1794: The US Congress passed the Neutrality Act, which prohibited Americans from enlisting in the service of a foreign power

1879: British forces made another unsuccessful attack on Moorosi's Mountain, the stronghold of the Phuti clan of the Basuto, who had rebelled over taxes. The Cape Mounted Riflemen played a leading role in the assault, and Surgeon Major Hartley was awarded the Victoria Cross for the rescue of a badly wounded corporal, who he carried down the mountain-side under heavy fire. Hartley then returned back up the slope to dress the wounds of other casualties.

1915: At Gallipoli, part of the 2nd Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment, was pushed back by a successful Turkish assault which had claimed the lives of the officers commanding that sector. Second Lieutenant Moor ran some 200 yards in the open from a neighbouring position to take charge. Having rallied the men, he organised a counter-attack which retook the lost ground. Moor received the Victoria Cross.

1916: The armoured cruiser HMS Hampshire, taking the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, to Russia for a strategic conference, struck a German mine off Scapa Flow and sank 650 men, including Lord Kitchener, were lost, Hampshire's wreck is now protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act.

1917: A forward position in Egypt was surprised by a Turkish raid and suffered heavy casualties. Second Lieutenant Craig, Royal Scots Fusiliers, organised a rescue effort, all the time under heavy fire. The medical officer with him was then wounded, along with another soldier. Craig got both men back under cover, but was wounded himself. Despite his injury, he managed to scrape a hole in which to shelter the casualties until all had been got safely away. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1942: In the Western Desert, Sergeant Smythe of the Royal Natal Carabineers had to take command of his platoon after the officer was killed, although he himself was suffering from a severe head wound. The platoon coming under flanking fire from an Axis machine-gun, Smythe attacked alone and succeeded in capturing the crew. He then proceeded to stalk an enemy anti-tank gun, which he again attacked alone and destroyed. He received the Victoria Cross.

1944: General Eisenhower having decided at 1600 that, despite poor weather which had already delayed the operation by 24 hours, the invasion of Normandy had to proceed whilst the tide was favourable for landing operations and airborne drops could be made by moonlight, the vast mass of men and material involved in Operation Overlord began to head for the French coast.

The first British airborne landings were scheduled for midnight. 1,012 Bomber Command aircraft attacked ten coastal batteries that night, dropping over 5,000 tons of bombs - the most dropped in a single night of the war to date. 16 Lancasters of 617 Squadron and 6 Stirlings of 218 Squadron flew demanding precision manoeuvres over the Dover Straits, dropping clouds of Window - aluminium foil strips - to fool German radar into believing the invasion fleet was headed for the Boulogne area. Meanwhile, 36 Halifax and Stirling bombers dropped dummy parachutists away from the invasion area as an added diversion.

1947: US Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined an aid program for Europe that came to be known as The Marshall Plan

1963: The Secretary of War John Profumo resigned his post following revelations that he had lied to the House of Commons about his sexual affair with Christine Keeler, an alleged prostitute. At the time of the affair, Keeler was also involved with Yevgeny "Eugene" Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché who some suspected was a spy.

Although Profumo assured the government that he had not compromised national security in any way, the scandal threatened to topple Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government

1975: Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 Six Day War