CAMILLE BOHANNON

PORTLAND, Ore. — The 142nd Wing of the Oregon Air National
Guard will conduct flyovers for Memorial Day, part of a time-
honored tradition to pay tribute to fallen military members.

The pilots are scheduled to fly over several cities across the
region as part of a roughly 45-minute flight over the state.

John Wayne (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979)

Born Marion Robert Morrison, Wayne’s family moved to
Glendale, California, when he was six years old. As a teen,
he rose at four in the morning to deliver newspapers, and
after school he played football and made deliveries for local
stores. When he graduated from high school, he hoped to
attend the U.S. Naval Academy. However, after the school
rejected him, he accepted a full scholarship to play football
at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

In the summer of 1926, Wayne’s football coach found him a
job as an assistant prop man on the set of a movie directed
by John Ford. Ford started to use Wayne as an extra, and he
eventually began to trust him with some larger roles. In 1930,
Ford recommended Wayne for Fox’s epic Western The Big
Trail. Wayne won the part, but the movie did poorly, and Fox
let his contract lapse.

John Wayne in a scene from his last movie, "The
Shootist," 1976.

George Herman Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948)

On this day at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, baseball
great Babe Ruth hit his 714th home run — a record for career
home runs that would stand for almost 40 years.

History.com noted "This was one of Ruth’s last games, and the
last home run of his career.”

"Ruth went four for four on the day, hitting three home runs and
driving in six runs."

Babe Ruth 714th Home Run Ball.

Babe Ruth of the Boston Braves hit this
baseball out of Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field
for his third home run of the day, and
the 714th and final round-tripper of his
major league career. The Pirates defeated
the Braves 11-7.

On May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an
intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster
Star Wars movies hit  American theaters.

The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars,
and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of
close to $800 million worldwide–began with an extensive,
coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th
Century Fox, months before the movie’s release date. “It
wasn’t like a movie opening,” actress Carrie Fisher, who
played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine.
“It was like an earthquake.” Beginning with–in Fisher’s words–
“a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping
bags,” the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching
experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of
movie theaters across the country and around the world.