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
X-WR-CALNAME:Battle Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260109
UID:D2FC4626-1B8F-42FC-AC67-FABD1CA25231
SUMMARY:Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812, 1815)
CREATED:20260903T202434Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T202434Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T214045Z
SEQUENCE:90971
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260126
UID:69423176-2563-458E-9846-9368D82BC4D6
SUMMARY:End of Battle of the Bulge (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260903T202703Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T202703Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T214706Z
SEQUENCE:91203
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260128
UID:12FA129E-CE11-4113-9065-B09144BB086F
SUMMARY:Vietnam Peace Accord
CREATED:20260903T194330Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T194330Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vietnam-peace-accord
DESCRIPTION:On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords—formally the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam—were signed in Paris, marking the official end of direct United States military involvement in the Vietnam War. After more than four years of negotiations, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese Politburo member Le Duc Tho led the principal talks; both were awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, though Tho declined the honor. The agreement called for an immediate cease-fire, the withdrawal of all U.S. forces within 60 days, and the release of American prisoners of war, with 591 Americans returning home in February and March 1973. The peace did not last. Cease-fire violations began almost at once, and in 1975 North Vietnamese forces overran the South and captured Saigon. The VFW Ritual commemorates this date as the signing of the Vietnam Peace Accord in 1973, closing America's combat role and bringing the prisoners home.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords—formally the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam—were signed in Paris, marking the official end of direct United States military involvement in the Vietnam War. After more than four years of negotiations, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese Politburo member Le Duc Tho led the principal talks; both were awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, though Tho declined the honor. The agreement called for an immediate cease-fire, the withdrawal of all U.S. forces within 60 days, and the release of American prisoners of war, with 591 Americans returning home in February and March 1973. The peace did not last. Cease-fire violations began almost at once, and in 1975 North Vietnamese forces overran the South and captured Saigon. The VFW Ritual commemorates this date as the signing of the Vietnam Peace Accord in 1973, closing America's combat role and bringing the prisoners home.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T214133Z
SEQUENCE:93483
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260131
UID:D3D81E13-7AAE-4502-B703-9BAD84155B90
SUMMARY:Start of Tet Offensive (Vietnam War, 1968)
CREATED:20260903T203023Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T203023Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T214932Z
SEQUENCE:91149
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260209
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260210
UID:910E9A46-5AC3-4CC7-9A9C-CD39FD425F70
SUMMARY:End of Guadalcanal Campaign (World War II, 1943)
CREATED:20260903T203237Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T203237Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T220317Z
SEQUENCE:91840
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260216
UID:C4822583-8726-4C1C-8CFE-7C6032EA67E7
SUMMARY:U.S.S. Maine Sinking
CREATED:20260903T194617Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T194617Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/u-s-s-maine-sinking
DESCRIPTION:On the night of February 15, 1898, the battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor while on a visit intended to protect American lives and property during Cuba's war for independence from Spain. Two hundred sixty-six of her crew were killed. The cause of the blast has been debated for more than a century, but the disaster inflamed American opinion, gave rise to the cry "Remember the Maine," and helped drive the United States into the Spanish-American War that April. Victory in that brief war made the United States a Pacific and Caribbean power and produced the overseas campaign service that later inspired the founding of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The VFW Ritual lists February 15—the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine, 1898—among the outstanding action dates in U.S. history that posts are to commemorate. We remember the Sailors who died in Havana Harbor and the war that followed.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On the night of February 15, 1898, the battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor while on a visit intended to protect American lives and property during Cuba's war for independence from Spain. Two hundred sixty-six of her crew were killed. The cause of the blast has been debated for more than a century, but the disaster inflamed American opinion, gave rise to the cry "Remember the Maine," and helped drive the United States into the Spanish-American War that April. Victory in that brief war made the United States a Pacific and Caribbean power and produced the overseas campaign service that later inspired the founding of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The VFW Ritual lists February 15—the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine, 1898—among the outstanding action dates in U.S. history that posts are to commemorate. We remember the Sailors who died in Havana Harbor and the war that followed.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T214240Z
SEQUENCE:93383
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260219
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260220
UID:9D016DA4-1E27-41A4-9DCA-CF793853639C
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Iwo Jima (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260903T203630Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T203630Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T212023Z
SEQUENCE:89033
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260224
UID:A3C4F965-BBD9-4D2D-9E2F-0FADF9153E02
SUMMARY:Battle of Buena Vista (Mexican-American War, 1847)
CREATED:20260903T203913Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T203913Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211951Z
SEQUENCE:88838
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260226
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260227
UID:18B4C56B-04A8-4DDE-90FC-508F0F57DEF0
SUMMARY:Battle of 73 Easting (Gulf War, 1991)
CREATED:20260903T204350Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T204350Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211920Z
SEQUENCE:88530
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260301
UID:05A9F7B2-F8C3-47B4-A2F9-4599EFF2B394
SUMMARY:Ground Offensive / Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War, 1991)
CREATED:20260903T204641Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T204641Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/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:20260904T220539Z
SEQUENCE:91138
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260301
UID:A1E42F3A-60A1-4441-A77F-BC8378D3D137
SUMMARY:Operation Desert Storm
CREATED:20260903T195141Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T195141Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/operation-desert-storm
DESCRIPTION:The VFW Ritual commemorates February 28 as the liberation of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm, 1991. After Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, a U.S.-led coalition waged a 38-day air campaign beginning January 17, 1991, then launched a 100-hour ground offensive on February 24 that drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait. A cease-fire took effect on February 28, 1991. The campaign restored Kuwait's independence, demonstrated American power after the Cold War, and created a generation of Persian Gulf veterans who remain central to the VFW. Desert Storm was brief compared with later wars in the region, yet it was decisive: Republican Guard units were shattered, oil-field fires were left burning across Kuwait, and the United States accepted new lasting commitments in the Gulf. Posts honor the coalition's service and those who did not return.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The VFW Ritual commemorates February 28 as the liberation of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm, 1991. After Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, a U.S.-led coalition waged a 38-day air campaign beginning January 17, 1991, then launched a 100-hour ground offensive on February 24 that drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait. A cease-fire took effect on February 28, 1991. The campaign restored Kuwait's independence, demonstrated American power after the Cold War, and created a generation of Persian Gulf veterans who remain central to the VFW. Desert Storm was brief compared with later wars in the region, yet it was decisive: Republican Guard units were shattered, oil-field fires were left burning across Kuwait, and the United States accepted new lasting commitments in the Gulf. Posts honor the coalition's service and those who did not return.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220443Z
SEQUENCE:94382
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260324
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260325
UID:59AA70CB-44D4-450B-98A6-4243F00E2E71
SUMMARY:Kosovo Campaign
CREATED:20260903T195509Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T195509Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/kosovo-campaign
DESCRIPTION:The VFW Ritual commemorates March 24 as the start of the Kosovo Campaign in 1999. On that day NATO opened Operation Allied Force, a 78-day air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia intended to halt the ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians and force a withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo. The bombing continued until June 10, 1999, after which a NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) entered the province under United Nations authority. No NATO ground invasion was required, but the operation was the Alliance's first sustained combat campaign and a major post-Cold War test of American airpower and coalition diplomacy. Congress later authorized the Kosovo Campaign Medal for those who served. The VFW remembers the airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, and Marines who enforced the campaign and the longer peacekeeping mission that followed.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The VFW Ritual commemorates March 24 as the start of the Kosovo Campaign in 1999. On that day NATO opened Operation Allied Force, a 78-day air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia intended to halt the ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians and force a withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo. The bombing continued until June 10, 1999, after which a NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) entered the province under United Nations authority. No NATO ground invasion was required, but the operation was the Alliance's first sustained combat campaign and a major post-Cold War test of American airpower and coalition diplomacy. Congress later authorized the Kosovo Campaign Medal for those who served. The VFW remembers the airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, and Marines who enforced the campaign and the longer peacekeeping mission that followed.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220445Z
SEQUENCE:94176
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260326
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260327
UID:E325846A-29CE-402B-ACC1-2D985C334F49
SUMMARY:End of Battle of Iwo Jima (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260903T205019Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T205019Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211728Z
SEQUENCE:88029
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260331
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260401
UID:7BB315E7-507C-44BE-A21E-03E0F55621F4
SUMMARY:Somalia
CREATED:20260903T195912Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T195912Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/somalia
DESCRIPTION:The VFW Ritual commemorates March 31 as the end of Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1995. U.S. forces had entered the country in December 1992 under Restore Hope (UNITAF) to secure famine-relief corridors; that humanitarian mission transferred to the United Nations in May 1993 as UNOSOM II. After the October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, most American combat troops left by March 1994. The United Nations set March 31, 1995, as the deadline for remaining UN forces to depart, and the U.S.-led Operation United Shield completed the withdrawal in early March 1995. The Ritual date therefore marks the close of the American and UN peacekeeping chapter in Somalia—not the 1993 end of UNITAF itself. The VFW honors those who served in a mission that saved lives from starvation and exacted a hard cost in combat.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:The VFW Ritual commemorates March 31 as the end of Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1995. U.S. forces had entered the country in December 1992 under Restore Hope (UNITAF) to secure famine-relief corridors; that humanitarian mission transferred to the United Nations in May 1993 as UNOSOM II. After the October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, most American combat troops left by March 1994. The United Nations set March 31, 1995, as the deadline for remaining UN forces to depart, and the U.S.-led Operation United Shield completed the withdrawal in early March 1995. The Ritual date therefore marks the close of the American and UN peacekeeping chapter in Somalia—not the 1993 end of UNITAF itself. The VFW honors those who served in a mission that saved lives from starvation and exacted a hard cost in combat.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220448Z
SEQUENCE:93936
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260401
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260402
UID:BFA5FD87-6F41-4D6F-999C-F380E3FCF445
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Okinawa (World War II, 1945)
CREATED:20260903T205238Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T205238Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211837Z
SEQUENCE:87959
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260413
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260414
UID:12C9DD2E-0022-4446-8211-3C5FF520E652
SUMMARY:Battle of Fort Sumter (American Civil War, 1861)
CREATED:20260903T205627Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T205627Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211758Z
SEQUENCE:87691
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260419
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260420
UID:630ABAE9-8D6C-4FB5-AAB8-B90B87B8435B
SUMMARY:Battles of Lexington and Concord (Revolutionary War, 1775)
CREATED:20260903T205920Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T205920Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211652Z
SEQUENCE:87452
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260501
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260502
UID:BAAFEB76-463E-4F4F-99F7-C7DECB1DF6A8
SUMMARY:Loyalty Day
CREATED:20260903T200129Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T200129Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/loyalty-day
DESCRIPTION:Loyalty Day is observed each May 1. It began as Americanization Day in 1921, a patriotic answer to communist May Day observances, and the VFW helped give the day national life: on May 1, 1930, some 10,000 VFW members rallied at New York's Union Square. A 1949 VFW resolution renamed the observance Loyalty Day; mass rallies in 1950 drew millions. In 1958 Congress enacted Public Law 85-529, making Loyalty Day a national day for reaffirming loyalty to the United States and for recognizing the heritage of American freedom. The VFW Ritual lists May 1—Loyalty Day, annually—among the commemorative dates, and the Manual of Procedure requires posts to make suitable arrangements for its observance. It is a day to honor the Constitution, the flag, and the men and women who have defended both.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:Loyalty Day is observed each May 1. It began as Americanization Day in 1921, a patriotic answer to communist May Day observances, and the VFW helped give the day national life: on May 1, 1930, some 10,000 VFW members rallied at New York's Union Square. A 1949 VFW resolution renamed the observance Loyalty Day; mass rallies in 1950 drew millions. In 1958 Congress enacted Public Law 85-529, making Loyalty Day a national day for reaffirming loyalty to the United States and for recognizing the heritage of American freedom. The VFW Ritual lists May 1—Loyalty Day, annually—among the commemorative dates, and the Manual of Procedure requires posts to make suitable arrangements for its observance. It is a day to honor the Constitution, the flag, and the men and women who have defended both.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220452Z
SEQUENCE:93803
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260501
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260502
UID:F86E0D77-A6AE-4425-BE70-BA5E27E6164C
SUMMARY:Battle of Manila Bay (Spanish-American War, 1898)
CREATED:20260903T210319Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T210319Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211544Z
SEQUENCE:87145
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260507
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260508
UID:900480DD-AECC-4CAB-BAE7-5FAAAA0C61FF
SUMMARY:End of Battle of the Wilderness (Civil War, 1864)
CREATED:20260903T210543Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T210543Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211506Z
SEQUENCE:86963
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260508
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260509
UID:0CA208A1-4B3D-4818-AEE5-139C05CBD84C
SUMMARY:VE Day
CREATED:20260903T200718Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T200718Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/ve-day
DESCRIPTION:Victory in Europe Day marks the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. German representatives signed an unconditional surrender at Reims on May 7, 1945, effective at 11:01 p.m. Central European Time on May 8; a second signing was held in Berlin at Soviet insistence. The VFW Ritual commemorates May 8 as VE Day: German unconditional surrender signed, 1945. After nearly six years of war in Europe—and more than three and a half years of American combat since Pearl Harbor—the guns fell silent from the Atlantic to the Elbe. The victory crowned the campaigns of North Africa, Italy, Normandy, the Bulge, and the drive into Germany, at a cost paid by millions of Allied service members and civilians. For the United States, VE Day was a moment of thanksgiving still shadowed by unfinished war in the Pacific, which would continue until September.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:Victory in Europe Day marks the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. German representatives signed an unconditional surrender at Reims on May 7, 1945, effective at 11:01 p.m. Central European Time on May 8; a second signing was held in Berlin at Soviet insistence. The VFW Ritual commemorates May 8 as VE Day: German unconditional surrender signed, 1945. After nearly six years of war in Europe—and more than three and a half years of American combat since Pearl Harbor—the guns fell silent from the Atlantic to the Elbe. The victory crowned the campaigns of North Africa, Italy, Normandy, the Bulge, and the drive into Germany, at a cost paid by millions of Allied service members and civilians. For the United States, VE Day was a moment of thanksgiving still shadowed by unfinished war in the Pacific, which would continue until September.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220455Z
SEQUENCE:93457
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260508
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260509
UID:25200077-5080-4EB9-979F-326D873631D3
SUMMARY:Battle of Palo Alto (Mexican-American War, 1846)
CREATED:20260903T211020Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T211020Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211434Z
SEQUENCE:86654
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260518
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260519
UID:31BC52EF-3AF1-4CAD-9F19-CECF591D4B08
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Vicksburg (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260903T211310Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T211310Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211344Z
SEQUENCE:86434
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260525
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260526
UID:897974DD-05F9-4C5D-AF7E-B0DC101F5D4E
SUMMARY:Memorial Day
CREATED:20260120T063607Z
DTSTAMP:20260120T063607Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/memorial-day
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T221006Z
SEQUENCE:19668839
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:8
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260531
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260601
UID:DB125B80-7698-4A65-BA05-E1E20DFA26AA
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Cold Harbor (Civil War, 1864)
CREATED:20260903T211636Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T211636Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211301Z
SEQUENCE:86185
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260606
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260607
UID:AC784AE5-4174-4E60-A884-1B590992D2C6
SUMMARY:D-Day
CREATED:20260903T200945Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T200945Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/d-day
DESCRIPTION:On June 6, 1944, Allied forces launched Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied France, landing on five Normandy beaches—Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword—and dropping airborne divisions inland. It was the largest amphibious assault in history. American troops met especially fierce resistance on Omaha Beach, while airborne Soldiers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions fought to secure exits and bridges before dawn. The VFW Ritual commemorates June 6 as D-Day: Allied invasion of Europe, 1944. The lodgment opened a Western Front that would carry the Allies to the Rhine and to VE Day eleven months later. Thousands of Allied troops were killed or wounded that day; their sacrifice turned the course of World War II in Europe; the VFW remembers the Soldiers, Sailors, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen who went ashore and those who never left the sand.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On June 6, 1944, Allied forces launched Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied France, landing on five Normandy beaches—Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword—and dropping airborne divisions inland. It was the largest amphibious assault in history. American troops met especially fierce resistance on Omaha Beach, while airborne Soldiers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions fought to secure exits and bridges before dawn. The VFW Ritual commemorates June 6 as D-Day: Allied invasion of Europe, 1944. The lodgment opened a Western Front that would carry the Allies to the Rhine and to VE Day eleven months later. Thousands of Allied troops were killed or wounded that day; their sacrifice turned the course of World War II in Europe; the VFW remembers the Soldiers, Sailors, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen who went ashore and those who never left the sand.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220459Z
SEQUENCE:93314
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260606
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260607
UID:229F4B23-34D3-433B-B628-0583C8B5CA7F
SUMMARY:Invasion of Normandy (D-Day, World War II, 1944)
CREATED:20260903T211905Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T211905Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211231Z
SEQUENCE:86006
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260607
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260608
UID:BA59773C-F0AA-41AF-9821-397CEAA17E0F
SUMMARY:Battle of Midway (World War II, 1942)
CREATED:20260903T212405Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T212405Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211204Z
SEQUENCE:85679
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260614
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260615
UID:D47C6CB1-8C7F-4C78-B4B5-CD464FDB839A
SUMMARY:Flag Day
CREATED:20260903T201613Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T201613Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/flag-day
DESCRIPTION:Flag Day is June 14, the anniversary of the day in 1777 when the Continental Congress resolved that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, and thirteen stars, white in a blue field. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed a national Flag Day in 1916; in 1949 President Harry S. Truman signed legislation making June 14 National Flag Day and directing an annual presidential proclamation. The VFW Ritual lists June 14—Flag Day among the commemorative dates, and the Manual of Procedure requires posts to make suitable arrangements for its observance. Red stands for valor, white for purity, and blue for vigilance and justice; a star is added for each state, while thirteen stripes honor the original colonies. Display of the flag is an act of remembrance for those who carried it into battle and those who did not come home beneath it.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:Flag Day is June 14, the anniversary of the day in 1777 when the Continental Congress resolved that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, and thirteen stars, white in a blue field. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed a national Flag Day in 1916; in 1949 President Harry S. Truman signed legislation making June 14 National Flag Day and directing an annual presidential proclamation. The VFW Ritual lists June 14—Flag Day among the commemorative dates, and the Manual of Procedure requires posts to make suitable arrangements for its observance. Red stands for valor, white for purity, and blue for vigilance and justice; a star is added for each state, while thirteen stripes honor the original colonies. Display of the flag is an act of remembrance for those who carried it into battle and those who did not come home beneath it.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220502Z
SEQUENCE:92929
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260617
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260618
UID:4546D4C5-5F37-4E4C-A856-75382D8ED865
SUMMARY:Battle of Bunker Hill (Revolutionary War, 1775)
CREATED:20260903T212642Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T212642Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211136Z
SEQUENCE:85494
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260626
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260627
UID:427D3938-4EE1-4DA2-B768-AE6AE1C8C3C4
SUMMARY:Battle of Little Bighorn (Indian Wars, 1876)
CREATED:20260903T213105Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T213105Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211108Z
SEQUENCE:85203
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260628
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260629
UID:4440D8BD-1E51-44DC-9809-4843799FD3A5
SUMMARY:Battle of Monmouth (Revolutionary War, 1778)
CREATED:20260903T213332Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T213332Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T211031Z
SEQUENCE:85019
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260701
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260702
UID:4344C815-4374-45DA-A3D3-1F001134D598
SUMMARY:Battle of San Juan Hill (Spanish-American War, 1898)
CREATED:20260903T213743Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T213743Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210956Z
SEQUENCE:84733
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260703
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260704
UID:141944FF-F045-45E0-9B77-57AD4A36A60D
SUMMARY:Independence Day (Observed Federal Holiday)
CREATED:20260120T063710Z
DTSTAMP:20260120T063710Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/independence-day-observed-federal-holiday
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220506Z
SEQUENCE:19668476
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260703
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260704
UID:93174FDD-B58B-457E-8B87-6BF5D9068965
SUMMARY:Battle of Gettysburg (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260903T214027Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T214027Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210923Z
SEQUENCE:84536
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260704
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260705
UID:CBC85E6F-B8F3-41D3-90AE-9E7392C25122
SUMMARY:End of Battle of Vicksburg (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260903T214403Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T214403Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210852Z
SEQUENCE:84289
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260704
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260705
UID:EB9C2335-8A6E-4BB3-902B-8A51A783E7D9
SUMMARY:Independence Day
CREATED:20260120T063727Z
DTSTAMP:20260120T063727Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/independence-day
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220509Z
SEQUENCE:19668462
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260721
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260722
UID:BB7B18E3-28D6-4A3E-8C07-F1389932A37C
SUMMARY:First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas, Civil War, 1861)
CREATED:20260903T214617Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T214617Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210819Z
SEQUENCE:84122
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260727
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260728
UID:B4F4F909-0678-4768-9C27-E10D860D7A5C
SUMMARY:Korean Armistice
CREATED:20260903T201855Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T201855Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/korean-armistice
DESCRIPTION:On July 27, 1953, representatives of the United Nations Command, the Korean People's Army, and the Chinese People's Volunteers signed an armistice at Panmunjom, ending three years of open fighting in the Korean War. The agreement established the Demilitarized Zone near the 38th parallel, provided for the exchange of prisoners, and halted hostilities—but it was not a peace treaty, and none has been signed since. The VFW Ritual commemorates July 27 as the signing of the Korean Armistice in 1953. From the Pusan Perimeter and Inchon to the Chosin Reservoir and the static battles that followed, American and allied troops held the line against North Korean and Chinese forces at great cost. The armistice left Korea divided and a generation of veterans whose service the VFW was built in part to recognize. We honor those who fought, those still unaccounted for, and a truce that has held, uneasily, for decades.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:On July 27, 1953, representatives of the United Nations Command, the Korean People's Army, and the Chinese People's Volunteers signed an armistice at Panmunjom, ending three years of open fighting in the Korean War. The agreement established the Demilitarized Zone near the 38th parallel, provided for the exchange of prisoners, and halted hostilities—but it was not a peace treaty, and none has been signed since. The VFW Ritual commemorates July 27 as the signing of the Korean Armistice in 1953. From the Pusan Perimeter and Inchon to the Chosin Reservoir and the static battles that followed, American and allied troops held the line against North Korean and Chinese forces at great cost. The armistice left Korea divided and a generation of veterans whose service the VFW was built in part to recognize. We honor those who fought, those still unaccounted for, and a truce that has held, uneasily, for decades.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220513Z
SEQUENCE:92778
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260807
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260808
UID:43F94313-82F7-4C00-96E4-949BB52FCB32
SUMMARY:Start of Guadalcanal Campaign (World War II, 1942)
CREATED:20260903T215003Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T215003Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210751Z
SEQUENCE:83868
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260831
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260901
UID:49187D1D-756C-4203-AAEB-2DE7320CD62A
SUMMARY:Iraqi Freedom
CREATED:20260825T200148Z
DTSTAMP:20260825T200148Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vfw-post-8555-iraqi-freedom
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220516Z
SEQUENCE:871408
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260902
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260903
UID:408D8564-6DDC-41F9-9E2B-33730DBE3E80
SUMMARY:VJ Day
CREATED:20260825T200225Z
DTSTAMP:20260825T200225Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vfw-post-8555-vj-day
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220521Z
SEQUENCE:871376
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260911
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260912
UID:4A1C9DE7-7FEA-4106-9BF7-4A085A0FA6E7
SUMMARY:Patriots Day
CREATED:20260825T200249Z
DTSTAMP:20260825T200249Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vfw-post-8555-patriots-day
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220524Z
SEQUENCE:871355
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260913
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260914
UID:DF75E32F-46C6-469A-88AA-847C56B86175
SUMMARY:Battle of Chapultepec (Mexican-American War, 1847)
CREATED:20260903T215233Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T215233Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210702Z
SEQUENCE:83669
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260917
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260918
UID:F198351C-DA5F-4C51-BB7C-8A7C5F4EF60E
SUMMARY:Battle of Antietam (Civil War, 1862)
CREATED:20260903T215659Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T215659Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210632Z
SEQUENCE:83373
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:4
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260918
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260919
UID:5247CC94-0A49-4AD4-8BB2-2F65AC1D88FE
SUMMARY:POW/MIA
CREATED:20260825T200301Z
DTSTAMP:20260825T200301Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vfw-post-8555-pow-mia
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220528Z
SEQUENCE:871347
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260920
UID:8BB09FD2-5572-4F6D-8432-6EF20593663B
SUMMARY:First Battle of Saratoga (Revolutionary War, 1777)
CREATED:20260903T220326Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T220326Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210501Z
SEQUENCE:82895
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260920
UID:33EE33BF-2F48-46CC-80F2-FE13DEA108A7
SUMMARY:Battle of Inchon (Korean War, 1950)
CREATED:20260903T215943Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T215943Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210551Z
SEQUENCE:83168
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260923
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260924
UID:AAED95F3-D86B-4F7A-8FA7-C4368F28E462
SUMMARY:End of Tet Offensive (Vietnam War, 1968)
CREATED:20260903T220542Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T220542Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T213605Z
SEQUENCE:84623
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260926
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260927
UID:895BF700-5388-4AF5-B0C5-8EC431608F39
SUMMARY:Start of Meuse-Argonne Offensive (World War I, 1918)
CREATED:20260903T220901Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T220901Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T213524Z
SEQUENCE:84383
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:6
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260929
UID:7CDD7358-E754-4018-B972-F9677394483C
SUMMARY:Start of Siege of Yorktown (Revolutionary War, 1781)
CREATED:20260903T221108Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T221108Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210403Z
SEQUENCE:82375
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:3
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261004
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261005
UID:2FC30014-EA63-4E00-92E5-1BF9B5E7EF54
SUMMARY:Battle of Mogadishu ("Black Hawk Down", 1993)
CREATED:20260903T221446Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T221446Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210218Z
SEQUENCE:82052
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:6
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261007
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261008
UID:7B3587BA-9448-46C4-9037-0DBF864C3980
SUMMARY:Second Battle of Saratoga (Revolutionary War, 1777)
CREATED:20260903T221730Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T221730Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210142Z
SEQUENCE:81852
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261009
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261010
UID:5A18E63B-2341-4488-8085-708E8AB9A65D
SUMMARY:Operation Enduring Freedom
CREATED:20260825T200324Z
DTSTAMP:20260825T200324Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vfw-post-8555-operation-enduring-freedom
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220531Z
SEQUENCE:871327
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:5
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261018
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261019
UID:F3FFF55A-D242-4EB0-ACC7-A0245C054661
SUMMARY:Women in Military Service
CREATED:20260825T200336Z
DTSTAMP:20260825T200336Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vfw-post-8555-women-in-military-service
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T213906Z
SEQUENCE:869730
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261019
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261020
UID:6687F0F9-1505-49EC-9326-EFD4CB515F8B
SUMMARY:End of Siege of Yorktown (Revolutionary War, 1781)
CREATED:20260903T222134Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T222134Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T213758Z
SEQUENCE:83784
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261107
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261108
UID:79FBFF85-0A4E-45F0-B6F6-73F5E6A8AF1C
SUMMARY:Start of Second Battle of Fallujah (Iraq War, 2004)
CREATED:20260903T222347Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T222347Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T210042Z
SEQUENCE:81415
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261112
UID:95156450-5471-40FA-B149-36F5AC5E5689
SUMMARY:Veteran's Day
CREATED:20260120T064322Z
DTSTAMP:20260120T064322Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/veterans-day
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220534Z
SEQUENCE:19668132
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:1
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261112
UID:57859779-BF95-47BE-A6B2-72CE452D9C5E
SUMMARY:End of Meuse-Argonne Offensive (World War I, 1918)
CREATED:20260903T222659Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T222659Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T205934Z
SEQUENCE:81155
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261119
UID:EEB4FEA2-7FB5-4376-8DCB-03871920BF26
SUMMARY:Battle of Ia Drang (Vietnam War, 1965)
CREATED:20260903T222940Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T222940Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T205825Z
SEQUENCE:80925
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261126
UID:7BF456A6-FDA2-44D8-8FF1-5E7615032DF6
SUMMARY:Battle of Chattanooga (Civil War, 1863)
CREATED:20260903T223428Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T223428Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T205325Z
SEQUENCE:80337
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261128
UID:553158F9-1B41-4A18-9E85-53CA68503315
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of Chosin Reservoir (Korean War, 1950)
CREATED:20260903T223639Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T223639Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T205618Z
SEQUENCE:80379
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261208
UID:CE0852F6-2FF8-4D4E-A528-27B10DEB3972
SUMMARY:Pearl Harbor Day
CREATED:20260825T200348Z
DTSTAMP:20260825T200348Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/events/vfw-post-8555-pearl-harbor-day
LAST-MODIFIED:20260904T220536Z
SEQUENCE:871308
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:2
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261208
UID:F2E8A5ED-D2E5-4888-B7A3-A89755A86B14
SUMMARY:Pearl Harbor (World War II, 1941)
CREATED:20260903T224028Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T224028Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T205136Z
SEQUENCE:79868
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261213
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261214
UID:3807947D-823D-443F-B7BB-B28019F66BF3
SUMMARY:End of Battle of Chosin Reservoir (Korean War, 1950)
CREATED:20260903T224317Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T224317Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T204251Z
SEQUENCE:79174
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261217
UID:DD045E53-98FF-4A03-BFE0-4335CFBB0617
SUMMARY:Start of Battle of the Bulge (World War II, 1944)
CREATED:20260903T224651Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T224651Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T204151Z
SEQUENCE:78900
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261218
UID:413DD3A3-D8D9-49F2-A97C-6375A9700202
SUMMARY:Battle of Tora Bora (Afghanistan, 2001)
CREATED:20260903T224912Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T224912Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T204045Z
SEQUENCE:78693
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261224
UID:6CE2D452-BD3C-4A86-A701-78E43132282B
SUMMARY:End of Second Battle of Fallujah (Iraq War, 2004)
CREATED:20260903T225235Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T225235Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T203835Z
SEQUENCE:78360
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261226
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261227
UID:0FCC3281-9089-4ED1-96C7-037692648FF4
SUMMARY:Battle of Trenton (Revolutionary War, 1776)
CREATED:20260903T225450Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T225450Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T195401Z
SEQUENCE:75551
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261229
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261230
UID:354C6E92-B213-4FCE-A5F9-23EB5241BF4A
SUMMARY:Wounded Knee Massacre (Indian Wars, 1890)
CREATED:20260903T225804Z
DTSTAMP:20260903T225804Z
URL:https://www.wilcovets.org/index.php/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:20260904T195324Z
SEQUENCE:75320
X-ACCESS:1
X-HITS:0
X-COLOR:5b7c99
X-SHOW-END-TIME:1
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR