Recognized for heroically protecting the American flag during
the Civil War, Army Sgt. William Harvey Carney receives the
Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, on
May 23, 1900.

The first Black American service member to earn the award,
Carney was born into slavery in Virginia in 1840.

He was one of many Civil War-era honorees to be granted the
medal decades later.

In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Jimmy Stewart 
third on its list of the greatest American male actors. He received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in
1980, the Kennedy Center Honor in 1983, as well as the Academy Honorary Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom, both in 1985.

1957

Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935)

T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia,
died as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an
assumed name.

The legendary war hero, author and archaeological scholar
succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six
days before.

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 film, starring Peter
O’Toole, based on the wartime activities of T.E.
Lawrence. 

Some six weeks after the United States formally entered
the First World War, the U.S Congress passed the Selective
Service Act on May 18, 1917, giving the U.S. president the
power to draft soldiers.

By the end of World War I in November 1918, some 24 million
men had registered under the Selective Service Act. Of the
almost 4.8 million Americans who eventually served in the
war, some 2.8 million had been drafted.