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| ATTENTION ON DECK! |
| May 1, 1960 - A U-2 spy plane flying at 60,000 feet was shot down over Sverdlovsk in central USSR on the eve of a summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The sensational incident caused cancellation of the meeting and heightened Cold War tensions. The pilot, CIA agent Francis Gary Powers, survived the crash, and was tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Moscow court. Two years later he was released to America in exchange for an imprisoned Soviet spy. On return to the U.S., Powers encountered a hostile public which apparently believed he should not have allowed himself to be captured alive. He died in a helicopter crash in 1977. May 8, 1942 - During World War II in the Pacific, the Battle of the Coral Sea began in marked the first time in history that two opposing carrier forces fought only using aircraft without the opposing ships ever sighting each other. May 11, 1969 - During the Vietnam War, the Battle of "Hamburger Hill" began. While attempting to seize the Dong Ap Bia mountain, U.S. troops repeatedly scaled the hill over a 10-day period and engaged in bloody hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese. After finally securing the objective, American military staff decided to abandon the position, which the North Vietnamese retook shortly thereafter. The battle highlighted the futility of the American military strategy. May 12, 1949 - The Soviet Union lifted its blockade of Berlin. The blockade began on June 24, 1948 and resulted in the Berlin airlift. For 462 days - from June 26, 1948, until September 30, 1949, American and British planes flew about 278,000 flights, delivering 2.3 million tons of food, coal and medical supplies to two million isolated West Berliners. A plane landed in Berlin every minute from 11 Allied staging areas in West Germany. The planes were nicknamed ''candy bombers'' after pilots began tossing sweets to children. They also flew out millions of dollars worth of products manufactured in West Berlin. May 14, 1942 - During World War II, an Act of Congress allowed women to enlist for noncombat duties in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), the Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), and Semper Paratus Always Ready Service (SPARS), the Women's Reserve of the Marine Corp. May 25 - Memorial Day in the U.S., also called Decoration Day for the tradition of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers. The observance dates from Civil War years, with the first documented observance on May 5, 1865. May 30, 1943 - During World War II in the Pacific, the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska were retaken by the U.S. 7th Infantry Division. The battle began on May 12 when an American force of 11,000 landed on Attu. In three weeks of fighting U.S. casualties numbered 552 killed and 1,140 wounded. Japanese killed numbered 2,352, with only 28 taken prisoner, as 500 chose suicide rather than be captured. |
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