Sandy Kozel

Gary Cooper (Frank James Cooper) (May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961)

Cooper’s career spanned from 1925 until shortly before his death, and
comprised more than one hundred films. Cooper received five Academy
Award nominations for Best Actor, winning twice for Sergeant York (1941)
and High Noon (1952). He also received an Honorary Award in 1961 from
the Academy. The American Film Institute named Cooper among the their
100 Years…100 Stars, ranking 11th among males.

1936

Major Howard “Scrappy” Johnson (above) set a world altitude record, when 
he reached 91,243 feet, flying a Lockheed YF-104A Starfighter, from Edwards
AFB in California. In recognition of the record, then Vice President Richard
M. Nixon presented him with the Robert J. Collier trophy for aeronautical
achievement.

Sandy Kozel

Three months after the USO was founded, Bob Hope led a group of celebrities
to perform for airmen stationed at March Field (now March Air Force Base) in California—the beginning of a great tradition.