September 9 in U.S. military history

1791: The commissioners overseeing the construction of the new national capital name the site in honor of President George Washington. Congress will work out of Philadelphia until the United States Capitol is completed in 1800.

1942: The Japanese submarine I-25 surfaces off the Oregon coast, launching an E14Y “Glen” floatplane. Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and Petty Officer Shoji Okuda head east with two 160-pound incendiary bombs with the intent to cause a wildfire and spread panic. They manage to set two small fires on Mount Emily near Brookings, Oregon, but did little damage as rain had saturated the forest. Fujita would bomb Oregon a second time on Sept. 29, but no U.S. record exists of a second fire.

Fujita is the only pilot to ever bomb the continental United States.

1943: A week after the Italian government surrendered to the Allies, Lt. Gen. Mark Clark’s Fifth Army lands at Salerno to seize the port facilities at Naples and hopefully trap the Germans to the south.

1972: Air Force F-4 weapons system officer Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue (featured image) gets his fifth and sixth kills of the war, making him the top-scoring aviator of the war. His first four kills were with Capt. Richard S. “Steve” Ritchie, one of just five American aces of the war.