On this day in 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I.
Bill, an act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of
the armed services for their efforts in World War ll.

As the last of its sweeping New Deal reforms, Roosevelt’s administration
created the G.I. Bill, officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944,
hoping to avoid a relapse into the Great Depression after the war ended.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

The D-Day invasion of Europe took place on the beaches of
Normandy, France on this day in 1944. A total of 400,000 Allied
American, British and Canadian troops were involved.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gives orders to paratroopers on D-Day.

U.S. paratroopers attached to the static line just prior to jumping
during the invasion of Normandy.

A 1935 aerial photo shows Navy ships arriving at the Portland waterfront for the Rose Festival. (From Vintage Portland)

“Fleet Week” is the perfect time to thank the men and women who dedicate
their lives to protecting our city, state, and country.

Taken during Portland’s first "Fleet Week", this picture shows the destroyer Reuben James and other Navy ships in front of the
City’s downtown business district. A total of 18 Naval ships a
attended for what has become a key part of the annual Rose
Festival.

General Edmund Kirby Smith (5-16-1824 – 3-28-1893)

In an event that is generally regarded as marking the end of
the Civil War on this day in 1865, Confederate General
Edmund Kirby Smith (above), commander of Confederate
forces west of the Mississippi, signed the surrender terms
offered by Union negotiators and Major General Canby. With
Smith’s surrender, the last Confederate army ceased to exist,
bringing a formal end to the bloodiest four years in U.S.
history. The war began on April 12, 1861.