June 14, 1777 - John Adams introduced a resolution before Congress mandating a United States flag, stating, “…that the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.” This anniversary is celebrated each year in the U.S. as Flag Day. Betsy Ross is credited with sewing the first flag but there is little definitive proof of this.

May 8, 1945: Known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe. The war had been raging for almost five years when U.S. and Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. The invasion signaled the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. In less than a year, Germany would surrender and Hitler would be dead. But in his speech to the nation on V-E Day, President Harry S. Truman cautioned that Allies must “work to finish the war” by defeating the Japanese in the Pacific.

April 12, 1861 - The American Civil War began as Confederate troops under the command of General Pierre Beauregard opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The bombardment lasted 34 hours and Confederates used 3000 shells including heated shot targeting the wooden buildings inside the fort.

April 9, 1865 - After over 500,000 American deaths, the Civil War effectively ended as General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in the village of Appomattox Court House. The surrender occurred in the home of Wilmer McLean. Terms of the surrender, written by General Grant, allowed Confederates to keep their horses and return home. Enlisted men were required to surrender their weapons and military property. Officers were allowed to keep their swords and side arms.

The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 was signed into law by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, designating every March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

This special day joins six other military-centric annual observances codified in Title 4 of the United States Code §6, among them Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day.

29 March is a fitting choice for a day honoring Vietnam veterans. It was chosen to be observed in perpetuity as March 29, 1973 was the day United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam was disestablished and also the day the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam.  In addition, on and around this same day Hanoi released the last of its acknowledged prisoners of war. 

Unconditional Surrender

In February of 1862 the Union won their first major battle of the war. Kentucky had attempted to declare neutrality. Since it was a border state and a prime invasion route for the Union, neither the North nor the South were having any of that. Abraham Lincoln is said to have uttered the famous words “I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky”.

On January 25th 1945 the Battle of the Bulge ended. What Winston Churchill called, “The greatest American battle of the war” lasted six brutal weeks, starting on December 16, 1944. The assault, also called the Battle of the Ardennes, took place during frigid weather conditions, with some 30 German divisions attacking battle-fatigued American troops across 85 miles of the densely wooded Ardennes Forest. It was the third deadliest campaign undertaken by the United States Army to this day, with approximately 19,276 causalities.

In October of 1794 George Washington rode at the head of a military force to western Pennsylvania seeking to squash violent opposition to new taxes imposed by the federal government. The tale of this conflict mirrors the history (and perhaps future) of the bold, reckless experiment called the United States of America.

By the late 1780s the states and federal government had accumulated a staggeringly large debt from the Revolutionary War. The Tariff Act of 1789 had done little to generate revenue. Domestic taxation was clearly required for the young nation to fend off foreign foreclosure. In response, Alexander Hamilton spearheaded the creation of a tax on domestically-produced distilled spirits (H.R. 110, The Tariff of 1791).