01 – (1953) -- Units of the 123d Fighter- Interception Wing, including Group HQ and the 165th Squadron were redesignated as fighter-bomber units
01 – (1968) Assault on Fire Base Burt
07 - (1815) 2,500 Kentucky militia, under Maj. Gen. John Thomas, less than one-fourth of them armed (as their arms were on flat-boats, not yet arrived), reach New Orleans (War of 1812).
08 – (1967) Operation Cedar Falls
08 - (1815) Great American victory at the Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812).
11 - (1862) Gunboat action at Columbus, Kentucky (Civil War).
17 – (1991) Operation Desert Storm began
19 - (1862) Battle of Mill Springs, Pulaski County (Civil War).
20 – Battle of Khe Sanh began (1968)
Maj. John P. Gaines and Capt. Cassius M. Clay, with 30 Kentucky cavalry, along with 50 Arkansas cavalry, are surrounded at Encarnacion by an overwhelming force of Mexican cavalry, and compelled to surrender, taken to the city of Mexico, and imprisoned (Mexican War, 1847).
21 - The "Louisville Legion," of dragoons, artillery, infantry and riflemen, authorized (1839).
22 - Battle of the River Raisin, disastrous defeat and massacre of Kentucky troops. "Remember the Raisin" would become the battle cry of Kentucky troops during the remainder of the war in the northwest (War of 1812, 1813).
22 – Allies land at Anzio, Italy (1944)
24 -- (1955) Philip P. Ardery, senior commander of the Kentucky Air National Guard since its founding, was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, the first KY Air Guard member ever to to wear a star.
25 – Operation Thunderbolt began (1951)
26 -- (1968) All units of KyANG except state HQ were called to federal service. John Listman, Historian, NGB-PAI-H notes that Kentucky was only one of two states to have both Air and Army Guard units called up in 1968 (the other being Kansas). Kentucky was the only state to have both Air and Army mobilized units deploy overseas. Listman goes on to note that the 165th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (the 123rd's only flying element) was assigned, along with two other ANG recon squadrons to a rotation scheme which had each squadron assigned for 60-90 days to the Panama Canal, Alaska and Itazuke Air Base in Japan. During these missions their RF-101 Voodoo jets would photograph areas of interest looking for Soviet, or in the case of Japan, North Korean, naval activity. While the 165th was stationed in Japan in the spring of 1969 one of its pilots, Captain William Seiber, was almost killed when his plane exploded upon take off. The unit returned home and was released from active duty on 9 June 1969.
27 – Signing of Vietnam Peace Accord (1973)
30 – Tet Offensive began (1968)
31 – Battle of Hue began (1968)
31 – (1956) -- Lee J. Merkel, veteran commander of the KY Air NG base and vice commander of the 123 Fighter-Interceptor Wing, was killed in an air crash of an F-51 Mustang 10 miles north of Bedford, IN. He was the third pilot to die in an air crash since Air Guard units began operating from Standiford Field. Thomas F. Mantell, Jr., was killed in January 7, 1948, near Franklin, KY., Chasing a UFO. Richard I. Ross died in October 1, 1950 in a crash at Ft. Knox.