Originally Posted by Chukpike

May 1
US Naval History

1898 - Battle of Manila Bay, Adm Dewey defeats Spanish at Manila, Philippines
1934 - LT Akers demonstrates blind landing system at College Park, MD in OJ-2 aircraft
1945 - VADM Barbey lands Australian troops on Tarakan Island, Borneo, supported by naval gunfire
1951 - USS Princeton aircraft attack Hwachon Dam using aerial torpedoes, only use of this weapon in Korean War
1980 - 11 Navy ships begin operations assisting Coast Guard in rescuing Cuban refugees fleeing Cuba in overcrowded boats

Damn I missed Camerone day. Salute to the Capt D'Anjou and his FFL brothers - true inspiration and heroism.

May 4
US Naval History

1917 - First Navy ships, Destroyer Division 8, arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, to provide convoy escorts against German U-boats
1942 - Battle of Coral Sea, first carrier vs. carrier battle, begins
1945 - Japanese attempt to land on Okinawa repulsed; kamikaze attacks damage 6 U.S. Navy ships
1961 - Pilot CDR Malcolm D. Ross, USNR, and medical observer LCDR Victor A. Prather, Jr., ascended in two hours to over 110,00 feet in Strato-Lab 5, a 411-foot hydrogen filled balloon launched from from the deck of USS Antietam. This was the highest altitude attained by man in an open gondola. Tragically, Prather drowned during the recovery

May 5
US Naval History

1944 - USS Comfort is commissioned in San Pedro, CA; first ship to be manned jointly by Army and Navy personnel
1948 - VF-17A becomes first carrier qualified jet squadron (USS Saipan)
1961 - CDR Alan Shepard Jr. makes first U.S. manned space flight. Flight of Freedom 7 (Mercury 3) which lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds reached the altitude of 116.5 statute miles with a velocity of 5,134 mph. Recovery was by HUS1 helicopter of HMR(L)-262 from USS Lake Champlain(CVS-39).
1980 - USS Robert E. Peary rescues 440 Vietnamese refugees from disabled craft south of Thailand

May 5
1862 Battle of Puebla, Mexico
Battle of Ft. Magruder, Va
1864 Battle of the Wilderness 1st day of fighting. Naval Battle Roanoke River, N.C. CSS Albemarle is escorting troop transports Cotton Planter & Bombshell & is intercepted by 4 US ships. Bombshell is captured & USS Sassacus damaged.
1936 Italians occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1980 SAS storms Iranian Embassy in London ending siege

May 6
US Naval History

1909 - Great White Fleet anchors in San Francisco
1916 - First ship-to-shore radio telephone voice conversation from USS New Hampshire off Virginia Capes to SECNAV Josephus Daniels in Washington, DC
1942 - CAPT Milton Miles arrives in Chungking, China, to begin building an intelligence and guerilla training organization, Naval Group China
1945 - Naval landing force evacuates 500 Marshallese from Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands

May 6
1527 Spanish & German troops sack Rome
1757 Battle of Prague
1863 Battle of Chancellorsville ends
1864 Battle of the Wilderness
1935 1st flight of the Curtiss P-35 Hawk
1941 1st flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
1942 Corrigidor surrenders to the Japanese

May 7
US Navy History

1779 - Continental Navy sloop Providence captures British brig Diligent off Cape Charles
1934 - USS Constitution completes tour of principal U.S. ports
1940 - FDR orders Pacific Fleet to remain in Hawaiian waters indefinitely
1942 - Carrier aircraft sink Japanese carrier Shoho during Battle of Coral Sea

May 7
1862 Battle of Eltham's Landing, Va.
1915 U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania
1920 Polish troops capture Kiev
1951 Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends

May 8th 1945 was VE Day and I was dancing in the Streets of London, I was in the crowds out side Buckingham Palace cheering Churchill. Now that was a happy day, the war was not yet over but we could start to live a bit more of a normal life what ever that was.

May 8
1821 Battle of Gravia
1846 Battle of Palo Alto, Tx
1862 Battle of McDowell, Va
1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va
1942 Battle of the Coral Sea ends
1972 Pres. Nixon orders mining of N. Vietnamese ports