May 26 in U.S. military history
1917: U.S. Army Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing is named commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force, which is destined for European combat the following year.
1942: The Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter makes its first flight. The twin-boom P-61 is the first aircraft to carry radar and the U.S. military’s first night fighter. The warplane saw service in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters, and is widely believed to be credited with the last “kill” of an enemy aircraft in World War II, when a Japanese “Tojo” fighter pilot flies into the water while maneuvering to evade a Black Widow. Another P-61 pilot performed aerobatics over the Cabanatuan prison camp to distract Japanese soldiers while Rangers infiltrated the camp and rescued 500 American prisoners of war.
1958: Navy Hospital Corpsman 1st Class William R. Charette selects which remains of unidentifiable service members from World War II will be interred at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from four identical caskets in a ceremony on the deck of the cruiser USS Canberra (CAG-2). Charette is the only enlisted sailor and recipient of the Medal of Honor still on active service. The “unknowns” were disinterred from cemeteries in Europe, Africa, Hawaii, and the Philippines.
1961: (Featured image) An Air Force B-58 Hustler bomber — the first operational bomber capable of sustaining Mach 2 — flies from New York to Paris in three hours and 19 minutes, setting a new record and averaging 1,386 miles per hour.
2008: Staff Sergeant Leroy A. Petry and his fellow Rangers come under enemy fire while attempting to capture a high-value Taliban target in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. Petry, already wounded in both legs by an enemy bullet, sees an enemy grenade land near his team’s position and throws it back. But the grenade explodes just after being thrown, severing Petry’s hand and spraying him with sharpnel. He applies a tourniquet and coordinates support for his soldiers on the radio. Petry will receive an advanced prosthetic hand and rejoin the Rangers, returning to Afghanistan for his eighth deployment before becoming the second living recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.