1479 Venice and Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II (r. 1451-1481) agreed to end a long war over control of various territories in Greece and the Aegean. Rather than "peace," what followed was a "cold war" between the Serenissima and the wily Ottoman emperor, who not only wanted to acquire Venice's eastern territories, but was widely known to be interested in some Italian real estate as well. So when Mehmet expressed a very un-Islamic interest in having his portrait painted by one of Italy's revolutionary new painters, the Venetians readily agreed. In a move that would foreshadow the "confidence building measures" and "cultural exchanges" of the twentieth century's Cold War, the Venetians dispatched the artist Gentile Bellini (c. 1429-1507) to Constantinople, who would not only paint the Grand Turk's portrait, but also serve as a sort-of "cultural ambassador," and a spy as well.
Now Bellini's arrival in Constantinople in late 1479 greatly pleased Mehmet. So naturally, Bellini prospered at the Sultan's court, securing numerous commissions. The portrait of Mehmet, then about 48, that now hangs in the National Gallery in London is believed to be one of these.
Among the other the works that Bellini painted while in Constantinople was one that depicted John the Baptist, after his beheading.
Now Bellini had probably never seen an actual beheading, and apparently got it wrong. In contrast, the Sultan was an old hand at the practice, having had occasion to indulge in it on an industrial scale. Indeed, on August 14th of 1480, while Bellini was still at his court, Mehmet had beheaded hundreds, perhaps thousands, of residents of Otranto, on the heel of Italy, which he had just captured, for refusing to convert to Islam; he did spare the bishop this penalty, preferring to have the old guy sawn in half instead. So in the interests of artistic realism, Mehmet pointed out that the depiction of the Baptist's injuries was incorrect.
Bellini asked what was wrong.
Rather than explain Bellini's error, Mehmet called over one of his body guards and a slave, and had the former demonstrate the process and its results on the latter.
It's not known how carefully Bellini studied the results of Mehmet’s little demonstration. Nevertheless, despite the fact that he was making rather good money in Constantinople, by the end of the year Bellini had departed for home, surely happy that the Grand Turk had not chosen to demonstrate the consequences of decapitation on his person. .
1900. Daniel Joseph Daly (1873-1937), known as “Dan”, was a one of those unique characters that the U.S. Marines seem to produce from time to time
Only about 5'6" tall and weighing in at 132 pounds, Daly, a lightweight boxer in his youth, joined the Marine Corps early in 1899. He earned a Medal of Honor during the Boxer Rebellion on August 14, 1900, single-handedly holding an isolated position in the Legation Quarter at Peking overnight against enormous odds, while inflicting hundreds of casualties on the enemy. In 1915, Daly won a second Medal of Honor for helping to lead 35 marines to safety when they were ambushed by about 400 insurgents near Ft. Dipitie, Haiti, on October 24, 1915. During the fight for Belleau Wood, in France (June 5-10, 1918), Daly again turned in such an outstanding performance that he was nominated for a third Medal of Honor, which was disapproved in favor of the Navy Cross and the offer of a commission. Daly declined the commission, saying "To be a sergeant, you have to know your stuff. I'd rather be an outstanding sergeant than just another officer."
Now during the fighting for Belleau Wood, Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Daly is famous for supposedly leading an attack with the cry, "Come on, you sons of bitches -- do you want to live forever?", or, perhaps, "Come on you crazy sons-of-bitches, do you want to live forever?"
Often asked about this, Daly denied having uttered any such vulgarity, telling one reporter "You know a non-com would never use hard language. I said, 'For goodness sake, you chaps, let us advance against the foe'."
1944 the Second Canadian Corps, LGen Guy Simmonds, drives on Falaise to link up with US Third army in Operation Tractable.
This would likely have bagged most of Army Group B. On the night of 13/14 August, a Canadian officer lost his way while moving between divisional headquarters. He drove into German lines and was promptly killed. The Germans discovered a copy of Simonds' orders on his body. As a result, the 12th SS Panzer Division placed the bulk of its remaining strength—500 grenadiers and 15 tanks, along with twelve 8.8 cm PaK 43 anti-tank guns—along the AIsne.