SANDY KOZEL                                    

The fledgling United States Marine Corps proved its dauntless
courage with a "miracle" victory in the Battle of Derna on the
shores of Tripoli in North Africa on this day in history, April 27,
1805.

The successful attack against overwhelming numbers on the
port city in present-day Libya, a stronghold of pirates who
spent years attacking United States ships at sea, was the
climactic battle of the First Barbary War (1801-05).

The victory is immortalized in a patriotic American anthem.

1st. Lt. Presley O’Bannon raised the American
flag during the Battle of Derna.

The Derna Plaque is part of "Defending the New Republic
1775-1865" display at the National Museum of the Marine
Corps in Virginia on May 25, 2010. This plaque was made
to honor a battle to take a fort from the Barbary pirates
off the northern coast of Africa. The Derna Plaque was discovered 175 years after the battle.

On April 1, 1945, after suffering the loss of 116 planes and damage
to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 U.S. combat troops, under the
command of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner Jr., land on
the southwest coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa, 350 miles
south of Kyushu, the southern main island of Japan.

Determined to seize Okinawa as a base of operations for the army ground and air forces for a later assault on mainland Japan, more
than 1,300 ships converged on the island, finally putting ashore
50,000 combat troops.

General Buckner was killed during the closing days of the Battle
of Okinawa by enemy artillery fire, making him one of the highest-
ranking United States military officers lost to enemy fire during
World War II
  

Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.

US Marines of the 2nd Battalion 22nd Regiment, land at
Green Beach One, Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands. 

The west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima was
declared secure by the U.S. military after weeks
of fiercely fighting its Japanese defenders.  

On March 6, 1836, after 13 days of intermittent fighting, the Battle
of the Alamo came to a gruesome end and capping off a pivotal
moment in the Texas Revolution.

Mexican forces were victorious in recapturing the fort, and nearly
all of the roughly 200 Texan defenders—including frontiersman
Davy Crockett—died.

The defense of the Alamo remains a symbol of resistance and
revolution. The battle has been immortalized in several TV
series and films, including 1960’s The Alamo, starring John
Wayne as Davy Crockett.