During this week in 1951, an Army corporal engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Corporal Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura was a second-generation Japanese American who’d already served in World War II.
He didn’t stop there. After the war, he volunteered for the Army Reserves.
By April 1951, he was serving in Korea with his machine-gun squad. Our soldiers were then stationed by the Imjin River, just north of Seoul.
“I was being a machine gun squad leader,” he later described, “[and] was told to hold this position as long as I could because we knew we were outnumbered so bad that it would be impossible to hold it.”
He had only 15 men. As night fell, our soldiers could hear Chinese troops approaching. The enemy forces were creating a huge racket, banging on pots and pans and blowing whistles. Suddenly, there was silence. Flares began lighting up the night sky.
The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-hiroshi-miyamura-moh
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On this day in 1832, a signer of the Declaration of Independence passes away. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was the last living signatory of that document.
He was also the only Catholic person to sign. He suffered immensely because of this latter fact.
For years, Carroll was mistreated because of his faith. As a young boy, he attended a religious private school in secret. When he got older, he traveled overseas to complete his education. When he returned to America, he was unable to run for office because he was Catholic.
All in all, perhaps it would have been understandable if he’d chosen to remain loyal to the Crown during the Revolution?
FULL STORY: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-charles-carroll
At about this time in 2005, a memorial is dedicated for Smoky, the “Yorkie Doodle Dandy” of World War II. Smoky was a little Yorkshire Terrier who served alongside Corporal William “Bill” Wynne in the 5th Air Force, 26th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron.
Wynne would call her a “mighty little dog I was fortunate enough to have.”
Corporal Wynne first met Smoky when he was serving as an aerial photographer in New Guinea. Another G.I. had found the dog in an abandoned foxhole. Poor Smoky was skin and bones! Wynne ended up buying her for two Australian pounds (about $6.44). From then on, man and dog were inseparable.
Wynne taught Smoky tricks during his free time, but Smoky also hung out in the darkroom with Wynne when he was working. When air raid sirens sounded, the two would run for cover together. Many soldiers came to believe that Smoky instinctively knew which shelter was best. They began following her to the hole that she chose.
FULL STORY: ...
On this day in 1815, Elizabeth Cady is born into a prominent family in Johnstown, New York. She would go on to become a well-known advocate for women’s rights.
“[Elizabeth] was arguably the most important female activist-intellectual of [her] era,” biographer Lori Ginzberg writes, “and one of her generation’s most charismatic leaders.”
Elizabeth’s discontent with the status quo began early: Her gender put artificial limits on her education, which she found upsetting. She yearned for more opportunity and would have leapt at the chance to go to college.
She had to instead content herself with attending a female seminary.
The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-elizabeth-stanton
