History
28/1973 - A cease fire officially went into effect in the Vietnam War.
28/1986 - Missouri underway off southern California for machinery sea trials.
29/1944 - USS Missouri BB-63 was launched in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Missouri (the last Battleship built by the United States) was christened by Miss Mary Margaret Truman daughter of the Senior Senator from Missouri, Harry Truman. Miss Janet T. Lingo acted as Maid of Honor. In his comments, Mr. Truman said, "The time is surly coming when the people of Missouri can thrill with pride as the Missouri and her sister ships, with batteries blazing, sail into Tokyo Bay."
30/1968 - Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals in what became known as the TET Offensive, named for the Lunar New Year.
31/1917 - Germany served notice it was beginning unrestricted submarine warfare.
31/1944 - Amphibious landing on Kwajalein Atoll. Battles raged in the Marshall's operations through February 5 when Kwajalein was secured.
31/1945 - Private Eddie Slovik, 24, became the only US soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he was shot by an American firing squad in France.
31/1946 - Missouri underway for exercises in the South Atlantic.
31/1950 - President Truman announced he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.