Rexburg Idaho

WAR HEROES

TOP GENERALS AND ADMIRALS

1. General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, (1890-1969) Supreme Allied commander in the European theater of operation during World War II, who later, at the conclusion of his term as 33rd president of the United States, decried the "military-industrial complex." A diplomat as well as a soldier, Eisenhower skillfully led the allied coalition to victory against Germany in North Africa and Europe. Most notably, Eisenhower headed the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) and accepted the German surrender at Raims on May 7, 1945 and commanded the Normandy landings, the most complex in military history. In 1952, the popular "Ike" was elected U.S. President.

2. Navy Fleet Adm. Ernest King, commander in chief of the U.S. Fleet and chief of naval operations during World War II. King directed the largest naval force in history.

3. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, (1880-1964) one of the century's lions, MacArthur first achieved prominence in 1932 for destroying a camp of disgruntled World War I veterans who had come to Washington to protest poor benefits. He went on to command U.S. forces in the Philippines, departing when Japanese occupation was imminent, later fulfilling his "I shall return" promise to come back and liberate the islands. Accepted Japanese surrender as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Pacific. The colorful MacArthur commanded U.S. forces in the Philippines during the dark days of Bataan and Corregidor. Upon leaving the islands, he declared "I shall return." Later he not only returned and led the recaptures of the Philippines but, as Allied Supreme Commander in the Pacific, he accepted the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.

4. Navy fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz (1885-1966) replaced Adm. Husband Kimmel as commander of the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor, went on to oversee Halsey, Mitscher and Spruance as they led the naval advance toward Japan. Commander-in-Chief of the American Pacific Fleet, Nimitz had authority over more than 6,000 ships, 14,000 aircraft and 2 million men and was responsible for 66% of Japan's total tonnage losses. He was given the extraordinary rank of "Admiral of the Fleet" on December 19, 1944. Nimitz instituted an "island hopping" campaign in the central Pacific that ended at Okinawa. On December 7, 1941 Japanese surprised the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor port and sank or damaged eight battleships and a number of smaller craft. Most of the Army's aircraft were destroyed or damaged. Over 2,400 Americans died. The attack on Pearl Harbor united the nation, ended isolationist sentiment, and marked America's entry into World War II.

5. Navy Vice Adm. Charles Lockwood, was Commander, Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet in World War II. "A noted optimist, he revitalized a dispirited service," according to Jane's "War at Sea: 1897-1997." In the bleak months after Pearl Harbor, he led Australia-based US subs against Japanese shipping. He listened to sailor's complaints about unreliable torpedoes and ordered tests, which brought about dramatic improvements in the weapon.

6. General of the Army Omar Bradley, (1893-1981) the "Soldier's soldier" and classmate of Eisenhower at West Point, Bradley commanded the soldiers who took Omaha Beach in 1944, liberated Paris, fended off the German advance at the Bulge, reached the Rhine River and united with eastward-advancing Soviet troops. Went on to serve as Army chief of staff, first chairman of NATO's military committee. The master tactician Omar Bradley, nicknamed the "GI General," earned his reputation in North Africa and Sicily. Eisenhower appointed him in May 1944 to head U.S. Forces at D-Day and on August 1st to command the 12th Army Group. His men helped liberate Paris, withstood the Ardennes offensive, seized the Remagen Bridge, and played the major role in the American/British offensive in Europe.

7. Navy Fleet Adm. William "Bull" Halsey, (1882-1959) took command of the Navy's 3rd Fleet in 1942, leading the war at sea through the Japanese surrender in September 1945 that took place on his flagship, the battleship Missouri. Flamboyant and controversial, Halsey's aggressiveness as commander of the South Pacific Forces and Third Fleet boosted morale in the early stages of the Pacific campaign. Halsey is associated with major Pacific actions including the Doolittle Raid, Battle of Guadalcanal, and Battle of Leyte Gulf.

8. Navy Fleet Adm. Raymond Spruance was a brilliant war planner; led victories as commander in chief of the 5th Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Landed the amphibious forces at Saipan, Tinian and Guam. Critics subsequently questioned his delay in allowing aircraft to launch during the 1942 battle of Midway, and said it led to higher U.S. losses.

9. Army Air Forces Gen. Ira Eaker, was one of the pioneers and early champions of strategic aerial bombing! Commanded the 8th Air Force in England during World War II.

10. Army Gen. John Pershing, commanded troops sent to Mexico to put down Pancho Villa in 1915, then moved on to head the Allied expeditionary Force, the name given to U.S. troops who fought in Europe in World War I. Gen. Pershing strongly resisted efforts by the British and French to integrate small American units into the European Forces.

11. Army Air Forces Gen. Claire Chennault, established the all-volunteer "Flying Tigers" (later designated 14th Air Force) in 1937, composed of American pilots who flew support for Nationalist Chinese in their fight against Japanese occupation. Took command of all allied air forces in China once America entered the war. His tendency to circumvent the chain of command by dealing directly with Chinese leaders and President Roosevelt infuriated his military superiors. Army Gen. George Marshall thought his disloyal and unreliable, Army Air Forces Gen. Hap Arnold considered him a "crackpot," and Army Gen. Joe Stilwell (Chennault's superior in China) called him a "jackass." Chennault's strategic theories didn't quite work; he believed that a small force of aircraft -- mostly pursuit planes with a handful of bombers -- could so disrupt Japanese logistics as to lead to Japan's eventual defeat. The Flying Tigers nickname of the American Volunteer Group, civilian pilots who served under Gen. Claire Chennault in the Chinese Nationalist Air Force from 1941-1942. Downing 297 Japanese planes in the 7 months after Pearl Harbor, they helped to keep the Burma Road open and made other significant contributions to the Pacific campaign in the crucial early months of the war.

TRUE WARRIORS

1. American GI -- If you wore the nation's uniform at any time in the past 10 decades, you had some pretty interesting company. Some of the people who served in the 20th-century were so influential that they made an impact far beyond their own careers. Their successes, personalities, defeats and misdeeds or grand designs left the military -- and perhaps the course of history -- different than it was before they came along. Because high-ranking officers have more power and visibility, they often get more historical credit than the masses (American GI) that served and sacrificed under them. That's all the more reason to remember those enlisted troop whose names stand out, such as Navy diver Carl Brashear; the Marines' Iwo Jima flag-raiser, Ira Hayes; or the Army's heroic doughboy, Alvin York.

2. Army SGT Alvin York, Tennessee-born, fundamentalist Christian and pacifist who ultimately accepted his role as a soldier in World War I, going on to ear the Medal of Honor for his single-handed capture of 132 German troops. He has been a model for bravery in combat ever since. York's name became so synonymous with heroism that today -- more than 80 years later -- it's one of the few from that era that most people can remember.

3. Army Maj. Audie Murphy (1924-1971) America's most decorated combat soldier in World War II. Murphy, who ended the war as a lieutenant, received 33 decorations including the Medal of Honor. He continued to serve after the war in the Guard and Reserve, and he had an acting career in Hollywood. Murphy portrayed himself in the 1955 film, "To Hell and Back," and he played handsome hero roles in a number of westerns. He died in a 1973 plane crash. Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in World War II. When his company became engaged with German troops in eastern France in January 1945, Murphy took over a machine gun in an abandoned American tank and single-handedly killed or wounded 50 Germans.

4. Army Air Corps Capt. Edward Rickenbacker, the army's top fighter ace during World War I, who shot down 26 enemy aircraft while flying with the 94th "Hat in the Ring" Squadron. Moved on to own Indianapolis Motor Speedway and head Eastern Airlines.

5. Marine Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, (1898-1971) the most decorated Marine in history, Puller was a jungle warfare expert who led troops during the island campaign in the Pacific theater during World War II. Led a contingent ashore in the Inchon landing during the Korean War. Puller remains a hero, lionized by every Marine recruit and office trainee to this day. Recipient of five Navy Crosses, Puller commanded a battalion of the 7th Marines on Guadalcanal as well as a regiment on Peleliu, where his regiment fought to the point of collapse. Puller served in the Korean War, 1950-1951, as a Regimental Commander and Assistant Division Commander and retired in 1955 as a Lieutenant General.

6. Army Air Forces Gen. James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, in 1942, as a lieutenant colonel, he led a daring raid by B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from the carrier Hornet, striking Tokyo and other Japanese cities. While inflicting little damage, the raiders' surprise attack did much to bolster sagging spirits back home in the wake of Pearl Harbor. Doolittle led the daring B-25 raid on Tokyo in April 1942 from the Carrier Hornet. It completely surprised Japanese forces and boosted American morale. Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Doolittle later commanded the 12th Air Force in North Africa (1943) and the 8th Air Force in England (1944-1945).

7. Army Lt. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, best known for "Nuts," his one-word reply to a German ultimatum to surrender while commander of 101st Airborne Division troops surrounded in the Belgian town of Bastogne during the 1944-45 Ardennes Offensive ("Battle of the Bulge"). The denial of Bastogne to the Germans hindered their offensive and helped turn the tide in the Allies' favor. McAuliffe ultimately retired as a lieutenant general.

8. Navy Adm. Arleigh "31-Knot" Burke served 42 years, including three terms as chief of naval operations after making a name for himself as a destroyer squadron commander in the Pacific during World War II.

9. Marine Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington charismatic leader of the "Black sheep" fighter squadron (VMF-214) during World War II in the Pacific, on the island of Espiritu Santo. Boyington, who earned his nick name because he was much older than this charges, was shot down in January 1944 on the day he set a Marine Corps record for scoring his 28th kill. He spent the rest of the war in Japanese prison camps, during which time President Roosevelt awarded him the Medal of Honor. He received the medal from President Truman once he returned home after the war's end.

10. Navy Rear Adm. James Stockdale endured seven years of imprisonment and repeated torture as a POW in North Vietnam. Stockdale's fellow prisoners at the "Hanoi Hilton" fortress followed his example, refusing to give in to the enemy and telling their commander in code, "We are with you till the end."

11. Navy Comdr. (now Sen.) John McCain the son and grandson of admirals, aviator McCain was dubbed "the crown prince" by North Vietnamese leaders when he was shot down over Hanoi. He survived broken arms and legs during 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war, where his combative personality and determination helped inspire fellow prisoners.

12. Navy Lt. Comdr. Joseph Rochefort one of the Navy's top code-breakers during World War II, Rochefort's reports provided key communications intelligence that Midway Island would be the true objective of the
Japanese naval attack in early 1942.

ALL-STAR WAR FIGHTERS

1. Army Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945) flamboyant commander of the Third Army in World War II, who led armored spearheads units on a fast and furious eastward advance across France before outrunning his supply lines. Patton gained notoriety for slapping a hospitalized soldier, and was forced to apologize for it. Colorful "Old Blood and Guts" Patton fired the popular imagination with his daring use of tanks against the Germans in North Africa, Sicily and Europe. As commander of the U.S. 3rd Army, he relieved Bastogne on December 15, 1944, and ultimately led his men as far east as Czechoslovakia.

2. Navy Adm. Marc Mitscher was Arleigh Burke's boss in the World War II carrier battles, perhaps our best fighting admiral of the air war in the Pacific. Mitscher commanded the carrier Hornet, from which Jimmy Doolittle's raiders launched their attack on Japan. Mitscher's task force later shot down 400 enemy planes in one day, loosing 19 of their own, during the Mariana's Turkey Shoot; provided offshore support to troops landing on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

3. Marine Gen. David Shoup was awarded the Medal of Honor for his role in the World War II battles of Saipan and Tarawa, Shoup later became commander of the 2nd Marine Division and the Corps' 22nd commandant. The Marines cut their teeth at Tarawa, a fiercely bloody fight that required they virtually annihilate the Japanese Naval Infantry contingent bent on dying before surrender. Some commanders later determined that Tarawa should have been bypassed. Though casualties were high at Tarawa -- 3,300 casualties and 1,000 dead -- the battle proved to theater commanders that the amphibious assault would be an effective tool for routing Japanese troops.

4. Marine Gen. Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith first saw action in the Dominican Republic campaign and World War I, before becoming a key planner in the World War II amphibious invasions of Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

5. Army Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood after a late- 1800s career that included a Medal of Honor for fighting Geronimo in Arizona and commanding Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba, Wood in the early 1900s became chief of staff of the Army and governor-general of Cuba and the Philippines. Trained as a physician, he pioneered health and sanitation improvements in the overseas posts.

6. Army Gen. Matthew Ridgway succeeded MacArthur as commander of U. N. forces in the Korean War, after becoming a legend through his exploits as commander of the 82nd Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps during World War II. Under the new U.N. Commander, General Matthew Ridgway revitalized and required U.N. forces halted the Chinese advance.

7. Army Gen. Lucius Clay Jr. organized the Berlin Airlift in 1949, while serving as military governor of the American Zone in occupied post-war Germany. The airlift kept West Berlin alive in spite of a Soviet land blockade. It was a key victory for the West in the early days of the Cold War.

8. Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf as head of U.S. Central Command, he served as commander of all allied forces during the Persian Gulf War. Along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin Powell, Schwarzkopf is credited with overseeing a military operation planned from the beginning to overwhelm and destroy Iraqi forces in occupied Kuwait with minimal casualties. Played a key role in the huge build-up of forces in Southwest Asia during Operation Desert Shield, maintaining comity among the divergent Western and Middle Eastern armies that formed the alliance.

9. Army Lt. Gen. Frederick Franks commander of Army VII Corps during the Persian Gulf War. Franks masterminded the plan in which tanks from his corps rolled over or past the left flank of Iraqi defenses at the start of the ground war and decimated Iraqi republican guard units in some of the biggest tank battles ever fought. The Corps destroyed more than 10 Iraqi divisions -- including 1,263 tanks and 1,235 armored personnel carriers -- during the combat. It suffered 252 casualties in the war, including 47 killed in action.

10. Air Force Gen. Charles Horner oversaw the air campaign during the Persian Gulf War, moved to command U.S. Space Command before retiring in 1994. During the Vietnam War, Horner flew 41 combat missions over North Vietnam in the F-105 Wild Weasel pilot, deliberately drawing anti-aircraft fire to identify and destroy North Vietnamese defenses.

11. Army Gen. Creighton Abrams in World War II, he commanded the tank battalion that broke the German encirclement of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. In 1968, Abrams succeeded Gen. William Westmoreland as top commander in Vietnam, changing U.S. tactics from search-and-destroy to securing South Vietnamese villages. After presiding over transfer of military operations in Vietnam from U.S. to South Vietnamese control,
Abrams became Army chief of staff from 1972-1974.

12. Major General James (Smiling Jim) L. Bradley was chosen to command the 96th Infantry Division (Deadeyes), fighting all over the Pacific area, a post held by him until the end of World War II.

13. Maj. Walter Reed and others in the Medical corps began the search for the cause of yellow fever, malaria, and other illnesses that struck the American forces hard. They initiated a famous research program that the arm continues today to study diseases and find ways to protect U.S. troops.

14. During WW II the Army Nurse provided vital care to thousands of wounded servicemen. As a member of the Army Nurse corps, she and over 27,000 other wartime Army nurses completed basic training and proved her physical and mental abilities to serve the war effort during WWII.

15. General Wainwright in the Philippines surrender of the U.S. and Filipino forces after a desperate six-month defense was bitter setbacks for the Army. The courage and determination of the American soldier and his Filipino allies was never tested harder than it was on the Bataan Death March.

16. General Joseph W. Stilwell (1883-1946) controversial "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell commanded American forces in the China-Burma-India Theater between 1942 and 1944. As senior advisor to the Chinese Nationalist Army, he attempted to revive the Chinese War effort and hold the Burma Road. Though a victim of Chinese and British diplomatic intrigue, Stilwell proved invaluable in organizing the recapture of Burma.

17. General Courtney H. Hodges (1887-1966), Commander of the U.S. First Army, Hodges was known both for His unassuming Nature and his skill during combat. Servings in Gen. Omar Bradley's 12th Army Group, Hodges took Part in the liberation of Northern Europe, 1944-1945, And later participated in the Battle of Okinawa.

18. Mess Attendant Doris "Dorie" Miller an African-American steward on the battleship West Virginia, "Dorie" Miller earned the Navy Cross for his heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After carrying the ship's wounded captain from the bridge, Miller manned a machine gun and downed two Japanese aircraft.

19. Men of Americans of Japanese ancestry: The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was formed in 1943 with Americans of Japanese ancestry, this army unit saw action in Italy and France from 1944 to 1945. The 442nd had an illustrious fighting record, garnering four Distinguished Unit Citations, suffering 9,500 casualties, and receiving over 18,000 decorations.

VISIONARIES

1. General of the Army George C. Marshall (1880-1959) the only military officer in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Marshall was honored in 1952 for his work as the architect of the Marshall Plan -- which rebuilt Europe with U.S. aid and laid the groundwork for a lasting peace. Army Chief of Staff (1939-1945) and five star general, Marshall was responsible for America's swift military buildup before the war and the military strategy utilized by the Allies during the war. Respected by world leaders and generals, Marshall was architect of Europe's post-war reconstruction and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

2. Navy Adm. Hyman G. Rickover called by some the father of the nuclear Navy, he disdained rank and military hierarchy to build a unique service within the service -- the greatest submarine force ever assembled. His nuclear safety rules -- most stills in effect -- far exceeded many civilian requirements.

3. Marine Gen. John Lejeune one of the corps' lions, Lejeune headed the April 1914 attack on Veracruz, Mexico, commanded the 4th Marine Brigade during World War I, and led modernization efforts between the world wars, including amphibious warfare.

4. General of the Air Force Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (1886-1950) the first and only Air Force general to wear five stars. Arnold got his fifth star in 1944 when, as commander of Army Air Forces, he planned the U.S. strategy to gain air superiority in all combat theaters of World War II. Contributed heavily to laying the groundwork for the postwar formation of the U.S. Air Force. A pioneer of aviation, the first Chief of the Army Air Forces and an advocate of strategic bombing, Arnold was responsible for making the U.S. air arm the most powerful of any nation during World War II. In December of 1944, he was awarded the rank of five star General.

5. Adm. John Henry Tower expanded the Navy's aviation wing from 2,000 planes in 1939 to 39,000 three years later, as chief of the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics. At its wartime height under Towers' watch, manpower in naval aviation peaked at 750,000.

6. Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay (1906-1990) a leading proponent of strategic air power, LeMay masterminded Allied bombing of Europe during World War II. Postwar, he established the Air Force's Strategic Air Command and was an Air Force chief of staff. Specialist in bomber tactics, LeMay commanded aerial forces in Europe and in the CBI Theater over Formosa and Japan. In 1945, LeMay's 21st Bomber Command, flying B-29's, began the first night-time incendiary bombing raids over Japan which exposed Japanese cities' combustibility and revolutionized bombing tactics. He directed the Berlin Airlift in 1948.

7. Marine Lt. Col. Earl "Pete" Ellis often called the "father of amphibious warfare," Ellis determined that the Marine Corps would have to take control of Japanese-occupied islands by force in order for the Army and Air Corps to ultimately defeat Japan in World War II.

8. Army Maj. Gen. William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan holder of the Medal of Honor for his role in the 1918 attach on the German Hindenburg Line during the Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I, Donovan's lasting contribution came in the next war. As director of the Office of Strategic Services, he led American efforts to conduct espionage behind enemy lines in World War II. His work there set the stage for the post-war creation of the Central Intelligence Agency

9. Army Gen. Lewis Hershey although his Army career spanned more than 62 year (1911-1973), Hershey is best remembered today as the architect of the modern selective Service System. In 1936, he developed the plan for the first peacetime draft in U.S. history. He oversaw the system through three wars, until the draft was abolished in 1971.

10. Air Force Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg Air Force chief of staff during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949 and the Korean War. In those formative years of the service, he played important roles in the formation of strategic Air command, unification of the armed services and the development of the hydrogen bomb.

11. Navy Adm. Forrest Sherman developed the National Security Act of 1947 with Army Gen. Lauris Norstad, paving the way for the establishment of the modern Department of Defense.

12. Marine Gen. Alexander Vandegrift commanded the 1st Marine Division as it stormed ashore at Guadalcanal in August 1942, for which he earned the Medal of Honor. While his charges were fighting brutal and hardened Japanese troops on the island, Vandegrift had to wrangle with Navy fleet commanders who wanted control over all aspects of the advance, including Marines. Using Guadalcanal as the example, Vandegrift would later convince superiors that the ground commander should have ultimate control over those doing the on-land fighting.

13. Air Force Gen. George Kenney a World War I fighter pilot that helped prove the power of air warfare as a commander during World War II. At the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in early March 1943, Kenney planned and directed an attack of B-17 bombers that sank 6 Japanese vessels in a convoy, with only minor loss to U.S. aircraft.

14. Navy Adm. Arthur W. Radford Pacific Fleet commander after World War II who became a ring-leader in the so-called "admirals' revolt" of the late '40s, which stemmed from fears that an independent Air Force would diminish the Navy's role. Nevertheless, he succeeded Army Gen. Omar Bradley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1955.

15. Army Gen. Colin Powell charismatic chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War, and the first African American to reach that rank. Also served as national security adviser to President Reagan. The architect of the 1990's drawdown, he personified the post-Cold War military.

16. Army Gen. William Depuy having a career that spanned more than 36 years and three wars. DePuy is credited with forging the doctrine that transformed the post-Vietnam Army into the premier force Americans know today. He helped establish Army training doctrine as commander of Training and Doctrine Command, and championed the creation of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA.

17. Air Force Gen. Merrill McPeak as Air Force chief of staff, McPeak drastically reorganized the Air Force after the end of the Cold War, killing off the Strategic Air Command in the process. Unfortunately, he primarily is remembered for an ill-fated attempt to drastically change the Air Force uniform. The change would have removed the U.S. insignia and moved officer ranks to the sleeves.

18. Adm. William Shepherd Benson appointed first chief of naval operations when that position was created in 1915. Oversaw modernization of the Navy, particularly in fledgling eras of submarine service and aviation in the early 20th century.

19. Navy Vice Adm. Charles "Swede" Momsen inventory of the "Momsen lung," pioneered methods of underwater escape from submarines and working underwater. Commanded submarines during World War II, and was instrumental in attach submarine development after the war.

20. General Jimmy Stewart academy Award winning actor, Jimmy Stewart enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941 and flew twenty-five B-17 combat missions with the Eighth Air Force. By 1945 Stewart had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and the Croix de Guerre.

21. General Carl Spaatz (1891-1974) U.S. Army Forces General "Tooey" Spaatz commanded at various times the 8th, 12th, and 15th Air Forces as well as the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in both Europe and the Pacific. He oversaw the dropping of the two atomic bombs.

22. Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby and the WACS (1905-) Wartime director of the Women's Army Corps, Col. Oveta Culp Hobby was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945. Under her guidance the WACS, who numbered 99,000 by the end of the war, performed essential non-combat duties. She later served in Eisenhower's cabinet as the first Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1953-1955.

PIONEERS

1. Navy Commodore (Rear Adm.) Grace Murray Hopper mathematician and a pioneer in data processing and computer science. Hooper invented the computer programming language COBOL and coined the term "bog" in computers. So valuable was she to the Navy that she remained on active duty until 1986, when at age 80 she finally retired -- as the oldest officer was ever on active duty.

2. Air Force Gen. Lauris Norstad as an Army Air forces officer, Norstad planned the mission that dropped atomic bombs on Japan. "Air power was the outstanding factor in our victory," he said. He served in the 1950's as supreme allied commander in Europe.

3. Army Gen. Hamilton Howze a pioneer of modern warfare, Howze is considered the father of air-mobile warfare. The drastic changes in Army force structure he called for in 1963 -- to "accommodate the near revolutionary change in land combat tactics and doctrine" -- led to the 1965 creation of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), a new concept in combined arms that brought together infantry and helicopters in new ways and at unprecedented scale.

4. Navy Adm. Elmo Zumwalt Jr. the activist chief of naval operations took over the Navy in an era of sweeping social changes introducing numerous quality-of-life changes for sailors. But many of his innovations were short -lived, like allowing beards and the "bus driver" uniform. In later years, he led the campaign to provide compensation for victims of Agent Orange -- which he ordered used in Vietnam, and which ultimately killed his own son.

5. Army Lt. Gen. Brehon Somervell a pioneer of the modern Army engineers, who unified haphazard purchasing and construction efforts into one logistical support hierarchy in 1942.

6. Navy Rear Adm. Robert Peary explorer, credited with being the first to reach the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Peary discovered the largest meteorite ever found on Earth. It weighs 34 tons, and is on display at the Hayden Planetarium in New York.

7. Marine Gen. Roy Geiger as commander of Marine aviation and later amphibious forces in the Pacific theater during World War II, Geiger was instrumental in establishing the tactics and strategy for achieving air superiority with carrier-based aircraft. He put those tactics to work himself in the successful invasions of Guam and Okinawa.

8. Navy Adm. Richard Byrd with aviator Floyd Bennett, made the first flight over the North Pole in May 1926, which earned both of them the Medal of Honor. Byrd later made the first flight over the South Pole and then led the second land expedition to the South Pole.

9. Army Gen. Peyton March a veteran of the Mexican campaign and the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, March is largely credited with reorganizing Army hierarchy into the general staff system, which created the post of chief of staff.

10. Army Maj. Gen. George Goethals began work on the Panama Canal in 1907. Not only was their staggering engineering, labor, and housing problems, but also the old enemy of tropical diseases had to be defeated. The French had already tried and failed to build a canal in Panama that would link the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Goethals took over the Panama Canal construction from civilians and completed the project in August 1914 -- six months ahead of schedule.

11. Navy Rear Adm. Alan Shepard the first American in space, Shepard piloted the capsule Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961. Later, he became the fifth man to walk on the moon.

12. Marine Maj. (later Sen.) John Glenn Jr. one of the original Mercury astronauts, Marine pilot Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. In 1998, as an U.S. senator from Ohio, he returned to space aboard the space shuttle Discovery, making him the oldest person ever to travel in space.

BARRIER BREAKERS

1. Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier, Yeager gained fame as the embodiment of "the right Stuff".

2. Navy Rear Adm. Arlene Duerk as head of the Nurse Corps, Duerk became the Navy's first female flag officer in 1972.

3. Air Force Gen. Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. appointed first black four-star general in the U.S. armed forces in 1969.

4. Air Force Reserve Col. Jacqueline Cochran first director of the Women's Air force Service Pilots, or WASPS, in July 1943. Became first woman to break the sound barrier while piloting an F-86 Sabre in 1953. WASP and WAFS organization of U.S. women pilots, the WASPS, Women's Air Force Service Pilots, and WAFS, Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, flew non-combat ferrying, towing, and training operations from 1942 to 1944. In November 1942 the WAFS were united with the WASPS under Ms. Jacqueline Cochrane. Over 900 women served with the WASPS prior to its deactivation in 1944.

5. Rear Adm. Marsha Johnson Evans was the first woman to command an U.S. Navy station and the first female superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School. After 29 years in uniform, she became the national executive director of the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1998.

6. Army Brig. Gen. Benjamin Oliver Davis Sr.(1877-1970) broke the color barrier for army officers in 1954 as the first African-American soldier to be promoted into the ranks of general officers. After forty years of service in the Army, Davis retired in 1941 with the rank of Brigadier General, the first black to achieve that rank. Serving on the McCloy committee during World War II, Davis worked to open opportunities for African-Americans in the service.
An all-black fighter squadron in the Mediterranean, this unit was the first of its kind to see combat in World War II. Commanded by Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., and the 99th Pursuit Squadron became a part of the Black 332nd Fighter Group and won three distinguished unit citations. After World War II Davis attained the rank of Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force.

7. Navy Capt. Joy Bright Hancock rose from yeoman in World War I to become on of the first five women commissioned as regular Navy officers. Served as third director of the WAVES (Women Accepted for volunteer Emergency Service) in World War II. Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. Created in 1942 to provide women for administrative support positions, this Naval Reserve unit had at its peak over 90,000 members. Its wartime directory was Capt. Mildred McAfee. After the war, the WAVES were consolidated into the regular navy.

8. Navy Comdr. Barbara Rainey became the first female Navy aviator in 1974 and the first to die, in a 1982 plane crash, while serving as a flight instructor.

9. Navy Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Carl Brashear in the 1950's, he became the first African American to enter the Navy's enlisted diving specialty. He lost a leg in a shipboard accident, but fought to continue his career and rose to the rank of master chief petty officer (E-9). His life and struggle are the subject of an upcoming Fox 2000 feature film, "Navy Diver," starring Cuba Gooding Jr.

CIVILIANS

1. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt overcame isolationist sentiment and a lack of military readiness to serve as the century's greatest wartime commander in chief during World War II.

2.Ernest "Ernie" Taylor Pyle (1900-1945) was a war correspondent during World War II. Few war correspondents have enjoyed such widespread public acclaim and respect in their own lifetime as World War III correspondent Ernie Pyle. He rarely was the first to "break" a news story; he was more of a human-interest columnist than a news report. But his front-line dispatches made the day-to-day lives of U.S. troops come alive for American newspaper readers. War correspondent known for descriptions of the common soldiers' combat experiences, Pyle was the most famous print journalist in World War II. He earned the Pulitzer Prize for his account of the London Blitz and the campaigns in North Africa, Italy and Normandy. Pyle was killed by Japanese fire on Ie Shima in April 1945.

3. Theodore Roosevelt a memorable and influential president of the United States. As assistant secretary of the Navy, he made the United States ready for the Spanish-American War. As president, he conceived the voyage of the "Great White Fleet" and established the United States as a player on the world stage.

4. President Ronald Reagan oversaw a 1980s U.S. military buildup that won the Cold War and brought the armed forces out of their post-Vietnam malaise. He launched the United States on a course to develop and deploy a ballistic-missile defense system, a costly and significant step whose consequences for security and arms control are still to be known.

5. James Forrestal secretary of the Navy from 1944-1947, Forrestal became the first secretary of defense in 1947. He was among the first top policymakers to foresee the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and the coming of the cold War. He suffered from emotional illness and resigned in March 1949, only to die two months later in a suicide leap from the 16th floor of Bethesda Naval Hospital.

6.Robert McNamara, secretary of defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, McNamara gets (and accepts) a large share of history's blame for America's failed war in Vietnam. McNamara wrote in his 1995 book, "In Retrospect," that he and other top policy-makers "acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of this nation. We made our decisions in light of those values. Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong."

7. John Lehman, international and foreign-affairs exert who, as secretary of the Navy, over saw the Navy fleet's period of expansion during the 1980s build-up of the armed forces. Thought the fleet never reached the 600-ship strength Reagan envisioned it was the Navy's largest period of growth since World War II.

8. Josephus Daniels "Is there any law that says a yeoman must be a man?" asked Navy Secretary Daniels, who solved his critical shortage in manpower in 1916 by opening the Navy's doors to women. By the end of World War I, 34,000 women would serve as nurses, clerks and into other fields as "yeomanettes." Daniels also banished beer and spirits from U.S. Navy ships, leading sailors to name their only remaining vice -- coffee -- in his name: a cup o'Joe.

9. Paul Nitze, an architect of the Cold War U.S. arms buildup, Nitze held Defense Department posts as secretary of the Navy and as deputy secretary of defense. He was a key negotiator for the United States in talks that led to the present system of arms control treaties with Russia.

10. Henry Stimson, secretary of War during World War II, Stimson approved the directive to the Strategic Air Force in the Pacific that released the atomic bomb for use on Japan.

11. Red Cross Workers an international agency, which aided wounded civilians and servicemen who fought for the Axis and Allies, the Red Cross and its workers provided various medical services like ambulances, hospitals, and blood. Red Cross workers also operated canteens, offered assistance in locating displaced persons, counseled servicemen, and provided aid to prisoners of war.

12. William H. "Bill" Mauldin (1921-) cartoonist for stars and stripes during the war, Bill Mauldin was best know for his battle-weary characters Willie and Joe. Sympathetic to enlisted men, Mauldin portrayed the dangerous, grimy, and often monotonous life of the average combat infantryman. His work often outraged senior army officers.

BY FATE ALONE

1. Iwo Jima flags raisers. The photo image of the Marines raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima in 1945 captured the public imagination and has become a patriotic icon. The flag raisers became famous for all time. There were actually two flag-raisings on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945.
According to "the Marine Corps Book of Lists,"
Here are the participants:
First raising -- 1st Lt. Harold G. Schrier, Platoon Sgt. Ernest I. Thomas, Sgt. Henry O. Hansen, Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg, Pfc. James R. Michelis, Pvt. Louis Charlo. Only Schrier survived the war unscathed; Thomas, Hansen, Michelis and Charlo were killed in action.
Second raising -- Cpl. Harlan H. Block, Navy Pharmacist's Mate 2nd Class John H. Bradley, Cpl. Rene a. Cagnon, Pfc. Franklin R. Sousley, Sgt. Michael Strank, and Cpl. Ira Hayes. Block, Sousley and Strank were later killed in action.

2. Air Force Capt. Francis Gary Powers in the late 1950's, the CIA was able to make spy flights over the Soviet Union with impunity. The reason was the U-2 aircraft, which flew so high and fast that the Soviets couldn't shoot it down. But when Powers' U-2 was shot down over Soviet territory on May 1, 1960, the truth came out, and the "U-2 Affair" caught President Eisenhower in a lie. Powers was convicted of espionage and spent two years in a Soviet prison before he was exchanged for a captured Soviet spy.

3. Navy Comdr. Lloyd Bucher skipper of the intelligence ship Pueblo, which was attacked and captured by North Korean forces while conducting an intelligence mission in open seas off the Korean coast in 1968. After spending 11 months with his crew as prisoners of the North Koreans, Bucher returned home to face a board of inquiry for allowing the ship to be captured. Bucher's defense was that he placed the safety of his crew first and foremost. Despite official vilification and recommendation that he be court-martialed, Bucher eventually cleared his name and retired from active duty in 1973.

4. Army Lt. Thomas Selfridge death in a 1908 test of a Wright Brother's airplane made him the Army's fist aviation casualty.

5. The five Sullivan Brothers were lost when the ship to which all five were assigned, the light cruiser Juneau, was sunk on November 13, 1942. Public outcry over such a loss to a single family contributed to modern-day policies that attempt not to assign too many siblings to the same unit

6. Navy Lt. Kara Spears Hultgreen one of the first U.S. Navy female combat pilots, Hultgreen was the first female pilot killed after the Department of Defense allowed women to fly combat aircraft in 1994. Hultgreen's F-14 Tomcat crashed during an approach to a carrier landing. Some saw her death as evidence that women shouldn't fly combat planes, while other rallied to defend Hultgreen's reputation and the new assignment policy.

7. Army National Guard Col. Margarethe Cammemeyer holder of the Bronze Star for her work as a combat nurse in Vietnam, Cammemeyer won a landmark 1994 federal court case that allowed her to remain with her unit after revealing she is a lesbian. She went on to complete her career and retire from the military.

8. Army Lt. Col. Rhonda Cornum was an army physician who was captured by the Iraqis during the Persian Gulf War. After her release, the media gave considerable coverage of Cornum's report that here captors sexually attached her. It wasn't the first time a female U.S. service member became a prisoner of war, but Cornum's story surprised a public that was only just then realizing the extent of women's roles in the modern military.

CAUGHT IN CONTROVERSY

1. Army Air Corps Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell, aviation pioneer Mitchell demonstrated in the 1920's that aircraft could sink battleships. Speaking out about airpowers, he went against official policy, and received a highly publicized court-martial. Authorities later relented and gave him the Medal of Honor -- the only such award in history that cites a peacetime act.

2. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, commander of U. N. forces in the Korean War and oversaw U.S. forces in Korea until President Truman fired him in 1951. Gen. MacArthur was lucky that he was just fired and not court-martialed for the statements that he made.

3. Army Lt. William Calley, an Army court-martial in 1971 found Calley guilty of premeditated murder of 22 civilian villagers from My Lai, South Vietnam. The so-called My Lai Massacre happened March 16, 1968, when Calley commanded a platoon in the 11th Brigade of the Americal Division. He served only five months of an original life sentence to hard labor, and was eventually pardoned by President Nixon. Nevertheless, My Lai helped turn the American public against the Vietnam War and contributed to hostile stereotypes of U.S. troops as "baby killers."

4. Navy Rear Adm. Husband Kimmel ranking American commander in Hawaii when the Japanese bombed Pear harbor on December 7, 1941. A presidential commission that ruled that Kimmel and the army commander, Gen. Walter C. Short, were guilty of dereliction of duty. The dereliction -of-duty finding was later rescinded, but their names remain clouded by their connection with one of America's worst military disasters.

5. Navy Lt. Paula Coughlin the admiral's aide who blew the whistle on the Navy and Marine aviators who groped and assaulted here and other women officers in a Las Vegas hotel corridor during the infamous "Tailhook" scandal of 1991. Tailhook '91 was significant because it raised awareness about "what the public expected from their military," retired Adm. Stanley Arthur told Navy times. "It really brought to the attention of Navy leadership that the world was changing much more rapidly than anyone had thought."

6. Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North does a service member's loyalty to a president and spirit of his national security agenda justify ignoring the letter of the law? North, a National Security council adviser during the Reagan administration, masterminded a plan to sell U.S. arms to Iran and use the money to finance a covert revolutionary army in Nicaragua (the "Contras") in their fight against the leftist Sandinista government there. The plan was exposed in congressional hearings, where North, in uniform, made a martyr of him and used the notoriety to launch a subsequent career in talk radio.

7. Army Gen. William Westmoreland commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam until the 1968 Tet Offensive. His search-and-destroy strategy failed to seize the initiative from communist forces on the battlefield: Instead of changing his strategy, Westmoreland responded to Tet by asking Washington for another 200,000 troops. He was relieved of his command instead.

8. Army Gen. Earle Wheeler as Army chief of staff during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, he and other top military leaders urged President Kennedy to destroy Soviet missiles with a surprise air attack, naval blockade and invasion. Fortunately, Kennedy decided otherwise -- declassified Soviet documents release since the Cold War show the nuclear missiles in Cuba were much closer to being operational than U.S. policy-makers realized at the time.

9. Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler a two-time Medal of Honor recipient, Butler showed how a patriotic service member could still speak his mind about important matters of conscience. A hero of U.S. interventions in Haiti and Central America, Butler earned his second star in World War I. He became critic of U.S. foreign policy in later years. "I was a gangster for capitalism," he said in a 1933 speech. "There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes, and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket."

10. Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney the first African American to hold the Army's top enlisted post was court-martialed in 1998 on 19 counts of sexual misconduct, which stemmed from allegations by women soldiers. When the jury found him guilty of only a minor obstruction-of-justice count, he was nevertheless reduced in rank -- his case leaving a permanent mark on the Army as it struggles to deal with matters of sex, gender, harassment, fraternization and equal justice for soldiers of every rank and color.

11. Air Force 1st Lt. Kelly Flinn the Air Force's first female B-52 bomber pilot, Flinn launched a public debate over the military's rules on adultery. In 1997, Flinn was charged with fraternization, adultery, lying and disobeying an order after an affair with a married enlisted member. Soon afterwards, Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston admitted to an extramarital affair in 1983 and 1984 while separated from his wife, an affair for which he was never punished. The Air Force's perceived double standard in the Flinn and Ralston cases undercut political support for Ralston's' nomination to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ralston eventually withdrew from consideration

TOP 100 EVENTS OF THIS CENTURY

1. United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki: Japan surrenders to end World War II. 1945.
2. American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon. 1969.
3.Japan bombs Pearl Harbor: United States enters World War II. 1941.
4. Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane. 1903.
5. Women win the vote. 1920.
6. President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas. 1963.
7. Horrors of Nazi Holocaust, concentration camps exposed. 1945.
8. World War I begins in Europe. 1914.
9. Brown vs. Board of Education ends "separate but equal" school segregation. 1954.
10. U.S. stock market crashes. The Great Depression sets in. 1929.
11. Alexander Fleming discovers the first antibiotic, penicillin. 1928.
12. Structure of DNA discovered. 1953.
13. U.S.S.R. dissolves, Mikhail Gorbachev resigns: Boris Yeltsin takes over. 1991.
14. President Richard M. Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal. 1974.
15. Germany invades Poland: World War II begins in Europe. 1939.
16. Russian revolution ends: Communists take over. 1917.
17. Henry Ford organizes the first major U.S. assembly line to produce Model T cars. 1913.
18. Soviets launch Sputnik, first space satellite: space race begins. 1957.
19.Albert Einstein presents special theory of relativity: general relativity theory to follow. 1905.
20.FDA approves birth control pill. 1960.
21. Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine proven effective in University of Pittsburgh test. 1953.
22.Adolf Hitler named Chancellor of Germany: Nazi Party begins to seize power. 1933.
23. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. 1968.
24. D-Day invasion marks the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe. 1944.
25. Deadly AIDS disease identified. 1981.
26. Congress passes landmark Civil Rights Act outlawing segregation. 1964.
27. Berlin Wall falls as East Germany lifts travel restrictions 1989.
28. Television debuts in America at New York World's Fair. 1939.
29. Mao Tse-tung establishes Peoples Republic of China: Nationalists flee to Formosa (Taiwan). 1949.
30. Charles Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic in first solo flight. 1927
31. First mass market personal computers launched. 1977. Teton Dam disaster Idaho 1976.
32. World Wide Web revolutionizes the internet. 1989.
33. Scientists at Bell Labs invent the transistor. 1948.
34. FDR launches "New Deal": sweeping federal economic, public works legislation to combat depression. 1933.
35. Cuban Missile Crisis threatens World War III. 1962.
36."Unsinkable" Titanic, largest manmade structure sinks 1912.
37. Germany surrenders: V.E. Day celebrated. 1945.
38. Roe vs. Wade decision legalizes abortion. 1973.
39. World War I ends with Germany's defeat. 1918.
40. First regular radio broadcasts begin in America. 1909.
41. Worldwide flu epidemic kills 20 million. 1918.
42. 'ENIAC' becomes world's first computer. 1946.
43. Regular TV broadcasting begins in the United States. 1941.
44. Jackie Robinson breaks baseball's color barrier. 1947.
45. Israel achieves statehood. 1948.
46. Plastic invented: revolutionizes products, packaging. 1909.
47. Montgomery ala., bus boycott begins after Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white person. 1955.
48. Atomic bomb tested in New Mexico 1945.
49. Apartheid ends in South Africa: law to treat races equally. 1993.
50. Civil rights march converges on Washington, D.C: Martin Luther King gives "I have A Dream" speech. 1963.
51. American scientists patent the computer chip. 1959.
52. Marconi transmits radio signal across the Atlantic. 1901.
53. White House sex scandal leads to impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. 1998. Acquitted 1999.
54. Sec. of State George Marshall proposes European recovery program (The Marshall Plan). 1947.
55. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in California. 1968.
56. U.S. Senate rejects Versailies Treaty: dooms League of Nations. 1920.
57. Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" stimulates environmental protection movement. 1962.
58. British rock group The Beatles takes the United States by storm after debut on the Ed Sullivan show. 1964.
59. Congress passes Voting Rights Act, outlawing measures used to suppress minority votes. 1965.
60. Yuri Gagarin becomes first man in space. 1961.
61. First jet airplane takes flight. 1941.
62. U.S. combat troops arrive in South Vietnam: U.S. planes bomb North Vietnam 1965.
63. North Vietnamese forces take over Saigon. 1975.
64. Manhattan Project begins secret work on atomic bomb: Fermi triggers first atomic chain reaction. 1942.
65. Congress passes "GI Bill of Rights" to help veterans. 1945.
66. Alan Shepard becomes first American in space. 1961.
67. Watergate scandal engulfs Nixon administration. 1973.
68. Earthquake hits San Francisco: "Paris of the West" burns. 1906.
69. United Nations is officially established. 1945.
70. Communists build wall to divide East and West Berlin. 1961.
71. Mohandas Gandhi begins leading nonviolent reform movement in India. 1920.
72. Standard Oil loses Supreme Court antitrust suit: monopolies suffer blow. 1911.
73. United States withdraws last ground troops from Vietnam. 1973.
74. North Atlantic Treaty Organization established. 1949.
75. Joseph Stalin begins forced modernization of the Soviet Union: resulting famines claim 25 million. 1925.
76. Democrat Franklin d. Roosevelt beats incumbent President Herbert Hoover. 1932.
77. Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet Premier: begins era of "Glasnost." 1985.
78. Max Planck proposes quantum theory of energy. 1900.
79. Scientists clone sheep in Great Britain. 1997.
80. Congress passes interstate highway bill. 1956.
81. Panama Canal opens, links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 1914.
82. Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" inaugurates modern women's rights movement. 1963.
83. The space Shuttle Challenger explodes killing crew including school teacher Christa McAuliffe. 1986.
84.United States sends troops to defend South Korea. 1950.
85. Violence erupts at Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 1968.
86. Sigmund Freud publishes "The Interpretation of Dreams." 1900.
87. China begins "Great Leap Forward" modernization program: estimated 10 million dies in ensuing famine. 1958.
88. United States enters World War I. 1917.
89. Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs--a single-season record that would last for 34 years. 1927.
90. John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the earth. 1962.
91. North Vietnamese boats reportedly attack U.S. ships: Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin resolution. 1964.
92. Pathfinder lands on Mars, sending back astonishing photos. 1997.
93. Hitler launches "Kristallnacht," ordering Nazis to commit acts of violence against German Jews. 1938.
94. Winston Churchill designated Prim Minister of Great Britain. 1940.
95. Louise Brown, first "test-tube baby." born healthy. 1978.
96. Soviets blockade West Berlin: Western allies respond with massive airlift. 1948.
97. Bill Gates and Paul Allen start Microsoft Corp. to develop software for Altair computer. 1975.
98. Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion kills more than 7,000. 1986.
99. Teacher John Scopes' trail pits creation against evolution in Tennessee. 1925.
100. The U.S. Surgeon General warns about smoking-related health hazards.

ADVENTURE FIRSTS

circa 400 - Polynesian sailors reach Hawaii.
circa 1000 Leif Eriksson leads a Viking expedition to Newfoundland.
1271 Marco Polo begins a 20 year exploration of China that brings to Europe the first word of the wonders of the Far East.
Sept 6, 1522 Juan Sebastian de Elcano of Spain leads the remnants of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition to complete the first voyage around the world.
Nov 21, 1783 Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent of France make the first balloon flight in Paris, going 5 1/2 miles.
July 3, 1898 Captain Joshua Slocum of the United States becomes the first sail around the world alone.
Dec 17, 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright make the firs powered, sustained and controlled flight at Kittyhawk, NC.
April 6, 1909 Robert E. Peary of the United States claims to reach the North Pole. Whether he did remains in dispute.
Dec 14,1911 Roald Amundsen of Norway and three companions are the first to reach the South Pole.
June 15, 1919 Captain John Alcock of Britain and Arthur Whitten Brown of the United States reach Ireland on the first powered flight across the Atlantic.
May 21, 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh of the united States completes the first solo flight across the Atlantic.
May 24, 1928 Umberto Nobile of Italy crosses the North Pole in an airship. He crashed the next day.
May 28, 1931 Auguste Piccard, grandfather of round-the-world balloonist Bertrand Piccard, and Paul Kipfer are fist to reach the stratosphere in a balloon, rising to 51,775 feet.
May 19, 1953 Tenzing Norgay of Tibet and Edmund Hillary of New Zealand are the first to scale Mount Everest.
Aug 3, 1958 The U.S. submarine Nautilus is the first to travel under the North Pole.
April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union is the first human to orbit Earth in a spacecraft.
July 21, 1969 Neil Armstrong of the United States is the first human to step on the moon.
April 30, 1978 Naomi Uemura of Japan makes the first solo expedition, on a dog sled, to the North Pole.
April 1982 Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Charles Burton of Britain becomes the first to circle the surface of the earth by both poles.
Jan 18, 1997 Borge Ousland of Norway completes the first solo trek across Antarctica.
March 20, 1999 Pilots Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones secured their place in the pantheon of adventures Saturday March 20 as they completed the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight.