“Those days in the woods saved my life many a time in combat.”

Chesty Puller, the most decorated U.S. Marine, was born on June 26, 1898 in West Point, Virginia.

Image: USMC Archives from Quantico, USA • CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

JFK delivering his famous anti-communist “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in West Berlin.

– June 26, 1963

via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On June 26, 1819, William K. Clarkson, Jr. of New York received a patent for his velocipede which would later become known as the bicycle.

Image: Velocipede for Ladies by Pickering and Davis, New York, 50 years later – 1869 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On June 26, 1934, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Federal Credit Union act which was designed to make credit unions more available in order to provide credit to more Americans and to promote using funds wisely.

Image of FDR just a few days later June 28, 1934
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

One of America’s greatest all-around athletes, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, was born on June 26, 1911 in Port Arthur, Texas.

At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles she won 2 golds and a silver medal in track & field. In golf she won 10 LPGA majors.

Babe excelled in numerous sports, but she also competed in sewing and even won a competition at a fair in Texas.
She made many of her own clothes that she wore during sporting events.

Image of Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1947
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

American soldiers firing a French 37 mm artillery gun in second-line trench. This WWI cannon had a maximum range of a mile and a half. Dieffmatten, Germany. June 26, 1918.

via Shutterstock

Native American female telephone switchboard operator – “Helen of Many Glacier Hotel.”

– June 26, 1925

via Library of Congress, no known restrictions

June 26, 1948 – as a response to the Soviet blockade US pilots begin flying supplies in the Berlin Airlift. Joined shortly by British planes the massive effort, dubbed “Operation Vittles” lasted over a year and supplied flour, wheat, various foods, medicine, and fuel to the 2 million people in Berlin.

Image: USAF via Wikimedia Commons, public
domain in the US

On June 26, 1948, Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” appeared in The New Yorker magazine. The story has been reprinted numerous times, widely anthologized and adapted for television and film despite initial hostility and outrage. Even Jackson’s mother asked “Why don’t you write something to cheer people up?”

Image by Armen via Wikimedia Commons, CCA-SA 4.0 International.

On June 26, 1981, Stripes starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, John Candy, Warren Oates, Judge Reinhold and others premiered in the U.S.

The Czechoslovakia scenes in the movie were filmed at Chapeze Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky.

Image of Bill Murray as John Winger via Alamy

A daguerreotype of a young woman believed to be Julia Gardiner Tyler who was the first woman to marry a U.S. President while in office.

Julia Gardiner and John Tyler were married on June 26, 1844 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan in New York City.

Image via Alamy

On June 26, 1927 enthusiasts could take a thrilling ride on the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island, Brooklyn, N.Y. for the first time.

Image: Cyclone in Coney Island by Youngking11, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Several days before the Battle of Gettysburg began, Confederate forces led by General Jubal Early occupied the town of Gettysburg on June 26, 1863.

Early demanded a ransom from the borough and threatened to burn the town.
Borough officials didn’t pay the ransom, but provided an alternative by offering up goods from the local businesses in Gettysburg, but most store inventory had already been relocated in anticipation of a Confederate attack.
Governor Andrew Curtain of Pennsylvania issued a proclamation weeks earlier warning of a possible rebel invasion.

Image of Jubal Early via Wikimedia Commons, public domain