BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:DPCALENDAR
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Chicago
X-MICROSOFT-CDO-TZID:11
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20251102T070000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20261101T070000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20260308T080000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Chicago
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260109
UID:F476A5E1-8C7D-4E4E-A6A5-336DBF7C1A33
SUMMARY:Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812, 1815)
CREATED:20260118T061141Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061141Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-new-orleans-war-of-1812-1815
DESCRIPTION:On January 8, 1815, Major General Andrew Jackson's outnumbered American force defeated a veteran British army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham on the plains below New Orleans. The battle was fought after American and British commissioners had signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, but before news of peace reached Louisiana. British columns advancing against Jackson's earthworks along the Rodriguez Canal were cut down by artillery and rifle fire; Pakenham was killed. American losses were slight beside the British toll. The victory did not change the already-signed peace, but it redeemed American arms after the burning of Washington, made Jackson a national hero, and entered U.S. military memory as the last great battle of the War of 1812. Chalmette Battlefield, now part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, preserves the ground.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On January 8, 1815, Major General Andrew Jackson's outnumbered American force defeated a veteran British army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham on the plains below New Orleans. The battle was fought after American and British commissioners had signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, but before news of peace reached Louisiana. British columns advancing against Jackson's earthworks along the Rodriguez Canal were cut down by artillery and rifle fire; Pakenham was killed. American losses were slight beside the British toll. The victory did not change the already-signed peace, but it redeemed American arms after the burning of Washington, made Jackson a national hero, and entered U.S. military memory as the last great battle of the War of 1812. Chalmette Battlefield, now part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, preserves the ground.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T130729Z
SEQUENCE:19724148
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:8
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260126
UID:03A407CF-6766-4B63-A958-AFE808BCDC9C
SUMMARY:End of Battle of the Bulge (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260118T061326Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061326Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-battle-of-the-bulge-world-war-ii-1945
DESCRIPTION:The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's last major offensive in the West, ended on January 25, 1945, when American lines were restored to their December 16 positions. Launched through the Ardennes against thinly held U.S. fronts, the German attack created a deep salient, surrounded the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, and produced some of the bitterest winter fighting of the war. Lieutenant General George S. Patton's Third Army turned north to relieve Bastogne, while First Army and British forces compressed the bulge from the north. By late January the salient was erased, German reserves were spent, and the road to the Rhine lay open. The campaign was the largest battle fought by the U.S. Army in World War II. The calendar marks the official end of the offensive, six weeks after it began.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's last major offensive in the West, ended on January 25, 1945, when American lines were restored to their December 16 positions. Launched through the Ardennes against thinly held U.S. fronts, the German attack created a deep salient, surrounded the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, and produced some of the bitterest winter fighting of the war. Lieutenant General George S. Patton's Third Army turned north to relieve Bastogne, while First Army and British forces compressed the bulge from the north. By late January the salient was erased, German reserves were spent, and the road to the Rhine lay open. The campaign was the largest battle fought by the U.S. Army in World War II. The calendar marks the official end of the offensive, six weeks after it began.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T130943Z
SEQUENCE:19724177
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:10
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260131
UID:E8EEB6DD-EAAD-4179-8385-4C14EE90F2E8
SUMMARY:Start of Tet Offensive (Vietnam War, 1968)
CREATED:20260118T061353Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061353Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-tet-offensive-vietnam-war-1968
DESCRIPTION:In the early hours of January 30, 1968—during the Tet holiday cease-fire—communist forces opened what became the Tet Offensive, a coordinated assault on cities, towns, and military installations across South Vietnam. Some attacks launched on January 30; the main wave struck on January 31, including the famous penetration of the U.S. Embassy compound in Saigon and the prolonged battle for Hue. The offensive failed to spark a general uprising or to hold the cities, and attacking units were driven back at heavy cost. Militarily it was a defeat for the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong; politically it shocked American opinion and became a turning point in support for the war. The VFW's battle calendar marks the opening date. A later entry records the end of the offensive's third phase in September 1968.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:In the early hours of January 30, 1968—during the Tet holiday cease-fire—communist forces opened what became the Tet Offensive, a coordinated assault on cities, towns, and military installations across South Vietnam. Some attacks launched on January 30; the main wave struck on January 31, including the famous penetration of the U.S. Embassy compound in Saigon and the prolonged battle for Hue. The offensive failed to spark a general uprising or to hold the cities, and attacking units were driven back at heavy cost. Militarily it was a defeat for the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong; politically it shocked American opinion and became a turning point in support for the war. The VFW's battle calendar marks the opening date. A later entry records the end of the offensive's third phase in September 1968.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T131131Z
SEQUENCE:19724258
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:7
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260209
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260210
UID:F671399E-53C2-4CBF-BBEF-E43BC8DDE9B4
SUMMARY:End of Guadalcanal Campaign (World War II, 1943)
CREATED:20260118T061425Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061425Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-guadalcanal-campaign-world-war-ii-1943
DESCRIPTION:On February 9, 1943, the Guadalcanal campaign ended when American forces found that remaining Japanese troops had been evacuated from the island. The fight had begun on August 7, 1942, when the 1st Marine Division landed and seized Henderson Field. For six months Marines, then Army soldiers, and the Navy waged a grinding battle of jungle, air, and night surface action in the waters later called Ironbottom Sound. Japan's attempt to retake the airfield failed; by early February Operation Ke had withdrawn the last defenders. Guadalcanal was the first major Allied offensive in the Pacific and the point at which Japan passed from expansion to a long retreat. The calendar marks the campaign's close; a companion entry records the August 7 landings.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On February 9, 1943, the Guadalcanal campaign ended when American forces found that remaining Japanese troops had been evacuated from the island. The fight had begun on August 7, 1942, when the 1st Marine Division landed and seized Henderson Field. For six months Marines, then Army soldiers, and the Navy waged a grinding battle of jungle, air, and night surface action in the waters later called Ironbottom Sound. Japan's attempt to retake the airfield failed; by early February Operation Ke had withdrawn the last defenders. Guadalcanal was the first major Allied offensive in the Pacific and the point at which Japan passed from expansion to a long retreat. The calendar marks the campaign's close; a companion entry records the August 7 landings.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T131617Z
SEQUENCE:19724512
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260219
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260220
UID:7AF0F6EA-6DB6-4B34-93FB-4CEF941BD22E
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Iwo Jima (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260118T061448Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061448Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-battle-of-iwo-jima-world-war-ii-1945
DESCRIPTION:On February 19, 1945, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions landed on Iwo Jima, a volcanic island the Japanese had fortified with miles of tunnels, pillboxes, and artillery. The 3rd Marine Division followed. Iwo Jima was wanted as an emergency landing field for B-29s and a base for escort fighters on the Tokyo run. Resistance was fierce from the first hour; Mount Suribachi, at the island's southern tip, was seized and the flag raised on February 23, but fighting in the north continued for weeks. The battle became the iconic Marine Corps fight of the Pacific war, at a terrible price in killed and wounded. The calendar marks D-Day on Iwo; a companion entry on March 26 records the island declared secure.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On February 19, 1945, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions landed on Iwo Jima, a volcanic island the Japanese had fortified with miles of tunnels, pillboxes, and artillery. The 3rd Marine Division followed. Iwo Jima was wanted as an emergency landing field for B-29s and a base for escort fighters on the Tokyo run. Resistance was fierce from the first hour; Mount Suribachi, at the island's southern tip, was seized and the flag raised on February 23, but fighting in the north continued for weeks. The battle became the iconic Marine Corps fight of the Pacific war, at a terrible price in killed and wounded. The calendar marks D-Day on Iwo; a companion entry on March 26 records the island declared secure.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T131742Z
SEQUENCE:19724574
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260224
UID:A9A02D8A-1C4F-4BCE-93C7-21CBA8A08107
SUMMARY:Battle of Buena Vista (Mexican-American War, 1847)
CREATED:20260118T061522Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061522Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-buena-vista-mexican-american-war-1847
DESCRIPTION:On February 22-23, 1847, Major General Zachary Taylor's outnumbered U.S. force held a mountain pass near Buena Vista (Angostura), south of Saltillo, against General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's much larger Mexican army. The calendar marks February 23, the second and decisive day, when Mexican assaults on the American line were beaten back by artillery and infantry, including Jefferson Davis's Mississippi Rifles. Santa Anna withdrew toward Mexico City. The victory, coming after Taylor's earlier Rio Grande battles, made Taylor a national hero and helped carry him to the presidency, while the main American effort under Winfield Scott prepared to land at Veracruz. Buena Vista showed that a smaller, well-handled U.S. army with superior artillery could stand against massed Mexican attacks in broken terrain.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On February 22-23, 1847, Major General Zachary Taylor's outnumbered U.S. force held a mountain pass near Buena Vista (Angostura), south of Saltillo, against General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's much larger Mexican army. The calendar marks February 23, the second and decisive day, when Mexican assaults on the American line were beaten back by artillery and infantry, including Jefferson Davis's Mississippi Rifles. Santa Anna withdrew toward Mexico City. The victory, coming after Taylor's earlier Rio Grande battles, made Taylor a national hero and helped carry him to the presidency, while the main American effort under Winfield Scott prepared to land at Veracruz. Buena Vista showed that a smaller, well-handled U.S. army with superior artillery could stand against massed Mexican attacks in broken terrain.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T131947Z
SEQUENCE:19724665
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260226
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260227
UID:25503EC7-4A16-4EB9-9561-DD943F043C63
SUMMARY:Battle of 73 Easting (Gulf War, 1991)
CREATED:20260118T061631Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061631Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-73-easting-gulf-war-1991
DESCRIPTION:On February 26, 1991, during the Desert Storm ground offensive, the U.S. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment collided with Iraq's Tawakalna Division of the Republican Guard in a sandstorm along a desert grid line known as 73 Easting. Eagle Troop under Captain H. R. McMaster, and neighboring troops of the regiment, destroyed a large force of Iraqi tanks and personnel carriers in a brief, violent meeting engagement. The fight was one of the largest tank battles in U.S. history and a showcase of training, thermal sights, and the M1A1 Abrams against Soviet-designed armor. It opened the way for VII Corps to finish the destruction of Republican Guard units as they fled Kuwait. The calendar marks the day of the battle, two days into the 100-hour ground war.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On February 26, 1991, during the Desert Storm ground offensive, the U.S. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment collided with Iraq's Tawakalna Division of the Republican Guard in a sandstorm along a desert grid line known as 73 Easting. Eagle Troop under Captain H. R. McMaster, and neighboring troops of the regiment, destroyed a large force of Iraqi tanks and personnel carriers in a brief, violent meeting engagement. The fight was one of the largest tank battles in U.S. history and a showcase of training, thermal sights, and the M1A1 Abrams against Soviet-designed armor. It opened the way for VII Corps to finish the destruction of Republican Guard units as they fled Kuwait. The calendar marks the day of the battle, two days into the 100-hour ground war.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T132253Z
SEQUENCE:19724782
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260301
UID:0ECA01AF-209E-47C3-84B3-ACB4E7A4C3CA
SUMMARY:Ground Offensive / Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War, 1991)
CREATED:20260118T061548Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061548Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/24-28-ground-offensive-operation-desert-storm-gulf-war-1991
DESCRIPTION:Coalition ground operations in Desert Storm ran from February 24 to February 28, 1991—the "100-hour war." After a five-week air campaign, U.S. Army, Marine, British, French, and Arab units executed a left-hook through the desert while Marines and Arab forces fixed Iraqi troops in Kuwait. Republican Guard divisions were engaged and broken; Kuwaiti and U.S. forces entered Kuwait City; a cease-fire took effect on February 28. The calendar marks that closing day, which the VFW Ritual also commemorates as the liberation of Kuwait. The offensive freed Kuwait, ended Iraq's occupation, and left Saddam Hussein in power—an outcome that shaped a decade of containment and, later, the 2003 Iraq War. American casualties in the ground fight were low by historic standards, a fact that does not diminish the speed or violence of the operation.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:Coalition ground operations in Desert Storm ran from February 24 to February 28, 1991—the "100-hour war." After a five-week air campaign, U.S. Army, Marine, British, French, and Arab units executed a left-hook through the desert while Marines and Arab forces fixed Iraqi troops in Kuwait. Republican Guard divisions were engaged and broken; Kuwaiti and U.S. forces entered Kuwait City; a cease-fire took effect on February 28. The calendar marks that closing day, which the VFW Ritual also commemorates as the liberation of Kuwait. The offensive freed Kuwait, ended Iraq's occupation, and left Saddam Hussein in power—an outcome that shaped a decade of containment and, later, the 2003 Iraq War. American casualties in the ground fight were low by historic standards, a fact that does not diminish the speed or violence of the operation.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T132751Z
SEQUENCE:19725123
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260326
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260327
UID:C14140D8-477A-4159-A8C6-E9EFD176F3ED
SUMMARY:End of Battle of Iwo Jima (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260118T061733Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061733Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-battle-of-iwo-jima-world-war-ii-1945
DESCRIPTION:On March 26, 1945, Iwo Jima was declared secure, five weeks after the Marine landing of February 19. Organized Japanese resistance under Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi had been fought to exhaustion in the island's northern ridges and caves; small holdouts remained, but the island was in American hands. The cost was among the highest of the Pacific war for the Marine Corps: 6,821 Americans were killed, and more than 19,000 were wounded. Almost all of the Japanese garrison died. Almost 2,400 B-29 landings on Iwo Jima followed, saving crews who could not have reached the Marianas. The flag raising on Suribachi on February 23 became the war's most famous image, but the battle's true weight was the weeks of close combat that followed; the calendar marks the official end.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On March 26, 1945, Iwo Jima was declared secure, five weeks after the Marine landing of February 19. Organized Japanese resistance under Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi had been fought to exhaustion in the island's northern ridges and caves; small holdouts remained, but the island was in American hands. The cost was among the highest of the Pacific war for the Marine Corps: 6,821 Americans were killed, and more than 19,000 were wounded. Almost all of the Japanese garrison died. Almost 2,400 B-29 landings on Iwo Jima followed, saving crews who could not have reached the Marianas. The flag raising on Suribachi on February 23 became the war's most famous image, but the battle's true weight was the weeks of close combat that followed; the calendar marks the official end.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T135821Z
SEQUENCE:19726848
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260401
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260402
UID:6FCE75D2-81AA-49A7-B123-04A7D0CE8321
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Okinawa (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260118T061755Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061755Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-battle-of-okinawa-world-war-ii-1945
DESCRIPTION:On April 1, 1945—Easter Sunday and April Fool's Day—the U.S. Tenth Army landed on Okinawa, beginning the last and largest amphibious battle of the Pacific war. Initial landings on Hagushi beaches met light resistance; the Japanese defense, under Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, was inland, in the southern hills, and in kamikaze attacks on the fleet. Soldiers of the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th Infantry Divisions and Marines of the 1st, 2nd, and 6th Divisions would fight through the Shuri defenses for nearly three months. Okinawa was to be the staging base for the invasion of Japan. The battle's length, civilian suffering, and losses at sea and ashore weighed heavily on later decisions about how to end the war. The calendar marks L-Day, the landing.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On April 1, 1945—Easter Sunday and April Fool's Day—the U.S. Tenth Army landed on Okinawa, beginning the last and largest amphibious battle of the Pacific war. Initial landings on Hagushi beaches met light resistance; the Japanese defense, under Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, was inland, in the southern hills, and in kamikaze attacks on the fleet. Soldiers of the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th Infantry Divisions and Marines of the 1st, 2nd, and 6th Divisions would fight through the Shuri defenses for nearly three months. Okinawa was to be the staging base for the invasion of Japan. The battle's length, civilian suffering, and losses at sea and ashore weighed heavily on later decisions about how to end the war. The calendar marks L-Day, the landing.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T140654Z
SEQUENCE:19727339
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260413
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260414
UID:756C6890-76DD-4641-99B8-2FB6F0A51EAC
SUMMARY:Battle of Fort Sumter (American Civil War, 1861)
CREATED:20260118T061817Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061817Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-fort-sumter-american-civil-war-1861
DESCRIPTION:After a 34-hour bombardment that began at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Major Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, on April 13. Confederate batteries under Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard had opened fire when the federal garrison refused to evacuate the unfinished brick fort. No one was killed by the bombardment itself; two Union soldiers died in an accidental explosion during the surrender salute. The fall of Sumter ended the secession crisis as a political standoff and opened the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers; four more slave states seceded. The calendar marks the day of surrender, the first lowering of the United States flag under fire in the conflict that would decide whether the Union would endure; Fort Sumter is now a national historical park.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:After a 34-hour bombardment that began at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Major Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, on April 13. Confederate batteries under Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard had opened fire when the federal garrison refused to evacuate the unfinished brick fort. No one was killed by the bombardment itself; two Union soldiers died in an accidental explosion during the surrender salute. The fall of Sumter ended the secession crisis as a political standoff and opened the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers; four more slave states seceded. The calendar marks the day of surrender, the first lowering of the United States flag under fire in the conflict that would decide whether the Union would endure; Fort Sumter is now a national historical park.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T141213Z
SEQUENCE:19727636
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260419
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260420
UID:848DC3D7-8F74-474B-B9EA-1AB07DC460F0
SUMMARY:Battles of Lexington and Concord (Revolutionary War, 1775)
CREATED:20260118T061843Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061843Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battles-of-lexington-and-concord-revolutionary-war-1775
DESCRIPTION:On April 19, 1775, British regulars marched from Boston to seize colonial stores at Concord and to arrest patriot leaders. At dawn on Lexington Green, militia under Captain John Parker stood in the path of the column; a shot was fired, the "shot heard round the world", and eight colonists were killed. At Concord's North Bridge, militia and minutemen returned fire in force and then harried the British column all the way back to Boston. The day's running fight opened the Revolutionary War. It proved that colonial militia would stand against regular troops and that a political quarrel had become an armed rebellion. Massachusetts Patriots' Day commemorates this April date; the VFW's September Patriots Day on the Post calendar is the separate federal Patriot Day for September 11, 2001.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On April 19, 1775, British regulars marched from Boston to seize colonial stores at Concord and to arrest patriot leaders. At dawn on Lexington Green, militia under Captain John Parker stood in the path of the column; a shot was fired, the "shot heard round the world", and eight colonists were killed. At Concord's North Bridge, militia and minutemen returned fire in force and then harried the British column all the way back to Boston. The day's running fight opened the Revolutionary War. It proved that colonial militia would stand against regular troops and that a political quarrel had become an armed rebellion. Massachusetts Patriots' Day commemorates this April date; the VFW's September Patriots Day on the Post calendar is the separate federal Patriot Day for September 11, 2001.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T145038Z
SEQUENCE:19729915
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:8
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260501
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260502
UID:2FD148A7-47F8-4276-8E29-B076071E7A48
SUMMARY:Battle of Manila Bay (Spanish-American War, 1898)
CREATED:20260118T061914Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061914Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-manila-bay-spanish-american-war-1898
DESCRIPTION:At dawn on May 1, 1898, Commodore George Dewey's Asiatic Squadron steamed into Manila Bay and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron anchored off Cavite. Dewey's order to the captain of USS Olympia, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," opened the action. By midday every Spanish warship was sunk or burning; American combat deaths were none, though one sailor died of heat stroke. The victory, six days after war was declared, made Dewey a national hero, announced the United States as a Pacific naval power, and led to the occupation of the Philippines. It was among the campaigns that produced the overseas service later required for VFW membership. The calendar marks the day of the battle, fought 7,000 miles from home.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:At dawn on May 1, 1898, Commodore George Dewey's Asiatic Squadron steamed into Manila Bay and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron anchored off Cavite. Dewey's order to the captain of USS Olympia, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," opened the action. By midday every Spanish warship was sunk or burning; American combat deaths were none, though one sailor died of heat stroke. The victory, six days after war was declared, made Dewey a national hero, announced the United States as a Pacific naval power, and led to the occupation of the Philippines. It was among the campaigns that produced the overseas service later required for VFW membership. The calendar marks the day of the battle, fought 7,000 miles from home.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T173510Z
SEQUENCE:19739756
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:6
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260507
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260508
UID:EED2BC9C-C861-4ACE-92B9-7976E7C9E4EF
SUMMARY:End of Battle of the Wilderness (Civil War, 1864)
CREATED:20260118T061944Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T061944Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-battle-of-the-wilderness-civil-war-1864
DESCRIPTION:The Battle of the Wilderness, first clash of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee, was fought May 5-7, 1864, in second-growth forest west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Two Union armies, the Army of the Potomac and Burnside's Ninth Corps, tangled with the Army of Northern Virginia in smoke, fire, and close-range fighting that canceled much of the Union advantage in numbers and artillery. Unlike his predecessors, Grant did not retreat after the drawn battle. On May 7 he ordered the army south toward Spotsylvania Court House, beginning a relentless campaign of attrition that would end at Appomattox eleven months later. The calendar marks the last day of the Wilderness fight and the night the Union army moved on.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battle of the Wilderness, first clash of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee, was fought May 5-7, 1864, in second-growth forest west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Two Union armies, the Army of the Potomac and Burnside's Ninth Corps, tangled with the Army of Northern Virginia in smoke, fire, and close-range fighting that canceled much of the Union advantage in numbers and artillery. Unlike his predecessors, Grant did not retreat after the drawn battle. On May 7 he ordered the army south toward Spotsylvania Court House, beginning a relentless campaign of attrition that would end at Appomattox eleven months later. The calendar marks the last day of the Wilderness fight and the night the Union army moved on.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T173629Z
SEQUENCE:19739805
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260508
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260509
UID:0529F0E7-4FDE-4F33-9F7F-31098847C166
SUMMARY:Battle of Palo Alto (Mexican-American War, 1846)
CREATED:20260118T062009Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062009Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-palo-alto-mexican-american-war-1846
DESCRIPTION:On May 8, 1846, Brigadier General Zachary Taylor's Army of Occupation met Mexican forces under General Mariano Arista on the prairie of Palo Alto, north of present-day Brownsville, Texas. It was the first major battle of the Mexican-American War, fought the day after Thornton's skirmish had already produced American bloodshed on the disputed Rio Grande. U.S. "flying artillery" under Major Samuel Ringgold dominated the field; Ringgold was mortally wounded. Arista withdrew to Resaca de la Palma, where Taylor attacked and won again the next day. Congress had not yet declared war; it did so on May 13. Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park preserves the ground of a fight that opened a war of conquest stretching to Mexico City and the Pacific.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On May 8, 1846, Brigadier General Zachary Taylor's Army of Occupation met Mexican forces under General Mariano Arista on the prairie of Palo Alto, north of present-day Brownsville, Texas. It was the first major battle of the Mexican-American War, fought the day after Thornton's skirmish had already produced American bloodshed on the disputed Rio Grande. U.S. "flying artillery" under Major Samuel Ringgold dominated the field; Ringgold was mortally wounded. Arista withdrew to Resaca de la Palma, where Taylor attacked and won again the next day. Congress had not yet declared war; it did so on May 13. Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park preserves the ground of a fight that opened a war of conquest stretching to Mexico City and the Pacific.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T173835Z
SEQUENCE:19739906
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260518
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260519
UID:E4AFB84D-F7FE-4E98-83A1-B1781D6FAB1B
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Vicksburg (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260118T062028Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062028Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-battle-of-vicksburg-civil-war-1863
DESCRIPTION:On May 18, 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee reached the outskirts of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and began the investment of the Confederate fortress on the Mississippi River. Direct assaults on May 19 and May 22 failed against Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's works. Grant then settled into a siege that lasted until July 4, when the city surrendered. Control of Vicksburg split the Confederacy and opened the Mississippi "unvexed to the sea," in Lincoln's phrase. The calendar marks the start of the siege, not the July 4 surrender recorded in a later entry. Combined with Gettysburg, the fall of Vicksburg made the summer of 1863 the military turning point of the Civil War.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On May 18, 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee reached the outskirts of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and began the investment of the Confederate fortress on the Mississippi River. Direct assaults on May 19 and May 22 failed against Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's works. Grant then settled into a siege that lasted until July 4, when the city surrendered. Control of Vicksburg split the Confederacy and opened the Mississippi "unvexed to the sea," in Lincoln's phrase. The calendar marks the start of the siege, not the July 4 surrender recorded in a later entry. Combined with Gettysburg, the fall of Vicksburg made the summer of 1863 the military turning point of the Civil War.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T174003Z
SEQUENCE:19739975
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260531
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260601
UID:7DA8B2DD-292D-427A-A675-F06656FDE68E
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Cold Harbor (Civil War, 1864)
CREATED:20260118T062046Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062046Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-battle-of-cold-harbor-civil-war-1864
DESCRIPTION:On May 31, 1864, Union and Confederate forces began seizing the crossroads at Cold Harbor, Virginia, opening a battle that lasted through June 12. Grant sought to turn Lee's right and place the Army of the Potomac between Lee and Richmond. After preliminary fighting, a major frontal assault on June 3 against entrenched Confederates failed with severe Union losses. Cold Harbor became, for the Northern public, a symbol of the Overland Campaign's cost. Grant then disengaged, crossed the James, and moved against Petersburg, beginning a siege that would last until April 1865. The calendar marks the opening of the battle, when Sheridan's cavalry and both armies first grappled for the junction.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On May 31, 1864, Union and Confederate forces began seizing the crossroads at Cold Harbor, Virginia, opening a battle that lasted through June 12. Grant sought to turn Lee's right and place the Army of the Potomac between Lee and Richmond. After preliminary fighting, a major frontal assault on June 3 against entrenched Confederates failed with severe Union losses. Cold Harbor became, for the Northern public, a symbol of the Overland Campaign's cost. Grant then disengaged, crossed the James, and moved against Petersburg, beginning a siege that would last until April 1865. The calendar marks the opening of the battle, when Sheridan's cavalry and both armies first grappled for the junction.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T174209Z
SEQUENCE:19740083
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260606
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260607
UID:2FB837AF-B1AA-4D61-BA21-F5A9BD40095C
SUMMARY:Invasion of Normandy (D-Day, World War II, 1944)
CREATED:20260118T062419Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062419Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/invasion-of-normandy-d-day-world-war-ii-1944
DESCRIPTION:On June 6, 1944, Allied armies invaded German-occupied Normandy in Operation Overlord. American forces landed at Utah and Omaha Beaches and dropped the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions inland; British and Canadian troops landed at Gold, Juno, and Sword. Naval gunfire and air power supported the assault. Omaha Beach was nearly a disaster; elsewhere the lodgment held. The invasion opened a Western Front that Germany could not close, forcing the Third Reich to fight a two-front war to its end. Thousands of Allied troops were killed or wounded that day; the VFW also commemorates June 6 as a Ritual D-Day; this battle-calendar entry marks the same date as the start of the Battle of Normandy, which continued through the breakout at Saint-Lo and the Falaise pocket.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On June 6, 1944, Allied armies invaded German-occupied Normandy in Operation Overlord. American forces landed at Utah and Omaha Beaches and dropped the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions inland; British and Canadian troops landed at Gold, Juno, and Sword. Naval gunfire and air power supported the assault. Omaha Beach was nearly a disaster; elsewhere the lodgment held. The invasion opened a Western Front that Germany could not close, forcing the Third Reich to fight a two-front war to its end. Thousands of Allied troops were killed or wounded that day; the VFW also commemorates June 6 as a Ritual D-Day; this battle-calendar entry marks the same date as the start of the Battle of Normandy, which continued through the breakout at Saint-Lo and the Falaise pocket.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T174328Z
SEQUENCE:19739949
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260607
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260608
UID:A258F15E-3B8F-48FB-9D53-20A754E6A739
SUMMARY:Battle of Midway (World War II, 1942)
CREATED:20260118T062110Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062110Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-midway-world-war-ii-1942
DESCRIPTION:The Battle of Midway was fought June 4-7, 1942, in the Central Pacific. The calendar marks June 7, the closing day. After breaking Japanese naval codes, Admiral Chester Nimitz placed three U.S. carriers northeast of Midway Atoll. On June 4, dive bombers from USS Enterprise and Yorktown sank the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu; Hiryu was sunk later the same day after crippling Yorktown, which was lost to a submarine on June 7. Four Japanese fleet carriers and a heavy cruiser were destroyed. Midway ended Japan's ability to conduct major carrier offensives and is widely regarded as the turning point of the Pacific war, six months after Pearl Harbor; the victory was won by intelligence, luck, and the sacrifice of torpedo-squadron crews who attacked without fighter cover.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battle of Midway was fought June 4-7, 1942, in the Central Pacific. The calendar marks June 7, the closing day. After breaking Japanese naval codes, Admiral Chester Nimitz placed three U.S. carriers northeast of Midway Atoll. On June 4, dive bombers from USS Enterprise and Yorktown sank the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu; Hiryu was sunk later the same day after crippling Yorktown, which was lost to a submarine on June 7. Four Japanese fleet carriers and a heavy cruiser were destroyed. Midway ended Japan's ability to conduct major carrier offensives and is widely regarded as the turning point of the Pacific war, six months after Pearl Harbor; the victory was won by intelligence, luck, and the sacrifice of torpedo-squadron crews who attacked without fighter cover.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T174521Z
SEQUENCE:19740251
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260617
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260618
UID:0CE8B341-BB65-4689-A029-8E8DDCAF5547
SUMMARY:Battle of Bunker Hill (Revolutionary War, 1775)
CREATED:20260118T062434Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062434Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-bunker-hill-revolutionary-war-1775
DESCRIPTION:On June 17, 1775, British regulars under General William Howe assaulted colonial fortifications on Breed's Hill, on the Charlestown peninsula north of Boston—the fight remembered as the Battle of Bunker Hill. Militia and Continentals, short of powder, held two bloody assaults before a third carried the redoubt. British casualties were staggering for a force of that size; the Americans lost the ground, including the death of Dr. Joseph Warren, but proved they would stand against the King's troops in a pitched fight. The battle stiffened resistance throughout the colonies and convinced many that reconciliation was no longer possible. Bunker Hill Monument stands on the Breed's Hill site. The calendar marks the day of the battle, two months after Lexington and Concord.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On June 17, 1775, British regulars under General William Howe assaulted colonial fortifications on Breed's Hill, on the Charlestown peninsula north of Boston—the fight remembered as the Battle of Bunker Hill. Militia and Continentals, short of powder, held two bloody assaults before a third carried the redoubt. British casualties were staggering for a force of that size; the Americans lost the ground, including the death of Dr. Joseph Warren, but proved they would stand against the King's troops in a pitched fight. The battle stiffened resistance throughout the colonies and convinced many that reconciliation was no longer possible. Bunker Hill Monument stands on the Breed's Hill site. The calendar marks the day of the battle, two months after Lexington and Concord.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T174642Z
SEQUENCE:19740128
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260626
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260627
UID:07912319-CE9D-40C1-96E2-4E26AFCF52FD
SUMMARY:Battle of Little Bighorn (Indian Wars, 1876)
CREATED:20260118T062451Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062451Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-little-bighorn-indian-wars-1876
DESCRIPTION:On June 25-26, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and five companies of the 7th Cavalry were destroyed on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory by a large village of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho. The calendar marks June 26, the second day, when remaining battalion fragments were still under siege before the village withdrew. Custer had split his regiment and attacked without waiting for supporting columns of the Sioux campaign. Every man in his immediate command was killed. The Native victory was complete on the field and brief in its consequences: the Army poured reinforcements into the northern plains, and within a year the great village was broken. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the ridges where the 7th Cavalry died and where the defending nations won their most famous fight.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On June 25-26, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and five companies of the 7th Cavalry were destroyed on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory by a large village of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho. The calendar marks June 26, the second day, when remaining battalion fragments were still under siege before the village withdrew. Custer had split his regiment and attacked without waiting for supporting columns of the Sioux campaign. Every man in his immediate command was killed. The Native victory was complete on the field and brief in its consequences: the Army poured reinforcements into the northern plains, and within a year the great village was broken. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the ridges where the 7th Cavalry died and where the defending nations won their most famous fight.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T174839Z
SEQUENCE:19740228
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260628
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260629
UID:1CA008F4-1067-484A-BFCF-6AF8CD0564BA
SUMMARY:Battle of Monmouth (Revolutionary War, 1778)
CREATED:20260118T062508Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062508Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-monmouth-revolutionary-war-1778
DESCRIPTION:On June 28, 1778, George Washington's Continental Army fought Sir Henry Clinton's British forces near Monmouth Courthouse, New Jersey, in one of the war's largest set-piece battles. The British were withdrawing from Philadelphia toward New York. An advance under Major General Charles Lee faltered; Washington rallied the line in person in intense heat. The fight ended without a rout of either army, but the Continentals—retrained at Valley Forge by Steuben—stood toe-to-toe with regulars and held the field as Clinton slipped away by night. Molly Pitcher entered American legend here. Monmouth showed that the Continental Army of 1778 was no longer the force that had fled on Long Island and at Brandywine; Monmouth Battlefield State Park preserves the ground.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On June 28, 1778, George Washington's Continental Army fought Sir Henry Clinton's British forces near Monmouth Courthouse, New Jersey, in one of the war's largest set-piece battles. The British were withdrawing from Philadelphia toward New York. An advance under Major General Charles Lee faltered; Washington rallied the line in person in intense heat. The fight ended without a rout of either army, but the Continentals—retrained at Valley Forge by Steuben—stood toe-to-toe with regulars and held the field as Clinton slipped away by night. Molly Pitcher entered American legend here. Monmouth showed that the Continental Army of 1778 was no longer the force that had fled on Long Island and at Brandywine; Monmouth Battlefield State Park preserves the ground.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T175006Z
SEQUENCE:19740298
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260701
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260702
UID:41A80A97-3D5C-4FE6-B26D-C58D2CD7BDAA
SUMMARY:Battle of San Juan Hill (Spanish-American War, 1898)
CREATED:20260118T062528Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062528Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-san-juan-hill-spanish-american-war-1898
DESCRIPTION:On July 1, 1898, U.S. forces stormed the San Juan Heights east of Santiago de Cuba, the main land battle of the Santiago campaign. Regular infantry, including the African American 9th and 10th Cavalry, "Buffalo Soldiers," and the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders) under Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, took Kettle Hill and then the San Juan Hill line. The heights commanded Santiago; their capture, with the simultaneous fight at El Caney, sealed the city's fate and, after the destruction of Cervera's fleet on July 3, forced Spanish surrender. The battle made Roosevelt a national figure and, like Manila Bay, belonged to the overseas war from which the VFW traces its origin. The popular name "San Juan Hill" covers a fight fought on more than one knoll.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On July 1, 1898, U.S. forces stormed the San Juan Heights east of Santiago de Cuba, the main land battle of the Santiago campaign. Regular infantry, including the African American 9th and 10th Cavalry, "Buffalo Soldiers," and the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders) under Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, took Kettle Hill and then the San Juan Hill line. The heights commanded Santiago; their capture, with the simultaneous fight at El Caney, sealed the city's fate and, after the destruction of Cervera's fleet on July 3, forced Spanish surrender. The battle made Roosevelt a national figure and, like Manila Bay, belonged to the overseas war from which the VFW traces its origin. The popular name "San Juan Hill" covers a fight fought on more than one knoll.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T175203Z
SEQUENCE:19740395
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260703
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260704
UID:FA826EC3-16E0-4DE5-B5C8-066B1C70EB65
SUMMARY:Battle of Gettysburg (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260118T062548Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062548Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-gettysburg-civil-war-1863
DESCRIPTION:The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1-3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The calendar marks July 3, the final day, when Pickett's Charge against the Union center on Cemetery Ridge failed. After two days of Confederate success on the flanks, including the fight for Little Round Top on July 2, General Robert E. Lee ordered a massed assault that Meade's Army of the Potomac broke with infantry and artillery. Combined casualties exceeded 50,000, making Gettysburg the war's costliest battle. Lee's invasion of the North was turned back; he never again mounted a comparable offensive. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered at the Soldiers' National Cemetery that November, gave the battle its civic meaning: a nation tested, and a new birth of freedom; Gettysburg National Military Park preserves the field.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1-3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The calendar marks July 3, the final day, when Pickett's Charge against the Union center on Cemetery Ridge failed. After two days of Confederate success on the flanks, including the fight for Little Round Top on July 2, General Robert E. Lee ordered a massed assault that Meade's Army of the Potomac broke with infantry and artillery. Combined casualties exceeded 50,000, making Gettysburg the war's costliest battle. Lee's invasion of the North was turned back; he never again mounted a comparable offensive. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered at the Soldiers' National Cemetery that November, gave the battle its civic meaning: a nation tested, and a new birth of freedom; Gettysburg National Military Park preserves the field.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T175344Z
SEQUENCE:19740476
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260704
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260705
UID:23A18B04-ED98-40B5-89FD-AF3F9A05384D
SUMMARY:End of Battle of Vicksburg (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260118T062608Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062608Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-battle-of-vicksburg-civil-war-1863
DESCRIPTION:On July 4, 1863, Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg, Mississippi, and some 29,000 troops to Major General Ulysses S. Grant after a 47-day siege. The Mississippi River passed under full Union control, cutting the Confederacy in two. Coming the day after Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, the surrender made Independence Day 1863 one of the most consequential dates of the war. Grant's campaign—down the west bank, across the river at Bruinsburg, inland victories at Champion Hill and Big Black, then siege—had been a masterpiece of operational maneuver. The calendar marks the end of the battle that began with the May investment. Vicksburg National Military Park and the restored USS Cairo record the siege and the river war.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On July 4, 1863, Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg, Mississippi, and some 29,000 troops to Major General Ulysses S. Grant after a 47-day siege. The Mississippi River passed under full Union control, cutting the Confederacy in two. Coming the day after Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, the surrender made Independence Day 1863 one of the most consequential dates of the war. Grant's campaign—down the west bank, across the river at Bruinsburg, inland victories at Champion Hill and Big Black, then siege—had been a masterpiece of operational maneuver. The calendar marks the end of the battle that began with the May investment. Vicksburg National Military Park and the restored USS Cairo record the siege and the river war.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T175556Z
SEQUENCE:19740588
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260721
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260722
UID:D40C292A-2BBE-4C54-95D1-41DC42C86A55
SUMMARY:First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas, Civil War, 1861)
CREATED:20260118T062631Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062631Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/first-battle-of-bull-run-first-manassas-civil-war-1861
DESCRIPTION:On July 21, 1861, the first major land battle of the Civil War was fought along Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia. Irvin McDowell's Union army marched out from Washington expecting a short war; Confederate forces under Beauregard, reinforced by Joseph E. Johnston's troops from the Shenandoah Valley, stood on the high ground. After hours of fighting on Henry Hill, a Confederate counterattack—Thomas J. Jackson earning the name "Stonewall"—broke the Union line. The retreat became a rout on the roads back to Washington. Casualties shocked a nation that had treated the campaign as a spectacle. The battle ended illusions of a 90-day war and began the long struggle that would last four years; Manassas National Battlefield Park preserves both this fight and Second Manassas of 1862.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On July 21, 1861, the first major land battle of the Civil War was fought along Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia. Irvin McDowell's Union army marched out from Washington expecting a short war; Confederate forces under Beauregard, reinforced by Joseph E. Johnston's troops from the Shenandoah Valley, stood on the high ground. After hours of fighting on Henry Hill, a Confederate counterattack—Thomas J. Jackson earning the name "Stonewall"—broke the Union line. The retreat became a rout on the roads back to Washington. Casualties shocked a nation that had treated the campaign as a spectacle. The battle ended illusions of a 90-day war and began the long struggle that would last four years; Manassas National Battlefield Park preserves both this fight and Second Manassas of 1862.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T175720Z
SEQUENCE:19740649
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260807
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260808
UID:DBFB2D32-EA28-4BE4-B11A-0019F4E32794
SUMMARY:Start of Guadalcanal Campaign (World War II, 1942)
CREATED:20260118T062656Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062656Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-guadalcanal-campaign-world-war-ii-1942
DESCRIPTION:On August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal and neighboring islands in the first major Allied offensive of the Pacific war. The immediate object was an airfield the Japanese were building; once seized, it became Henderson Field, the prize of a six-month campaign. Japanese counter-landings, naval battles in Ironbottom Sound, and a long struggle to supply the garrison followed. The landing reversed the strategic direction of the Pacific war: after Midway had stopped the Japanese carrier offensive, Guadalcanal began the island-by-island advance. The calendar marks D-Day of the campaign. A companion entry on February 9 records its end in 1943, when the last Japanese defenders were gone.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal and neighboring islands in the first major Allied offensive of the Pacific war. The immediate object was an airfield the Japanese were building; once seized, it became Henderson Field, the prize of a six-month campaign. Japanese counter-landings, naval battles in Ironbottom Sound, and a long struggle to supply the garrison followed. The landing reversed the strategic direction of the Pacific war: after Midway had stopped the Japanese carrier offensive, Guadalcanal began the island-by-island advance. The calendar marks D-Day of the campaign. A companion entry on February 9 records its end in 1943, when the last Japanese defenders were gone.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T175930Z
SEQUENCE:19740754
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260913
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260914
UID:1E62B5AF-59EA-4C78-A05E-EE5A7F786242
SUMMARY:Battle of Chapultepec (Mexican-American War, 1847)
CREATED:20260118T062722Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062722Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-chapultepec-mexican-american-war-1847
DESCRIPTION:On September 13, 1847, U.S. forces under Major General Winfield Scott stormed Chapultepec Castle, the fortified hill west of Mexico City. Marines and Soldiers scaled the walls after an artillery bombardment; the fall of the castle opened the causeways into the capital, which Scott occupied the next day. The battle entered Marine Corps tradition as the "Halls of Montezuma" of the Marines' Hymn. Mexican military cadets, the Ninos Heroes, are remembered in Mexico for their defense of the castle. Chapultepec ended the central campaign of the war; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the following February transferred vast territories, including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of several other states, to the United States. The calendar marks the day of the assault.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On September 13, 1847, U.S. forces under Major General Winfield Scott stormed Chapultepec Castle, the fortified hill west of Mexico City. Marines and Soldiers scaled the walls after an artillery bombardment; the fall of the castle opened the causeways into the capital, which Scott occupied the next day. The battle entered Marine Corps tradition as the "Halls of Montezuma" of the Marines' Hymn. Mexican military cadets, the Ninos Heroes, are remembered in Mexico for their defense of the castle. Chapultepec ended the central campaign of the war; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the following February transferred vast territories, including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of several other states, to the United States. The calendar marks the day of the assault.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T180217Z
SEQUENCE:19740895
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260917
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260918
UID:E1389DCF-F624-438C-8E73-A23B9F57F35E
SUMMARY:Battle of Antietam (Civil War, 1862)
CREATED:20260118T062801Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062801Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-antietam-civil-war-1862
DESCRIPTION:On September 17, 1862, the Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan attacked General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It remains the bloodiest single day in American military history: more than 22,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing. Fighting raged at the Cornfield, the West Woods, Bloody Lane, and Burnside's Bridge. Lee's invasion of the North was halted, but McClellan did not destroy the Confederate army, which withdrew across the Potomac. The incomplete victory was enough for President Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, transforming the war's purpose. Antietam National Battlefield preserves the ground of that one terrible day.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On September 17, 1862, the Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan attacked General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It remains the bloodiest single day in American military history: more than 22,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing. Fighting raged at the Cornfield, the West Woods, Bloody Lane, and Burnside's Bridge. Lee's invasion of the North was halted, but McClellan did not destroy the Confederate army, which withdrew across the Potomac. The incomplete victory was enough for President Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, transforming the war's purpose. Antietam National Battlefield preserves the ground of that one terrible day.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T180418Z
SEQUENCE:19740977
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260920
UID:B0E210B4-DE8F-4631-8965-B1B3867E1030
SUMMARY:Battle of Inchon (Korean War, 1950)
CREATED:20260118T062742Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062742Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-inchon-korean-war-1950
DESCRIPTION:The Battle of Inchon, Operation Chromite, was fought September 15-19, 1950, when X Corps, built around the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division, landed at the port of Inchon, far behind North Korean lines. The calendar marks September 19, when the beachhead was secure and the 7th Division assumed the zone south of the Seoul highway. Extreme tides, seawalls, and a narrow channel made the landing one of the most hazardous amphibious operations ever attempted. Strategic surprise was nearly complete. The landing cut North Korean supply lines, enabled the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, and led to the recapture of Seoul. Inchon reversed the first phase of the Korean War, until Chinese intervention that winter changed the war again.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battle of Inchon, Operation Chromite, was fought September 15-19, 1950, when X Corps, built around the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division, landed at the port of Inchon, far behind North Korean lines. The calendar marks September 19, when the beachhead was secure and the 7th Division assumed the zone south of the Seoul highway. Extreme tides, seawalls, and a narrow channel made the landing one of the most hazardous amphibious operations ever attempted. Strategic surprise was nearly complete. The landing cut North Korean supply lines, enabled the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, and led to the recapture of Seoul. Inchon reversed the first phase of the Korean War, until Chinese intervention that winter changed the war again.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T180542Z
SEQUENCE:19741080
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260920
UID:1BECEC41-8BE6-40B5-9C43-D2CCD821E211
SUMMARY:First Battle of Saratoga (Revolutionary War, 1777)
CREATED:20260118T062818Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062818Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/first-battle-of-saratoga-revolutionary-war-1777
DESCRIPTION:On September 19, 1777, American forces under Major General Horatio Gates fought Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's British and German army at Freeman's Farm, north of Albany—the First Battle of Saratoga. Benedict Arnold urged an aggressive fight in the woods; Daniel Morgan's riflemen and Continental infantry inflicted heavy losses, especially on British officers, though the British held the field at dusk. Burgoyne's invasion from Canada had already bogged down. The battle fixed him in place, used up irreplaceable troops, and set the conditions for the second battle at Bemis Heights on October 7. Saratoga, taken as a whole, became the turning point of the Revolutionary War when France entered as an American ally. The calendar marks Freeman's Farm; Saratoga National Historical Park preserves both fields.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On September 19, 1777, American forces under Major General Horatio Gates fought Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's British and German army at Freeman's Farm, north of Albany—the First Battle of Saratoga. Benedict Arnold urged an aggressive fight in the woods; Daniel Morgan's riflemen and Continental infantry inflicted heavy losses, especially on British officers, though the British held the field at dusk. Burgoyne's invasion from Canada had already bogged down. The battle fixed him in place, used up irreplaceable troops, and set the conditions for the second battle at Bemis Heights on October 7. Saratoga, taken as a whole, became the turning point of the Revolutionary War when France entered as an American ally. The calendar marks Freeman's Farm; Saratoga National Historical Park preserves both fields.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T180759Z
SEQUENCE:19741181
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260923
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260924
UID:F2D13417-DB15-465A-908A-5153015F600A
SUMMARY:End of Tet Offensive (Vietnam War, 1968)
CREATED:20260118T062836Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062836Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-tet-offensive-vietnam-war-1968
DESCRIPTION:On September 23, 1968, the third and final phase of the Tet Offensive ended. After the January-March countrywide attacks and a second wave in May, communist forces launched a third offensive in August that was spent by late September. U.S. and South Vietnamese troops had held the cities; Hue had been recaptured in March after weeks of house-to-house fighting; the Viet Cong infrastructure in the South was badly damaged. The broader political effect in the United States was already clear: public confidence in a near-term victory had collapsed, President Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, and peace talks had opened in Paris. The calendar marks the close of the 1968 offensive cycle that had opened on January 30. American veterans of Tet remain a core generation of the VFW.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On September 23, 1968, the third and final phase of the Tet Offensive ended. After the January-March countrywide attacks and a second wave in May, communist forces launched a third offensive in August that was spent by late September. U.S. and South Vietnamese troops had held the cities; Hue had been recaptured in March after weeks of house-to-house fighting; the Viet Cong infrastructure in the South was badly damaged. The broader political effect in the United States was already clear: public confidence in a near-term victory had collapsed, President Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, and peace talks had opened in Paris. The calendar marks the close of the 1968 offensive cycle that had opened on January 30. American veterans of Tet remain a core generation of the VFW.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T180938Z
SEQUENCE:19741262
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260926
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260927
UID:B28F5824-E0D8-4731-B24D-6F784720356C
SUMMARY:Start of Meuse-Argonne Offensive (World War I, 1918)
CREATED:20260118T062857Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062857Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-meuse-argonne-offensive-world-war-i-1918
DESCRIPTION:On September 26, 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces under General John J. Pershing attacked between the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest in the largest American operation of World War I. More than a million U.S. soldiers would take part before the armistice. The first days tore through the first German positions; then the offensive bogged down in broken terrain, uncut wire, and inexperience, at a high cost in killed and wounded. Fresh divisions and a reorganization in October restored momentum toward Sedan and the German rail lines. The Meuse-Argonne, with Allied attacks elsewhere on the Western Front, helped force Germany to seek an armistice. The calendar marks the opening barrage and assault. A companion entry on November 11 records the offensive's end with the armistice.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On September 26, 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces under General John J. Pershing attacked between the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest in the largest American operation of World War I. More than a million U.S. soldiers would take part before the armistice. The first days tore through the first German positions; then the offensive bogged down in broken terrain, uncut wire, and inexperience, at a high cost in killed and wounded. Fresh divisions and a reorganization in October restored momentum toward Sedan and the German rail lines. The Meuse-Argonne, with Allied attacks elsewhere on the Western Front, helped force Germany to seek an armistice. The calendar marks the opening barrage and assault. A companion entry on November 11 records the offensive's end with the armistice.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T181158Z
SEQUENCE:19741381
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260929
UID:A8EE1416-6BB6-4534-927A-E19A193BE637
SUMMARY:Start of Siege of Yorktown (Revolutionary War, 1781)
CREATED:20260118T062918Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062918Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-siege-of-yorktown-revolutionary-war-1781
DESCRIPTION:On September 28, 1781, the allied army of General George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau marched from Williamsburg and invested Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. A French fleet under the Comte de Grasse had already barred the Chesapeake, cutting off British seaborne relief after the Battle of the Capes. The siege that followed—parallels, batteries, and the storming of Redoubts 9 and 10—was the decisive operation of the Revolutionary War. The calendar marks the opening of the investment. Three weeks later Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending major fighting in North America and leading to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Colonial National Historical Park preserves the battlefield and the town.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On September 28, 1781, the allied army of General George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau marched from Williamsburg and invested Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. A French fleet under the Comte de Grasse had already barred the Chesapeake, cutting off British seaborne relief after the Battle of the Capes. The siege that followed—parallels, batteries, and the storming of Redoubts 9 and 10—was the decisive operation of the Revolutionary War. The calendar marks the opening of the investment. Three weeks later Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending major fighting in North America and leading to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Colonial National Historical Park preserves the battlefield and the town.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T181337Z
SEQUENCE:19741459
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:6
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261004
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261005
UID:DC277427-36BD-402B-938B-19A54D2859AE
SUMMARY:Battle of Mogadishu ("Black Hawk Down", 1993)
CREATED:20260118T062939Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062939Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-mogadishu-black-hawk-down-1993
DESCRIPTION:On October 3-4, 1993, U.S. Army Rangers, Delta Force operators, and aircrews of Task Force Ranger fought a running battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, after a raid to seize lieutenants of Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down; 18 Americans were killed and many more wounded in the effort to secure the crash sites and extract the force. The calendar marks October 4, when a multinational relief column finally brought the trapped troops out. The battle ended the hunt for Aidid, reversed American public support for the Somalia mission, and led President Clinton to set a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces. It remains one of the most intense close-combat actions involving U.S. troops since Vietnam. The VFW's Somalia Ritual date in March commemorates the later close of the UN mission, not this fight.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On October 3-4, 1993, U.S. Army Rangers, Delta Force operators, and aircrews of Task Force Ranger fought a running battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, after a raid to seize lieutenants of Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down; 18 Americans were killed and many more wounded in the effort to secure the crash sites and extract the force. The calendar marks October 4, when a multinational relief column finally brought the trapped troops out. The battle ended the hunt for Aidid, reversed American public support for the Somalia mission, and led President Clinton to set a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces. It remains one of the most intense close-combat actions involving U.S. troops since Vietnam. The VFW's Somalia Ritual date in March commemorates the later close of the UN mission, not this fight.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T181549Z
SEQUENCE:19741570
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:7
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261007
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261008
UID:37184BAE-9730-4B3B-B253-9A6832520FA0
SUMMARY:Second Battle of Saratoga (Revolutionary War, 1777)
CREATED:20260118T062957Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T062957Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/second-battle-of-saratoga-revolutionary-war-1777
DESCRIPTION:On October 7, 1777, Burgoyne attempted to break the American lines at Bemis Heights and was thrown back in the Second Battle of Saratoga. Benedict Arnold, though without a command, entered the fighting and helped drive German troops from the Breymann Redoubt; he was wounded in the leg. Burgoyne's army, cut off, short of supplies, and with no prospect of aid from New York City, retreated to Saratoga (Schuylerville) and surrendered ten days later. The capitulation of a British field army brought France into the war as an American ally, transforming a colonial rebellion into a world war. Together with Freeman's Farm on September 19, Bemis Heights is the military turning point of the Revolution. Saratoga National Historical Park preserves the field.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On October 7, 1777, Burgoyne attempted to break the American lines at Bemis Heights and was thrown back in the Second Battle of Saratoga. Benedict Arnold, though without a command, entered the fighting and helped drive German troops from the Breymann Redoubt; he was wounded in the leg. Burgoyne's army, cut off, short of supplies, and with no prospect of aid from New York City, retreated to Saratoga (Schuylerville) and surrendered ten days later. The capitulation of a British field army brought France into the war as an American ally, transforming a colonial rebellion into a world war. Together with Freeman's Farm on September 19, Bemis Heights is the military turning point of the Revolution. Saratoga National Historical Park preserves the field.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T181716Z
SEQUENCE:19741639
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261019
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261020
UID:6554E51F-921D-43CA-AFDE-EF9D33DEF21D
SUMMARY:End of Siege of Yorktown (Revolutionary War, 1781)
CREATED:20260118T063014Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063014Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-siege-of-yorktown-revolutionary-war-1781
DESCRIPTION:On October 19, 1781, Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis's British army marched out of Yorktown and laid down its arms to the allied French and American forces. The siege that had opened on September 28 ended after Allied artillery wrecked the British works and infantry seized the key redoubts. British bands are said to have played "The World Turned Upside Down." Cornwallis's surrender ended the last major British field campaign in America. Negotiations in Paris followed, and the Treaty of 1783 recognized the independence of the United States. Washington, Rochambeau, and de Grasse had executed a combined land-and-sea concentration from New York and the West Indies that the British could not match; the calendar marks the day of surrender, the military climax of the Revolutionary War.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On October 19, 1781, Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis's British army marched out of Yorktown and laid down its arms to the allied French and American forces. The siege that had opened on September 28 ended after Allied artillery wrecked the British works and infantry seized the key redoubts. British bands are said to have played "The World Turned Upside Down." Cornwallis's surrender ended the last major British field campaign in America. Negotiations in Paris followed, and the Treaty of 1783 recognized the independence of the United States. Washington, Rochambeau, and de Grasse had executed a combined land-and-sea concentration from New York and the West Indies that the British could not match; the calendar marks the day of surrender, the military climax of the Revolutionary War.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T181944Z
SEQUENCE:19741770
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261107
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261108
UID:EEBE685B-E238-4DF2-A514-860D13A1C986
SUMMARY:Start of Second Battle of Fallujah (Iraq War, 2004)
CREATED:20260118T063036Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063036Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-second-battle-of-fallujah-iraq-war-2004
DESCRIPTION:On November 7, 2004, U.S. Marines, Army soldiers, and Iraqi forces opened Operation Phantom Fury (Al-Fajr), the Second Battle of Fallujah, to retake the city from a large insurgent force. It became the heaviest urban combat for American troops since Hue in 1968. After sealing the city and a preparatory bombardment, assault battalions attacked from the north and fought house to house through the Jolan and industrial districts. The calendar marks the operation's start; major combat continued into December, with the operation declared complete on December 23. Fallujah had been left in insurgent hands after the April 2004 fight (Vigilant Resolve). The November assault cleared the city at a high cost in killed and wounded among Marines and soldiers of the 1st Marine Division and attached Army units.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On November 7, 2004, U.S. Marines, Army soldiers, and Iraqi forces opened Operation Phantom Fury (Al-Fajr), the Second Battle of Fallujah, to retake the city from a large insurgent force. It became the heaviest urban combat for American troops since Hue in 1968. After sealing the city and a preparatory bombardment, assault battalions attacked from the north and fought house to house through the Jolan and industrial districts. The calendar marks the operation's start; major combat continued into December, with the operation declared complete on December 23. Fallujah had been left in insurgent hands after the April 2004 fight (Vigilant Resolve). The November assault cleared the city at a high cost in killed and wounded among Marines and soldiers of the 1st Marine Division and attached Army units.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T182115Z
SEQUENCE:19741839
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261112
UID:BB907EA7-64B7-4254-B40E-796437C722DF
SUMMARY:End of Meuse-Argonne Offensive (World War I, 1918)
CREATED:20260118T063053Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063053Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-meuse-argonne-offensive-world-war-i-1918
DESCRIPTION:The Meuse-Argonne Offensive ended on November 11, 1918, when the armistice took effect at 11:00 a.m. American divisions were still attacking that morning toward Sedan and the heights of the Meuse. In 47 days the AEF had driven the German army from a sector it had held since 1914, at a cost of more than 26,000 American dead—the deadliest battle in U.S. history. The offensive, together with British, French, and Belgian attacks in the Hundred Days, broke Germany's ability to continue the war. The same calendar date is Veterans Day, commemorating that armistice. This battle entry marks the end of the operation that had opened on September 26. American cemeteries at Romagne and elsewhere in the Meuse-Argonne remain among the most important overseas resting places of U.S. war dead.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Meuse-Argonne Offensive ended on November 11, 1918, when the armistice took effect at 11:00 a.m. American divisions were still attacking that morning toward Sedan and the heights of the Meuse. In 47 days the AEF had driven the German army from a sector it had held since 1914, at a cost of more than 26,000 American dead—the deadliest battle in U.S. history. The offensive, together with British, French, and Belgian attacks in the Hundred Days, broke Germany's ability to continue the war. The same calendar date is Veterans Day, commemorating that armistice. This battle entry marks the end of the operation that had opened on September 26. American cemeteries at Romagne and elsewhere in the Meuse-Argonne remain among the most important overseas resting places of U.S. war dead.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T182318Z
SEQUENCE:19741945
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261119
UID:30C94CAE-479F-4D45-B9EF-6BA79A5B1948
SUMMARY:Battle of Ia Drang (Vietnam War, 1965)
CREATED:20260118T063109Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063109Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-ia-drang-vietnam-war-1965
DESCRIPTION:The Battle of Ia Drang, November 14-18, 1965, was the first major fight between the U.S. Army and the North Vietnamese Army. The calendar marks November 18, the last day of the X-Ray/Albany battles in the Central Highlands. Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore's 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, airlifted into Landing Zone X-Ray at the base of the Chu Pong massif and was nearly overrun before artillery, tactical air, and reinforcements held the perimeter. Two days later, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was ambushed on the march to LZ Albany. Ia Drang validated airmobile doctrine and revealed the ferocity of PAVN regulars. It opened a seven-year ground war whose veterans remain central to the VFW; the Ia Drang valley fighting is recounted in We Were Soldiers Once... and Young.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battle of Ia Drang, November 14-18, 1965, was the first major fight between the U.S. Army and the North Vietnamese Army. The calendar marks November 18, the last day of the X-Ray/Albany battles in the Central Highlands. Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore's 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, airlifted into Landing Zone X-Ray at the base of the Chu Pong massif and was nearly overrun before artillery, tactical air, and reinforcements held the perimeter. Two days later, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was ambushed on the march to LZ Albany. Ia Drang validated airmobile doctrine and revealed the ferocity of PAVN regulars. It opened a seven-year ground war whose veterans remain central to the VFW; the Ia Drang valley fighting is recounted in We Were Soldiers Once... and Young.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T182445Z
SEQUENCE:19742016
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261126
UID:2029406D-5B41-47A8-A242-32DED4A69CC9
SUMMARY:Battle of Chattanooga (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260118T063125Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063125Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-chattanooga-civil-war-1863
DESCRIPTION:The Battles for Chattanooga culminated on November 25, 1863, when Grant's assembled Union armies stormed Missionary Ridge and broke Braxton Bragg's Confederate line. The calendar marks that climactic day. After the Union defeat at Chickamauga in September, the Army of the Cumberland had been besieged in Chattanooga. Grant, given western command, opened a supply line (the "Cracker Line"), brought in Sherman and Hooker, and attacked. Hooker took Lookout Mountain on November 24; the next day the apparently impregnable Missionary Ridge fell in a spontaneous upward charge by Thomas's troops. The victory drove Bragg into Georgia, set the stage for Sherman's 1864 Atlanta campaign, and confirmed Grant as the Union's indispensable general; Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park preserves the fields.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battles for Chattanooga culminated on November 25, 1863, when Grant's assembled Union armies stormed Missionary Ridge and broke Braxton Bragg's Confederate line. The calendar marks that climactic day. After the Union defeat at Chickamauga in September, the Army of the Cumberland had been besieged in Chattanooga. Grant, given western command, opened a supply line (the "Cracker Line"), brought in Sherman and Hooker, and attacked. Hooker took Lookout Mountain on November 24; the next day the apparently impregnable Missionary Ridge fell in a spontaneous upward charge by Thomas's troops. The victory drove Bragg into Georgia, set the stage for Sherman's 1864 Atlanta campaign, and confirmed Grant as the Union's indispensable general; Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park preserves the fields.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T182656Z
SEQUENCE:19742131
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261128
UID:974CCE94-4820-4AC5-A758-F90D73149E82
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Chosin Reservoir (Korean War, 1950)
CREATED:20260118T063143Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063143Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-battle-of-chosin-reservoir-korean-war-1950
DESCRIPTION:On November 27, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces attacked the 1st Marine Division and attached Army units strung out around the Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir in northeast Korea. The assault opened a two-week battle in subzero weather. X Corps had advanced toward the Yalu after Inchon and the fall of Pyongyang; the Chinese intervention was intended to destroy it. Marines at Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri, and Army troops of the 31st Regimental Combat Team on the east side of the reservoir, were surrounded. The calendar marks the first night of the Chinese offensive. What followed was a fighting withdrawal to Hungnam that saved the division, inflicted heavy losses on attacking Chinese armies, and entered Marine Corps legend as a battle fought "in the opposite direction."
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On November 27, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces attacked the 1st Marine Division and attached Army units strung out around the Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir in northeast Korea. The assault opened a two-week battle in subzero weather. X Corps had advanced toward the Yalu after Inchon and the fall of Pyongyang; the Chinese intervention was intended to destroy it. Marines at Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri, and Army troops of the 31st Regimental Combat Team on the east side of the reservoir, were surrounded. The calendar marks the first night of the Chinese offensive. What followed was a fighting withdrawal to Hungnam that saved the division, inflicted heavy losses on attacking Chinese armies, and entered Marine Corps legend as a battle fought "in the opposite direction."
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T182836Z
SEQUENCE:19742213
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261208
UID:404D3C46-2567-4D4B-93B5-28F9DFD40A92
SUMMARY:Pearl Harbor (World War II, 1941)
CREATED:20260118T063218Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063218Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/pearl-harbor-world-war-ii-1941
DESCRIPTION:On December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, and the airfields that defended it. The first bombs fell at 7:55 a.m.; a second wave followed. Battleship Row was wrecked: Arizona destroyed, Oklahoma capsized, and every battleship present sunk or damaged. The fleet's carriers were at sea and escaped. The attack killed 2,403 Americans, 1,177 of them on Arizona, and brought the United States into World War II the next day. Unlike the VFW Ritual's Pearl Harbor Day entry, this battle-calendar item treats December 7 as the opening engagement of the Pacific war—a tactical victory for Japan that failed in its larger purpose of crippling American naval power; Midway would reverse the carrier balance six months later.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, and the airfields that defended it. The first bombs fell at 7:55 a.m.; a second wave followed. Battleship Row was wrecked: Arizona destroyed, Oklahoma capsized, and every battleship present sunk or damaged. The fleet's carriers were at sea and escaped. The attack killed 2,403 Americans, 1,177 of them on Arizona, and brought the United States into World War II the next day. Unlike the VFW Ritual's Pearl Harbor Day entry, this battle-calendar item treats December 7 as the opening engagement of the Pacific war—a tactical victory for Japan that failed in its larger purpose of crippling American naval power; Midway would reverse the carrier balance six months later.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T183110Z
SEQUENCE:19742332
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261213
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261214
UID:87A2EE5A-E8B1-4381-A376-89D9A2A99523
SUMMARY:End of Battle of Chosin Reservoir (Korean War, 1950)
CREATED:20260118T063234Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063234Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-battle-of-chosin-reservoir-korean-war-1950
DESCRIPTION:On December 13, 1950, the 1st Marine Division completed its breakout from the Chosin Reservoir, reaching the coast after two weeks of encircled fighting in extreme cold. From Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri, Koto-ri, and Funchilin Pass, Marines and attached Army, British, and Korean units fought south along a single mountain road while Chinese divisions tried to close the route. The east-side Army task force was largely destroyed. At Hungnam the Navy and Marines then conducted an amphibious evacuation of X Corps and Korean civilians. Chosin saved a Marine division, wrecked several Chinese formations, and closed the UN advance to the Yalu. The calendar marks the end of the reservoir battle proper; those who came out called themselves the "Chosin Few."
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On December 13, 1950, the 1st Marine Division completed its breakout from the Chosin Reservoir, reaching the coast after two weeks of encircled fighting in extreme cold. From Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri, Koto-ri, and Funchilin Pass, Marines and attached Army, British, and Korean units fought south along a single mountain road while Chinese divisions tried to close the route. The east-side Army task force was largely destroyed. At Hungnam the Navy and Marines then conducted an amphibious evacuation of X Corps and Korean civilians. Chosin saved a Marine division, wrecked several Chinese formations, and closed the UN advance to the Yalu. The calendar marks the end of the reservoir battle proper; those who came out called themselves the "Chosin Few."
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T183712Z
SEQUENCE:19742678
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261217
UID:D48E68B9-8466-41F9-B220-CAA329F9B03C
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of the Bulge (World War II, 1944)
CREATED:20260118T063250Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063250Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/start-of-battle-of-the-bulge-world-war-ii-1944
DESCRIPTION:Before dawn on December 16, 1944, German armies attacked through the Ardennes in Hitler's last great western offensive, opening the Battle of the Bulge. Three German armies struck a thinly held U.S. front in Luxembourg and Belgium, aiming to split the Allies and seize Antwerp. Surprise was nearly complete in fog that grounded Allied air power. American units were overrun, surrounded, or bent backward; the 7th Armored Division held St. Vith, and the 101st Airborne Division was trucked into Bastogne. The calendar marks the first day of a campaign that would last until January 25, 1945. The bulge that gave the battle its name was a crisis of the western alliance and, in the end, a fatal expenditure of Germany's remaining reserves.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:Before dawn on December 16, 1944, German armies attacked through the Ardennes in Hitler's last great western offensive, opening the Battle of the Bulge. Three German armies struck a thinly held U.S. front in Luxembourg and Belgium, aiming to split the Allies and seize Antwerp. Surprise was nearly complete in fog that grounded Allied air power. American units were overrun, surrounded, or bent backward; the 7th Armored Division held St. Vith, and the 101st Airborne Division was trucked into Bastogne. The calendar marks the first day of a campaign that would last until January 25, 1945. The bulge that gave the battle its name was a crisis of the western alliance and, in the end, a fatal expenditure of Germany's remaining reserves.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T183926Z
SEQUENCE:19742796
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261218
UID:44A96FD8-8DD4-4691-B03B-F0A8B2B881F0
SUMMARY:Battle of Tora Bora (Afghanistan, 2001)
CREATED:20260118T063202Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063202Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-tora-bora-afghanistan-2001
DESCRIPTION:The Battle of Tora Bora ended on December 17, 2001, after roughly two weeks of fighting in the cave complexes of the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan. U.S. CIA and Special Forces teams, allied Afghan militias, and heavy air power attacked al-Qaeda's mountain redoubt, where Osama bin Laden and senior leaders were believed to be hiding after the fall of the Taliban. The stronghold was taken; bin Laden escaped into Pakistan. Limited numbers of U.S. troops on the ground and reliance on local forces left escape routes through the mountains. Tora Bora was the climax of the first phase of the Afghanistan war that had begun with OEF airstrikes in October. Bin Laden remained at large until 2011; the calendar marks the battle's close.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The Battle of Tora Bora ended on December 17, 2001, after roughly two weeks of fighting in the cave complexes of the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan. U.S. CIA and Special Forces teams, allied Afghan militias, and heavy air power attacked al-Qaeda's mountain redoubt, where Osama bin Laden and senior leaders were believed to be hiding after the fall of the Taliban. The stronghold was taken; bin Laden escaped into Pakistan. Limited numbers of U.S. troops on the ground and reliance on local forces left escape routes through the mountains. Tora Bora was the climax of the first phase of the Afghanistan war that had begun with OEF airstrikes in October. Bin Laden remained at large until 2011; the calendar marks the battle's close.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T184053Z
SEQUENCE:19742931
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261224
UID:59056B40-ADA9-445C-8864-62BBD77C80CE
SUMMARY:End of Second Battle of Fallujah (Iraq War, 2004)
CREATED:20260118T063313Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063313Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/end-of-second-battle-of-fallujah-iraq-war-2004
DESCRIPTION:On December 23, 2004, Operation Phantom Fury, the Second Battle of Fallujah, was declared complete. After the November 7 assault, Marines and soldiers had cleared the city in house-to-house fighting, then spent weeks hunting remaining cells. The battle was the bloodiest of the Iraq War for American forces and the toughest Marine urban fight since Vietnam. Fallujah was left in ruins; large numbers of insurgents were killed or captured, and the city was denied as a sanctuary. The operation did not end the insurgency in Anbar, which continued until the later tribal Awakening, but it showed that U.S. and Iraqi forces could take a fortified city from a determined enemy. The calendar marks the official end of an operation that had opened on November 7.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On December 23, 2004, Operation Phantom Fury, the Second Battle of Fallujah, was declared complete. After the November 7 assault, Marines and soldiers had cleared the city in house-to-house fighting, then spent weeks hunting remaining cells. The battle was the bloodiest of the Iraq War for American forces and the toughest Marine urban fight since Vietnam. Fallujah was left in ruins; large numbers of insurgents were killed or captured, and the city was denied as a sanctuary. The operation did not end the insurgency in Anbar, which continued until the later tribal Awakening, but it showed that U.S. and Iraqi forces could take a fortified city from a determined enemy. The calendar marks the official end of an operation that had opened on November 7.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T184248Z
SEQUENCE:19742975
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261226
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261227
UID:F8DF9562-0C97-481E-BFDA-DA4E7EBD9EBE
SUMMARY:Battle of Trenton (Revolutionary War, 1776)
CREATED:20260118T063327Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063327Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/battle-of-trenton-revolutionary-war-1776
DESCRIPTION:On the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington's Continental Army—having crossed the ice-choked Delaware River overnight—surprised the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey, and captured the town. The crossing on Christmas night, in a northeaster, was a gamble after the losses of Long Island, New York, and the retreat across New Jersey. Hessian Colonel Johann Rall was mortally wounded; most of the garrison was taken. American losses were very small. Trenton, followed by Princeton a week later, restored American morale, kept the Revolution alive at the end of its darkest year, and showed that Washington would fight in winter. The calendar marks the day of the attack; Washington Crossing Historic Park and the Old Barracks in Trenton preserve the story.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington's Continental Army—having crossed the ice-choked Delaware River overnight—surprised the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey, and captured the town. The crossing on Christmas night, in a northeaster, was a gamble after the losses of Long Island, New York, and the retreat across New Jersey. Hessian Colonel Johann Rall was mortally wounded; most of the garrison was taken. American losses were very small. Trenton, followed by Princeton a week later, restored American morale, kept the Revolution alive at the end of its darkest year, and showed that Washington would fight in winter. The calendar marks the day of the attack; Washington Crossing Historic Park and the Old Barracks in Trenton preserve the story.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T184358Z
SEQUENCE:19743031
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261229
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261230
UID:DC9E4414-4A11-44CB-B915-5C351C315AF4
SUMMARY:Wounded Knee Massacre (Indian Wars, 1890)
CREATED:20260118T063345Z
DTSTAMP:20260118T063345Z
URL:https://www.vfwpost8555.com/index.php/post-events/wounded-knee-massacre-indian-wars-1890
DESCRIPTION:On December 29, 1890, the 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of Miniconjou Lakota under Chief Spotted Elk (Big Foot) near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and opened fire. What followed was a massacre of Lakota men, women, and children, not a battle in any honorable sense and not a U.S. military victory to be celebrated. The band had been disarming in the climate of the Ghost Dance; a shot during the search of the camp ignited indiscriminate killing that continued as people fled. Casualty figures remain disputed and are omitted here. Wounded Knee marked the violent end of the Indian Wars on the northern plains. The site is a place of mourning; later generations, including the U.S. government, have recognized the event as a massacre.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On December 29, 1890, the 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of Miniconjou Lakota under Chief Spotted Elk (Big Foot) near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and opened fire. What followed was a massacre of Lakota men, women, and children, not a battle in any honorable sense and not a U.S. military victory to be celebrated. The band had been disarming in the climate of the Ghost Dance; a shot during the search of the camp ignited indiscriminate killing that continued as people fled. Casualty figures remain disputed and are omitted here. Wounded Knee marked the violent end of the Indian Wars on the northern plains. The site is a place of mourning; later generations, including the U.S. government, have recognized the event as a massacre.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T184613Z
SEQUENCE:19743148
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:79ed47
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR