Armed Forces Day was first observed on 20 May 1950, the day
was created on 31 August 1949 as President Harry S. Truman
led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come
together and thank military members for their patriotic service
in support of the republic and national interests and as an
undeniable fact of  American life.     

       
Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson announced the creation
to honor Americans serving in the five U.S. military branches –
the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force and
U.S. Coast Guard – following the consolidation of the military
services in the U.S. Department of Defense as part of a modern
US Armed Forces.    

Harry S. Truman( 1884 – 1972)

At 8:32 a.m. PDT on May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic
peak in southwestern Washington, suffered a massive eruption,
killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of
wilderness.

Called Louwala-Clough, or “the Smoking Mountain,” by Native 
Americans, Mount St. Helens is located in the Cascade Range 
and stood 9,680 feet before its eruption.

Racial segregation in public schools and the controversial
concept of "separate but equal" were unanimously declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court on this
day in history, May 17, 1954.

The high court ruled 9-0 in favor of the plaintiffs in the famous
landmark case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, 
Kansas.        

Linda Brown (far left) with parents Leola and Oliver and little sister Terry in front of their house in Kansas. The Browns
sued the Kansas Board of Education when young Linda
wasn’t allowed to go to an unsegregated school.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren oversaw the high court’s 9-0 decision in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case.

Topeka, Kansas is home to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.

On May 16, 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences handed out its first awards, at a dinner party for
around 250 people held in the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood,
California.

The brainchild of Louis B. Mayer, head of the powerful MGM
film studio, the Academy was organized in May 1927 as a non-
profit organization dedicated to the improvement of the film
industry.

Its first president and the host of the May 1929 ceremony was
the actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Unlike today, the winners of
the first Oscars—as the coveted gold-plated statuettes later
became known—were announced before the awards
ceremony itself.

The winners of the first ceremony, including Janet Gaynor
for best actress, were announced a few months in advance. Douglas Fairbanks, president of the academy, handed out
the honors.

Vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, Conrad Nigel, presents the Oscar to actress
Norma Shearer.

William C Demille, President Of The Academy Of Motion
Picture Arts And Sciences hands an Oscar to Mary
Pickford (with Warner Baxter and Hans Kraly looking
on.

SANDY KOZEL

The musical’s 1956 Broadway production was a notable critical
and popular success, winning six Tony Awards, including Best
Musical. It set a record for the longest run of any musical on
Broadway up to that time and was followed by a hit London
production. Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews starred in both
productions.