Marines

On January 13, 1865, Union forces launched the Second Battle of Fort Fisher. The fort, dubbed the “Gibraltar of the Confederacy,” was the largest in the South and key to Confederate international trade.

On November 11, 1921, President Warren G. Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.  Now the final resting place for three unknown soldiers, it is guarded 24 hours a day by members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment.

On November 7, 1921, President Warren G. Harding ordered 2,200 Marines to guard the mail in the wake of a series of daring mail robberies.

On October 29, 1998, John Glenn returned to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. At the age of 77, he was the oldest person to go into space.

On August 7, 1942, Allied troops landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands.  The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as Operation Watchtower, was the Allies’ first major offensive against the Japanese Empire.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial was officially dedicated on July 27, 1995, the 42nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War. This stamp was issued eight years later and led to a federal court case!

On June 21, 1945, US troops captured Okinawa from the Japanese.  It was the last major WWII battle in the Pacific and has been called the “typhoon of steel” for the fierce fighting, intense kamikaze attacks, and large number of Allied ships and vehicles that assaulted the island.

On May 14, 1897, John Philip Sousa’s band officially debuted his march “Stars and Stripes Forever” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It quickly became a hit, with calls for it to replace the “Star Spangled Banner” as the national anthem. Instead, it was made the national march in 1987.

On November 27, 1950, the Korean War Battle of Chosin Reservoir began – a fighting withdrawal in the bitter cold.