1846 Buffalo Bill started working at the age of eleven, after his father’s death, and became a rider for the Pony Express at age 15. During the American Civil War, he served the Union from 1863 to the end of the war in 1865. Later he served as a civilian scout for the US Army during the Indian Wars, receiving the Medal of Honor in 1872. One of the most famous and well-known figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill’s legend began to spread when he was only 23. Shortly thereafter he started performing in shows that displayed cowboy themes and episodes from the frontier and Indian Wars. He founded Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States and, beginning in 1887, in Great Britain and continental Europe.
1888 Husband Edward Kimmel (February 26, 1882 â May 14, 1968) was a United States Navy four-star admiral who served as the commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was removed from that command after the attack, in December 1941, and was reverted back to his permanent two-star rank of rear admiral due to no longer holding a four-star assignment. He retired from the Navy in early 1942.
1896 Evans Fordyce Carlson (26 February 1896 â 27 May 1947) was a decorated and retired United States Marine Corps general officer who was the legendary leader of “Carlson’s Raiders” during World War II. Many credit Carlson with developing the tactics and attitude that would later come to define America’s special operations forces. He is renowned for the “Makin Island raid” in 1942, and his raiders’ “Long Patrol” (aka Carlson’s patrol) behind Japanese lines on Guadalcanal, in which 488 Japanese were killed. Carlson popularized the phrase “gung-ho”.
1899 Alexander William Campbell was the final surviving Australian participant of the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War. Campbell joined the Australian Army at the age of 16 in 1915, and served as a stores carrier for two months during the fighting at Gallipoli. He was invalided home and discharged in 1916. He later worked in large number of roles, was twice married and had nine children. He is the great-grandfather of actress, singer and model Ruby Rose.
1932 Johnny Cash was In The U.S. Air Force. He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1950. âThe Air Force taught me the things every military service imparts to its enlisted men,â Cash later said, âplus one skill thatâs pretty unusual: if you ever need to know what one Russian is signaling to another in Morse code, Iâm your man.â.
1958 Susan Jane Helms is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general and NASA astronaut. She was the commander, 14th Air Force; and commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Helms was a crew member on five Space Shuttle missions and was a resident of the International Space Station for over five months in 2001. While participating in ISS Expedition 2, she and Jim Voss conducted an 8-hour and 56 minute spacewalk, the world record for the longest spacewalk. Helms officially retired from the United States Air Force in 2014.
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