The Civil War was the first conflict in which the U.S. Army made use of airpower to aid its ground operations. The “Balloon Corps” existed from 1861 to 1863 and operated several balloons as aerial observation platforms. Observers in the gas-filled balloons reconnoitered enemy positions and would often relay intelligence to the ground in real time via signal flags or telegraph wires. This photograph depicts the balloon Intrepid being inflated on 1 June 1862, around the time of the Battle of Gaines’ Mill in Virginia. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

New innovations in military technologies enhanced the efficacy of the U.S. Army’s battlefield stalwarts during the Civil War. The Parrott Rifle, shown here during a drill demonstration by a Union Army artillery crew, introduced unparallelled lethality to the Army’s field artillery. Developed in 1860 and patented in 1861, the Parrott Rifle was designed to combine the strengths of wrought and cast iron, creating a cannon with superlative accuracy and destructive capacity. Though the Parrott Rifle was not a small arm, “gun” was a common term during the Civil War used to describe a cannon, and one that continues to be used in the context of field artillery to this day. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

During the Civil War, existing military technologies were brought to new heights as the U.S. Army fought to preserve the nation. This photograph depicts a 13-inch seacoast defense mortar used during the summer of 1864 at the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia. This massive artillery piece, dubbed “Dictator,” fired a 200-pound shell and was so heavy it could only be transported by rail. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)

The massive casualties suffered by the U.S. Army during the Civil War necessitated the development of a robust network of hospitals to facilitate the treatment and recovery of sick and wounded Union soldiers. In this photograph, Union soldiers (many of them amputees), are shown convalescing. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

The widespread use of locomotives during the Civil War allowed the U.S. Army to move troops and materiel faster than ever before. The Union Army’s access to superior railways networks and large quantities of rolling stock facilitated the development of the most advanced system of military logistics and supply created by the United States up to that point in history. Here, Union soldiers stand by U.S. Military Railroad Engine No. 137. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

These soldiers, likely belonging to the United States Colored Troops (USCT), were stationed near the Dutch Gap Canal in Virginia in November 1864. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)

The unprecedented manpower mobilized by the U.S. Army during the Civil War necessitated the development of new organizational techniques for managing military staff work. In this photo taken late in the war (likely in Virginia during 1864), Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant is shown seated at center, surrounded by some of his staff officers. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

During World War I, the widespread implementation of new military technologies like the machine gun dramatically changed the battlespace, forcing the U.S. Army to learn hard lessons and adapt accordingly. Here, a 101st Field Artillery Regiment (one of the Army’s oldest regiments, with lineage stretching back to 1636) anti-aircraft machine gun fires on a German observation plane at Plateau Chemin des Dames, France, in March 1918. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

A machine gun battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment passes through St. Baussant in advance upon the St. Mihiel Front, 13 September 1918. General John J. Pershing led the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) to victory at the Battle of St. Mihiel, the first major engagement of World War I in which the AEF fought under its own command. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

Introduced in the final years of World War I, the tank was a new military technology that reshaped the battlespace, helping to facilitate rapid offensive movement after years of stalemate. Here, American troops are going forward to the battle line in the Forest of Argonne in France on 26 September 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Lasting from 26 September to 11 November 1918, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was one of the largest campaigns in U.S. Army history, with over 1.2 million Americans taking part. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

During World War I, new technologies like the telephone facilitated faster communication between distant Army elements. However, this presented new and unique challenges; the Army overcame a shortage of switchboard operators by recruiting women into the U.S. Army Signal Corps’ Female Telephone Operators Unit. Nicknamed the “Hello Girls” after their signature greeting, hundreds of these women served overseas during World War I. Fluent in both French and English, the Hello Girls often served in or near combat zones. The Hello Girls pictured here were operating their telephone exchange within range of German artillery fire during the Battle of St. Mihiel in 1918. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

During World War I, the Army embraced a wide spectrum of military technologies, even employing some “low-tech” solutions like the carrier pigeon. At General John J. Pershing’s behest, the U.S. Army Signal Corps’ Pigeon Service was authorized in November 1917. These pigeons quickly became a crucial tool for battlefield communication; the pigeon Cher Ami carried the message that is credited with saving the famous “Lost Battalion” in October 1918. This picture, taken in January 1918, shows 2nd Lieutenant Milne, S.R.C. with a Signal Corps pigeon. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

On June 5, 1944, Eisenhower spoke with paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division just before they boarded their planes to participate in the first assault of the Normandy invasion. As planned, airborne units led the invasion. The U.S. 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions dropped near Ste. Mere-Eglise and Carentan to secure road junctions and beach exits from which the VII Corps could push to capture Cherbourg. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

U.S. assault troops in an LCVP landing craft approach Omaha Beach, June 6. 1944. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

A LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) from the U.S. Coast Guard-manned USS Samuel Chase disembarks troops of Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One) wading onto the Fox Green section of Omaha Beach (Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France) on the morning of June 6, 1944. American soldiers encountered the newly formed German 352nd Division when landing. During the initial landing two-thirds of the Company E became casualties. (Photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Robert F. Sargent)

American assault troops, carrying full equipment, move onto Omaha Beach, in Northern France. Landing craft, in the background, jam the harbor. The Normandy beaches were chosen by planners because they lay within range of air cover and were less heavily defended than the obvious objective of the Pas de Calais, the shortest distance between Great Britain and the Continent.  (Original Field Number: ETO-HQ-44-4754-35. Photographer: Wall. National Archives NAID: 176887736)

Women workers drill a wing bulkhead, assembling a wing for a transport plane at the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft factory in Fort Worth, Texas, Oct. 1, 1942. (Library of Congress photo by Howard R. Hollem)

American soldiers look at the French tricolor flying from the Eiffel Tower, Aug. 25, 1944. Paris had been liberated the week before, on Aug. 19. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

U.S. troops of the 28th Infantry Division march along Champs Élysées Paris, with the Arc de Triomphe in the background, during the Victory Parade, Aug. 29, 1944. The parade was four days after the liberation of Paris. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

Members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, Women's Army Corps, sort packages taken from mail sacks by French civilian employees at the 17th Base Post Office in Paris, France, Nov. 7, 1945. Their motto was “No mail, low morale,” and at their first posting, in England, they were charged with clearing several years of backlogged mail in six months. They worked around the clock and cleared the backlog in half the time. (Courtesy photo by U.S. Army)

During World War II, the "Red Ball" convoys rushed supplies to Allied fronts in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of road vehicles carrying supplies from ports and beachheads to troops at the front helped win the war. Convoys of trucks covered up to 900 miles daily over special traffic lanes restricted to military use and known as the "Red Ball" express. Operated as a relay, repair, maintenance, refueling, first aid stations and stopping off points where tired drivers rested and new ones took over for the last lap of the journey lined the route. (PWD-OWI Staff Photo by Lawrence Riordan)

The U.S. Army Air Forces revolutionized military medical care by triaging the wounded and sending those who needed specialized care unavailable on the battlefront to the nearest hospital that could care for them. Flying the wounded out was quickest, but the soldiers needed constant monitoring by nurses, nicknamed Winged Angels. The flights were cold, bumpy and dangerous, and because the planes did double duty as military supply transport, they could not display the Red Cross, which might have protected them from enemy fire. About 500 nurses served in 31 medical air evacuation transport squadrons. They cared for 1.17 million patients; only 46 patients ever died in the air, and 17 nurses died during the war. Although they went through rigorous training, including crash procedures and survival training, all of them were volunteers. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

For almost 50 years, Bob Hope entertained soldiers across the globe through World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Gulf War. Wildly successful and popular with the troops, before he performed, he found out who the officers were and the kinds of situations the unit was going through, then built his routine around it. He went to enormous lengths to entertain troops, making 57 tours with the USO. Here he entertains troops in New Caledonia in 1944. (Photo courtesy of the Bob and Delores Hope Foundation)

By the Korean War, wounded soldiers could be airlifted from the battlefield to a medical facility by helicopter. Corporal Eader, center, reassures a wounded Soldier as medics carry him away from Capt. Eliasson’s helicopter on a litter, during the Korean War, March 1951. Eliasson served 32 years in the Army; he was a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

Master Sgt. Billy Waugh gives a training class to soldiers assigned to the 833rd Regional Forces, Vietnam, 1965. Waugh’s life was eventually saved by the actions of Capt. Paris Davis in June 1965. A member of the Special Forces, Waugh was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart. After Vietnam, he had a career at the CIA. Davis was awarded the Medal of Honor. (Courtesy photo by Ron Deis)

U.S. Army Pfc. Fred L. Greenleaf with Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade, crosses a deep irrigation canal along with other members of the company who are enroute to a Viet Cong controlled village. (U.S. Army photo by Robert C. Lafoon)

President Lyndon Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, Oct. 26, 1966. (Photo courtesy of Yoichi Robert Okamoto)

An M-1 Abrams main battle tank crosses a shallow river while on maneuvers at the U.S. Army Armor Center in 1983. Introduced in 1980, the M-1 Abrams main battle tank was one of the “Big 5” military technologies developed and introduced late in the Cold War. First used in combat during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Soldiers found it exhibited superlative reliability, lethality, survivability and mobility. During that conflict, the M-1 Abrams proved its mettle in some of the largest tank battles in American history.

U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk (Blackhawk) helicopters lift off from a runway during Operation Desert Shield in October 1990. Another versatile piece of equipment introduced as one of the “Big 5” Army innovations late in the Cold War, Black Hawk helicopters are used for air assaults, medical evacuations and lift operations. Up to four crew members and a fully equipped 11-person infantry squad can fit inside. A Black Hawk can also hold a 105 mm howitzer, or a Humvee suspended below the aircraft.

Military service members salute while fire and rescue workers unfurl a massive American flag over the side of the Pentagon on Sept. 12, 2001, as rescue and recovery operations continued following the 9/11 terrorist attack. Then-Sgt. William K. Wilkins is standing in the front row, second from right. The Ordnance Corps Soldier and his mobile communications crew were among the initial wave of those responding to the scene. (File photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Michael W. Pendergrass)

President George H. W. and Barbara Bush visited the U.S. Army 197th Infantry Brigade stationed in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 22, 1990, during Operation Desert Shield. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

U.S. Soldiers with Battery A, 5162nd Air Defense Arty. Regt., 11th Air Defense Arty. Brigade., hold an FIM-92A Stinger portable missile launcher as they pose for a photograph during Operation Desert Shield in in Saudi Arabia, April 1, 1992. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. F. Lee Corkran)

President Bush greets General H. Norman Schwarzkopf who leads the Desert Storm Homecoming Parade in Washington, D.C., June 8, 1991. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)

NASA astronaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer and Army Colonel Frank Rubio is pictured inside the cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world," as the orbiting lab flew 263 miles above southeastern England, Oct. 1, 2022. (NASA courtesy photo)

U.S. Army Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), scan the nearby ridgeline for enemy movement during Operation Anaconda, March 4, 2002. (U.S. Army photo/Spc. David Marck Jr.)

Master Sgt. Antionne Murray (left), medic and platoon sergeant from Topeka, Kan., and Spc. Todd Marlett, a medic from Fort Worth, Texas, both from Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, do a quick inventory of medical supplies delivered to the Salhiya Orphanage during a Task Force 3-8 Cavalry medical humanitarian assistance mission in 2004. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Susan German, 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

U.S. Army Spc. Tristan Lininger from Tacoma, Wash., assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Armored Battalion, 63rd Armored Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division provides security in search of caches in Qarghuli, Iraq, on April 12, 2009. (Courtesy Photo - DVIDS)

Soldiers with B Troop, 5th Squadron 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division and Delta Troop, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, prepare to board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter after an air assault mission in Shah Wali Kot District, Afghanistan in 2009. (Courtesy Photo - DVIDS)

Lt. Col. James Keith, civil affairs officer for the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Advise and Assist), 1st Cavalry Division, hands out school supplies to Iraqi children in the city of Jamboria, Iraq, in 2011. The donated supplies were part of a humanitarian aid drop conducted by Battery A, 3rd Bn., 82nd FA Regt. (Photo by Sgt. Quentin Johnson)

U.S. Army Sgt. Allysa Turner (left), paralegal specialist and female engagement team noncommissioned officer in-charge with 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, stands with her older sister, Staff Sgt. Lorena Anderson, veterinary food inspector with the 438th Medical Detachment. Anderson arranged to visit Turner at Forward Operating Base Lindsey, Afghanistan, for Turner's birthday Oct. 23, 2012. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Lori Bilyou)

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Anderson, commanding general, 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, shakes hands with U.S. Army Spc. Ashlie Totten, native of Erie, Pa., after presenting her the Purple Heart at Combat Outpost Fortress Aug. 5, 2012. Totten, a Female Engagement Team member assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was one of three soldiers Anderson presented the Purple Heart to during his two-day visit of the 4th BCT in eastern Afghanistan as part of battlefield circulation. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Ramos)

Spc. Laura Campa of the 949th Brigade Support Battalion ground guides a Light Medium Tactical Vehicle through flood waters. Texas Army National Guard Soldiers from the 36th Infantry Division transported and distributed food, water, and supplies from Orange County Airport to stranded residents in low-income areas of Orange, Texas in 2017 in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. (US Army photo by Staff Sgt. Melisa Washington)

Soldiers on the Operation Lone Star Mission construct additional concertina wire barriers on the banks of the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, in 2023. The Servicemembers’ presence on the border deters illegal immigration across the river into Texas. (Texas National Guard Photo by Operation Lone Star Public Affairs)

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor carefully cuts down a hazardous tree damaged by a recent wildfire at Palisades Elementary Charter School, March 28, 2025. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in collaboration with federal, state, and local partners, is working safely and quickly to remove wildfire ash and debris from nearly 13,600 homes, paving the way for community rebuilding efforts. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Christopher Rosario)

Though he lived a life full of accomplishments, Teddy Roosevelt’s service in Cuba during the War with Spain was among his proudest achievements. As Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (dubbed the “Rough Riders”), Roosevelt led his men in a heroic charge up Kettle Hill during the Battle of San Juan Heights on 1 July 1898. In 2001, he was posthumously decorated with the Medal of Honor in recognition of his actions during the War with Spain; he and his son, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., are one of only two father-son pairs to receive the Medal of Honor.

Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., at 56 years old, was the oldest person and only general deployed during the Normandy beach landings. He landed with the first wave on D-Day, armed with a pistol and walking cane (he’d been shot in his left kneecap in WWI, an injury that still troubled him in later life). Unconcerned by heavy enemy fire, he repeatedly led groups from the beach over the seawall and established them inland, inspiring the troops and leading them against the enemy. Under his unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strongpoints and rapidly moved inland with minimal casualties. He had a fatal heart attack the following month and was posthumously decorated with the Medal of Honor in September 1944. He and his father, President Theodore Roosevelt, are one of only two father-son pairs to receive the Medal of Honor.

As a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, Arthur MacArthur Jr. was decorated with the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga, Tennessee. When their standard bearer was killed, MacArthur, who was only 19 years old, picked up the flag and charged the Confederate line, inspiring his fellow Union soldiers and leading them in their successful ascent of Missionary Ridge. MacArthur was given the brevet rank of colonel in addition to receiving the Medal of Honor. He continued his service after the Civil War’s end, eventually rising to become the U.S. Military Governor of the Philippines after the War with Spain (here he is pictured during his time in the Philippines). He and his son, Douglas MacArthur, are one of only two father-son pairs to receive the Medal of Honor.

General Douglas MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula during the early days of America’s involvement in World War II. He served as a general officer in both World Wars and the Korean War, was the 13th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and became one of the few soldiers to attain the five-star rank of General of the Army. Here, he wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte, Philippine Islands, 20 October 1944. He and his father, Arthur MacArthur Jr., are one of only two father-son pairs to receive the Medal of Honor.