TIM MAGUIRE
William Oliver Stone is 73 years old today.
1991
JFK was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including
Best Picture, Best Director for Stone and Best Supporting
Actor for Jones and won two for Best Cinematography and
Best Film Editing. It was the most successful of three films
Stone made about American presidents, followed by Nixon
(1995) with Anthony Hopkins in the title role and W. (2008)
with Josh Brolin as George W. Bush.
Valerie Kathryn Harper (August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019)
In 2009, Valerie Harper was diagnosed with lung cancer. She lost her fight with
the decease this morning in Los Angeles, 8 days after her 80th birthday.
Originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 to March 19, 1977.
On May 3, 1783, General George Washington (above) awarded the
Badge of Military Merit to two brave Connecticut soldiers at the Continental Army headquarters in Newburgh, New York.
On this day in 1782, in Newburgh, New York, General George Washington,
the commander in chief of the Continental Army, creates the “Badge for
Military Merit,” a decoration consisting of a purple, heart-shaped piece of
silk, edged with a narrow binding of silver, with the word Merit stitched
across the face in silver (above).
The badge was to be presented to soldiers for “any singularly meritorious
action” and permitted its wearer to pass guards and sentinels without
challenge. The honoree’s name and regiment were also to be inscribed in
a “Book of Merit.”
Washington’s “Purple Heart” was awarded to only three known soldiers
during the Revolutionary War: Elijah Churchill, William Brown and Daniel
Bissell, Jr. The “Book of Merit” was lost, and the decoration was largely
forgotten until 1927, when General Charles P. Summerall, the U.S. Army
chief of staff, sent an unsuccessful draft bill to Congress to “revive the
Badge of Military Merit.”
In 1931, Summerall’s successor, General Douglas MacArthur, took up the
cause, hoping to reinstate the medal in time for the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth. On February 22, 1932, Washington’s 200th birthday,
the U.S. War Department announced the creation of the “Order of the
Purple Heart” (below).
President Abraham Lincoln (above) signed into law a measure calling
for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor (above) in the name
of Congress “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall
most – distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other
soldier like qualities during the present insurrection.”
The first U.S. Army soldiers to receive what would become the nation’s
highest military honor were six members of a Union raiding party who
in 1862 penetrated deep into Confederate territory to destroy bridges
and railroad tracks between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta,
Georgia.
In 1863, the Medal of Honor was made a permanent military decoration
available to all members, including commissioned officers, of the U.S.
military. It is conferred upon those who have distinguished themselves
in actual combat at risk of life beyond the call of duty.
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rip Torn, the free-spirited Texan who overcame
his quirky name to become a distinguished actor in theater, television
and movies and win an Emmy in his 60s for his comedy turn on TV’s
"The Larry Sanders Show," has died.
According to his publicist Rick Miramontez,Torn died Tuesday at his
home in Lakeville, Connecticut with his wife, Amy Wright, and two
daughters Katie Torn and Angelica Page by his side. No cause of
death was given.
Rip Torn in the 1997 movie Men In Black.
