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1650 General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, KG, PC (26 May 1650 â 16 June 1722 O.S. ) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs. From a gentry family, he served first as a page at the court of the House of Stuart under James, Duke of York, through the 1670s and early 1680s, earning military and political advancement through his courage and diplomatic skill.
1748 William Barton (May 26, 1748âOctober 22, 1831) was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War who retired with the rank of colonel. He later served as adjutant general of the Rhode Island militia.
1806 Henry Knox Thatcher (26 May 1806 â 5 April 1880) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, who served during the American Civil War.
1835 Edward Porter Alexander (May 26, 1835 â April 28, 1910) was a military engineer, railroad executive, planter, and author. He served first as an officer in the United States Army and later, during the American Civil War (1861â1865), in the Confederate Army, rising to the rank of brigadier general. Alexander was the officer in charge of the massive artillery bombardment preceding Pickett’s Charge, on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, and is also noted for his early use of signals and observation balloons during combat.
1858 General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, GCB, GCMG, DSO, ADC (26 May 1858 â 12 August 1930) was a British Army General. One of the few British survivors of the Battle of Isandlwana as a young officer, he also distinguished himself in the Second Boer War. Smith-Dorrien held senior commands in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during the First World War.
1923 James Arness (May 26, 1923 – Jun 03, 2011) served as a rifleman with the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, and was severely wounded during Operation Shingle, at Anzio, Italy. According to James Arness â An Autobiography, he landed on Anzio Beachhead on January 22, 1944 as a rifleman with 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Because of his height, he was the first ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water; it came up to his waist.
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