Army

General of the Air Force Henry “Hap” Arnold was born on June 25, 1886, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. He was an early supporter of military air power, and later became the Air Force’s first five-star general.

On June 15, 1864, Arlington National Cemetery was officially established.  Arlington was created to provide a burial site for the increasing number of fallen soldiers during the Civil War. 

On June 13, 1777, the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in America to offer his services in the Revolutionary War.  He would become like a son to George Washington and was soon known as “the hero of two worlds.”

“The Father of West Point,” Sylvanus Thayer was born on June 9, 1785, in Braintree, Massachusetts.  During his 16 years as superintendent, Thayer transformed West Point into one of the finest military academies in the world.

On June 4, 1944, Allied troops entered Rome, Italy, freeing it from German control. This marked the start of the final phase of WWII, during which American bombers would be able to hit targets in Eastern Germany for the first time.

On May 24, 1861, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln, became the first Union officer to die in the Civil War. “Remember Ellsworth” soon became a popular rallying cry for the Union.

Jacqueline Cochran was born Bessie Lee Pittman on May 11, 1906, in Pensacola, Florida.  The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, she held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other pilot, male or female, in the world.

On May 9, 1918, the US War Department created the Military Postal Express Service (MPES) to handle military mail in Europe during World War I.  It was the first postal system in the world to be created by an Army.

On May 5, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee clashed for the first time at the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia.  It was the opening battle of Grant’s Overland Campaign, which was designed to destroy Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.