From Cape Canaveral, Florida, John Herschel Glenn Jr. was
successfully launched into space aboard the Friendship 7
spacecraft on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut
on this day in 1962.

Glenn, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, was
among the seven men chosen by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) in 1959 to become
America’s first astronauts.

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passed
a resolution stating that “two Battalions of Marines be raised” for
service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy.

The resolution, drafted by future U.S. president John Adams and
adopted in Philadelphia, created the Continental Marines and is
now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps.

John Adams (October 30, 1735– July 4, 1826)

A U.S. Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion is deployed to Da
Nang. President Johnson (below) had ordered this deployment to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there.

This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam
and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of
U.S. involvement in the war.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973)

Hawk missile launchers at Da Nang Airfield in 1965.

On this day in 1942, the U.S. 1st Marine Division begins Operation Watchtower, the first U.S. offensive of the war, by landing on Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands.

DIANE KEPLY

On this day in 1991, Islamic militants in Lebanon release kidnapped
AP Middle East correspondent Terry Anderson after 2,454 days in
captivity. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio State Senate.

Terry A. Anderson turned 71 in October.

On this day in 1992, President George H. Bush orders 28,000 U.S.
troops to Somalia, a war-torn East African nation where rival
warlords were preventing the distribution of humanitarian aid to thousands of starving Somalis. In a military mission he described
as “God’s work,” Bush said that America must act to save more
than a million Somali lives, but reassured Americans that “this
operation is not open-ended” and that “we will not stay one day
longer than is absolutely necessary.” Unfortunately, America’s humanitarian troops became embroiled in Somalia’s political
conflict, and the controversial mission stretched on for 15
months before being abruptly called off by President Bill
Clinton in 1993.      
     
      
      
      
   

In this Jan. 1, 1993, file photo, U.S. President George H.W. Bush
holds a camera, which he borrowed from the Marine to snap the
picture, for a self-portrait with Marines at the airport in Baidoa,
Somalia.

In October of 1993, President Bill Clinton addressed the nation from
the Oval Office concerning the events in Somalia. He outlined a plan
for completing the operation.