Maj. Dale R. Buis (above left) and Master Sgt. Chester M. Ovnand
(right) became the first Americans killed in the American phase of
the Vietnam War when guerrillas struck a Military Assistance
Advisory Group (MAAG) compound in Bien Hoa, 20 miles
northeast of Saigon. The group had arrived in South Vietnam
on November 1, 1955, to provide military assistance.

The organization consisted of U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and
Marine Corps personnel who provided advice and assistance
to the Ministry of Defense, Joint General Staff, corps and
division commanders, training centers, and province and
district headquarters.

The Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.

More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were
killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half were Vietnamese
civilians.

The Vietnam Memorial in Canby, Oregon

On July 8, 1776, a 2,000-pound copper-and-tin bell now known
as the “Liberty Bell” rang out from the tower of the Pennsylvania
State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, summoning
citizens to the first public reading of the United States Declaration
of Independence.

Four days earlier, the historic document had been adopted by
delegates to the Continental Congress, but the bell did not ring
to announce the issuing of the document until the Declaration
of Independence returned from the printer on July 8.

On July 7, 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam began. Over the
next five years, a total of 21,000 men would work ceaselessly to
produce what would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one
of the largest manmade structures in the world.

Although the dam took only five years to build, its construction
was nearly 30 years in the making. Arthur Powell Davis, an
engineer from the Bureau of Reclamation, originally had his
vision for the Hoover Dam back in 1902, and his engineering
report on the topic became the guiding document when plans
were finally made to begin the dam in 1922.

Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964)

On July 6, 1994, the movie Forrest Gump opened in U.S. theaters. A
huge box-office success, the film starred Tom Hanks in the title role
of Forrest, a good-hearted man with a low I.Q. who winds up at the
center of key cultural and historical events of the second half of the
20th century.

Forrest Gump was based on a 1986 novel of the same name by
Winston Groom, who (like his main character) grew up in Alabama
and served in the Army during Vietnam.

Robin Wright and Tom Hanks.

Tom Hanks won his second Oscar for Forrest Gump.

SANDY KOZEL

Theodore (Ted) Samuel Williams
(August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002)