Sergeant Alvin York’s action in the Argonne
In the closing weeks of the First World War, American units were grinding forward in the Meuse-Argonne offensive against deeply entrenched German defenses.
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Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) signed into law
Even as battles raged in Normandy and the Pacific, policymakers were looking ahead to the millions of service members who would one day come home. On June 22nd, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, soon known simply as the GI Bill. The law offered a package of benefits including education assistance, home loan guarantees, and support for finding work, all intended to ease th
Seventh United States Army captures Palermo
In the middle of the Sicily campaign of the Second World War, Lieutenant General George S. Patton’s Seventh United States Army drove into Palermo and seized one of the island’s most important ports. The advance came after a rapid push along Sicily’s northern coast, with American armored and infantry columns racing over mountain roads and through towns battered by previous fighting.
Seymour W. Terry
The hill had a simple name on the map—Zebra Hill—but nothing about it was simple up close. Ahead of the assault troops the ground rose in a broken, rocky slope, pocked with shell holes and scraps of shattered brush. Hidden in that terrain were Japanese pillboxes and trenches positioned to command every approach. As the American infantrymen pushed forward, the hillside erupted with machine-gun bursts and grenades, tur
Sherman Begins the March to the Sea
On November 15th, 1864, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman led his Union army columns out of a largely destroyed Atlanta and turned them toward the Georgia coast.
Sherman captures Savannah, Georgia
On December 21st, 1864, Union forces under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman entered Savannah at the end of the famous March to the Sea.
Sherman’s army captures Columbia, South Carolina
On February 17th, 1865, Union forces under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman entered Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, as part of the Carolinas campaign that followed the March to the Sea. Confederate defenses had crumbled, and the city’s fall carried heavy symbolic weight because South Carolina had led secession. That night, fires swept across large sections of Columbia.
Sherman’s “Christmas gift” telegram from Savannah
After cutting a swath across Georgia in the famous March to the Sea, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman captured the port city of Savannah in December 1864.
Shuri Line abandoned on Okinawa
As the Pacific war neared its climax, the Battle of Okinawa became one of the bloodiest and most complex operations ever undertaken by American forces. By late May of 1945, United States Army and Marine units had fought their way against layered Japanese defenses centered on the Shuri Line, a fortified belt anchored by Shuri Castle. On May 29th, 1945, Japanese commanders began abandoning this vital position under rel
Siege lines open at Yorktown, Virginia
As autumn settled over Virginia in 1781, combined American and French armies under George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau began the methodical work of besieging Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Siege of Khe Sanh
Near the border with North Vietnam, United States Marines at the remote base of Khe Sanh found themselves at the center of a looming storm. On January 21st, 1968, North Vietnamese forces began heavy artillery and rocket bombardments, cutting roads and tightening a ring around the base. The isolated garrison, supported by Army and Air Force aviation, braced for a potential ground assault reminiscent of the French defe
Siege of Petersburg
The struggle for Petersburg combined failed assaults, trench warfare, railway interdiction, and repeated battles on an expanding front. This overview follows the campaign from June 1864 through the April 1865 evacuation, preserving the distinctions between individual award actions.
Siege of Port Hudson
Port Hudson protected a difficult stretch of the Mississippi River. Farragut’s March passage preceded Banks’s land siege, whose costly assaults and prolonged investment ended with the Confederate surrender on July 9, 1863.
Siege of the Alamo
On February 23rd, 1836, Mexican forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived at San Antonio de Béxar and invested the small garrison holding the Alamo mission. The defenders were a mix of local Tejanos and volunteers from the United States who had joined the Texan cause, commanded by figures like William Barret Travis and James Bowie. Their position was poor in purely military terms: a converted mission with inco
Sinking of battleship Yamato
As fighting raged around Okinawa, one of the largest battleships ever built, the Japanese Yamato, steamed south on what was essentially a one-way mission. The plan called for Yamato and a small escort force to reach Okinawa, beach the ship, and fight as a coastal battery in a desperate attempt to blunt the American invasion. United States Navy carrier task forces detected the sortie and launched waves of aircraft tha
Sinking of the Lusitania
On May 7th, 1915, the British liner Lusitania approached the coast of Ireland, carrying civilians, including many American passengers, through waters patrolled by German submarines. When a German U-boat torpedoed the ship, the blast and a rapid list sent the liner under in a matter of minutes, leaving thousands in the water and claiming well over a thousand lives. Among the dead were American men, women, and children
Sinking of the Troopship Dorchester
In the frigid, dark waters of the North Atlantic, war at sea often struck suddenly and without mercy. In the early hours of February 3rd, 1943, the American troopship Dorchester, carrying more than nine hundred soldiers, seamen, and civilian workers, was torpedoed by a German submarine while en route to Greenland. The blast knocked out power and communication, and the ship began to list and sink in bitter cold, far f
Sinking of USS Indianapolis
As the Pacific war neared its end, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis completed a secret mission: delivering components of the first atomic bomb to a base on Tinian. After departing without a dedicated escort, the ship steamed west toward the Philippines. Shortly after midnight on July 30th, a Japanese submarine fired torpedoes that tore into the cruiser’s side. The ship sank in minutes, and around a thousand sailors