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.

On July 11, 1914, in his major league debut, George Herman “Babe”
Ruth pitched seven strong innings to lead the Boston Red Sox over
the Cleveland Indians, 4-3.

2016 Topps MLB Babe Ruth Debut Medallion.

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

In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial began
with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher,
accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state
law.

The law, which had been passed in March, made it a misdemeanor
punishable by fine to “teach any theory that denies the story of the
Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead
that man has descended from a lower order of animals.” With local
businessman George Rappleyea, Scopes had conspired to get
charged with this violation, and after his arrest the pair enlisted
the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to organized
a defense.

Hearing of this coordinated attack on Christian fundamentalism,
William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democratic presidential
candidate and a fundamentalist hero, volunteered to assist the
prosecution. Soon after, the great attorney Clarence Darrow
agreed to join the ACLU in the defense, and the stage was set
for one of the most famous trials in U.S. history

.

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

On July 8, 1776, a 2,000-pound copper-and-tin bell now known
as the “Liberty Bell” rang out from the tower of the Pennsylvania
State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, summoning
citizens to the first public reading of the United States Declaration
of Independence.

Four days earlier, the historic document had been adopted by
delegates to the Continental Congress, but the bell did not ring
to announce the issuing of the document until the Declaration
of Independence returned from the printer on July 8.