1865 Salvation Army Founded

In the East End of London, England, revivalist preacher William Booth, with the assistance of his wife, Catherine, established the Christian Mission, later known as the Salvation Army. Determined to wage war against the twin evils of poverty and religious indifference with the efficiency of a military organization, Booth modeled his Protestant sect after the British army, labeling uniformed ministers as "officers" and new members as "recruits." A Methodist minister, Booth preached the religious doctrines subscribed to by mainstream Protestant evangelical denominations at the time. However, the Christian Mission was unique in its commitment to establishing a presence in the most forsaken neighborhoods and in its provision for the absolute equality of women within the sect. Soup kitchens were the first in a long line of a variety of projects designed to provide physical and spiritual assistance to the destitute. In 1878, the organization was renamed the Salvation Army, and two years later the first U.S. branch opened in Pennsylvania. During the Great Depression, the Salvation Army provided food and lodging for those in need, and during both World Wars distinguished itself by its work with the armed services. Today, the Salvation Army, still based in London, has branches in more than seventy-five countries. The Army operates hospitals, emergency and disaster services, alcoholic and drug rehabilitation programs, community centers, social work centers, second-hand stores, and recreation facilities. Voluntary contributions and profits from the sale of its publications fund the organization.

 1945 Liberation of the Philippines Complete

During World War II, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur announced that the liberation of the Philippines from its Japanese occupiers was complete. However, despite the capture of all strategic positions on the archipelago, there were still a few pockets of Japanese troops that bitterly resisted the American advance until the end of the war. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Douglas MacArthur, as commander of U.S. Army forces in the Far East, conducted a desperate defense of the Philippines against overwhelming Japanese forces. Forced to retreat, he promised the people of the Philippines and Manila--a city that had become his adopted home--that "I shall return." On October 20, 1944, after advancing island by island across the Pacific Ocean, MacArthur waded ashore onto the island of Leyte, and the liberation of the Philippines had begun. On January 9, 1945, after a week of massive aerial bombardment, he ordered the invasion of Luzon, the main Philippine island. The same day, nearly 70,000 troops from U.S. Lieutenant General Krueger's Sixth Army waded ashore under heavy fire from Luzon's Japanese occupiers. Two days later, Krueger managed to establish a secure beachhead and began forging inland to Manila, the Philippine capital located 110 miles to the south--MacArthur's goal. On March 3, 1945, after a month of grim fighting, Manila finally fell to the Americans at the cost of 1,000 U.S. troops, 15,000 Japanese troops, and over 100,000 civilians. Four months later, on July 5, MacArthur announced that the liberation of the Philippines had been achieved.

 1950 First American Fatality in the Korean War

Near Sojong, South Korea, Private Kenneth Shadrick, a nineteen-year-old infantryman from Skin Fork, West Virginia, became the first American reported killed in the Korean War. Shadrick, a member of a bazooka squad, had just fired the weapon at a Soviet-made tank when he looked up to check his aim and was cut down by enemy machine-gun fire. In the aftermath of World War II, foreign ministers from the former Allied nations of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain agreed to divide Korea into two separate occupation zones and govern the nation for five years. The country was split along the thirty-eighth parallel, with Soviet forces occupying the northern zone, and Americans stationed in the south. Although the border was defended on both sides, the South Koreans were unprepared for the hordes of North Korean troops and Soviet-made tanks that rolled across the thirty-eighth parallel on June 25, 1950. At dawn that day, nearly 100,000 Communist troops of the North Korean People's Army swept across the thirty-eighth parallel, catching the Republic of Korea forces completely off guard and throwing them into a hasty southern retreat. When word of the attack reached Washington, U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered additional U.S. forces to Korea, and on June 27, he announced to the nation and the world that America would intervene in order to stem the spread of communism. The next day, the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council met, and in the absence of the Soviet Union, which was boycotting the council, a resolution was passed approving the use of force against North Korea. On June 30, Truman authorized the use of U.S. ground forces in Korea, and on July 7, the Security Council recommended that all U.N. forces sent to Korea be put under U.S. command. The next day, General Douglas MacArthur was named commander of all U.N. forces in Korea. In the opening months of the war, the U.S.-led U.N. forces rapidly advanced against the North Koreans, but in October, Chinese Communist troops entered the fray, throwing the Allies into a general retreat. On July 27, 1953, a peace agreement was signed, ending the war and reestablishing the 1945 division of Korea that still exists today. American casualties in the Korean War included 170,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action.
 

1977 Zia-ul-Haq overthrows Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless coup in Pakistan

In July 1977, Z.A. Bhutto had made up his mind to sack his army chief, General Zia-ul-Haq, as he suspected him of being close to the opposition party in Pakistan, the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA). On the night of July 4, 1977, he mentioned to some of his close confidantes that he would issue the orders next morning. It later appeared that one of those tipped off Zia-ul-Haq. The army chief struck back a little after midnight before Bhutto could issue his order. Bhutto considered himself unchallengeable because he had rescued Pakistan from the despondency of its military defeat from India in the 1971 war with a new nation, Bangladesh, being varved out of what was till then known as East Pakistan. He gave a new constitution to the country and sacked the army chief. He chose General Zia as the army chief superseding a number of his seniors since he behaved in a servile, courtier-like manner. Little did he realise that behind that Uriah Heep kind of exterior was a sharp, cunning and vengeful mind. In the end, he found that the officer he had selected to head the army under the impression that he would be pliable proved to be his nemesis.