June 25 Birthday
On June 25, 1950, 75,000 North Korean soldiers crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea. The invasion was ordered by Kim Il-sung and approved by Stalin. The UN Security Council authorized military action — the Soviet delegate was boycotting the Council over the UN's refusal to seat Communist China, and was not present to veto. The war lasted three years. Over 33,000 Americans, 3 million Koreans, and 400,000 Chinese died. The war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. The Korean peninsula remains divided at the 38th parallel. North and South Korea are technically still at war. At the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led 210 men of the 7th Cavalry into an attack on a massive Lakota-Cheyenne encampment along the Little Bighorn River in Montana. He was wiped out in less than an hour. Custer had divided his forces and attacked without reconnaissance. The combined force of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors — perhaps 2,000 — overwhelmed them. The site is now Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Custer's body was found with two bullet wounds. People born on June 25 fall under the zodiac sign of Cancer. The birthstone is Pearl and the birth flower is Rose. Historical events on June 25 include 1950: North Korea invades South Korea, starting the Korean War, 1876: Battle of Little Bighorn — Custer and 210 men killed, 2009: Michael Jackson dies of cardiac arrest at age 50. Famous people born on June 25 include George Orwell (1903), Carly Simon (1945), Ricky Gervais (1961).