General George Washington awarding The Badge of Military Merit

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the
name of the President to those wounded or killed, while serving with the
U.S. military.

The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was
established by George Washington—then the commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army – by order from his Newburgh, New York headquarters
on August 7, 1782. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three
Revolutionary War soldiers.

From then on as its legend grew; so did its appearance. Although never
abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until
after World War I.

Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, commander of the Seventh U.S. Army, visited a 
military hospital in Sicily where he confronted a soldier who was hospitalized
for "battle fatigue". He accused the private, 18-year-old Charles H. Kuhl, of
being a coward and slapped him twice.

Patton’s superior, General Dwight Eisenhower, compelled him to apologize
and sidelined him for almost a year after the incident.

Congress and the general public expressed both support and disdain for
Patton’s actions,

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

.

            Theodore Van Kirk (February 27, 1921 – July 28, 2014)

ATLANTA (AP) –  The last surviving member of the crew that dropped an atomic
bomb on Hiroshima, hastening the end of World War II and forcing the world into
the atomic age, has died in Georgia.

According to his son Tom Theodore VanKirk, also known as "Dutch," died Monday
of natural causes at the retirement home where he was living in Stone Mountain,
Georgia.

VanKirk flew nearly 60 bombing missions, but it was a single mission in the Pacific
that secured him a place in history. He was 24 years old when he served as the
navigator on the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic
bomb to be deployed in wartime over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6,
1945.

Walter Andrew Brennan ((July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) 
Born in Lynn, Massachusetts

Brannan played Grandpa McCoy on The Real McCoys (ABC/CBS) from
1957 to 1963. He is one of three men to win three acting Oscars, the
other two being Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis, having won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1936, 1938 and 1940.

While in school, Brennan became interested in acting and began to
perform in vaudeville at the age of fifteen. He served in WWI and grew
pineapples in Guatemala before moving to Los Angeles.

   John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. was born in Riverside, California

Imus is host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show, Imus in the Morning
that originated locally on WNBC radio in New York City in December 1971.

Due to failing health and commitments on his ranch, Imus has been taking
more and more time off from the program, often only working the first half
of the shows with the second halves containing pre-recorded material
hosted by Connell McShane.

Don Imus served in the United States Marine Corps for three years and
later worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad before becoming a disc
jockey. He established the Imus Ranch for Children.