May 7 (A Huge Day)

This date has six events which would be the top event on most normal days...It's rare, but it happens, so I'm not going to try to pick one or two over the others, and will highlight all six.
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1429 - The English siege of Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc:  100 Years War.

The English were on the verge of winning the war, but a girl saved France.

And what did the French do to repay 'The Maid?' They handed her over to the English to be executed…Bastards then, bastards now!!

1863 - The Battle of Vicksburg began:  U.S. Civil War.

Vicksburg was one of the turning points of the war, splitting the Confederate east and west, and giving the Union control of the Mississippi River...Other than ending the war, Vicksburg was Grant's finest moment.

1939 - The Rome-Berlin Axis:  Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance.

Hitler got a crappy ally - he expended far too much time and too many troops bailing Il Duce out of problems...Mussolini got a maniacal ally - he lost control of events, and the Germans absorbed Italy.

Both men paid the ultimate price for their alliance - as did their countries.

1945 - General Dwight Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany from General Alfred Jodl:  WWII.

The end of the war in Europe was one day away.

1954 - The 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended: Vietnamese insurgents overran French forces, beginning the end of French involvement in Indochina.

They not only lost, but got smoked in this battle...Question: Since 1918 have the French won a single military battle? Answer: None of consequence!!

1975 - President Ford formally declared an end to the 'Vietnam era.' In Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) the Viet Cong staged a rally to celebrate their takeover.

It's ironic the date of the French capitulation in Vietnam matched that of the U.S...It's not something we should be proud of.

Incredibly, the U.S. won every battle, but lost the war...Has this ever happened?  The whole war was the ultimate 'Pyrrhic Victory.'

Not only was Vietnam the right battle, at the right place, at the right time, it was one we won militarily. But we lost domestically because the 'Enemy Within' was stronger than the will of the general public, and surely stronger than that of our political leadership - some of which happened to be part of the 'Enemy Within'...A dangerous precedent we've been paying for on every front in American society since this time.

1915 - 1,198 people, including 63 children, died when a German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast. 114 of the victims were American:  WWI.

We should have been in WWI prior to this event, and it’s pathetic we waited almost two more years to get in, but the sinking of the Lusitania was a prime motivating factor of U.S. entry in 1917.

1985 - 10-years after the Vietnam War ended, New York City honored Vietnam veterans with a huge ticker tape parade.

Spit on our soldiers for 10-years, then throw them a parade? I think not...We must never screw over our troops again!!

1997 - A U.S. government study criticized Switzerland for dealing in Nazi gold during World War II.

It took 50-years to figure this out??