What we choose to remember...

On July 4, 1776 the Second Continental Congress signed and sent to the printers, the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A year later, in the throws of the Revolutionary War, George Washington celebrated the date by doubling rum rations and ordering artillery fire.

On July 3rd, 1863 the fighting at the war torn fields of Gettysburg ceased and on July 4th it began to rain. It rained for days as the armies tried to pick the wounded from the martyred.

On July 4, 1918 a contingent of Australian and American forces turned the tide of World War I by employing new strategies of engagement. While the Battle of Hamel in France against the Germans was only a small victory, what was learned there saved thousands of American lives later in the war.

In July 1934, the chain reaction for the atom bomb was patented.

On July 4, 1939 Julius Streicher delivered a speech in Nuremberg, Germany which should have been a warning to the world of the forthcoming Nazi rise. World War II began two months later.

On July 4, 1941 American delivers the first aircraft to Britain.

On July 4, 1947 Americans witness the crash of what is claimed to be a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico.

On July 4, 1966 President Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act, which went into effect the following year.

On July 4, 1976 Israeli commandos raided an airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.

On July 4, 2003 a speaker claiming to be Saddam Hussein called on Iraqis in a taped message to rally behind anti-U.S. resistance.

On July 4, 2007 BBC reporter Alan Johnston, seized by the Army of Islam in the Gaza Strip the previous March, was released.

As of July 4, 2008 over 33,000 American troops have been lost in the War in Iraq since 2003. More astoundingly, over 1.2 million Iraqi's have perished since the invasion.


So much history that began on July 4, 1776... It's ironic that on the same day in 1776, King George III of Great Britain wrote in his journal, "Nothing important happened today."