🇺🇸 Gettysburg 163 Live: July 1st, 12:30 PM
Gettysburg resident John Burns decides he is not hiding in his cellar.
The 69-year-old civilian walks directly onto the active battlefield wearing a blue swallowtail coat and a top hat.
Armed with a personal rifle, the elderly constable reports straight to the front line and demands a place in the ranks.
Sent over to fight alongside the fierce Midwesterners of the Iron Brigade, Burns settles into the woods and opens fire.
He spends the afternoon calmly picking off targets from behind a tree, refusing to yield an inch of ground.
Despite taking three bullet wounds, the old veteran survives the onslaught to become an absolute national legend.
The archduke and his wife are rushed to the Town Hall, both grievously wounded. Franz Ferdinand, barely conscious, pleads with his dying wife: "Sophie, don't die, stay alive for our children!" She dies before they reach the Town Hall; Franz Ferdinand dies moments later.
JUNE 26, 1775 — WASHINGTON ANNOUNCES THAT HE INTENDS TO GIVE UP HIS SWORD
New York City — General George Washington, en route to Boston, declared his intention to resign from the military and live as a private citizen after hostilities ended. The Pennsylvania Journal reported:
Before the general’s departure, the provincial congress of New York presented him with an address, in which, after expressing their gratifcation at his appointment, they say: — “In you, sir, and in the worthy generals under your command, we have the most flattering hopes of success in the glorious struggle for American liberty, and the fullest assurances, that, whenever this important contest shall be decided by that fondest wish of every American soul, an accommodation with our mother country, you will cheerfully resign the important deposit committed into your hands, and reassume the character of our worthiest citizen.”
The general, after declaring his gratitude for the regard shown him, added, “May your warmest wishes be realized in the success of America at this important and interesting period, and be assured that every exertion of my worthy colleagues and myself, will be equally extended to the re-establishment of peace and harmony between the mother country and these colonies. As to the fatal but necessary operations of war, when we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen, and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in that happy hour, when the establishment of American liberty, on the most firm and solid foundations, shall enable us to return to our private stations in the bosom of a free, peaceful, and happy country.”
Image: George Washington by Charles Willson Peale. Source: Brooklyn Museum.
Today on June 18, President Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to Colonel John W. Ripley posthumously, for his heroism in destroying the Dong Ha Bridge to halt advancing North Vietnamese forces.
During the Easter Offensive, Ripley’s unit was ordered to “hold and die” against overwhelming enemy forces. Acting alone, he climbed beneath the Dong Ha Bridge and spent three hours placing explosives while under intense enemy fire.
Knowing the danger, he remained focused on completing the mission. The resulting blast destroyed the bridge, stopping the enemy advance and enabling US airpower to strike effectively. His actions delayed the offensive and became one of the most iconic acts of bravery in Marine Corps history.
Ripley passed away on October 28, 2008, at age 69. On March 3, 2026, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 7211, authorizing the posthumous upgrade of his Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor.
Replica of Spanish nao Victoria escorting by three modern frigates of the Spanish Navy commemorating 500 years of 1st world circunavigation finished on 5 september 1522