US Military History Throughout The Years

Short bit of history you know and some you may not!

VJ Day: Wednesday, August 15, 1945 – Following the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a Soviet Declaration of war, Japan would communicate its intention to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Days later, on the 15th, Emperor Hirohito would announce to the Japanese people the surrender of Japan to the Allies. This day effectively ended WW2, since Germany had surrendered three months earlier. A formal peace treaty between the US and Japan was not signed until 1952. Within the Pacific Theater of WW2 there were around 426,000 Americans casualties, with 161,000 killed.
Bloody Ridge: Saturday, August 18, 1951 – Battle of Bloody Ridge, Korean War. In the summer of 1951 American and United Nations forces had reached a stalemate against North Korea following peace negations at Kaesong. Along the center of the Korean Peninsula, at the 38th Parallel, the opposing forces would skirmish for positions in several fierce and bloody battles. A series of hills were observed by UN forces that they believed the North to be using as observation positions. Beginning on the 18th, South Korean forces would start five days of bloody and unsuccessful frontal assaults on those hills. Eventually units of the 2nd Infantry Division would be called to assist in order to take the hills. The battle would still prove fierce and it would take a large American force, moving along a large front attacking multiple North Korean strongholds simultaneously. After nearly a month of fighting American and South Korean forces would take the initial positions sought, while the North Koreans would retreat and take position in a location to later be known as Heartbreak Ridge. American and Allied would sustain around 2,700 casualties, with the North Koreans losing around 1,400 killed. The US Army 15th Field Artillery Battalion would fire 14,425 rounds in only 24 hours during one engagement during this battle.
Battle of Blue Licks: Monday, August 19, 1782 – The Battle of Blue Licks. 10 months after Lord Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown, British forces allied with Native Americans would ambush and defeat a small American force near the Licking River, in then Virginia (present day Kentucky). The British force had raided settlers in the area leading to the local militia pursing them. The American militia leading would be ambushed, and defeated quickly, by the superior British force at the Lower Blue Licks salt lick. Notably, Daniel Boone and his son Israel were present fighting, with Israel being killed by a shot to the neck as his father attempted to help him escape from the British.
Tasking the Missouri: Saturday, August 19, 1950 – After the start of the Korean War earlier in the year, the USS Missouri is given orders to Korea. The USS Missouri was the only active battleship in the US Navy at the time and was at the time assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. She would arrive in Korean waters on 14 September and by the next day begin bombarding the Korean coast in support of an 8th Army offensive.