 1944, the perimeter of which Sgt. Baker was a part was attacked from three sides by from 3,000 to 5,000 Japanese. During the early stages of this attack, Sgt. Baker was seriously wounded but he insisted on remaining in the line and fired at the enemy at ranges sometimes as close as five yards until his ammunition ran out. Without ammunition and with his own weapon battered to uselessness from hand-to-hand combat, he was carried about fifty yards to the rear by a comrade, who was then himself wounded. At this point Sgt. Baker refused to be moved any farther stating that he preferred to be left to die rather than risk the lives of any more of his friends. A short time later, at his request, he was placed in a sitting position against a small tree . Another comrade, withdrawing, offered assistance. Sgt. Baker refused, insisting that he be left alone and be given a soldier’s pistol with its remaining eight rounds of ammunition. When last seen alive, Sgt. Baker was propped against a tree, pistol in hand, calmly facing the foe. Later Sgt. Baker’s body was found in the same position, gun empty, with 8 Japanese lying dead before him. His deeds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.
*MOTO, KAORU
WW II
Posthumously
Battalion. Born- April 25, 1917 Makawao , Maui County, Hawaii. Entered service at: Makawao, Maui County, Hawaii. Place and date: 7 July 1944, near Castellina, Italy. Private First Class Kaoru Moto distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action while serving as first scout. Private First Class Moto observed a machine gun nest that was hindering his platoon’s progress. On his own initiative, he made his way to a point ten paces from the hostile position, and killed the enemy machine gunner. Immediately, the enemy assistant gunner opened fire in the direction of Private First Class Moto. Crawling to the rear of the position, Private First Class Moto surprised the enemy soldier, who quickly surrendered. Taking his prisoner with him, Private First Class Moto took a position a few yards from a house to prevent the enemy from using the building as an observation post. While guarding the house and his prisoner, he observed an enemy machine gun team moving into position. He engaged them, and with deadly fire forced the enemy to withdraw. An enemy sniper located in another house fired at Private First Class Moto, severely wounding him. Applying first aid to his wound, he changed position to elude the sniper fire and to advance. Finally relieved of his position, he made his way to the rear for treatment. Crossing a road, he spotted an enemy machine gun nest. Opening fire, he wounded two of the three soldiers occupying the position. Not satisfied with this accomplishment, he then crawled forward to a better position and ordered the enemy soldier to surrender. Receiving no answer, Private First Class Moto fired at the position, and the soldiers surrendered. Private First Class Moto’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: At Saipan, Marianas Islands, 20 June through 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Troy, N.Y. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Marianas Islands, from 20 June through 7 July 1944. When assault elements of his platoon were held up by intense enemy fire, Lt. Col. O’Brien ordered 3 tanks to precede the assault companies in an attempt to knock out the strongpoint. Due to direct enemy fire the tanks’ turrets were closed, causing the tanks to lose direction and to fire into our own troops. Lt. Col. O’Brien, with complete disregard for his own safety, dashed into full view of the enemy and ran to the leader’s tank, and pounded on the tank with his pistol butt to attract two of the tank’s crew and, mounting the tank fully exposed to enemy fire, Lt. Col. O’Brien personally directed the assault until the enemy strongpoint had been liquidated. On 28 June 1944, while his platoon was attempting to take a bitterly defended high ridge in the vicinity of Donnay, Lt. Col. O’Brien arranged to capture the ridge by a double envelopment movement of two large combat battalions. He personally took control of the maneuver. Lt. Col. O’Brien crossed 1,200 yards of sniper-infested underbrush alone to arrive at a point where one of his platoons was being held up by the enemy. Leaving some men to contain the enemy he personally led four men into a narrow ravine behind, and killed or drove off all the Japanese manning that strongpoint. In this action he captured five machineguns and one 77-mm. fieldpiece. Lt. Col. O’Brien then organized the two platoons for night defense and against repeated counterattacks directed them. Meanwhile he managed to hold ground. On 7 July 1944 his battalion and another battalion were attacked by an overwhelming enemy force estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese. With bloody hand-to-hand fighting in progress everywhere, their forward positions were finally overrun by the sheer weight of the enemy numbers. With many casualties and ammunition running low, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to leave the front lines. Striding up and down the lines, he fired at the enemy with a pistol in each hand and his presence there bolstered the spirits of the men, encouraged them in their fight and sustained them in their heroic stand. Even after he was seriously wounded, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to be evacuated and after his pistol ammunition was exhausted, he manned a .50 caliber machinegun, mounted on a jeep, and continued firing. When last seen alive he was standing upright firing into the Jap hordes that were then enveloping him. Some time later his body was found surrounded by enemy he had killed His valor was consistent with the highest traditions of the service.
*TANOUYE, TED T.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company K, 442nd Infantry.Born: Torrance, Calif.Entered service at:Fort MacArthur, Calif.Place and date: Molino A Vento Abbot, Italy 7 July 1944. Technical Sergeant Ted T. Tanouye distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action in leading his platoon in an attack to capture the crest of a strategically important hill that afforded little cover. Observing an enemy machine gun crew placing its gun in position to his left front, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crept forward a few yards and opened fire on the position, killing or wounding three and causing two others to disperse. Immediately, an enemy machine pistol opened fire on him. He returned the fire and killed or wounded three more enemy soldiers. While advancing forward, Technical Sergeant Tanouye was subjected to grenade bursts, which severely wounded his left arm. Sighting an enemy-held trench, he raked the position with fire from his submachine gun and wounded several of the enemy. Running out of ammunition, he crawled twenty yards to obtain several clips from a comrade on his left flank. Next, sighting an enemy machine pistol that had pinned down his men, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crawled forward a few yards and threw a hand grenade into the position, silencing the pistol. He then located another enemy machine gun firing down the slope of the hill, opened fire on it, and silenced that position. Drawing fire from a machine pistol nest located above him, he opened fire on it and wounded three of its occupants. Finally taking his objective, Technical Sergeant Tanouye organized a defensive position on the reverse slope of the hill before accepting first aid treatment and evacuation. Technical Sergeant Tanouye’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
PIKE, EDWARD M.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 33d Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Cache River, Ark., 7 July 1862. Entered service at: Bloomington, Ill. Birth: Casce, Maine. Date of issue: 29 March 1899. Citation: While the troops were falling back before a superior force, this soldier, assisted by one companion, and while under severe fire at close range, saved a cannon from capture by the enemy.
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