Today in SF History: December 5

Today in Special Forces History:

1964: Then-Captain Roger H.C. Donlon awarded the Medal of Honor for action at Camp A-726, Nam Dong, Republic of Viet Nam, on 6 July, 1964. This is the first Medal of Honor award for the Vietnam War.

1963: 3rd Special Forces Group activates, for the first time (it will be deactivated in the post-Vietnam drawdown, and reactivated during the Reagan buildup). The Group is today based on Fort Bragg and specializes in subsaharan Africa, but it has been in action in Southwest Asia a great deal, especially in Afghanistan. Elements of 3rd Group are there now, in December 2007.

1944: Surviving members of the battle-hardened Canadian-American First Special Service Force form up for the last time to be disbanded at Menton, France, in the French Riviera. The unit was in garrison there, recovering after its bloody campaigns in Italy and the South of France. Special Forces units celebrate this day as Menton Day, as do their Canadian counterparts. 

source: The Special Forces Regimental History Calendar, 1993. Special Forces Historical Society Research Organization, Seminole, FL, 1993. (privately printed)

The SFHS in turn credits the Office of Command Historian, USASOC, Fort Bragg, NC. 

The same information, uncredited, is online here. 

Many online sources and SF-community sources are being used to expand these posts. The online sources will be linked in the text.