Long before his stature in the world of show business earned
him the nickname “Chairman of the Board,” Frank Sinatra was
known simply as “The Voice.”

Francis Sinatra died of a heart attack on May 14, 1998, at the
age of 82 with his immediate family by his side at Cedars-
Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Six days later, some 400 mourners attended his private funeral
at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly
Hills, with thousands more lining the streets outside.

On May 19, 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt met to plot the cross-
Channel landing that would become D-Day—May 1, 1944.

That date proved to be a bit premature, as bad weather became
a factor.

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.