May 17, 2025 – Armed Forces Day is Observed on the third
Saturday every May, this is a day dedicated to paying tribute
to men and women currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

   
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
U.S. Armed Forces.  
    
     
     
     
 On 19 May 2017, President Donald Trump reaffirmed the
Armed Forces Day holiday, marking the 70th anniversary
since the creation of the Department of Defense.

On 15 May 2020, Armed Forces Day honored
the newly established United States Space
Force for the first time.    

Based on outcry from parents who bought into what may have
started as an idle rumor, the FBI launched a formal investigation
in 1964 into the supposedly pornographic lyrics of the song
“Louie, Louie.”

The tune that would go on to become one of the most-covered
songs in rock-and-roll history.

The control room of SW Portland’s Northwestern Inc.
Motion Pictures and Recording, where The Kingsmen’s legendary “Louie Louie” was recorded.

On May 16, 1980, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Earvin
“Magic” Johnson stepped in for injured center Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar and scores 42 points, leading the Lakers
to a four games-to-two series win over the Philadelphia
76ers for their first championship since 1972.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. will be 66 on August 14th.

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 Blossom Room of 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 advancement and
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 first official Best Picture winner was Wings, directed by
William Wellman. The most expensive movie of its time, with
a budget of $2 million.
   

During an outdoor rally in Laurel, Maryland, George Wallace 
(right) the governor of Alabama and a presidential candidate
was shot by 21-year-old Arthur Bremer (left).

On June 8, Shirley Chisholm, the first African American 
woman elected to Congress and one of Wallace’s opponents
for the Democratic nomination, famously visited him in the
hospital to wish him well.

He remained in the hospital for several months, bringing his
third presidential campaign to an irrevocable end.

After his shooting, a hospitalized George C.
Wallace holds up a newspaper touting his
victories in the Maryland and Michigan
Democratic presidential primaries.

George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September
13, 1998).