2015 Event France�s far-right National Front party has expelled one of its founders, Jean-Marie Le Pen, after continued conflict over his anti-Semitic remarks; current party leader Marine Le Pen, his daughter, seeks to move the party away from its past 2014 Event U.S. President Barack Obama proposes vast expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine Reserve, increasing the protected ocean area to over 780,000 square miles within nautical boundaries of U.S. Pacific territories 2013 Event A training exercise emergency causes two U.S. marine harrier jets to drop several hundred unarmed bombs on the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage site 2012 Event The Japanese Coast Guard reports six Chinese Marine Surveillance ships are sighted near the disputed Senkaku Islands; China claims the 'two surveillance ship fleets' are in waters around the islands for purposes of 'patrols and law enforcement' 2012 Event Australia announces its plan to create the largest marine reserve in the world 2012 Event Treasure from Spain's Navy frigate Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes is returned to Spain after it was recovered by Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007 2011 Event Command of the NATO forces in Afghanistan transfers from U.S. General David Petraeus to U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Genreal John R. Allen 2010 Event Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and Sri Lanka's central highlands are added to the World Heritage List 1996 Death Robert Kidd, marine geoscientist, dies at 48 1996 Event 2 U.S. Marine helicopters collided during joint U.S. and British war games 1987 Event Clayton Lonetree, 1st marine court-martialed for spying, convicted 1983 Event U.S. Marine sharpshooters kill 5 snipers at Beirut International Airport 1983 Event U.S. Marine peacekeeper Sergeant Allen Soifert killed by sniper in Beirut 1981 Event Marine jet crashes on flight deck of USS Nimitz, killing 14 1979 Event Frank Peterson, Jr. named 1st black general in Marine Corps 1978 Event Margaret A. Brewer is 1st female general in the U.S. Marine Corps 1977 Event Soviet figure skaters Sergei Shakrai and Marine Tcherkasova are 1st to perform a quadruple twist lift, Helsinki 1971 Event Marine clay under houses liquefies, 31 die (St-Jean-Vianney Quebec) 1968 Event Marine James Anderson, Jr. is 1st black Medal of Honor winner 1968 Event U.S. marine base Khe San Vietnam, appalled 1966 Event Former marine Charles Whitman kills 13 and wounds 31 at University of Texas 1966 Death Charles Whitman, former marine, kills 13 at University of Texas, shot by cops 1962 Event Canadian Marine Service renamed Coast Guard 1957 Event Yugoslavia bans Milovan Djilas' book "new class marine officers" 1957 Event Marine Major John Glenn sets transcontinental speed record (03:28:08) 1956 Event 6 marine recruits drown during exercise at Paradise Is SC 1947 Birthday Robert Kidd, marine geoscientist 1945 Event U.S. 7th Marine regiment conquer summit of Kunishi Ridge, Okinawa 1945 Event 6th Marine division occupies Orokoe Peninsula Okinawa 1945 Event U.S. 1st Marine division conquerors Shuri-castle Okinawa 1945 Event 6th Marine division reaches suburbs of Naha Okinawa 1945 Death Major Courtney, U.S. medal of honor marine, dies in battle of Sugar Loaf 1944 Event 4th U.S. marine division conquerors Roi, Marshall Islands 1944 Event U.S. 7th Infantry/25th Marine Division lands on Kwajalein/Roi/Namur 1943 Event Women's Marine Corps created 1941 Event Japanese marine staff officiers Suzuki/Maejima leave Pearl Harbor 1941 Event Japanese marine staff officiers Suzuki/Maejima arrive in Pearl Harbor 1918 Birthday John Gray, FRS/marine biologist 1899 Birthday Lyman L Lemnitzer, Marine Corps general, WW II 1880 Event John Philip Sousa becomes new director of U.S. Marine Corps Band 1877 Birthday Ole Evinrude, inventor, outboard marine engine 1875 Event Formal opening of U.S. Marine Hospital at Presidio 1854 Event Marine Telegraph from Ft. Point to San Francisco completed 1853 Event U.S. Marine Hospital at Presidio San Francisco forms 1838 Event 1st U.S. marine expedition 1798 Event U.S. Public Health Service forms and U.S. Marine Hospital authorized 1790 Event Revenue Marine Service, U.S. Coast Guard, created 1789 Event U.S. Marine Corps created by an act of Congress 1775 Event Congress forms U.S. Marine Corps 1773 Birthday Nathaniel Bowditch, mathematician, astronomer and author, Marine Sextant 1703 Death Samuel Pepys, English marine expert (Diary)/composer, dies at 70
