History of the day...

In 1782, George Washington ordered the creation of the first U.S. military decoration, the Badge of Military Merit (today called the Purple Heart), which was later awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers for bravery in action.

In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established by Congress.

In 1942, in the Allies’ first major offensive in the Pacific theater during World War II, U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal and captured the airfield from the Japanese, sparking a battle that lasted about six months.

In 1943, Hazel Ying Lee, one of the first Chinese American women to earn a pilot’s license, graduated from a Women Airforce Service Pilots program that qualified her to fly several types of U.S. military planes. She later trained for and flew fighter aircraft.

In 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

In 1971, the Apollo 15 moon mission ended successfully as its command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

In 1974, French-born Philippe Petit walked on a high wire between the newly built twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, about 1,350 feet (411 meters) above the ground. He was arrested, but the charges were later dismissed.

In 1978, U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter declared a federal health emergency in Love Canal, a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, following the leakage of toxic chemicals buried under the community; it was the worst environmental disaster involving chemical wastes in U.S. history.

In 1989, a plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 15 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)

In 1990, Operation Desert Shield preps the US to enter the Gulf War. President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.

In 1998, US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, killing 224 and wounding 4,500.

In 2007, American baseball player Barry Bonds hit his 756th career home run, breaking the record set by Hank Aaron.

In 2012, to avoid a possible death penalty, Jared Lee Loughner agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison, accepting that he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering in 2011 that left six people dead and 13 injured, including U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.

In 2015, Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was spared the death penalty in favor of life in prison after a jury in Centennial failed to agree on whether he should be executed for his murderous attack on a packed movie premiere that left 12 people dead.