R. Lee Ermey is a retired U.S Marine Corps drill instructor and actor. He has often
played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket (1987), Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning (1988), the sheriff in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) remake, and the voice of the plastic army men leader Sarge in the Toy Story films (1995, 1999, 2010). Ermey has hosted two programs on the History Channel: Mail Call, in which he answered viewers’ questions about the military ,both modern and historic; and Lock N’ Load with R. Lee Ermey, which focused on the development of various types of weapons.

Ermey in Full Metal Jacket

R. Lee Ermey in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Alcatraz Island is located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles offshore from San Francisco, Calif. Often referred to as The Rock, the small island early-on served
as a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal Bureau of
Prisons federal prison until it was closed in 1963. Later, in 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area. Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours by the public. Alcatraz has been featured in many movies, TV shows, cartoons, books, comics, and games.

1996

The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade (depicted above) was held, not in Dublin,
but on lower Broadway in New York in 1762 by homesick ex-patriots and Irish soldiers serving in the British army stationed in the American colonies in New York city.

Congress formally authorized the establishment and funding of the United States
Military Academy at West Point, New York. on 16 March 1802. The entire central
campus is a national landmark and home to scores of historic sites, buildings,and 
monuments. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson
River, 50 miles north of New York City. The campus is a popular tourist attraction complete with a large visitor center and the oldest museum in the United States
Army.

The majority of the campus’s buildings are constructed from gray and black granite like the West Academic Building shown above.

 
West Point color guard leading a cadet parade

Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is a martial arts expert and actor who, after a 
stint in the U.S. Air Force, began his rise to fame in martial arts and has
since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do. As a result of his "tough guy"
image, Norris appeared in a number of action films, such as Way of  the
Dragon (1971) in which he starred alongside Bruce Lee and was Cannon
Group movie studio’s leading star in the 1980s. He next played the starring
role in the CBS television series Walker,Texas Ranger from 1993 to 2001.