In 1782, George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to reconize merit in enlisted men and non-commissioned officers.
In 1789, the U.S. War Department was established by Congress.
In 1882, the famous feud between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky broke out. (By the time the feud ended, about 100 men, women and children had been killed or wounded.)
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Writer-producer Stan Freberg (1926)
Humorist Garrison Keillor (1942)
Singer Lana Cantrell (1943)
Marathon runner Alberto Salazar (1958)
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"The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars."
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General William C. Westmoreland, American military leader