Welcome to the Fires Center of Excellence
Fires Soldiers and Leaders are prepared to excel in a complex environment and the Lawton-Fort Sill region stands as the "Community of Choice."
1864 - During the Civil War, Capt. Henry A. DuPont of the 5th U.S. Artillery earned the Medal of Honor for distinguished gallantry. During the Battle of Cedar Creek, Va., An early morning attack by the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early pushed back seven Union divisions from their defensive position. In that battle, DuPont exposed himself to the enemy's fire at a critical moment, when the Union line had been broken. He encouraged his men to stand to their guns, stopped the advance of the enemy and brought off most of his cannons.
1926 - John C. Garand patented a semi-automatic .30 caliber rifle, known as the M-1 or “Garand” which was adopted in 1936 after grueling tests by the Army. It was gas-operated, weighed under 10 pounds, and was loaded by an 8-round clip. It fired more than twice as fast as the Army’s previous standard-issue rifle and was praised by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., as “a magnificent weapon” and “the most deadly rifle in the world.”
1944 - The Navy announced that black women would be enlisted or commissioned as “Women Accepted into Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES)”.
1944 - In World War Two, newly promoted Lt. Gen. Raymond S. McLain assumed command of the XIX Corps. Two of the three divisions under his command were from the National Guard. McLain began his military career as a private in the Oklahoma Militia in 1912. He earned the rank of brigadier general in 1937, as commander of the 70th Field Artillery Brigade, which would become the 45th Division Artillery with personnel and units from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma in 1942. The next Guardsman to hold the three-star rank was another Oklahoman, Lt.
1978 - The Army System Acquisition Review Council approved full-scale development of the Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE), the Army’s second-generation digital field artillery computer. This computer would compute technical and tactical fire direction.