At 10:10 am on June 28, 1914, two people were murdered and the world changed forever.  The murders of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife Sophie are considered the spark that started World War I.  Their deaths didn’t have to start a war.  Their deaths were an excuse used by nations fighting for military superiority. 

In 1914, the world looked much like today with a globalized elite controlling most of their nations’ wealth, labor unrest, and unsettling social changes. Nationalism and a belief in racial superiority guided government policies. 

On June 6, 1944, more than 130,000 ground troops and 23,000 airborne troops flooded into Normandy on D-Day, but a week later they were behind schedule as the Allies struggled to break out from their beachhead.

The British reached Bayeux on June 7th four miles shy of their D-Day objective, the city of Caen.  Whoever controlled Caen also controlled access to the Caen Canal, the northern Orne River and entry into northeastern France, but Caen couldn’t be reached. 

George Henry Thomas was born in 1816, near Yorktown, Virginia, into a family of prosperous farmers.  At the age of 15, his family narrowly escaped being murdered during Nat Turner’s slave revolt when their farm was attacked.  Despite his narrow escape, Thomas never exhibited prejudice, treating everyone equally and fairly.  

When Thomas was 19 years old, he received an appointment to West Point Military Academy. One of his roommates was William Tecumseh Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant, arrived as a plebe during his final year.   Thomas received his commission in 1840 and was a career officer.