On July 24, 1998, director Steven Spielberg’s World War
II epic, Saving Private Ryan, was released in theaters
across the United States. The film, which starred Tom
Hanks and Matt Damon, was praised for its authentic
portrayal of war and was nominated for 11 Academy
Awards. It took home five Oscars, for Best Director,
Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing
and Best Sound Effects Editing.

The film’s lengthy opening scene was a bloody re-
enactment of American troops landing at Omaha
Beach in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.

ED DANAHUE

CARLATA BRADLEY

President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a
measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army
Medal of Honor, 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 previous
December, Lincoln had approved a provision
creating a U.S. Navy Medal of Valor, which was
the basis of the Army Medal of Honor created by
Congress in July 1862.

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 Confederate territory to destroy bridges, 
and railroad tracks between Chattanooga, Tennessee, 
and Atlanta, Georgia.

Maj. Dale R. Buis (above left) and Master Sgt. Chester M. Ovnand
(right) became the first Americans killed in the American phase of
the Vietnam War when guerrillas struck a Military Assistance
Advisory Group (MAAG) compound in Bien Hoa, 20 miles
northeast of Saigon. The group had arrived in South Vietnam
on November 1, 1955, to provide military assistance.

The organization consisted of U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and
Marine Corps personnel who provided advice and assistance
to the Ministry of Defense, Joint General Staff, corps and
division commanders, training centers, and province and
district headquarters.

The Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.

More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were
killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half were Vietnamese
civilians.

The Vietnam Memorial in Canby, Oregon