August in Military History

August 1

Francis Scott Key

American lawyer who witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor on September 13-14, 1814, and was inspired to write "The Star-Spangled Banner," which became the U.S. national anthem in 1931.

1779–1843

August 1

William Clark

Captain

U.S. Army officer who co-led the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) across the American West to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition's detailed maps and reports were essential to American westward expansion and military planning.

1770–1838

August 2

John Twiggs Myers

Colonel

U.S. Marine officer who led the Marine detachment during the defense of the Peking Legation during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, holding out for 55 days against overwhelming Chinese forces until an international relief force arrived.

1871–1952

August 2

Edward Gruber

Lieutenant

U.S. Army artillery officer who co-wrote "The Caisson Song" (later adapted as "The Army Goes Rolling Along"), the official song of the United States Army.

1879–1941

August 3

Hyman G. Rickover

Admiral

Father of the Nuclear Navy who drove the development of nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. His relentless standards and personal control over reactor design made the U.S. Navy's nuclear propulsion program the safest in the world, never experiencing a reactor accident in over 60 years of operation.

1900–1986

August 3

Leon Uris

Private First Class

American novelist who served as a Marine at Guadalcanal and Tarawa in World War II. His experiences inspired the bestselling novel "Battle Cry" (1953), and he later wrote "Exodus" about the founding of Israel and the masterful WWII epic "Mila 18" about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

1924–2003

August 4

John Vianney

French Catholic priest who was conscripted into Napoleon's army but deserted, later pardoned under a general amnesty. He became the patron saint of parish priests and was canonized in 1925. His story illustrates the tension between military duty and moral conscience that has characterized French society since the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

1786–1859

August 4

Raoul Wallenberg

Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust by issuing protective passports and sheltering them in buildings designated as Swedish territory. He was arrested by Soviet forces in January 1945 and died in Soviet custody, a Cold War mystery that was never fully resolved.

1912–1947

August 5

David Farragut

Admiral

The first rear admiral, vice admiral, and full admiral in U.S. Navy history. His victories at New Orleans (1862) and Mobile Bay (1864) were decisive Union triumphs. He was adopted as a boy by future President Andrew Jackson's friend David Porter and went to sea at age nine, serving as a midshipman in the War of 1812 at age twelve.

1801–1870

August 5

Neil Armstrong

Naval aviator who flew 78 combat missions during the Korean War before becoming a test pilot and astronaut. On July 20, 1969, he became the first human to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, an achievement born from the same Cold War competition that drove military technology development.

1930–2012