Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass held a concert at Camp Talega, Camp Pendleton, to entertain Vietnamese refugees.
President Ford reported that 3,341 refugees had been relocated to third countries, with a majority going to Canada.
An artillery salute at Shea stadium for the Army's 200th anniversary went wrong.
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Today in World War II History—June 10, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 10, 1945: Australian troops land at Brunei on Japanese-occupied Borneo, an important port, and capture Labuan airfield.
Sarah Sundin's blog. It was, we'd note, a largescale operation.
The also landed at Labuan and Muara.
The Battle of Porten Plantation ended in a Japanese victory.
US and Philippine forces prevailed at Davao.
The USS William D. Porter was sunk off of Okinawa by kamikazes.
The Chinese Army took Wenchow..
Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki is granted dictatorial powers by the Imperial Diet.
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Yugoslavia agreed to evacuate Trieste so that claims to who should administer it could be resolved.
Ultimately the city would go to Italy.
Japanese Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki told the Diet that Japan would "fight to the last."
The 37th Infantry Division captured Bagabag on Luzon. The 24th Infantry Division took Mandog on Mindanao
A victory parade was held in Los Angeles for George S. Patton and James Doolittle.
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Boxers burned the grandstand of the horse racing track at the country club for western diplomats in Beijing. It unfortunately turned lethal when British horsemen at the track rode out to investigate and one drew a pistol and killed a Boxer, causing the Chinse government to surround the foreigners at the Peking Legation Quarter.
The War Department authorized the production of telescopic sights for rifles. The rifle at the time was the Krag–Jørgensen rifle, which had proven unsatisfactory in comparison to the M93 Mauser used by Spain in the Spanish American War.
The sight consists of a telescope which is attached by means of brackets to the left side of the rifle. The front bracket is secured to the lower band by two screws, and the ring through which the telescope passes has a horizontal motion to provide for drift and windage. A ball-and-socket joint in this ring allows the telescope to be moved in any direction … The rear bracket is screwed to the side plate of the receiver, and the ring which holds the telescope has a vertical movement for changes of elevation.
Telescopes of three different powers are submitted for trial, viz. 8 diameters, 12 diameters, and 20 diameters. The medium power (12 diameters) gave the best results.
The telescope is of practically universal focus; that is, it does not require readjustment for different marksmen or for different ranges. The eye can be placed close to the eyepiece or several inches away without any apparent difference in the focus. Danger of being struck in the eye when the piece recoils can therefore be avoided.
The lenses are large and are held in place by having the metal of the tubes in which they are mounted spun over their outer edges. The telescope is light, but at the same time strong. The brackets for attaching the telescope to the rifle are strong and durable and there appears to be no tendency to jar loose.
The sight was tested by actual firings up to a range of 2,000 yards, each member of the board participating in the firings. As a result of this test, the board is of the opinion that the use of this telescopic sight appears to be of especial value in hazy or foggy weather and at long ranges. In either case the target can be seen with remarkable clearness, and the marksman can be absolutely sure that he is aiming at the proper object. This would be of especial importance to sharpshooters acting independently.
The ordinary sight is useful for accurate firing at a regular target up to about 2,000 yards; but it is impossible to see a man or even a small body of men clearly at that range unless projected against the sky or under other very favorable conditions. It is for this reason that volley firing is so largely resorted to at long ranges.
With a telescopic sight a man could be distinguished easily at 2,000 yards, even with an unfavorable background.
The board is of the opinion that this sight is suitable for use in the U.S. service, and recommends a number of them be purchased for trial by troops in the field. If found to be satisfactory, a sufficient number should be purchased to supply such a number of the sharpshooters of each organization as experience in the field shall indicate to be desirable.
Only seven scoped Krags were produced. Work was already commencing on a replacement for the Krag which would soon produce the M1903 Springfield, a rifle much more suitable for a scope, but which was not equipped with one for sniping purposes until World War One.
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Today in World War II History—June 7, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 7, 1945: King Haakon VII of Norway and his family return to Oslo on their fifth anniversary of leaving Norway. US Marines cut off Oroku Peninsula on Okinawa. King George VI & Queen Elizabeth visit Guernsey and Jersey in recently liberated Channel Islands. In Honolulu, Hawaii, the USO opens the Rainbow Club, for all races, with staff of all races.
From Sarah Sundin's blog.
The Battle of West Hunan concluded in a Chinese victory.
The 1st Corps took Bambang on Luzon.
Joseph Stalin instructed the Soviet delegation at San Francisco to drop its request for a Big Five veto over discussion of international disputes in the United Nations.
Winston Churchill refused a demand from the House of Commons to reveal all that was discussed at the Yalta Conference.
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The Royal Navy sank the Haguro ending the Battle of Malacca Strait. Admiral Kaju Saguira, age 49, was one of the casualties.
Fourteen U-boats surrendered to convoys in the Arctic.
The British liberated Alderney.
Heavy fighting occurred on Okinawa with the Japanese succeeding in knocking out some U.S. tanks.
Physicist Leo Szilard wrote a letter to J. Robert Oppenheimer trying to convince him that atomic bombs shouldn't be used against Japan.
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The Prague Uprising and the Battle of Czechoslovak Radio began. The Axis raised Russian Liberation Army switched sides and supported the Czech partisans.
The Bratislava–Brno Offensive ended in Soviet-Romanian victory.
The Battle for Castle Itter in Austria resulted in an Allied victory.
A Japanese balloon bomb killed the pregnant wife of Reverend Archie Mitchell, Elsie, age 26, and five children of their Sunday School class on Gearhart Mountain near Bly, Oregon, where they had gone for an outing.
The bomb had likely been in place for a month before it was discovered by the party.
Rev. Mitchell moved to Vietnam in 1947 with his new bride Betty, the older sister of two of the children killed by the fire balloon in Bly, where they served as missionaries. They were kidnapped by the Viet Cong in 1962 and forced to serve as medics, and ultimately disappeared.
The cartoon character Yosemite Sam appeared for the first time in the Bugs Bunny animated short Hare Trigger.
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler, age 50, German Nazi Commissioner of Latvia committed suicide in British captivity.
The man responsible for the deaths of millions in Europe, Adolf Hitler committed suicide with a .32 ACP PPK. His wife of one day, Eva Braun, also killed herself. Both deaths occurred around 3.30 p.m..
Their bodies were taken outside of the bunker, liberally doused with gasoline, and burned in a pit.
The Red Army was less than 500m from the Führerbunker. Soviet troops reached the Reichstag.
Karl Dönitz and Joseph Goebbels took on Hitler's former roles as Head of State and Head of Government of Germany in accordance with his wishes.
Such was the engine of the German state that, even though the Nazis would never have come to power without Hitler, and the war would never have occurred without Hitler, the war nonetheless continued on without him.
The Battle of Bautzen ended in a localized German victory.
The U-879, U-1107 and U-326 were all sunk.
Actors Osvaldo Valenti and Luisa Ferida were killed by Italian partisans due to their links to fascism.
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German radio broadcast that Adolf Hitler was in the "main fighting line" in Berlin and would "remain there despite all rumors."
The Allies suspected he was in Bavaria organizing resistance there.
Göring sent a telegram asking for permission to assume leadership of the Third Reich which Hitler regarded as treason, ordering his arrest.
The Flossenburg concentration camp was liberated by the U.S. Army.
The U-183 was sunk off of Borneo by the U.S. submarine Besugo.
The Navy deployed Bat air to ship missiles against Japanese ships in Balipapan Harbor in Borneo, marking their first use.
Those arrested in the Freeman Field Mutiny were released.
The Battle of the Seelow Heights ended in Soviet/Polish victory.
The US 1st Army took Leipzig.
Robert Cappa, the famous photographer, took a series of photos in an event that occurred in this battle, in which a tank crewman who was manning a machinegun in a building was killed by a German sniper. The bloody scene and the soldier's lifeless body is the recalled photograph. A nearly as dramatic photo of another crewman stepping over him to man the gun is not as well recalled.
Richard Dimbleby broadcast the conditions of Belsen on the BBC.
The Battle of Odžak began in Croatia between Yugoslav Partisans and the Axis aligned Croatian Armed Forces. The last battle to be fought in the Second World War in Europe, it would continue until May 25.
Pyinmana, the base of the Japanese aligned Burma Defence Army, fell to the 5th Indian Division.
Japanese Gen. Sōsaku Suzuki, age 53, was killed in action in the Philippines.
Nazi Party member Fritz Wächtler, age 54, was executed by the Nazis for desertion over the surrender of Bayreuth. The charge was unjust and due to rivalry on the part of other Nazis.
It's amazing to think of this sort of infighting when it should have been obvious they'd all be facing trials by the victors soon.
The U-251, U-548 and U-879 were sunk.
Johnny Kelley won the Boston Marathon.
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I learned in Basic Training how to fight with a bayonet. The US M7 bayonet specifically.
It's not all that easy to do, frankly.
have probably never shot a .22, or anything else.
I really do.
Mind you, I'm pro 2nd Amendment myself, but at the same time I don't think you need to pack heat into schools or on college campuses.
And I really truly suspect that at least a few politicians who really carry blazing torches on this, probably have no interest in the topic whatsoever, and even less than that.
Indeed, while I may be very off, I can think of one pro gun politician whom I bet hasn't even fired a BB gun, let alone a real firearms.
Truth be known, you suspect this too. . .
This decision was made beforehand (by the Wyoming Legislature), and we’re just here to clean up the mess.
British and French forces prevailed in Operation Amherst.
The US won the Battle for Cebu City.
The Battle of Lijevče Field ended in victory for the forces of the Independent State of Croatia which wasn't to be independent for very much longer.
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US approves $64M sale of M4A1 carbine rifles to Ecuador
The question would be, however, with the US moving away from the 5.56 and the AR platform, why would any country want M4s now?
The Germans fired their last V-2 rockets killing 200 civilians in England and Belgium.
The US captured Cebu City.
Argentina declared war on the Axis, after having been sympathetic to it for much of the war.
The Royal Navy sank the U-722.
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