The Air Force band, Maximum Impact preforms for the Stabilization Force (SFOR) July 4th picnic at the Ilidza compound. Over fifteen hundred personnel from more than twenty different nations participated in the picnic which included a volleyball tournament and a concert by the Air Force band, Maximum Impact. SFOR personnel are here in support of Operation JOINT GUARDIAN. JOINT GUARDIAN is part of NATO's actions to promote regional stability, cooperation and security, in support of the international community. It's main aim is to allow safe return of refugees and displaced persons, to help alleviate human suffering and to achieve a peace settlement in Kosovo. (Substandard image)

The legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain in 1776 occurred on July 2, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence declaring the United States independent from Great Britain's. After voting for independence, Congress voted for Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author and approved it two days later on July 4. Most historians, however, have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed. Since that, Americans celebrate independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.