Unerased History – May 20th
The Google
When you hear the word “Google” the first image that comes to mind has to be the famous internet search engine but does the word actually mean anything ? Well the answer is a firm yes because it comes from the term “Googol” which represents a number (written as a 1 followed by 100 zeros) so large that it’s actually larger than the total number of atoms in the known universe. It looks like this:
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
As you might imagine the number is rarely used except maybe in theoretical and computational calculations, however the big question is whether a number bigger than a Googol exists ? Well funnily enough there is and it’s called a googolplex which would be a number 1 followed by, wait for it, not one thousand zeros, not even one million zeros but a googol zeroes.
Getting confused ? Well you should be because this number is so large that it’s almost impossible to imagine and also impossible to write because doing so would require more space than the known universe provides. Absolutely mind-boggling don’t you think!
Lastly for those of you that are interested in where this term actually came from, well it was popularized in the 1940’s by the American mathematician Edward Kasner who created it as a useful number when comparing unimaginably large numbers with infinity. Oh and the actual term “googol” was coined by his then 9 year old nephew Milton Sirotta, not bad for a 9 year old!
“The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”
~ Eden Phillpotts
kvetch \KVECH\, intransitive verb:
1.To complain habitually.noun:
1. A complaint.
2. A habitual complainer.
Kvetch comes from Yiddish kvetshn, “to squeeze, to complain,” from Middle High German quetzen, quetschen, “to squeeze.”
325 – The First Council of Nicaea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held.
1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
1506 - In Spain, Christopher Columbus (55) died in poverty in Spain, still believing he discovered the coast of Asia. Columbus died in the Spanish city of Valladolid, and was initially interred in a monastery there.
1609 – Shakespeare’s Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1639 - Dorchester MA, forms first school funded by local taxes. Dorchester has special interest owing to the fact that the town claims precedence in the establishment of the first free public school.
1774 - Britain’s Parliament passed the Coercive Acts to punish the American colonists for their increasingly anti-British behavior.
1775 - North Carolina became the first colony to declare its independence.
1801 - Four warships sent to the Mediterranean to protect American commerce from Barbary pirates.
1815 - Commodore Stephen Decatur ( Frigate Guerriere) sails with ten ships to suppress Mediterranean pirates’ raids on U.S. shipping.
1830 - D. Hyde patented the continuously flowing fountain pen.
1830 - First railroad timetable published in newspaper.The B&O Railroad was the nation’s first common carrier railroad. Along with this “first,” the B&O was the first railroad to publish a timetable, first to have a government contract to carry mail, first to put an electric train in regular service, and first to have a completely air-conditioned car.
1834 - The Marquis de Lafayette (78), US Revolutionary War hero died in Paris.
1844 -USS Constitution sails from New York on a “round the world” cruise.
1856 - Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874), an outspoken antagonist against slavery, gave the “Crime Against Kansas” speech. Sumner helped form the Republican Party.
1861 – Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
1861 – Civil War: North Carolina became the eleventh state to secede from the Union.
1861 – Civil War: The capital of the Confederacy was moved from Montgomery, AL, to Richmond, VA.
1862 – Civil War: Union gunboats occupied the Stono River above Cole’s Island, South Carolina, and shelled the Confederate positions located there.
1862 – Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law. It opened millions of acres of government owned land in the West to “homesteaders” who could acquire up to 160 acres by living on the land and cultivating it for five years, paying just $1.25 per acre.
1864 – Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church – in the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory. Killed or injured 1,400.
1864 - Spotsylvania-campaign ended after 10,920 were killed or injured.
1868 - The Republican National Convention met in Chicago and nominated Grant.
1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.The price was $13.50 per dozen
1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt. The volcano’s final and most notable explosion occurs on August 26.
1891 – The first public display of Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope).
1892 - George Sampson patented a clothes dryer.
1895 - The first commercial movie performance was at 153 Broadway in New York City.
1899 - Jacob German of New York City became the first driver to be arrested for speeding. A New York City bicycle policeman arrested German for speeding. He was going 12 miles an hour on Lexington Ave. when the limit was set at 8 mph, with 4 mph for turning corners.
1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States. The U.S. military occupation of Cuba ended. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the first President of Cuba.
1916 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting (“Boy with Baby Carriage”).
1916 – The small town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. Incredibly, the same town was also hit in 1917 and 1918 on the exact same date.
1918 - USS New Mexico, lead ship of a class of three 32,000-ton battleships, was built at the New York Navy Yard. Commissioned in May 1918, she spent the rest of the First World War operating near the United States.
1926 - Congress passes Air Commerce Act, licensing of pilots & planes.Aircraft were required to be inspected for airworthiness, and were required to have markings placed on the outside of the aircraft for identification. Airmen were required to be tested for aeronautical knowledge and required to have a physical completed to insure their physical fitness.
1926 - Thomas Edison says Americans prefer silent movies over talkies.
1927 – At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world’s first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
1930 - First airplane catapulted from a dirigible, Charles Nicholson, pilot. It flew from the airship Los Angeles to the carrier Saratoga.
1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
1932 - ”Charlie Chan” was heard for the final time on the NBC Blue radio network.
1939 - ”Three Little Fishes” by Kay Kyser hits #1.
1939 - The first telecast over telephone wires was sent from Madison Square Garden to the NBC-TV studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. A bicycle race was the event broadcast.
1939 - Pan Am (Pan American) begins regular transatlantic airmail service across the North Atlantic. A B-314 Yankee Clipper, christened by Eleanor Roosevelt, that had left Baltimore on March 26, 1939 for Europe on a survey flight that paved the way for this flight. In about five weeks passenger service would start.
1940 – Igor Sikorsky unveiled his “helicopter.” The R-4 was the world’s first production helicopter and the United States Air Force’s first service helicopter. The original military model, the XR-4, was developed from the famous experimental VS-300 helicopter, invented by Igor Sikorsky and publicly demonstrated in 1940.
1940 – World War II: Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1941 - Harry James and his orchestra recorded the classic “You Made Me Love You.”
1941 - OF (OutFielder) Taft Wright of the Chicago White Sox doubles to drive in a run and sets an American League record by driving in at least one run in 13 consecutive games. Wright has 22 RBIs in the streak, although in six of the games he knocked in a run without a hit.
1941 – World War II: Battle of Crete – German paratroops invade Crete.
1942 - ”I’ve Got A Gal in Kalamazoo” was recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
1942 – World War II: The US Navy first permitted African-American recruits to serve.
1943 - World War II: On Attu, fighting continues in the Clevesy Pass. Japanese forces hold the high ground and offer determined resistance to the American attacks.
1944 - World War II: Forces of the US 5th Army assault the German-held Senger Line.
1944 - World War II: American forces have eliminated the Japanese garrison on Wadke. On the mainland, nearby, Japanese forces conduct weak attacks near Arare.
1944 - World War II: American aircraft the carriers of Task Group 58.2 (Admiral Montgomery) conduct a raid.
1944 - US Communist Party dissolved.
1945 - World War II: On Okinawa, American troops secure Chocolate Drop Hill after fighting in the interconnecting tunnels. Elements of the 1st Marine Division, part of US 3rd Amphibious Corps, capture Wana Ridge.
1948 – CHART TOPPERS – “Now is the Hour” by Bing Crosby, “Baby Face” by The 
Art Mooney Orchestra, “The Dickey Bird Song” by The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Glenn Hughes) and “Anytime” by Eddy Arnold all topped the charts.
1948 – In a 13-4 the Cleveland Indians win against the Red Sox. The Indians collect 18 bases on balls to tie the American League record.
1948 – New York Yankee Joe Dimaggio “hits for the cycle” against Chicago in a 13-2 win. ”Hitting for the Cycle” means a player hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run. Hit them all in one game and the cycle is complete. This is a record that is tracked.
1949 – In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency) is established.
1951 – Korean War: Air Force Captain James Jabara, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, became the first Korean War ace and the first jet ace in aviation history after downing his fifth MiG. He accomplished this feat in an F-86 Sabre with one hung drop tank.
1953 – Korean War: The U.S. National Security Council decided that if “conditions arise,” air and ground operations would be extended to China and ground operations in Korea would be intensified.
1954 - Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” was released. It was not successful until it was released in 1955 on the soundtrack to “Blackboard Jungle.”
1956 – CHART TOPPERS - “Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One” by Elvis Presley, “The Wayward Wind” by Gogi Grant, “I’m in Love Again” by Fats Domino and “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins all topped the charts.
1956 – The first hydrogen fusion bomb (H-bomb) to be dropped from an airplane exploded over Namu Atoll at the northwest edge of the Bikini Atoll.The fireball was four miles in diameter. It was designated as “Cherokee,” as part of “Operation Redwing.”
1959 - Ford wins battle with Chrysler to call its new car “Falcon.” Ford won by notifying the Automobile Manufacturers Association of its choice twenty minutes ahead of Chrysler. The association is the official industry arbiter and its Proprietary Name File is the tradename Bible for the car makers.
1959 - Japanese-Americans regained their citizenship.
1959 – Yankees sink to last place, first time since May 25, 1940.
1961 – ”Runaway” by Del Shannon topped the charts.
1961 - A white mob attacked the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, AL. The event prompted the federal government to send U.S. marshals.
1963 - A fire in New Jersey burned out of control and killed 7 people. Nearly 1,000 were left homeless as the fire moved 9 miles in 6 hours on what was called Black Saturday.
1964 – CHART TOPPERS - “My Guy” by Mary Wells, “Love Me Do” by The Beatles, “Ronnie” by The 4 Seasons and “My Heart Skips a Beat” by Buck Owens all topped the charts.
1967 – ”Groovin’” by the Young Rascals topped the charts.
1969 – Vietnam: The Battle of Hamburger Hill ends. After 10 days and 10 bloody assaults, Hill 937 in South Vietnam is finally captured by U.S. and South Vietnamese troops.
1970 - ”Let It Be,” the film by The Beatles, premiered worldwide.
1971 - The US Congress cancelled the supersonic SST airplane program.
1971 - Peter Cetera (The band, Chicago) was beaten up by four men at a Chicago Cubs-Dodgers baseball game. The men objected to the length of Cetera’s hair. Cetera underwent four hours of emergency surgery.
1972 – CHART TOPPERS - “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack, “Oh Girl” by ChibyLites, “I’ll Take You There” by The Staple Singers and “Grandma Harp” by Merle Haggard all topped the charts.
1974 - Judge John Sirica ordered President Nixon to turn over tapes and records of 64 White House conversations regarding Watergate.
1977 - The stage show “Beatlemania” opened at the Winter Garden Theater, New York.
1978 - Mavis Hutchinson, 53, made it to New York City to become the first woman to run across America. The 2,871-mile trek took her 69 days. She ran an average of 45 miles each day.
1978 - ”With a Little Luck” by the Wings topped the charts.
1978 - ”The Buddy Holly Story” premiered in Lubbock, TX.
1978 - US launches Pioneer Venus 1; produces first global radar map of Venus. The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. Pioneer Venus 1, Pioneer Venus Orbiter was launched in 1978 and studied the planet for more than a decade after orbital insertion. Pioneer Venus 2, Pioneer Venus Multiprobe sent four small probes into the Venusian atmosphere.
1980 – CHART TOPPERS - “Call Me” by Blondie, “Ride like the Wind” by Christopher Cross, “Lost in Love” by Air Supply and “Gone Too Far” by Eddie Rabbitt all topped the charts.
1980 – The submarine Nautilus was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
1982 – TV’s “Barney Miller” was seen for the last time on ABC-TV.
1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually.
1983 – Philadelphia Phillies Steve Carlton passes Walter Johnson with 2nd most strike outs at 3511 just ten short of Nolan Ryan.
1984 - Boston’s Roger Clemens strikes out seven batters in seven innings en route to his first ML victory, 5-4 over the Twins. In his first two full seasons, Clemens became only the fourth pitcher ever to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards, pitching 18 shutouts in his first 139 starts. He also established a major-league record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game.
1985 - Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1300 for first time. The Dow closed at 1304.88.
1985 – Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
1985 – FBI arrests U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer John A Walker Jr. He was ultimately convicted of spying for USSR. He had started in 1968 for $1,000 per week. Walker’s ex-wife turned him into the FBI.
1986 – Flintstones 25th Anniversary Celebration airs on CBS-TV.
1987 - The commander of the U.S. frigate Stark, who lost 37 of his sailors in an Iraqi missile attack, broke his silence. Captain Glenn Brindel said he was warned only seconds before the missiles struck, and that he’d had no time to activate the ship’s defense system.
1988 – CHART TOPPERS – “Anything for You” by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine, “Shattered Dreams” by Johnny Hates Jazz, “One More Try” by George Michael and “I’m Gonna Get You” by Eddy Raven all topped the charts.
1988 – Mike Schmidt hits his 535th career home run to move past Jimmie Foxx into 8th place on the all-time list, but the Phillies lose to San Diego 4-3.
1988 - 30-year-old Laurie Dann walked into a Winnetka, Ill., elementary school classroom, where she shot to death 8-year-old Nicholas Corwin and wounded several other children. Dann later took her own life.
1989 – ”Forever Your Girl” by Paula Abdul topped the charts.
1990 - Hubble Space Telescope sends first photographs from space. After our astronauts successfully deployed Hubble into low Earth orbit, at a cost of $1.5 billion, the innovative telescope immediately faced another setback, this time caused by its own hardware. After receiving blurry images from Hubble, NASA scientists determined that the telescope’s primary mirror had been ground too flat by a depth of 2.2 microns, or one-fiftieth the width of a human hair.
1990 - At Heritage High School in Conyers, GA, a 15-year-old student shot and injured six students. He then surrendered to an assistant principal at the school.
1991 – Chicago Bull Michael Jordan, named NBA’s MVP. Jordan led the NBA in scoring for seven consecutive seasons (1987-1993), tying Chamberlain’s record, and averaged more than 30 points per game in each season.
1991 - The American Red Cross announced measures aimed at screening blood more carefully for the AIDS virus.
1993 – “Cheers” 274th & final episode on NBC. The show earned 26 Emmy Awards, out of a total of 117 nominations. An estimated 93 million people tuned in.
1995 - Timber Country won the Preakness at Pimlico.
1995 - President Clinton announced that the two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House would be permanently closed to motor vehicles as a security measure.
1995 - CBS News fired co-anchor Connie Chung.
1996 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Colorado measure banning laws that would protect homosexuals from discrimination.
1996 - The song Blue composed by Bill Mack in 1963 for Patsy Cline was finally recorded by 14-year-old LeAnn Rimes.
1996 - The US paid North Korea $2 million to help recover the remains of US soldiers killed during the Korean War.
1997 – White Sox Frank Thomas reaches base safely for 15th straight time.
1997 - Marine Corporal Clemente Banuelos shot and killed a goat herder named Esequiel Hernandez on the Mexican border at El Paso while on border patrol. The Marine claimed self-defense after Hernandez fired two shots from a .22-caliber rifle. A grand jury later declined to indict Banuelos.
1998 - Pres. Clinton vetoed a school voucher plan that would have provided tax funds for poor children in Washington D.C. to attend private or religious schools.
1998 - In Streamwood Ill., Frank Capaci, a retired electrician, won the record $195 mil Powerball lottery of Wisconsin. He chose to take a $104.23 mil lump sum payment.
1998 - In Wisconsin abortion clinics resumed first-trimester abortions after being assured that the new state law did not impact the first trimester operations.
1999 - Robbie Knievel (37) jumped a 200-foot-wide chasm over the Grand Canyon with his motorcycle. His old world record was 223 feet.
1999 - The US Senate passed a bill imposing new gun control measures that included background checks on all firearm transactions at gun shows and pawn shops.
1999 - The US FDA approved the painkiller Vioxx made by Merck.
2000 - ”Red Bullet” won the Preakness Stakes, outpacing Kentucky Derby winner “Fusaichi Pegasus.”
2000 – In North Carolina a bridge collapsed at the Winston NASCAR stock car race in Concord. 107 people were treated and 53 were hospitalized.
2003 - The Bush administration raised the terrorism alert level to orange on and called for increased security nationwide.
2003 - The TV show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” had its finale. Set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, “Buffy” depicted high school as a literal Hell.
2004 – Detroit Zoo officials said they will stop exhibiting elephants on ethical grounds because elephants can develop arthritis and stress-related ailments in captivity.
2005 – US Airways and America West merged in a $1.5 billion deal.
2005 – In Arizona twelve illegal immigrants were reported dead while crossing the border under triple digit heat.
2005 - The Beach Boys Historic Landmark was dedicated in Hawthorne, California in a ceremony where former Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, and David Marks were in attendance.
2006 – Federal agents searched the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana as part of a bribery investigation.
2006 – In Maryland Barbaro, winner of the Kentucky Derby, fractured an ankle at the start of the Preakness; Bernardini won the race. Barbaro was euthanized Jan 29, 2007, due to medical complications.
2006 – Barry Bonds tied Babe Ruth for second place on the career list with his 714th home run.
2006 – An explosion in the Darby Mine No. 1 coal mine in Harlan County, eastern Kentucky, killed five miners while one other miner was able to get out alive.
2007 – In Idaho law enforcement officers stormed a church in Moscow where Jason Hamilton (36) went after wounding three in a courthouse ambush where he faced mental evaluation.
2008 – US Senator Ted Kennedy is diagnosed with a brain tumor.
2009 – The US House passed legislation imposing new rules on credit card companies. Attached to the legislation was a bill allowing people to bring concealed and loaded guns into US national parks. Pres. Obama signed the legislation on May 22.
2009 – In Alabama five Birmingham police officers were fired for beating an unconscious suspect ejected from a car after a chase. The attack was captured on a patrol car videotape but didn’t surface publicly for a year.
2009 – In New York City, four ex-convicts, 3 Americans and a Haitian citizen, were arrested and accused of plotting to place bombs at New York City synagogues and shoot down National Guard jets.
2009 – Nebraska Gov. Dave Heinemen signed a bill to prevent registered sex offenders from using social networking sites such as Facebook.
2010 – In Arkansas, two police officers were shot dead after pulling over a van with Ohio plates on I-40. A short time later two suspects were killed in a separate shootout in a Wal-Mart parking lot in West Memphis.
2010 – In Florida a jury in Broward County handed down a $29.1 million verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to Connie Buonomo (77), a widow who said her husband started smoking as a teenager.
2011 – Travel on the Mississippi River is closed for five miles near the US city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana due to flooding.
2011 – President Barack Obama meets with the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, during which Netanyahu emphasizes that Israel would not make a full withdraw to the pre-1967 borders as Obama requested yesterday, because these borders are “not defensible”.
2011 – Two prisoners are injured in a riot at California State Prison, Sacramento.
1706 – Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (d. 1777)
1759 – William Thornton, architect of the U.S. Capitol, actor.
1768 – Dolly Madison, first lady of President James Madison.
1818 – William Fargo, co-founder of Wells, Fargo & Company (d. 1881)
1834 – The Marquis de Lafayette (78), US Revolutionary War hero died in Paris.
1899 – John Marshall Harlan II, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1971)
1913 - William Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Co.
1919 – George Gobel, American comedian (d. 1991)
1908 - Jimmy Stewart, actor, was born in Indiana, Pa.
1927 – Bud Grant, American football coach
1942 – Carlos Hathcock, American Marine sniper (d. 1999)
1946 – Cher, American singer
*BELLRICHARD, LESLIE ALLEN
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry. Place and Date: Kontum Province Republic of Vietnam, 20 May 1967. Entered service at: Oakland, Calif. Born: 4 December 1941, Janesville, Wis. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Acting as a fire team leader with Company C, during combat operations Pfc. Bellrichard was with four fellow soldiers in a foxhole on their unit’s perimeter when the position came under a massive enemy attack. Following a 30-minute mortar barrage, the enemy launched a strong ground assault. Pfc. Bellrichard rose in face of a group of charging enemy soldiers and threw hand grenades into their midst, eliminating several of the foe and forcing the remainder to withdraw. Failing in their initial attack, the enemy repeated the mortar and rocket bombardment of the friendly perimeter, then once again charged against the defenders in a concerted effort to overrun the position. Pfc. Bellrichard resumed throwing hand grenades at the onrushing attackers. As he was about to hurl a grenade, a mortar round exploded just in front of his position, knocking him into the foxhole and causing him to lose his grip on the already armed grenade. Recovering instantly, Pfc. Bellrichard recognized the threat to the lives of his four comrades and threw himself upon the grenade, shielding his companions from the blast that followed. Although severely wounded, Pfc. Bellrichard struggled into an upright position in the foxhole and fired his rifle at the enemy until he succumbed to his wounds. His selfless heroism contributed greatly to the successful defense of the position, and he was directly responsible for saving the lives of several of his comrades. His acts are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
MOLNAR, FRANKIE ZOLY
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. Place and Date: Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 20 May 1967. Entered service at: Fresno, Calif. Born: 14 February 1943, Logan, W. Va. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Molnar distinguished himself while serving as a squad leader with Company B, during combat operations. Shortly after the battalion’s defensive perimeter was established, it was hit by intense mortar fire as the prelude to a massive enemy night attack. S/Sgt. Molnar immediately left his sheltered location to insure the readiness of his squad to meet the attack. As he crawled through the position, he discovered a group of enemy soldiers closing in on his squad area. His accurate rifle fire killed five of the enemy and forced the remainder to flee. When the mortar fire stopped, the enemy attacked in a human wave supported by grenades, rockets, automatic weapons, and small-arms fire. After assisting to repel the first enemy assault, S/Sgt. Molnar found that his squad’s ammunition and grenade supply was nearly expended. Again leaving the relative safety of his position, he crawled through intense enemy fire to secure additional ammunition and distribute it to his squad. He rejoined his men to beat back the renewed enemy onslaught, and he moved about his area providing medical aid and assisting in the evacuation of the wounded. With the help of several men, he was preparing to move a severely wounded soldier when an enemy hand grenade was thrown into the group. The first to see the grenade, S/Sgt. Molnar threw himself on it and absorbed the deadly blast to save his comrades. His demonstrated selflessness and inspirational leadership on the battlefield were a major factor in the successful defense of the American position and are in keeping with the finest traditions of the U.S. Army. S/Sgt. Molnar’s actions reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
MOYER, DONALD R.
KOREAN WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Company E, 35th Infantry Regiment. Place and date: Near Seoul, Korea, 20 May 1951. Entered service at: Keego Harbor, Oakland, Mich. Born: 15 April 1930, Pontiac, Mich. G.O. No.: 19, 1 February 1952. Citation: Sfc. Moyer assistant platoon leader, Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action against an armed enemy of the United Nations. Sfc. Moyer’s platoon was committed to attack and secure commanding terrain stubbornly defended by a numerically superior hostile force emplaced in well-fortified positions. Advancing up the rocky hill, the leading elements came under intense automatic weapons, small-arms, and grenade fire, wounding the platoon leader and platoon sergeant. Sfc. Moyer, realizing the success of the mission was imperiled, rushed to the head of the faltering column, assumed command and urged the men forward. Inspired by Sfc. Moyer’s unflinching courage, the troops responded magnificently, but as they reached the final approaches to the rugged crest of the hill, enemy fire increased in volume and intensity and the fanatical foe showered the platoon with grenades. Undaunted, the valiant group forged ahead, and as they neared the top of the hill, the enemy hurled a grenade into their midst. Sfc. Moyer, fully aware of the odds against him, unhesitatingly threw himself on the grenade, absorbing the full blast of the explosion with his body. Although mortally wounded in this fearless display of valor, Sfc. Moyer’s intrepid act saved several of his comrades from death or serious injury, and his inspirational leadership and consummate devotion to duty contributed significantly to the subsequent seizure of the enemy stronghold and reflect lasting glory on himself and the noble traditions of the military service.
STANCE, EMANUEL
INDIAN WARS
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Kickapoo Springs, Tex., 20 May 1870. Entered service at. ——. Birth: Carroll Parish, La. Date of issue: 28 June 1870. Citation. Gallantry on scout after Indians.
BEAUFORT, JEAN J.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company A, 2d Louisiana Infantry. Place and date: At Port Hudson, La., about 20 May 1863. Entered service: New Orleans, La. Birth: France. Date of issue: 20 July 1897. Citation: Volunteered to go within the enemy’s lines and at the head of a party of eight destroyed a signal station, thereby greatly aiding in the operations against Port Hudson that immediately followed.
Unerased History – May 19th
Boys Club Day
Man Ray Day
Preakness Stakes
Speed of Light
If you have ever seen the Concorde you would know that the aircraft could fly at just over Mach 2, two times the speed of sound. Now picture something moving 500,000 times that fast. Light travels that fast, in fact it approaches 186, 000 miles per second travelling through a vacuum. That is so fast that if you were able to move at this speed you could go around the earth seven times in just one second.
The time it takes for light to travel from the earth to the moon is 1.2 seconds. From our sun to Pluto takes 5 hours and 40 minutes. From Pluto to the nearest stars, 4.3 years. Across the Milky Way galaxy 100,000 years.
The light year has become very common in our language and in our everyday speech but do we really know what that means? Do we even understand it? In one year light will travel about six-trillion miles. That is an extraordinary number that is just too big for us. The term is used extensively in astronomy to measure distances between planets, stars and other celestial bodies. The simple fact of the matter is that distances involved when it comes to discussing the universe are so huge that you need a better unit of measure to make it more understandable.
The speed of light has several properties which may seem counter-intuitive to us, 
but are true:
-Nothing travels faster than the speed of light.
-No matter how fast you are moving the speed of light seems to be the same speed as if you were not moving at all.
-As an object or person is accelerated toward the speed of light time slows down for it/him.
This last property leads to the “twins” effect: Twin brothers live on Earth. One brother takes a trip to a distant star traveling at a high percentage of the speed of light. When the twin returns he will be younger than his brother because for him time slowed down during the trip.
This effect, called “time dilation,” helps explain why the speed of light is the same no matter how fast you are going. As a traveler accelerates time slows down for him. This, in turn, affects his measurements.
Those of you who watch space movies e.g. Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. are familiar with concepts like warp speed or hyperspace. So when we’ll be able to travel at speeds like those shown in the movies. According to the comments above, it appears that “warp” is currently impossible. The term means “the speed of light” and multiples of that seem to be impossible especially given the “twins effect.” The simple answer is it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see anything like thatis in our lifetime, but to learn more about the research going on in this area you can check out NASA’s section on breakthrough propulsion physics or the Glenn Research Center about things like warp drives.
Just a little simple match. From earth to the nearest “black hole” is 26,000 light years. If we had a crew leave earth at “Warp One” or the speed of light, the crew would have to be large enough so that “death rates” would be able to support a crew for 90 generations (forty years per generation) just to get there and the ship would have to be large enough to support up to five generations at any one time. That is just to get there an then they would have to return.
“Stand still… and refuse to retreat. Look at it as God looks at it and draw upon His power to hold up under the blast.”
~ Charles R. Swindoll
erudite \AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\, adjective:
Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.
Erudite comes from Latin eruditus, from e-, “out of, from” + rudis, “rough, untaught,” which is also the source of English rude. Hence one who is erudite has been brought out of a rough, untaught, rude state.
1535 – French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona’s two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage).
1643 - United Colonies of New England formed.Representatives of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven met in Boston and adopted a written constitution binding the colonies in a league. The chief purpose of the league was coordination of defense and the settlement of boundary disputes; the internal affairs of each colony were to be left to its own management.
1649 – An Act declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
1749 – King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
1774 - Ann Lee and eight Shakers sailed from Liverpool to New York. The religious group originated in Quakerism and fled England due to religious persecution.
1780 – New England’s Dark Day: A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 A.M. It was so dark tht candles had to be used at mid-day.
1796 - The first U.S. game law was approved. The measure called for penalties for hunting or destroying game within Indian territory.
1828 – President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
1848 – Mexican-American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of five other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million USD.
1856 - U.S. Senator Charles Sumner spoke out against slavery.
1857 - William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer patented the electric fire alarm system.
1858 - A pro-slavery band led by Charles Hameton executed unarmed Free State men near Marais des Cygnes on the Kansas-Missouri border.
1862 - Homestead Act became law and provided cheap land for settlement of West.
1863 – Civil War: Union commander Major General Ulysses S. Grant fails in his first attempt to take the strategic Confederate city of Vicksburg
1864 – Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
1864 - Civil War: Battle of Port Walthall Junction, VA (Bermuda Hundred).
1864 - Civil War: U.S.S. General Price, Acting Lieutenant Richardson, engaged a Confederate battery on the banks of the Mississippi River at Tunica Bend, Louisiana. The Southerners, who had been attempting to destroy transport steamer Superior, were forced to evacuate their river position. Richardson put ashore a landing party which burned a group of buildings used by the Confederates as a headquarters from which attacks against river shipping were launched.
1865 - Civil War: President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union Cavalry in Georgia.
1882 - Commodore Shufeldt (USS Swatara) lands in Korea to negotiate first treaty between Korea and a Western power.
1883 - ”Buffalo Bill” Cody put on his first Wild West Show. Cody was a U.S. buffalo hunter, army scout, Indian fighter, rider for the Pony Express, and Civil War soldier.
1884 - Ringling Brothers circus premieres.The starting title was “Yankee Robinson and Ringling Brothers”, the only time the Ringlings ever gave themselves second billing.
1892 - Charles Brady King invents pneumatic hammer. He patented it on January 28, 1894.
1896 - Edward Acheson issued patent for electrical furnace used to produce carborundum (silicon carbide), one of the hardest industrial substances.
1898 - Post Office authorizes use of postcards. The Private Mailing Card Act eliminated the difference between private cards and government issue cards. Though writing was not allowed on the address side or back of these cards. The term “Postcard” was not allowed until December 24, 1901 to private printers.
1906 - Federated Boys’ Club (Boys’ Club of America) organizes.Boys & Girls Clubs of America had its beginnings in 1860 with several women in Hartford, CT. Believing that boys who roamed the streets should have a positive alternative, they organized the first Club. In 1906, several Boys Clubs decided to affiliate. The Federated Boys Clubs in Boston was formed with 53 member organizations.
1910 -The Earth passed through the tail of Halley’s Comet, the most intimate contact between the Earth and any comet in recorded history. The event was anticipated with dire predictions. Since a few years earlier, astronomers had found the poisonous gas cyanogen in a comet, it was surmised that if Earth passed through the comet’s tail everyone would die.
1911 - The first criminal conviction based solely on fingerprint evidence took place in the United States. Despite a water-tight alibi, Caesar Cella was found guilty in a New York City court based on the presence of his fingerprints, which were the only evidence connecting him with the crime.
1912 - The Associated Advertising Clubs of America held its first convention in Dallas, TX.
1918 - Washington’s first Sunday game, Senators beat Cleveland 1-0 in 18 innings. More than 15,000 fans are in attendance.
1921 – The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration. Prior to 1921, there were occasional exclusionary laws. For example, in 1882 Chinese were excluded, in 1903 polygamists and radicals were excluded, in 1907 people with physical or mental defects or with tuberculosis were excluded and in 1917 alcoholics, illiterates, stowaways, vagrants, and men or women entering for immoral purposes were excluded.
1926 - Thomas Edison spoke on the radio for the first time.
1927 - The 11th Marine Regiment arrived at Esteli, Nicaragua, for garrison duty.
1928 - Fifty-one frogs enter first annual “Frog Jumping Jubilee” in Angel’s Camp CA, Calaveras County.
1929 – In New York, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig hit back-to-back homers in the 3rd inning off of Boston’s Jack Russell but in the 5th inning a cloudburst opens up at Yankee Stadium sends a standing-room-only crowd rushing for the exits. A stampede in the RF bleachers leaves two dead, 62 injured.
1943 - Winston Churchill told the U.S. Congress that his country was pledging their full support in the war against Japan.
1944 – World War II: Allied forces of US 5th Army continue to make advances. The US 2nd Corps captures Gasta Itri and Monte Grande.
1945 – World War II: On Okinawa, the US 77th Division suffers heavy casualties while fighting for the Ishimmi ridge and withdraws.
1945 – World War II: Approximately 272 American B-29 Superfortress bombers strike Hamamatsu, 120 miles from Tokyo. Bombs are dropped through the clouds from medium altitude.
1947 – CHART TOPPERS - “Mam’selle” by Art Lund, “Linda” by Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra, “My Adobe Hacienda” by Eddy Howard and “New Jolie Blonde (New Pretty Blonde)” by Red Foley all topped the charts.
1950 – ”The Third Man Theme” by Guy Lombardo topped the charts.
1951 – ”How High the Moon” by Les Paul & Mary Ford topped the charts.
1951 – Korean War: The 2nd Infantry Division, with attached French and Dutch battalions, fought their way out of a Chinese trap in the mountains of central Korea, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.
1955 – CHART TOPPERS – “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” by Perez Prado, “Unchained Melody” by Les Baxter, “A Blossom Fell” by Nat King Cole and “In the Jailhouse Now” by Webb Pierce all topped the charts.
1956 – ”Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley topped the charts.
1956 - Pittsburgh Pirate Dale Long hits a 9th-inning homerun, it was the first homerun in a series of eight straight games.
1958 – ”South Pacific” soundtrack album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks. It spent a total 70 consecutive weeks at the top of the chart and was Number 1 for all of 1959.
1958 – Bobby Darin releases “Splish Splash“. It was released as the first eight-track master recording pressed to a plastic 45-RPM disc.
1958 - Canada and the U.S. formally established the North American Air Defense Command.
1959 – The first submarine with two nuclear reactors was completed. The Triton was 447 feet long, 37 feet wide and was manned by 148 officers and crew. The General Electric Co. built the two water-cooled nuclear reactors. Each propeller was powered by electrical current provided by one of the reactors. The submarine had a cruising range of 110,000 miles.
1960 – The man who coined the term, “Rock And Roll”, Alan Freed, along with eight other disc-jockeys were accused of taking payola. Payola was money privately paid to DJs by record companies or record promoters to get their records played on the Radio.
1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe’s infamous rendition of Happy Birthday. If you listen to the intro, Peter Lawford comments that this is the late (she was tardy) Marilyn Monroe. Little did anyone know but she would be dead three months after this event.
1962 – ”Soldier Boy” by the Shirelles topped the charts.
1962 – Stan Musial breaks Honus Wagner’s National League hit record with 3,431.
1963 – CHART TOPPERS – “If You Wanna Be Happy” by Jimmy Soul, “Surfin’ USA” by The Beach Boys, “Foolish Little Girl” by The Shirelles and “Lonesome 7-7203” by Hawkshaw Hawkins all topped the charts.
1964 – Forty hidden microphones are found in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. For twelve years or more the Kremlin had been able to eavesdrop on every single conversation and to learn about every single top-secret cable sent between Moscow and Washington.
1964 – Vietnam War: The United States initiates low-altitude target reconnaissance flights over southern Laos by U.S. Navy and Air Force aircraft.
1965 – Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, “King of the Road.”
1965 – African-American Patricia Harris was named as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg.
1965 - FBI agents visited Wand Records investigating the lyrics to the song “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen.
1967 – Vietnam War: U.S. planes bombed Hanoi for the first time.
1971 – CHART TOPPERS – “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night, “Never Can Say Goodbye” by The Jackson 5, “Brown Sugar” by The Rolling Stones and “I Won’t Mention It Again” by Ray Price all topped the charts.
1973 – ”You Are the Sunshine of My Life” by Stevie Wonder topped the charts.
1973 - Paul Simon released “Kodachrome.”
1977 – ”Smokey & the Bandit” premieres. Most of the movie centers on Bo “Bandit” Darville (Burt Reynolds) and his partner Cledus “Snowman” Snow (Reed), with his Basset Hound named Fred, taking a shipment of 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. The movie also starred Sally Field.
1979 – CHART TOPPERS – “Reunited” by Peaches & Herb, “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer, “In the Navy” by Village People and “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me” by Bellamy Brothers all topped the charts.
1984 – ”Hello” by Lionel Richie topped the charts.
1984 - The Cars released “Magic.”
1986 - Peter Gabriel released the album “So.”
1987 – CHART TOPPERS – “With or Without You” by U2, “The Lady in Red “by Chris DeBurgh, “Heat of the Night” by Bryan Adams and “To Know Him is to Love Him” by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris all topped the charts.
1987 - President Reagan defended America’s presence in the Persian Gulf, two days after 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. frigate Stark.
1988 - In Jacksonville, FL, Carlos Lehder Rivas was convicted of smuggling more than three tons of cocaine into the United States. Rivas was the co-founder of Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel.
1989 – Dow Jones average passes 2,500 mark for first time, closes at 2,501.1
1989 - The NCAA announced sanctions against the University of Kentucky’s basketball program for recruiting and academic violations.
1990 - Summer Squall won the Preakness Stakes.
1991 – Willy T Ribbs becomes first African-American driver to make the field at an Indianapolis 500.
1992 – U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the CBS sitcom “Murphy Brown” for having its title character decide to bear a child out of wedlock.
1992 – In Massapequa, NY, Mary Jo Buttafuoco was shot and seriously wounded by Amy Fisher. Fisher was her husband Joey’s teen-age lover.
1992 – The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. The amendment prohibits Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises. it was first proposed by James Madison. It actually became part of the constitution on May 7, 1992, when Michigan became the 38th state to ratify the amendment.
1993 - The US White House set off a political storm by abruptly firing the entire staff of its travel office; five of seven staffers were later reinstated and assigned other duties.
1993 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed about 3,500 (3,500.03) for the first time.
1994 - The final episode of LA Law (b.1986) showed on TV after an eight-year run.
1995 - The movie “Die Hard: With a Vengeance” was released in the movie theaters in USA.
1996 - The Space Shuttle Endeavour rocketed into orbit with six astronauts. One task was to deploy an experimental antennae that would inflate and swell to the size of a tennis court.
1997 - An indictment was filed against NBC sportscaster Marv Albert for biting a woman in an Arlington, Va., hotel on Feb 12 as many as fifteen times and forcing her to perform oral sex. At trial, Albert ended up pleading guilty to assault and battery
1998 - In Florida Hank Carr freed himself from handcuffs and killed two officers and a state trooper after he was picked up for questioning in the shooting death of his 4-year-old stepson. He later shot himself during a standoff with 170 police officers at a gas station.
1999 – ”Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” was released in the U.S. It set a new record for opening day sales at 28.5 million.
1999 - Ali A. Mohamed, a former US Army sergeant, was indicted for conspiring with Osama bin Laden to kill Americans abroad.
2000 - The shuttle Atlantis lifted off with 7 astronauts on a mission to fix the International Space Station.
2001 - ”Point Given” won the Preakness as Derby winner “Monarchos” finished out of the money.
2003 – It was announced that Worldcom Inc. would pay investors $500 million to settle civil fraud charges over its $11 billion accounting scandal.
2003 - In central Iraq four US Marines on a resupply mission were killed when their Ch-46 Sea-Knight helicopter crashed into a canal and a fifth drowned trying to save them.
2004 - US Army Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits received the maximum penalty, one year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge, in the first court-martial stemming from mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
2005 - J.P. Morgan Chase introduced a no-swipe plastic credit card that used an embedded chip and RFID technology as well as the usual magnetic strip.
2005 – ”Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” brought in 50.0 million in its opening day.
2005 - Scientists discover that the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was the longest ever recorded — lasting nearly ten minutes when most powerful earthquakes last no more than a few seconds — and shook the entire planet.
2006 - The United States Senate votes on an amendment to an immigration reform bill which would “… declare English as the national language of the United States”, giving English an increased de jure capacity (in addition to a de facto one) as the official language within the country. The bill, S. 2611, was passed by the Senate but was never voted on in the House.
2006 - A riot takes place at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba after several inmates attempted suicide.
2006 - In Detroit twelve people died over the last two days from an overdose of a drug called fentanyl that was considered eighty times more powerful than morphine.
2006 - The Da Vinci Code film comes out in theaters worldwide. The movie is based on the controversial thriller by Dan Brown.
2007 - Three people are killed and two wounded in a sniper attack in Moscow, Idaho.
2007 - Curlin wins the Preakness Stakes, extending the Triple Crown drought to 29 years.
2009 - The Government Accountability Office warns that the Global Positioning System could fail by 2010.
2009 - US astronauts completed a five-day repair of the nineteen-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. The improved Hubble will take its first pictures by the end of the month.
2010 - Khalid Ouazzani (32) of Kansas City, Mo., admitted that he sent $23,500 to Al-Qaeda between 2007-2008. The Morocco-born auto parts dealer became a US citizen in 2006.
2011 – Katie Couric signs off as the host of the CBS Evening News.
2011 – President Obama gives a speech in support of the Arab Spring during which he states that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must include Israel reverting its borders back to the pre-1967 borders. This is viewed by many in the US as putting a knife in the back of a friend. The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the proposal.
1795 – Johns Hopkins, American philanthropist (d. 1873)
1879 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician, nemesis of Winston Churchill (d. 1964)
1897 – Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
1925 – Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)
1934 – Jim Lehrer, American television journalist
1939 – Dick Scobee, American astronaut (d. 1986)
1949 – Archie Manning, American football player
1959 – Nicole Brown Simpson, Ex-wife of O.J. Simpson and murder victim. (d. 1994)
1968 – Kyle Eastwood, American jazz musician; son of Clint Eastwood
BROWN, JOHN H.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 47th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., 19 May 1863. Entered service at: Cincinnati, Ohio. Birth: Boston, Mass. Date of issue: 24 August 1896. Citation: Voluntarily carried a verbal message from Col. A. C. Parry to Gen. Hugh Ewing through a terrific fire and in plain view of the enemy.
HOWE, ORION P.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Musician, Company C, 55th Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., 19 May 1863. Entered service at: Woken, Ill. Birth: Portage County, Ohio. Date of issue: 2 3 April 1896. Citation: A drummer boy, 14 years of age, and severely wounded and exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy, he persistently remained upon the field of battle until he had reported to Gen. W. T. Sherman the necessity of supplying cartridges for the use of troops under command of Colonel Malmborg.
KEPHART, JAMES
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 13th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., 19 May 1863. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Venango County, Pa. Date of issue: 13 May 1899. Citation: Voluntarily and at the risk of his life, under a severe fire of the enemy, aided and assisted to the rear an officer who had been severely wounded and left on the field.
Unerased History – May 18th
Mother Whistler Day
Visit Your Relatives Day
Deep Water Lakes
Fresh water is one of the elements that planet earth has that without it; there would be no life on our planet. Fresh water lakes act as storage for a lot of that water and they are spread all over the world.
The deepest lake in the whole world is Lake Baikal in southern Russia. The lake is the world’s deepest lake. It is 5314 feet deep and located in the south of Siberia. It the most in the world, containing roughly 20% of the worlds surface fresh water that is unfrozen. It is 395 miles long and 50 miles wide. To put things into perspective the lake is so big that if all the rivers in the world flowed into its basin it would take almost 1 year to fill. Siberia isn’t the warmest of places so you can that it can be a phenomenal in the winter months when the lake freezes over holding ice up to 375 feet thick. Now that’s a lot of ice!
The two deepest lakes in the United States are Crater and Tahoe. Interestingly the combined depths of both of those lakes are still not as deep as Lake Baikal (2577 v. 5314.)
Crater Lake, a volcanic crater in southern Oregon, is the deepest lake in the United 
States. Its measured depth is 1932 feet. It is a caldera lake, usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, located in the south-central region of Oregon. It is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fills a nearly 2,148 foot deep caldera that was formed around 7,700 years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. The lake was renamed at least three times, as Blue Lake, Lake Majesty, and finally Crater Lake. Crater Lake is known for the “Old Man of the Lake”, a full-sized tree which is now a stump that has been bobbing vertically in the lake for more than a century. Due to the cold water, the tree has been rather well preserved.
The second deepest lake is Lake Tahoe at 1644 ft. It is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It has a surface elevation of 6,225 ft and it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevada. The lake is the largest alpine lake in North America.
Lake Tahoe from Space
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton
inveigle \in-VAY-guhl; -VEE-\, transitive verb:
1. To persuade by ingenuity or flattery; to entice.
2.To obtain by ingenuity or flattery.
1096 - Crusaders massacred the Jews of Worms. Before embarking on the First Crusade to wrest the Holy Land from Muslim Turks, Count Emich von Leiningen and his army swept through their own German homeland, murdering thousands of Jews, whom they had declared “murderers of Christ.”
1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay granted Puritans voting rights and John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
1652 – Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
1846 – US troops attacked at the Rio Grande and occupied Matamoros.
1852 - Massachusetts ruled that all school-age children must attend school.
1860 - The Republican Convention in Chicago nominated Abraham Lincoln for US president in a hastily constructed edifice called the Wigwam.
1861 – Civil War: Battle of Sewall’s Point VA was the first Federal offense against the South.
1862 - William High Keim (b.1813), US Union Brigadier-General, died in camp of fever in Harrisburg, Pa.
1863 – Civil War: The Battle of Vicksburg begins.
1864 – Civil War: The fighting at Spotsylvania in Virginia, reached its peak at the Bloody Angle.
1864 – Civil War: Battle of Yellow Bayou, LA (Bayou de Glaize, Old Oaks).
1880 - In the Sixth Kentucky Derby, George Lewis aboard the mount “Fonso” won in 2:37½.
1896 – The US Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional. The decision gave legitimacy to the segregationist policies known as Jim Crow laws. The ruling that was overturned in the 1954 Brown case, which involved elementary education.
1910 – The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley. It caused a near-panic.
1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
1918 - A TNT explosion in chemical factory in Oakdale, PA, killed 200.
1920 - In the 46th Preakness: Clarence Kummer aboard Man o’ War won in 1:51.6.
1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach. She was later found but it caused a huge controversy.
1927 – The Bath School Disaster: A schoolhouse in Bath, Mich., was blown up with explosives planted by local farmer Andrew Kehoe, who then set off a dynamite-laden automobile; the attacks killed 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe, who had earlier killed his wife.
1927 - The Ritz Hotel opened in Boston.
1929 - In the 55th Kentucky Derby: Linus McAtee on Clyde Van Dusen won in 2:10.8.
1932 - Luigi Malvese, bootleg gangster, was ambushed and shot to death in front of the Del Monte Barbershop at 720 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA.
1933 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1934 - Congress approved the “Lindbergh Act”, which made kidnapping a capital offense.
1934 TransWorld Airlines (TWA) began commercial service.
1942 – World War II: New York ended night baseball games for the rest of the War.
1943 – World War II: Allied bombers attacked Pantelleria in the Mediterranean Sea.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino – Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers (“Fallschirmjäger”) evacuate Monte Cassino.
1946 – CHART TOPPERS – “All Through the Day” by Perry Como, “The Gypsy” byThe Ink Spots, “Shoo Fly Pie” by The Stan Kenton Orchestra (vocal: June Christy) and “New Spanish Two Step” by Bob Wills all topped the charts.
1953 -Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier as she piloted a North American F-86 Canadair over Rogers Dry Lake, Calif.
1954 – CHART TOPPERS – “Wanted” by Perry Como, “Little Things Mean a Lot” by Kitty Kallen, “If You Love Me (Really Love Me)” by Kay Starr and “I Really Don’t Want to Know” by Eddy Arnold all topped the charts.
1957 - In the 83rd Preakness: Eddie Arcaro aboard Bold Ruler won in 1:56.2.
1958 – An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
1962 – CHART TOPPERS – “Soldier Boy” by The Shirelles, “Stranger on the Shore” by Mr. Acker Bilk, “She Cried” by Jay & The Americans and “She Thinks I Still Care” by George Jones all topped the charts.
1963 – ”If You Wanna Be Happy” by Jimmy Soul hit #1.
1963 – In the 89th Preakness: Bill Shoemaker aboard Candy Spots won in 1:56.2.
1964 – The US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to deprive naturalized citizens of citizenship if they return to home country for more than three years.
1965 – President Lyndon B. Johnson officially announced the Head Start program in the White House Rose Garden.
1965 – Gene Roddenberry suggested sixteen names including Kirk for Star Trek Captain.
1967 – Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington signed a measure repealing the “Monkey Law” against teaching evolution that was used to prosecute John T. Scopes in 1925.
1968 – In Maryland’s 94th Preakness Ismael Valenzuela aboard Forward Pass won in 1:56.8.
1969 – Vietnam War: Two battalions of the 101st Airborne Division assaulted Hill 937 (Hamburger Hill) but could not reach the top because of muddy conditions. 1969 - Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young blasted off aboard Apollo 10.
1970 – CHART TOPPERS – “American Woman/No Sugar Tonight” by The Guess Who, “Vehicle” by The Ides of March, “Cecilia” by Simon & Garfunkel and “My Love” by Sonny James all topped the charts.
1971 – The documentary “Powers That Be” aired for one time and went under litigation from PG&E. This was the set of facts used to make the movie,”Erin Brockovich.”
1971 – President Nixon rejected the sixty demands of the Congressional Black Caucus.
1972 – The show, ”Me & The Chimp” last aired on CBS-TV.
1974 – ”The Streak” by Ray Stevens hits #1.
1978 – CHART TOPPERS – “If I Can’t Have You” by Yvonne Elliman, “The Closer I
Get to You” by Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway, “With a Little Luck” by Wings and “It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right” by Dolly Parton all topped the charts.
1980 - At 8:32 a.m. Mount Saint Helens, in Washington, erupted. It burst 3 times in 24 hours after rumbling for two months and left 57 people dead or missing. The mountain lost over 1,300 feet of elevation and gained a two-mile-long and one mile-wide crater.
1983 – The US Senate passed the Simpson-Mazzoli bill for immigration reform. It offered millions of illegal aliens legal status under an amnesty program.
1985 - In the 111th Preakness: Pat Day aboard Tank’s Prospect won in 1:53.4.
1986 – CHART TOPPERS – “Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston, “Why Can’t This Be Love” by Van Halen, “What Have You Done for Me Lately” by Janet Jackson and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” by Hank Williams, Jr. all topped the charts.
1986 – ”Singin’ in the Rain” closed at the Gershwin Theater in NYC after 367 performances.
1990 – In the face of heated student protests, the trustees of all-women Mills College in Oakland, Ca., voted to rescind their earlier decision to admit men.
1991 – ”Hansel” won the 116th running of the Preakness Stakes.
1992 – The Archivist of the United States officially announces the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1992 – The Supreme Court ruled that states may not force mentally unstable criminal defendants to take anti-psychotic drugs while on trial unless a good reason is shown to require the medication.
1995 – Triumphant US Republicans pushed a historic budget through the House that they said would wring an unprecedented $1.4 trillion in savings from federal budgets over the next seven years.
1998 – United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
1998 – The Supreme Court, in a sweeping endorsement of broadcasters’ free-speech rights and journalistic discretion, ruled that even public stations owned and run by states need not invite marginal candidates to political debates they sponsor.
2000 – Columbia/HCA Healthcare agreed to pay $745 million to the US federal government to resolve Medicare fraud allegations.
2002 – War Emblem won the Preakness Stakes, setting up a shot at the Triple Crown. However, he came up short at the Belmont Stakes, which was won by long shot Sarava.
2003 – It was reported that many California community state pension expenses will soon exceed 40% of the public safety payroll.
2004 – Randy Johnson (40) pitched a perfect game to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
2004 – Kubi, San Francisco Zoo’s 29-year-old gorilla, died, 11 days following his May 7 surgery to remove a diseased lung.
2005 – An Internet audiotape was posted, purportedly by al-Qaida-in-Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, In which he justifies the deaths of fellow Muslims in attacks against US troops and their Iraqi allies by saying that jihad, or holy war, dwarfs all other concerns.
2007 – In New Jersey a second rainstorm in three days soaked a forest fire and raised hopes that it could be brought under full control by day’s end. New Jersey Air National Guard officials said one of their F-16s dropped a flare into the tinder-dry Pinelands during a training mission May 15, possibly starting the blaze.
2009 – The US Justice Department accused Wyeth, one of the nation’s biggest drug makers, of cheating Medicaid programs out of hundreds of millions of dollars by overcharging for a stomach acid drug.
2009 – Wayne Allwine (62), the actor who voiced Mickey Mouse for more than 30 years, died of complications from diabetes with Russi Taylor, his wife of 20 years and the voice of Minnie Mouse, by his side.
2010 – A discovery of tar balls on Florida’s Key West fanned fears that a massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill was spreading through ocean currents.
2011 – South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed a voter ID bill into law that will require voters to present a photo ID at the polls in order to receive a ballot.
2011 – The US Coast Guard reopens a section of the Mississippi River to shipping that was closed on Tuesday as a result of the 2011 Mississippi River floods. (BBC)
2011 – A tornado hits the US city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the first time since 1999.
1872 – Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, English mathematician, writer and philosopher, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
1887 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (d. 1985)
1912 – Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)
1918 – George Welch, American pilot and war hero (d. 1954)
1922 – Bill Macy, American actor
1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor
1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player
1952 – George Strait, American musician
GRANDSTAFF, BRUCE ALAN
VIETNAM WAR
Rank and organization: Platoon Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry. Place and date: Pleiku Province, Republic of Vietnam, 18 May 1967. Entered service at: Spokane, Wash. Born: 2 June 1934, Spokane, Wash. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. P/Sgt. Grandstaff distinguished himself while leading the Weapons Platoon, Company B, on a reconnaissance mission near the Cambodian border. His platoon was advancing through intermittent enemy contact when it was struck by heavy small arms and automatic weapons fire from three sides. As he established a defensive perimeter, P/Sgt. Grandstaff noted that several of his men had been struck down. He raced thirty meters through the intense fire to aid them but could only save one. Denied freedom to maneuver his unit by the intensity of the enemy onslaught, he adjusted artillery to within forty-five meters of his position. When helicopter gunships arrived, he crawled outside the defensive position to mark the location with smoke grenades. Realizing his first marker was probably ineffective, he crawled to another location and threw his last smoke grenade but the smoke did not penetrate the jungle foliage. Seriously wounded in the leg during this effort he returned to his radio and, refusing medical aid, adjusted the artillery even closer as the enemy advanced on his position. Recognizing the need for additional firepower, he again braved the enemy fusillade, crawled to the edge of his position and fired several magazines of tracer ammunition through the jungle canopy. He succeeded in designating the location to the gunships but this action again drew the enemy fire and he was wounded in the other leg. Now enduring intense pain and bleeding profusely, he crawled to within ten meters of an enemy machine gun which had caused many casualties among his men. He destroyed the position with hand grenades but received additional wounds. Rallying his remaining men to withstand the enemy assaults, he realized his position was being overrun and asked for artillery directly on his location. He fought until mortally wounded by an enemy rocket. Although every man in the platoon was a casualty, survivors attest to the indomitable spirit and exceptional courage of this outstanding combat leader who inspired his men to fight courageously against overwhelming odds and cost the enemy heavy casualties. P/Sgt. Grandstaff’s selfless gallantry, above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.
*GUENETTE, PETER M.
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company D, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). Place and date: Quan Tan Uyen Province, Republic of Vietnam, 18 May 1968. Entered service at: Albany, N.Y. Born: 4 January 1948, Troy, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Guenette distinguished himself while serving as a machine gunner with Company D, during combat operations. While Sp4c. Guenette’s platoon was sweeping a suspected enemy base camp, it came under light harassing fire from a well equipped and firmly entrenched squad of North Vietnamese Army regulars which was serving as a delaying force at the entrance to their base camp. As the platoon moved within ten meters of the fortified positions, the enemy fire became intense. Sp4c. Guenette and his assistant gunner immediately began to provide a base of suppressive fire, ceasing momentarily to allow the assistant gunner time to throw a grenade into a bunker. Seconds later, an enemy grenade was thrown to Sp4c. Guenette’s right flank. Realizing that the grenade would kill or wound at least 4 men and destroy the machine gun, he shouted a warning and smothered the grenade with his body, absorbing its blast. Through his actions, he prevented loss of life or injury to at least three men and enabled his comrades to maintain their fire superiority. By his gallantry at the cost of his life in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, Sp4c. Guenette has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
*STEWART, JIMMY G.
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 18 May 1966. Entered service at: Ashland, Ky. Born: 25 December 1942, West Columbia, W. Va. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Early in the morning a reinforced North Vietnamese company attacked Company B, which was manning a defensive perimeter in Vietnam. The surprise onslaught wounded five members of a six-man squad caught in the direct path of the enemy’s thrust. S/Sgt. Stewart became a lone defender of vital terrain–virtually one man against a hostile platoon. Refusing to take advantage of a lull in the firing which would have permitted him to withdraw, S/Sgt. Stewart elected to hold his ground to protect his fallen comrades and prevent an enemy penetration of the company perimeter. As the full force of the platoon-sized man attack struck his lone position, he fought like a man possessed; emptying magazine after magazine at the determined, on-charging enemy. The enemy drove almost to his position and hurled grenades, but S/Sgt. Stewart decimated them by retrieving and throwing the grenades back. Exhausting his ammunition, he crawled under intense fire to his wounded team members and collected ammunition that they were unable to use. Far past the normal point of exhaustion, he held his position for four harrowing hours and through three assaults, annihilating the enemy as they approached and before they could get a foothold. As a result of his defense, the company position held until the arrival of a reinforcing platoon which counterattacked the enemy, now occupying foxholes to the left of S/Sgt. Stewart’s position. After the counterattack, his body was found in a shallow enemy hole where he had advanced in order to add his fire to that of the counterattacking platoon. Eight enemy dead were found around his immediate position, with evidence that fifteen others had been dragged away. The wounded whom he gave his life to protect, were recovered and evacuated. S/Sgt. Stewart’s indomitable courage, in the face of overwhelming odds, stands as a tribute to himself and an inspiration to all men of his unit. His actions were in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and the Armed Forces of his country.
*WAYRYNEN, DALE EUGENE
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 2d Battalion, 502d Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Place and date: Quang Ngai, Province, Republic of Vietnam, 18 May 1967. Entered service at: Minneapolis, Minn. Born: 18 January 1947, Moose Lake, Minn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Wayrynen distinguished himself with Company B, during combat operations near Duc Pho. His platoon was assisting in the night evacuation of the wounded from an earlier enemy contact when the lead man of the unit met face to face with a Viet Cong soldier. The American’s shouted warning also alerted the enemy who immediately swept the area with automatic weapons fire from a strongly built bunker close to the trail and threw hand grenades from another nearby fortified position. Almost immediately, the lead man was wounded and knocked from his feet. Sp4c. Wayrynen, the second man in the formation, leaped beyond his fallen comrade to kill another enemy soldier who appeared on the trail, and he dragged his injured companion back to where the point squad had taken cover. Suddenly, a live enemy grenade landed in the center of the tightly grouped men. Sp4c. Wayrynen, quickly assessing the danger to the entire squad as well as to his platoon leader who was nearby, shouted a warning, pushed one soldier out of the way, and threw himself on the grenade at the moment it exploded. He was mortally wounded. His deep and abiding concern for his fellow soldiers was significantly reflected in his supreme and courageous act that preserved the lives of his comrades. Sp4c. Wayrynen’s heroic actions are in keeping with the highest traditions of the service, and they reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
BEDDOWS, RICHARD
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, 34th New York Battery. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 18 May 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: England. Date of issue: 10 July 1896. Citation: Brought his guidon off in safety under a heavy fire of musketry after he had lost it by his horse becoming furious from the bursting of a shell.
ENGLE, JAMES E.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 97th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Bermuda Hundred, Va., 18 May 1864. Entered service at: Chester, Pa. Birth: Chester, Pa. Date of issue: 17 December 1896. Citation: Responded to a call for volunteers to carry ammunition to the regiment on the picket line and under a heavy fire from the enemy assisted in carrying a box of ammunition to the front and remained to distribute the same.
KINSEY, JOHN
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company B, 45th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 18 May 1864. Entered service at: —–. Birth: Lancaster County, Pa. Date of issue: 2 March 1897. Citation: Seized the colors, the color bearer having been shot, and with great gallantry succeeded in saving them from capture.
WHITMAN, FRANK M.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 35th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Antietam, Md., 17 September 1862. At Spotsylvania, Va., 18 May 1864. Entered service at: Ayersville, Mass. Birth: Woodstock, Maine. Date of issue: 21 February 1874. Citation: Was among the last to leave the field at Antietam and was instrumental in saving the lives of several of his comrades at the imminent risk of his own. At Spotsylvania was foremost in line in the assault, where he lost a leg.
Unerased History – May 17th
The Genius of Thomas Alva Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (1847- 1931), American inventor, was born at Milan, Ohio, Feb. 11, 1847. He was educated at home by his mother, because his progress in
school was slow, his parents were not poor and he enjoyed all the advantages usual to a boy of his period. He built up a flourishing business selling newspaper, tobacco and candy on the railroad trains. His journeys on the trains brought him in contact with telegraph operators, and in 1863 he himself became an operator traveling from one position to another in the Midwest.
Six powerful reasons to recognize the genius of Thomas Alva Edison are: 1) Edison devised methods of making telegraph entirely practical. 2) Invented the carbon transmitter which became a part of the telephone,.3) He, devised the phonograph. 4) devised carbon filament for incandescent lamp. 5) the Edison effect. 6) Improving cinematic projector. These are six powerful reasons to remind him.
In 1868 he was employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company in Boston and the next year his first patent was granted, for an electrographic vote recorder. In 1869 he moved to New York City, where he was employed as general manager of Law’s Gold Indicator Company. He also entered into a partnership with Franklin L. Pope and J.N. Ashley, Edison, and Company, electrical engineers specializing in designing and installing all kinds of telegraphic equipment.
Marshall Lefferts, president of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, purchased the firm in 1870 and gave Edison $40,000 for the rights too certain improvements which Edison had devised stock-market tickers, with this money Edison set up in business for himself, and he and his associates began a long career as improvers of the telegraph. Although an automatic telegraph had been invented by an Englishman, George Little, it was unwieldy and liable to break down. Edison devised methods of making it entirely practical.
When Alexander graham Bell invented the telephone in 1875, Edison spent a year improving it and invented the carbon transmitter which became a part of the telephone throughout the world, clarifying speech so that it was no longer harsh and impersonal.
His greatest single invention was made in 1877, when he devised the phonograph. In 1876 Edison moved to Menlo Park, N.J., where he built larger research laboratories. In 1879 Edison made incandescent lamp really practicable by the use of a carbon filament.
His work on the lamp led in 1883 to his only contribution to pure science, when he noted that the lamp could be used as a valve receiving negative but not positive electricity. This observation is known as the Edison effect. Ambrose Fleming, who made use of Edison’s observations in inventing the electron tube in 1904.
In 1896 Edison bought the rights to Thomas Armat’s cinematic projector and after improving it, placed it on the market as the Edison Vita-scope. In conclusion Edison was granted more than one thousand patents during his lifetime, and his real genius has been recognized as that of a man who could take some impractical device and make it not only work but work well. Edison died in West Orange, Oct. 18, 1931.
“God gave you the gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you”?”
~ William Arthur Ward
alacrity \uh-LACK-ruh-tee\, noun:
A cheerful or eager readiness or willingness, often manifested by brisk, lively action or promptness in response.
Alacrity comes from Latin alacritas, from alacer, “lively.”
1492 - Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies
1521 – Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazano reached the present-day New York Harbor.
1629 – First commercial fishery established.
1629 – Horses were first imported into the colonies by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1673 – Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.
1733 - England passed the Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions.
1756 - Britain declared war on France, beginning the French and Indian War.
1775 – Revolutionary War: the Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
1792 – Twenty-four merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 68 Wall Street.
1803 – John Hawkins & Richard French patent the Reaping Machine.
1838 - Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia was burned following an abolitionist meeting.
1839 – Lorenzo Adkins patented a water wheel.
1845 - The rubber band was patented.
1849 - A fire in St. Louis, Mo., destroyed more than 400 buildings and two dozen steamships.
1863 – Civil War: The Union army defeats the Confederates on the Big Black River and drives them into Vicksburg.
1864 – Civil War: The Battle of Adairsville, Georgia, resulted in a Confederate retreat.
1871 – While on a raiding expedition into Texas, one of the most influential of the militant Kiowa chiefs, Satanta, and his warriors set up a trap along the Butterfield Southern Route. The war party let a small army ambulance wagon train pass and attacked the rest. Unknown to the Chief, General William Tecumseh Sherman, the commander of the army, had been riding in the ambulance train.
1875 – The first Kentucky Derby horse race took place at Churchill Downs in Louisville. The horse, Aristides, and his rider, Oliver Lewis, crossed the finish line ahead of the rest of the field. Aristides won the one and a half mile Run for the Roses in a time of 2 minutes, 37-3/4 seconds.
1876 – 7th US Cavalry under Custer leaves Fort Lincoln. Eleven companies with 45 men each left the fort. Their destination was the Big Horn Valley. None returned.
1877 – Edwin T. Holmes installed the first telephone switchboard burglar alarm.
1881 – Frederick Douglass appointed recorder of deeds for Washington DC. Douglass was a loyal spokesman for the Republican party and vigorously campaigned for its candidates. His support helped gain hundreds of thousands of black votes for Republicans.
1881 – The New Testament version of the bible commonly called the “Revised Version” (RV) or the “English Revised Version” (ERV) of 1881 was released.
1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody’s 1st wild west show premiered in Omaha.
1884 – Alaska becomes a US territory.The passage of the First Organic Act (1884) made Alaska a civil and judicial district and provided the territory with judges, clerks, and marshals.
1885 - For the second time in two years, the Apache chief Geronimo breaks out of an Arizona reservation, sparking panic among Arizona settlers.
1890 – Clyde Fitch’s “Beau Brummel” premieres in New York City. Fitch was the first American playwright to publish his plays.
1921 – President Harding opens, via telephone, first Valencia Orange Show. The show folded its tent after a decade, but it eventually became ther Orange County Fair.
1924 - In Santa Cruz, Ca., the Giant Dipper roller coaster opened to the public. It was built by local resident Arthur Looff. It cost $50,000 and took 47 days to construct. It was declared a Historic Landmark in 1987.
1925 – Cleveland Indian Tris Speaker gets his 3,000th hit.
1926 - The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires was damaged by bombs that were believed set by sympathizers of Sacco and Vanzetti.
1932 – Congress changes the name “Porto Rico” to “Puerto Rico.”
1933 - Jimmie Rodgers began recording a series of 24 songs. He died nine days later at the age of 35.
1938 – Radio quiz show “Information Please!” debuts on NBC Blue Network.
1938 - Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy.
1939 – First sports telecast-Columbia vs Princeton-college baseball.
1939 - The first fashion to be shown on television was broadcast in New York from the Ritz-Carleton Hotel.
1939 – Glenn Miller and his orchestra broadcast from the Glen Island Casino.
1940 – President Roosevelt announces plans to recommission 35 more destroyers.
1941 -Pennsylvania declares legal holiday to honor the Philadelphia A’s manager Connie Mack.
1942 – World War II: USS Tautog (SS-199) sinks Japanese sub, I-28; while USS Triton (SS-201) sinks I-164.
1943 – World War II: The Memphis Belle, one of a group of American bombers based in Britain, becomes the first B-17 to complete 25 missions over Europe.
1944 – World War II: General Eisenhower sets D-Day for June 5th.
1944 – World War II: Allied aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and USS Saratoga raid oil installations at Surabaya, on Java.
1945 – World War II: On Luzon, the US 152nd Division, part of US 11th Corps, entrenches in favorable positions on Woodpecker Ridge as the Japanese retire.
1945 – World War II: On Okinawa, the US 6th Marine Division continues assaulting Sugar Loaf Hill and have Japanese positions heavily bombarded by aircraft, artillery and ships.
1945 – World War II: Aircraft from the USS Ticonderoga attack targets on the Japanese held island of Taroa and the Maleolap atoll, encountering limited resistance.
1945 – CHART TOPPERS – “Candy” by Johnny Mercer & Jo Stafford, “I’m Beginning to See the Light” by The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty Kallen), “Dream” by The Pied Pipers and “At Mail Call Today” by Gene Autry all topped the charts.
1946 - U.S. President Truman seized control of the nation’s railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.
1948 - The Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.
1951 – Korean War: Aircraft from carriers attack bridges between Wonsan and Hamhung, Korea.
1952 – ”Blue Tango” by Leroy Anderson topped the charts.
1952 – “Kiss of Fire” by Georgia Gibbs topped the charts.
1953 – CHART TOPPERS – “I Believe” by Frankie Laine, “April in Portugal” by The Les Baxter Orchestra, “Song from Moulin Rouge” by The Percy Faith Orchestra and “Mexican Joe” by Jim Reeves all topped the charts.
1954 – Supreme Court unanimously rules on Brown v Topeka Board of Education reversed.
1956 – The first synthetic mica (synthamica) was offered for sale. Mica is a crystal-like substance used in electronic applications. It aids in resisting heat and electricity.
1958 - ”Jerry Lee Lewis Day” was held in his hometown of Farriday, LA.
1960 - Connecticut executed Joseph “Mad Dog” Taborsky in the electric chair for a series of murders and robberies.
1960 - The YF4H-1 Phantom fighter and Douglas DC-8 were unveiled.
1961 – CHART TOPPERS – “Runaway” by Del Shannon, “Mother-In-Law” by Ernie K-Doe, “A Hundred Pounds of Clay” by Gene McDaniels and “Hello Walls” by Faron Young all topped the charts.
1961 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro offered to exchange prisoners captured in the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion for 500 bulldozers.
1967 – Tennessee Governor Ellington repeals “Monkey Law”, upheld in 1925 Scopes Trial.
1968 – Vietnam War: The second Air Guard unit to arrive in Vietnam is Iowa’s 174th Tactical Fighter Squadron.
1968 - In Maryland the Catonsville Nine including Daniel and Phillip Berrigan (1921-2002), a Catholic priest, took hundreds of files from the draft board at the Knights of Columbus building and set them on fire with gasoline and soap chips.
1969 – CHART TOPPERS – “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In” by The 5th Dimension, “Hair” by The Cowsills, “Get Back” by The Beatles and “My Life (Throw It Away if I Want To)” by Bill Anderson all topped the charts.
1969 – Baltimore, Cleveland & Pittsburgh agree to go from NFC to the AFC in the NFL.
1970 -Hank Aaron becomes 9th player to get 3,000 hits.
1970 – Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat “Ra II” to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
1970 - A force of 10,000 South Vietnamese troops, supported by 200 U.S. advisers, aircraft and logistical elements, attack into what was known as the “Parrot’s Beak,” the area of Cambodia that projects into South Vietnam above the Mekong Delta.
1971 – The musical, “Godspell”, opened on Broadway. It ran for 2,124 performances.
1973 – Joe Ferguson, hits the 6,000th Dodger homerun.
1973 – Hearings in the Watergate scandal begin in the United States Senate and are televised.
1973 – First woman to hold a major Navy command, Captain Robin Lindsay Quigley assumes command of Navy Service School, San Diego, CA.
1973 – Stevie Wonder releases “You are the Sunshine of my Life.”
1974 – Police in Los Angeles, CA, raid the Symbionese Liberation Army’s headquarters, killing six members. Patty Hearst was not there.
1975 – NBC paid $5 million for rights to show “Gone with the Wind” one time.
1975 – ”He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)” by Tony Orlando & Dawn topped the charts.
1975 - Elton John’s “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy” album was released. It was the first album to be certified a million-seller on its first day of release.
1977 – CHART TOPPERS – “When I Need You” by Leo Sayer, “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder, “Couldn’t Get It Right” by Climax Blues Band and “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend” by Don Williams all topped the charts.
1979 – State record low temperature of 12° happens in Mauna Kea, HI.
1980 – ”Call Me” by Blondie topped the charts.
1980 – Rioting erupted in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie. Eight people were killed in the rioting.
1983 – U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world’s largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, TN (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to “Appalachian Observer’s” Freedom of Information Act request.
1985 – CHART TOPPERS – “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds, “One Night in Bangkok” by Murray Head, “Everything She Wants” by Wham! and “Somebody Should Leave” by Reba McEntire all topped the charts.
1985 - Bobby Ewing died on the season finale of “Dallas” on CBS-TV. He returned the following season.
1986 – “Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston topped the charts.
1987 – An Iraqi fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. warship USS Stark (FFG-31), killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. Both Iraq and the United States said the attack was a mistake.
1987 - Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd of the Golden State Warriors set a playoff record for points in a single quarter with 29.
1993 – Intel’s new Pentium processor is unveiled. It had 3.1 million transistors.
1995 - The US Senate ethics committee concluded that Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) had to face a full-scale Senate investigation of charges that included making improper advances toward women.
1996 - President Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. Megan’s Law was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed in 1994.
1996 - Scott Brayton, race car driver, was killed during a practice run for the Indy 500 race. He was the 40th driver to die during practice, qualifications or the race. 66 people in all have died in accidents related to the race.
1997 – The space shuttle Atlantis delivers a new oxygen generator and a fresh American astronaut to Russia’s Mir space station.
1997 – “Silver Charm” won the Preakness, two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby. However, he failed to win the Belmont Stakes.
1998 - New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the thirteenth player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game.
1999 - The Coast Guard “kept the peace” when the Makah Indian tribe hunted and killed a gray whale in Neah Bay, Washington. The Makah were guaranteed the right to hunt whales in their 1855 treaty with the U.S.
1999 - The US Supreme Court ruled that California cannot pay lower welfare benefits to new residents as proposed in a 1992 state law. The Supreme Court banned states from paying lower welfare benefits to newcomers than to longtime residents.
2000 - Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and David Luker surrendered to police in Birmingham, AL. The two former Ku Klux Klan members were arrested on charges from the bombing of a church in 1963 that killed four young black girls.
2001 -The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp based on Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts” comic strip.
2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter ended a historic visit to Cuba sharply at odds with the Bush administration over how to deal with Fidel Castro.
2002 - Midwest flooding left as many as 9 people dead over the last 2 weeks. Missouri Gov. Bob Holden asked Pres. Bush to declare 37 counties as disaster areas.
2004 – Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
2005 - Toyota said it will build a gasoline-electric hybrid version of the Camry at its plant in Georgetown, Ky.
2006 – The U.S. aircraft carrier Oriskany was sunk about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach in the Gulf of Mexico to be an artificial reef.
2006 - The FBI began digging at a Michigan horse farm in search of the remains of former Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa; the two-week search yielded no evidence.
2007 – Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.
2007 – US lawmakers branded China and Russia the world’s two biggest copyright thieves.
2007 – In Oakland, Ca., a mother and daughter were kidnapped and tortured by men associated with Your Black Muslim Bakery. Yusuf Bey IV, the group’s leader, believed the women could reveal where a local drug dealer kept his money.
2007 – The journal “Science” reported that Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, a crucial “carbon sink” into which 15 percent of the world’s excess carbon dioxide flows, is reaching saturation and soon may be unable to absorb more , a deeply troubling development.
2007 – Mexican police chased the remnants of a criminal assault force through the mountains of Sonora near the Arizona border after kidnappings and gunbattles that left at least twenty-two people dead.
2008 – This was the official release date by the US Mint for the Adams dollar coin, the 6th of its presidential dollar series.
2008 – In Louisiana six train cars derailed spilling 8-10 thousand gallons of hydrochloric acid and forming a toxic cloud over Lafayette, 125 miles west of New Orleans.
2009 – In Indiana Pres. Obama addressed a graduation ceremony at Notre Dame Univ. and called for “open hearts, open minds and fair-minded words” in the pursuit of “common ground” regarding the issue of abortion rights.
2009 - A 4.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Inglewood and Lennox, CA.
2009 – In New York City, Mitchell Wiener, an assistant principal at a middle school, became the first death linked to the H1N1 flu virus.
2010 – The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that teenagers may not be locked up for life without chance of parole if they haven’t killed anyone.
2011 – The final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show is recorded in the US city of Chicago.
2011 – The publisher Condé Nast agrees to be the anchor tenant at One World Trade Center, the largest building of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and prospectively the tallest building in the United States.
1743 – Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (d. 1784)
1868 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American automobile manufacturer (d. 1920)
1911 – Maureen O’Sullivan, Irish actress (d. 1998)
1940 – Alan Kay, American computer scientist
1955 – Bill Paxton, American actor and film director
1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer
1956 – Bob Saget, American actor
*BURKE, ROBERT C.
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company 1, 3d Battalion, 27th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF. Place and date: Southern Quang Nam Province Republic of Vietnam, 17 May 1968. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Born: 7 November 1949, Monticello, Ill. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty for service as a machine gunner with Company 1. While on Operation ALLEN BROOK, Company 1 was approaching a dry river bed with a heavily wooded treeline that borders the hamlet of Le Nam (1), when they suddenly came under intense mortar, rocket propelled grenades, automatic weapons and small-arms fire from a large, well concealed enemy force which halted the company’s advance and wounded several marines. Realizing that key points of resistance had to be eliminated to allow the units to advance and casualties to be evacuated, Pfc. Burke, without hesitation, seized his machine gun and launched a series of 1-man assaults against the fortified emplacements. As he aggressively maneuvered to the edge of the steep river bank, he delivered accurate suppressive fire upon several enemy bunkers, which enabled his comrades to advance and move the wounded marines to positions of relative safety. As he continued his combative actions, he located an opposing automatic weapons emplacement and poured intense fire into the position, killing 3 North Vietnamese soldiers as they attempted to flee. Pfc. Burke then fearlessly moved from one position to another, quelling the hostile fire until his weapon malfunctioned. Obtaining a casualty’s rifle and hand grenades, he advanced further into the midst of the enemy fire in an assault against another pocket of resistance, killing 2 more of the enemy. Observing that a fellow marine had cleared his malfunctioning machine gun he grasped his weapon and moved into a dangerously exposed area and saturated the hostile treeline until he fell mortally wounded. Pfc. Burke’s gallant actions upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
DAY, JAMES
WWII
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a squad leader serving with the Second Battalion, Twenty-Second Marines, Sixth Marine Division, in sustained combat operations against Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukya Islands from 14 to 17 May 1945. On the first day, Corporal Day rallied his squad and the remnants of another unit and led them to a critical position forward of the front lines of Sugar Loaf Hill. Soon thereafter, they came under an intense mortar and artillery barrage that was quickly followed by a ferocious ground attack by some forty Japanese soldiers. Despite the loss of one-half of his men, Corporal Day remained at the forefront, shouting encouragement, hurling hand grenades, and directing deadly fire, thereby repelling the determined enemy. Reinforced by six men, he led his squad in repelling three fierce night attacks but suffered five additional Marines killed and one wounded, whom he assisted to safety. Upon hearing nearby calls for corpsman assistance, Corporal Day braved heavy enemy fire to escort four seriously wounded Marines, one at a time, to safety. Corporal Day then manned a light machine gun, assisted by a wounded Marine, and halted another night attack. In the ferocious action, his machine gun was destroyed, and he suffered multiple white phosphorous and fragmentation wounds. He reorganized his defensive position in time to halt a fifth enemy attack with devastating small arms fire. On three separated occasions, Japanese soldiers closed to within a few feet of his foxhole, but were killed by Corporal Day. During the second day, the enemy conducted numerous unsuccessful swarming attacks against his exposed position. When the attacks momentarily subsided, over 70 enemy dead were counted around his position. On the third day, a wounded and exhausted Corporal Day repulsed the enemy’s final attack, killing a dozen enemy soldiers at close range. Having yielded no ground and with more than 100 enemy dead around his position, Corporal Day preserved the lives of his fellow Marines and made a significant contribution to the success of the Okinawa campaign. By his extraordinary heroism, repeated acts of valor, and quintessential battlefield leadership, Corporal Day inspired the efforts of his outnumbered Marines to defeat a much larger enemy force, reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
KENDALL, WILLIAM W.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 49th Indiana Infantry. Place and date: At Black River Bridge, Miss., 17 May 1863. Entered service at: Dubois County, Ind. Birth: Dubois County, Ind. Date of issue: 12 February 1894. Citation: Voluntarily led the company in a charge and was the first to enter the enemy’s works, taking a number of prisoners.
Unerased History – May 16th
Biographers Day
National Sea Monkeys Day
Car Gets Power From Nothing!!
The 1931 Pierce-Arrow electric motor car that got its energy from thin air.
Posted by PC Latest news, Technology Monday, December 13th, 2010
Nikola Tesla powered this all steel frame and body 1931 Pierce-Arrow with electrical energy that was harnessed from thin air. Not a drop of gasoline or diesel fuel was used. In fact the internal combustion engine was completely removed. No battery banks were used either. This vehicle was driven to speeds of 90 miles per hour with no fossil fuel and just a single 12 volt battery. This infinite and free energy source produces absolutely zero emissions.
Dallas Morning News
The Electric Auto that almost triumphed: Power Source of ‘31 car still a mystery
by A.C. Greene,
January 24th, 1931
It is a mystery car once demonstrated by Nikola Tesla, developer of alternating current, that might have made electrics triumphant. Supported by the Pierce-Arrow Co. and Westinghouse in 1931, he took the gasoline engine from a new Pierce-Arrow and replaced it with an 80-horsepower alternating-current electric motor with no external power source. From the electric motor trailed two very thick cables, which connected with the dashboard. In addition, there was an ordinary 12-volt storage battery. (”There was a 12-volt Willard battery installed in the car, but it was for the lights only and much too small to run the car. In any case.”) The motor was rated at 80 horsepower. Maximum rotor speed was stated to be 30 turns per second (1800 rpm). A 6-foot vertical antenna rod was fitted into the rear section of the car.
At the appointed time, Nikola Tesla arrived from New York City and inspected the Pierce-Arrow automobile. He then went to a local radio store and purchased a handful of tubes (12 radio vacuum tubes), wires and assorted resistors. A box measuring 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high was assembled housing the circuit. The “power receiver” was then placed into the dashboard of the car and its wires connected to the antenna and to the air-cooled, brushless motor. Two rods 1/4” in diameter stuck out of the box about 3” in length. Tesla began making adjustments on the “power receiver.”
Mr. Tesla got into the driver’s seat, pushed the two rods in and stated, “We now have power”. He put the car into gear and it moved forward! This vehicle, powered by an A.C. motor, was driven to speeds of 90 m.p.h. and performed better than any internal combustion engine of its day! One week was spent testing the vehicle. Several newspapers in Buffalo reported this test. When asked where the power came from, Tesla replied, “From the ethers all around us”. (Ethers is Electromagnetic radiation. Radio waves is electromagnetic radiation which has the lowest frequency, the longest wavelength, and is produced by charged particles moving back and forth) Several people suggested that Tesla was mad and somehow in league with sinister forces of the universe. He became incensed, removed his mysterious box from the vehicle and returned to his laboratory in New York City. His secret died with him!
Or did it?
How did ethers power the vehicle? The owner of FuelReducer and editor of this website, Paul W Kincaid, has been trying to answer that question since 2005, when he first read about it in an old magazine he found in a neighbor’s barn. According to data from the 5 years of investigation there is one very plausible explanation as to how ethers powered the car. Research data indicates that Tesla’s mystery box was nothing more than a simple regenerative vacuum tube radio wave receiver.The 1931 Pierce-Arrow electric motor car that got its energy from thin air.
Posted by PC Latest news, Technology Monday, December 13th, 2010
Nikola Tesla powered this all steel frame and body 1931 Pierce-Arrow with electrical energy that was harnessed from thin air. Not a drop of gasoline or diesel fuel was used. In fact the internal combustion engine was completely removed. No battery banks were used either. This vehicle was driven to speeds of 90 miles per hour with no fossil fuel and just a single 12 volt battery. This infinite and free energy source produces absolutely zero emissions.
Dallas Morning News
The Electric Auto that almost triumphed: Power Source of ‘31 car still a mystery
by A.C. Greene,
January 24th, 1931
It is a mystery car once demonstrated by Nikola Tesla, developer of alternating current, that might have made electrics triumphant.
Supported by the Pierce-Arrow Co. and Westinghouse in 1931, he took the gasoline engine from a new Pierce-Arrow and replaced it with an 80-horsepower alternating-current electric motor with no external power source. From the electric motor trailed two very thick cables, which connected with the dashboard. In addition, there was an ordinary 12-volt storage battery. (”There was a 12-volt Willard battery installed in the car, but it was for the lights only and much too small to run the car. In any case.”) The motor was rated at 80 horsepower. Maximum rotor speed was stated to be 30 turns per second (1800 rpm). A 6-foot vertical antenna rod was fitted into the rear section of the car.
At the appointed time, Nikola Tesla arrived from New York City and inspected the Pierce-Arrow automobile. He then went to a local radio store and purchased a handful of tubes (12 radio vacuum tubes), wires and assorted resistors. A box measuring 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high was assembled housing the circuit. The “power receiver” was then placed into the dashboard of the car and its wires connected to the antenna and to the air-cooled, brushless motor. Two rods 1/4” in diameter stuck out of the box about 3” in length. Tesla began making adjustments on the “power receiver”
Mr. Tesla got into the driver’s seat, pushed the two rods in and stated, “We now have power”. He put the car into gear and it moved forward! This vehicle, powered by an A.C. motor, was driven to speeds of 90 m.p.h. and performed better than any internal combustion engine of its day! One week was spent testing the vehicle. Several newspapers in Buffalo reported this test. When asked where the power came from, Tesla replied, “From the ethers all around us”. (Ethers is Electromagnetic radiation. Radio waves is electromagnetic radiation which has the lowest frequency, the longest wavelength, and is produced by charged particles moving back and forth) Several people suggested that Tesla was mad and somehow in league with sinister forces of the universe. He became incensed, removed his mysterious box from the vehicle and returned to his laboratory in New York City. His secret died with him!
Or did it?
How did ethers power the vehicle? The owner of FuelReducer and editor of this website, Paul W Kincaid, has been trying to answer that question since 2005, when he first read about it in an old magazine he found in a neighbor’s barn. According to data from the 5 years of investigation there is one very plausible explanation as to how ethers powered the car. Research data indicates that Tesla’s mystery box was nothing more than a simple regenerative vacuum tube radio wave receiver. A type of electronic instrument that receives radio frequencies from thin air and amplifies the received weak radio signal. This simple receiver makes use of vacuum tubes, resistors and wires (the exact same electronic components used by Tesla) to increase the power and/or amplitude of a signal. The main component of Tesla’s “Power Receiver” is the vacuum tube – also called a valve amplifier. The simplest valve amplifier was invented by John Ambrose Fleming while working for the Marconi Company in London in 1904 and named the diode, as it had two electrodes. The diode conducted electricity in one direction only and was used as a radio detector and a rectifier. The diode was most likely used as an instrument to convert AC (alternating current is when the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction) of RF to DC (direct current is the flow of electric charge is only in one direction) In 1906 Lee De Forest added a third electrode and invented the first electronic amplifying device, the triode, which he named the Audion. This additional control grid modulates the current that flows between cathode and anode.
Tesla used valve amplifiers to increase the power or amplitude of the ordinary radio waves that were received by the 6-foot vertical antenna rod that was fitted into the rear section of the car. An antenna is a transducer that transmits or receives electromagnetic waves. In other words, Tesla used the antenna mounted on the rear of the car to convert the freely available electromagnetic waves called radio waves into electrical current.
Tesla bought vacuum tube diodes which are vacuum tubes (valve amplifiers) with two electrodes; a plate and a cathode. A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts electric current in only one direction while blocking current in the opposite direction (the reverse direction). Thus, the diode can be thought of as an electronic version of a check valve. This unidirectional behavior is called rectification, and is used to convert alternating current (AC or the power that comes from your home’s electrical outlets) to direct current (DC or the power from a battery). AC power circuit is a sine wave. Audio and radio signals carried on electrical wires (such as an antenna) are also examples of alternating current.
Tesla used the vacuum tubes, wires and assorted resistors to build a radio wave receiver/amplifier 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high, with a pair of 3-inch rods 1/4” in diameter sticking out. The pair of rods that Tesla pushed in were used to close (complete) the circuit – like an on/off switch. The rod ends were most likely the positive and negative leads (connections) between the car antenna and and the radio wave receiver/amplifier. By pushing them into the box containing the radio wave receiver/amplifier the connection was completed allowing the radio waves that were received from the air by the antenna to flow through the receiver/amplifier to the electric motor. This is like you would do when you plugged an electric guitar into an amplifier. Like the electric guitar amplifier the signal generated by striking a cord (string) of a guitar would travel from the guitar through the wire connecting the guitar to the amplifier and into the amplifier where the barely audible tone would then be amplified. An electric guitar without an amplifier is essential an air guitar until it is plugged into an amplifier. The amplifier amplifies the sound wave generated by striking the strings of the electric guitar. That is basically how Tesla was able to amplify and convert the invisible electromagnetic radiation called radio waves into electricity to power the AC motor in the 1931 Pierce-Arrow. The word electricity comes from the fact that current is nothing more than electrons moving along a conductor, like an antenna, that have been harnessed for energy. Tesla used an antenna (an electrical conductor) and an amplifier to harness and then amplify energy.
Why hasn’t anyone revealed this 80 year old secret? Tesla built a free energy device, a device that would threaten the oil industry, the nuclear energy industry and the hydro electric power monopoly. He built a device that would bankrupt every oil refinery in the World, a device that would literally put an end to Global warming. Disease and illnesses caused by pollution from oil and gas products would simply disappear. If Tesla’s invention was put into mass production the World would never have been involved in wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the Exxon Mobil and BP oil spills would never have occurred, and millions of people would still be alive and very healthy today.
“A superficial knowledge is not enough. It must be knowledge capable of analyzing a situation quickly and making an immediate decision.”
~Cavett Robert
bumptious \BUMP-shuhs\, adjective:
Crudely, presumptuously, or loudly self-assertive.
Bumptious is perhaps a blend of bump and presumptuous.
1691 – Jacob Leisler, American colonist, was hanged for treason.
1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called “The Regulators”, occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
1777 – Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies three days later.
1817 – Mississippi River steamboat service begins.
1820 – The U.S.S. Congress becomes first U.S. warship to visit China. She was a 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy.
1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
1846 – Mexican-American War: Eleven cutters were assigned to cooperate with Army and Navy in the Mexican War. USRCs McLane, Legare, Woodbury, Ewing, Forward, and Van Buren were assigned to the Army. USRCs Wolcott, Bibb, Morris, and Polk were assigned to the Navy.
1861 – Civil War: Confederate government offered war volunteers a $10 premium.
1861 – Civil War: Commander John Rodgers ordered to report to the War Department to establish naval forces on the western rivers under the command of General John C. Fremont. The importance of controlling the Mississippi and its tributaries which pierced the interior in every direction was recognized immediately by the U.S. Government.
1861 – Civil War: Kentucky proclaimed its neutrality.
1861 – Civil War: Tennessee officially admitted to the Confederacy.
1863 – Civil War: The Union army seals the fate of Vicksburg by defeating the Confederates at the Battle of Champion’s Hill.
1864 – Civil War: In the Atlanta Campaign, the battle of Resaca, begun May 13, ended.
1864 – Civil War: Having crossed the rapids of the Red River at Alexandria, Rear Admiral Porter next had to traverse the many bars in the River near its mouth.
1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
1866 – Charles Elmer Hires, a pharmacist from Philadelphia, invents root beer.
1868 – President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
1874 – A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys most of four towns and kills 139 people.
1879 – Wallace Wilkerson was executed by firing squad in Utah. It was so disgraceful that one newspaper, the Ogden Junction, sarcastically reminded the state that “the French guillotine never fails.” It was 27 minutes before he could be pronounced dead.
1894 – Fire in Boston destroys baseball stadium & 170 other buildings.
1888 – The first demonstration of recording on a flat disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner.
1888 – The capitol of Texas was dedicated in Austin.
1899 – One month after the Spanish-American War began in April 1898, an expeditionary force sailed from San Francisco to capture the Spanish colonial capital of Manila, on Luzon Island, Philippines.
1902 – Two deaf-mutes face each other for first time – Reds beat Giants 5-3.
1903 – First transcontinental motorcycle trip begins at San Francisco (George Wymann) Wyman’s trip was made on a 1.25-horsepower, 90cc California motorcycle designed by Roy Marks. It took 50 days.
1910 – The United States Congress authorizes the creation of the US Bureau of Mines.
1914 – American Horseshoe Pitchers Association organizes in Kansas City.
1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.
1919 – Three Navy flying boats begin 1st trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland.
1920 – In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc as a saint.
1922 – “Canada Dry” Pale Ginger Ale was trademark registered. The Canada Dry story begins in 1890 with pharmacist and chemist, John J. McLaughlin. After numerous experiments, in 1904, McLaughlin achieved the formula for his Canada Dry Pale Dry Ginger Ale.
1925 – First network radiocast (WHAS) of Kentucky Derby.
1927 – Yankee outfielder Bob Meusel steals 2B, 3B, and home in the 3rd inning as New York tops Detroit, 6-2.
1927 – Supreme Court ruled bootleggers must pay income tax. The FBI quickly investigated Al Capone’s earnings and discovered that-despite his huge income, he had never filed an income tax return.
1927 – Marines participated in the Battle of La Paz Centro in Nicaragua.
1929 – In Hollywood, CA, the first Academy Awards are handed out. “Wings” with Emil Jennings & Janet Gaynor won.
1929 – Paul Whiteman and his orchestra backed Bing Crosby recorded “Sposin’.”
1933 – Cecil Travis becomes first player to get 5 hits in his first game.
1939 – First American League night game, Philadelphia Shribe Park (Indians 8, Athletics 3 in 10.)
1939 – Food stamps are first issued.
1940 – Roosevelt asks Congress to authorize the production of 50,000 military planes per year and for a $900,000,000 extraordinary credit to finance WW II.
1941 – First US/radio performance of Bennett’s “Symphony in D for the Dodgers”
1941 – World War II: Last great German air attack on Great Britain (Birmingham).
1943 – World War II: Dambuster bombs dropped. They were used for the first and only time to breach three massive Ruhr Valley dams–the Eder, the Mohne and the Sorpe–that supplied water and hydroelectric power to Germany’s vital armament factories.
1943 – World War II: On Attu near the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the Japanese are forced to pull back as the Americans continue their attacks near Holtz Bay.
1943 – World War II: Holocaust: German troops destroyed the synagogue of Warsaw. Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto ended after 30 days of fighting.
1944 – World War II: American forces move from Hollandia toward Wadke Island.
1944 – World War II: Holocaust: The first of over 180,000 Hungarian Jews reached Auschwitz.
1944 – CHART TOPPERS – “Long Ago and Far Away” by Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes,“I’ll Get By” by The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Dick Haymes),“San Fernando Valley” by Bing Crosby and “Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry” by Al Dexter all topped the charts.
1945 – World War II: On Okinawa, the US 6th Marine Division (part of US 3rd Amphibious Corps) reports heavy casualties in continuing attacks on Sugar Loaf Hill.
1945 – World War II: On Luzon, the US 152nd Division, part of US 11th Corps, attacks Woodpecker Ridge with heavy artillery support and entrenches on the summit.
1946 – Musical “Annie Get Your Gun” starring Ethel Merman premieres in New York City.
1946 – Jack Mullin showed the world the first magnetic tape recorder.
1948 – The body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonika Bay in Greece. It had been a week after he’d disappeared.
1951 – Korean War : Chinese Communist Forces launched a second step, fifth-phase offensive [in Korea] and gained up to 20 miles of territory.
1952 – CHART TOPPERS – “Blue Tango” by The Leroy Anderson Orchestra, “Kiss of Fire” by Georgia Gibbs, “Blacksmith Blues” by Ella Mae Morse and “The Wild Side of Life” by Hank Thompson all topped the charts.
1953 – “Song From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart)” by Percy Faith topped the charts.
1953 – Bill Haley and His Comets charts with “Crazy Man Crazy”
1955 – Rocky Marciano defeated Don Cocknell in 9 rounds in San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium to retain his world heavyweight title.
1957 – US launches its third atomic submarine, USS Skate, at Groton CT.
1957 – Yankees involved in Copacabana Incident, leads to Billy Martin trade. The incident was a group of Yankees celebrating Billy Martin’s 29th birthday in a raucous fashion. An ensuing fight at Manhattan’s Copacabana Club leads to $5,500 in fines and the eventual trade of Billy to Kansas City.
1958 – Eli Beeding experiences 83 g deceleration on a rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. This was 35 mph to a complete stop in .1 seconds. He was hospitalized for 3 days for recovery.
1958 – Major Irwin, USAF flies a Lockheed Starfighter to a record 1,404.18 MPH.
1959 – “The Happy Organ” by Dave “Baby” Cortez topped the charts.
1960 – CHART TOPPERS – “Stuck on You” by Elvis Presley, “Cathy’s Clown” by The Everly Brothers, “Night” by Jackie Wilson and “Please Help Me, I’m Falling” by Hank Locklin all topped the charts.
1960 – A research study reported that TV commercials “in living color” were over three times more effective than black and white commercials.
1960 – Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris.
1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
1963 – Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits in Faith 7, ends US Project Mercury.
1964 – “My Guy” by Mary Wells topped the charts.
1965 – Vietnam War: First US gunfire support in Vietnam by USS Tucker.
1965 – Vietnam War: United States government as “an accidental explosion of a bomb on one aircraft which spread to others” at the Bien Hoa air base leaves 27 U.S. servicemen and 4 South Vietnamese dead and some 95 Americans injured. More than 40 U.S. and South Vietnamese planes, including 10 B-57s, were destroyed.
1965 – The Campbell Soup Company introduces Spaghetti-Os under its Franco-American brand.
1965 – Baltimore Oriole Jim Palmer’s pitching debut, beats Yankees 7-5 and hits a home run.
1965 – “The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd”, a Broadway musical starring Anthony Newley, made its premiere at the Shubert Theatre in New York City.
1966 – Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” is released
1966 – Columbia Records released Bob Dylan’s album “Blonde on Blonde.”
1968 – CHART TOPPERS – “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro, “Tighten Up “by Archie Bell & The Drells, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” by Hugo Montenegro and “Have a Little Faith” by David Houston all topped the charts.
1968 – Tony Joe White recorded “Polk Salad Annie.”
1970 – “American Woman” by Guess Who topped the charts.
1971 – First class postage now costs 8¢ (was 6¢).
1972 – Greg Luzinski’s 500′ homerun hits the Liberty Bell monument in Philadelphia’s Veteran Stadium.
1972 – Vietnam: A series of air strikes over five days destroys all of North Vietnam’s pumping stations in the southern panhandle, thereby cutting North Vietnam’s main fuel line to South Vietnam.
1974 – SLA members William and Emily Harris were identified with Patty Hearst in LA during a shoplifting attempt at a sporting goods store. They escaped in a stolen van with an 19-year-old kidnapped victim.
1976 – CHART TOPPERS – “Boogie Fever” by Sylvers, “Silly Love Songs” by Wings, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” by Elvin Bishop and “What Goes on When the Sun Goes Down” by Ronnie Milsap all topped the charts.
1977 – Five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling on top of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.
1978 – Patricia Hearst (24) entered the Federal correctional Institute at Pleasanton, Ca., to resume her 7-year sentence for a SF bank robbery with the SLA.
1980 – Dr. George C. Nichopoulous was indicted in Memphis on 14 counts of overprescribing drugs to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and nine other patients.
1981 – “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes topped the charts.
1983 – The television special “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever” aired. It was a taping of the first time that Michael Jackson performed the moonwalk for a live audience. (Part 1 – 25:55) (Part 2 – 24:40)
1984 – CHART TOPPERS – “Hello” by Lionel Richie, “Hold Me Now” by The Thompson Twins, “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” by Deniece Williams and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” by Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson all topped the charts.
1984 – Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets to keep Twins in Minnesota; Twins sell 51,863 tickets but only 6,346 fans show up for the game.
1984 – Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton hits a grand slam home run.
1985 – Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year.
1986 – “Top Gun” premieres.
1987 – “With or Without You” by U2 topped the charts.
1987 – Kentucky Derby winner Alysheba captured the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. Alysheba fell short in the Belmont Stakes, failing to become the first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed.
1987 – “Bobro 400″, a barge carrying 3,200 tons of garbage, set sail from New York. It set sail garbage that nobody wanted. The floating trash heap began an 8-week, 6,000 mile Odyssey in search of a willing dumping site.
1988 – A report by United States’ Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
1988 – US Supreme Court rules trash may be searched without a warrant. The court ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside a home.
1991 – Queen Elizabeth becomes first British monarch to address US congress.
1991 – US Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third wrapped up his latest Mideast visit in Israel without an agreement for Arab-Israeli peace talks.
1992 – STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage.
1992 – America3, skippered by Bill Koch, won the 28th defense of the America’s Cup.
1996 – Sammy Sosa is first Chicago Cub to hit 2 homeruns in 1 inning.
1996 – The US Treasury Dept. announced planned to issue a new type of government bond that would protect investors from inflation and help government finance the national debt. The new bond would offer returns that would rise and fall in line with inflation.
1996 – Chevron said it spilled as much as 17,000 gallons of oil into Pearl Harbor after a pipeline sprang a leak.
1996 – The US federal government set aside 3.9 million acres of land in California, Oregon and Washington state for the endangered marbled murrelet.
1997 – The space shuttle Atlantis docked with Russia’s Mir station.
2000 – U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office.
2001 – Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was indicted on charges of spying for Moscow. Hanssen later pleaded guilty to fifteen counts of espionage and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
2005 – The US Supreme Court in Swedenburg v. Kelly ruled 5-4 that wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards if those states allow direct shipments from in-state wineries.
2005 – Army Specialist Sabrina Harman was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of six of the seven charges she faced for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
2005 – Newsweek magazine retracted its Quran abuse story that sparked deadly protests in Afghanistan that left about 15 people dead and scores injured.
2006 – Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, the winningest coaches in Division I-A football, were elected to the college football Hall of Fame.
2007 – Anti-war Democrats in the US Senate failed in an attempt to cut off funds for the Iraq war.
2007 – In Mexico over 40 armed men abducted and killed 4 police officers south of the Arizona border.
2009 – In Maryland Rachel Alexandra won the second leg of the Triple Crown. She joined an impressive list when she became the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness.
2009 – In North Oakland, Ca., motorist Anthony Perea (27) and pedestrian Floyd Ross (41) were killed when 4 suspects in a Berkeley homicide fled police and crashed.
2011 – The Sahara in Las Vegas closed after 59 years. It was formerly the “hangout” for the likes of the Rat Pack (Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.), Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
1801 – William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State, bought Alaska at 2 ¢/acre (d. 1872)
1824 – Levi P. Morton, United States Vice President under Benjamin Harrison (d.1920)
1905 – Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
1912 – Studs Terkel, American writer
1913 – Woody Herman, American musician and band leader (d. 1987)
1921 – Harry Carey, Jr., American actor
1930 – Betty Carter, American jazz singer (d. 1998)
1944 – Danny Trejo, American actor
1953 – Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
1966 – Scott Reeves, American actor and singer
BALLARD, DONALD E.
Vietnam
Hospital Corpsman
Rank and organization: Hospital Corpsman Second Class, U.S. Navy, Company M, 3d Battalion, 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division. Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 16 May 1968. Entered service at: Kansas City, Mo. Born: 5 December 1945, Kansas City, Mo. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life and beyond the call of duty while serving as a HC2c. with Company M, in connection with operations against enemy aggressor forces. During the afternoon hours, Company M was moving to join the remainder of the 3d Battalion in Quang Tri Province. After treating and evacuating two heat casualties, HC2c. Ballard was returning to his platoon from the evacuation landing zone when the company was ambushed by a North Vietnamese Army unit employing automatic weapons and mortars, and sustained numerous casualties. Observing a wounded Marine, HC2c. Ballard unhesitatingly moved across the fire swept terrain to the injured man and swiftly rendered medical assistance to his comrade. HC2c. Ballard then directed four Marines to carry the casualty to a position of relative safety. As the four men prepared to move the wounded marine, an enemy soldier suddenly left his concealed position and, after hurling a hand grenade which landed near the casualty, commenced firing upon the small group of men. Instantly shouting a warning to the marines, HC2c. Ballard fearlessly threw himself upon the lethal explosive device to protect his comrades from the deadly blast. When the grenade failed to detonate, he calmly arose from his dangerous position and resolutely continued his determined efforts in treating other Marine casualties. HC2c. Ballard’s heroic actions and selfless concern for the welfare of his companions served to inspire all who observed him and prevented possible injury or death to his fellow marines. His courage, daring initiative, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of extreme personal danger, sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
ROARK, ANUND C.
VIETNAM
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. Place and Date: Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 16 May 1968. Entered service at: Los Angeles, Calif. Born: 17 February 1948, Vallejo, Calif. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Roark distinguished himself by extraordinary gallantry while serving with Company C. Sgt. Roark was the point squad leader of a small force which had the mission of rescuing eleven men in a hilltop observation post under heavy attack by a company-size force, approximately 1,000 meters from the battalion perimeter. As lead elements of the relief force reached the besieged observation post, intense automatic weapons fire from enemy occupied bunkers halted their movement. Without hesitation, Sgt. Roark maneuvered his squad, repeatedly exposing himself to withering enemy fire to hurl grenades and direct the fire of his squad to gain fire superiority and cover the withdrawal of the outpost and evacuation of its casualties. Frustrated in their effort to overrun the position, the enemy swept the hilltop with small arms and volleys of grenades. Seeing a grenade land in the midst of his men, Sgt. Roark, with complete disregard for his safety, hurled himself upon the grenade, absorbing its blast with his body. Sgt. Roark’s magnificent leadership and dauntless courage saved the lives of many of his comrades and were the inspiration for the successful relief of the outpost. His actions which culminated in the supreme sacrifice of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect great credit on himself and the U.S. Army .
*MULLER, JOSEPH E.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 305th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Ishimmi, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 15-16 May 1945. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: Holyoke, Mass. G.O. No.: 71, 17 July 1946. Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. When his platoon was stopped by deadly fire from a strongly defended ridge, he directed men to points where they could cover his attack. Then through the vicious machinegun and automatic fire, crawling forward alone, he suddenly jumped up, hurled his grenades, charged the enemy, and drove them into the open where his squad shot them down. Seeing enemy survivors about to man a machinegun, He fired his rifle at point-blank range, hurled himself upon them, and killed the remaining 4. Before dawn the next day, the enemy counterattacked fiercely to retake the position. Sgt. Muller crawled forward through the flying bullets and explosives, then leaping to his feet, hurling grenades and firing his rifle, he charged the Japs and routed them. As he moved into his foxhole shared with 2 other men, a lone enemy, who had been feigning death, threw a grenade. Quickly seeing the danger to his companions, Sgt. Muller threw himself over it and smothered the blast with his body. Heroically sacrificing his life to save his comrades, he upheld the highest traditions of the military service.
BOEHLER, OTTO
PHILLIPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company I, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: Near San Isidro, Philippine Islands, 16 May 1899. Entered service at: Wahpeton, N. Dak. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 17 May 1906. Citation: With 21 other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.
DAVIS, CHARLES P.
PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: Near San Isidro, Philippine Islands, 16 May 1899. Entered service at: Valley City, N. Dak. Birth: Long Prairie, Minn. Date of issue: 28 April 1906. Citation: With twenty-one other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.
HIGH, FRANK C.
PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company G, 2d Oregon Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: Near San Isidro, Philippine Islands, 16 May 1899. Entered service at: Picard, Calif. Birth: Yolo County, Calif. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: With 21 other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.
KINNE, JOHN B.
PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 1st North Dakota Infantry. Place and date: Near San Isidro, Philippine Islands, 16 May 1899. Entered service at: Fargo, N. Dak. Birth: Beloit, Wis. Date of issue: 17 May 1906. Citation. With 21 other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.
LONGFELLOW, RICHARD M.
PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: Near San Isidro Philippine Islands, 16 May 1899. Entered service at: Mandan, N. Dak. Birth: Logan County, Ill, Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: With 21 other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.
ROBERTSON, MARCUS W.
PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 2d Oregon Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: Near San Isidro, Philippine Islands, 16 May 1899. Entered service at: Hood River, Oreg. Birth: Flintville, Wis. Date of issue: 28 April 1906. Citation: With 21 other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.
ROSS, FRANK F.
PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: Near San Isidro, Philippine Islands 16 May 1899. Entered service at: Langdon, N. Dak. Birth: Avon, Ill. Date of issue: 6 June 1906. Citation: With 21 other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.
BABCOCK, JOHN B.
INDIAN WARS
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Spring Creek, Nebr., 16 May 1869. Entered service at: Stonington, Conn. Birth: New Orleans, La. Date of issue: 18 September 1897. Citation: While serving with a scouting column, this officer’s troop was attacked by a vastly superior force of Indians. Advancing to high ground, he dismounted his men, remaining mounted himself to encourage them, and there fought the Indians until relieved, his horse being wounded.
GRAY, ROBERT A.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 21st Connecticut Infantry. Place and date: At Drurys Bluff, Va., 16 May 1864. Entered service at: Groton, Conn. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 13 July 1897. Citation: While retreating with his regiment, which had been repulsed, he voluntarily returned, in face of the enemy’s fire, to a former position and rescued a wounded officer of his company who was unable to walk.
HILL, JAMES
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company I, 21st lowa Infantry. Place and date: At Champion Hill, Miss., 16 May 1863. Entered service at: Cascade, lowa. Birth: England. Date of issue: 15 March 1893. Citation: By skillful and brave management captured 3 of the enemy’s pickets.
LORD, WILLIAM
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Musician, Company C, 40th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Drurys Bluff, Va., 16 May 1864. Entered service at. Lawrence, Mass. Birth: England. Date •r issue. 4 April 1898. Citation: Went to the assistance of a wounded officer Iying helpless between the lines, and under fire from both sides removed him to a place of safety.
WILHELM, GEORGE
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Captain, Company F, 56th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Champion Hill, or Bakers Creek, Miss., 16 May 1863. Entered service at: Lancaster, Ohio. Born: 2 April 1830, Scioto County, Ohio. Date of issue: 17 November 1887. Citation: Having been badly wounded in the breast and captured, he made a prisoner of his captor and brought him into camp.
Unerased History – May 15th
National Chocolate Chip Day
Peace Officer Memorial Day
National Pizza Party Day
Peace Officers Memorial
Peace Officers Memorial Day is held annually in the United States on May 15 in honor of federal, state and local officers killed or disabled in the line of duty.
The Proclamation:
“Whereas, the Congress and President of the United States has designated May 15 as Peace Officers’ Memorial Day, and the week in which May 15 falls as National Police week, and Whereas the members of the ( Your City ) Police Department play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of ( Your City ).
Whereas, it is important that all citizens know and understand the duties, responsibilities, hazard and sacrifices of their law enforcement agency, and that members of the ( Your City ) Police Department recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property, by protecting them against violence and disorder, and by protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against oppression or intimidation; and whereas the men and women of the ( Your City ) Police Department unceasingly provide vital public service, now therefore, Mayor ( Your Mayor ), mayor of ( Your City), call upon all citizens of ( Your City ) and upon all patriotic, civic, and educational organizations to observe the week of May 15 – 21, 2011 as National Police Week with appropriate ceremonies and observances in which all of our people may join in commemorating law enforcement officers, past and present, who, by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities, have rendered a dedicated service to their communities and, in so doing, have established for themselves an enviable and enduring reputation for preserving the rights and security of all citizens.
I further call upon all citizens of (Your City ) to observe Sunday, May 15, 2011, as Peace Officers’ Memorial Day in honor of those law enforcement officers who, through their courageous deeds, have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their communities or have become disabled in the performance of duty, and let us recognize and pay respect to the survivors of our fallen heroes.”
National Police Week was established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, as a way to recognize the hard work of the men and women who protect us by upholding our laws.
Peace Officer’s Memorial Day pay homage to police officers at a federal, state, and municipal level; it is always celebrated on May 15, and National Police Week is always scheduled for the week that follows.
“It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success.”
~ David Feherty
quash \KWOSH\, transitive verb:
1. (Law) To abate, annul, overthrow, or make void; as, “to quash an indictment.”
2. To crush; to subdue; to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely; as, “to quash a rebellion.”
1602 – Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
1618 – Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made.)
1672 – First copyright law enacted by Massachusetts. It prohibited the making of reprints without the consent of the owner of the copy.
1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world’s first machine gun.
1756 – The Seven Years War, known in America as the French and Indian War, officially begins when England declares war on France.
1776 – Revolutionary War: the Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the Declaration of Independence.
1800 – George III survives two assassination attempts in one day. King George III was the British King before, during and after the Revolutionary War.
1817 – Opening of the first private mental health hospital in America, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, PA.
1820 – The US Congress designated the slave trade as a form of piracy.
1829 – Joseph Smith was “ordained” by John the Baptist- according to Joseph Smith. Mormon church was founded in NY.
1836 – Francis Baily observes “Baily’s beads” during an annular eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the rugged edge allows beads of sunlight to shine through in some places, and not in others. This effect is called “Baily’s beads” in honor of Francis Baily.
1853 – In San Francisco a groundbreaking ceremony was held for a tunnel to deliver water from Mountain Lake to the Presideo and then to downtown San Francisco. The project was not completed due to lack of funding. In 2010 the entrance, buried under 42 feet of landfill, was rediscovered in the Presidio near Polin Springs.
1862 – Union Grounds, Brooklyn NY, first baseball enclosure, opens. During its early years it was the home field for several ballclubs, notably including the Brooklyn Eckfords, champions of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1862 and 1863.
1862 – Civil War: The Confederate cruiser Alabama ran aground near London.
1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
1862 – Civil War ; Corporal John Mackie became the first Marine awarded the Medal of Honor. At Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia, a marker indicates the location of Mackie’s bravery.
1862 – Civil War: General Benjamin F. (“Beast”) Butler decreed “Woman Order,” that all captured women in New Orleans were to be his whores. More correctly it was because the Confederate women were highly abusive to all Union troops. The order read: “As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous noninterference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.”
1862 – Civil War: The Union ironclad Monitor, Revenue Cutter Naugatuck, and the gunboat Galena fired on Confederate troops at the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia.
1864 – Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
1864 – Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1864 – Civil War: The U.S.S. St. Clair, a 200-ton stern-wheeler , engaged a battery near Eunice’s Bluff, Louisiana. Gregory exchanged fire until the transports he was convoying were out of danger, then continued downriver.
1869 – In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman’s Suffrage Association.
1885 – Mormons began an exodus from the United States into Mexico.
1894 – Fire in the Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings.
1905 – Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres, in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1910 – The last time a major earthquake happened on the Elsinore Fault Zone. This fault is part of the trilateral split of the San Andreas fault system and is one of the largest, though quietest faults in Southern California
1911 – The US Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an “unreasonable” monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
1912 – Ty Cobb rushes a heckler at a New York Highlander game & is suspended.
1916 – U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.
1918 – World War I: Pfc. Henry Johnson and Pfc. Needham Roberts received the Croix de Guerre for their services in World War I. They were the first Americans to win France’s highest military medal.
1918 – First regular airmail service (between New York, Philadelphia & Washington DC) inaugurated.
1918 – Washington Senator Walter Johnson pitches 1-0, 18 inning game.
1923 – Listerine was trademark registered. It was invented in the 19th century as a powerful surgical antiseptic. It was later sold, in a distilled form, as a floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhea. Sales did not take-off until it was pitched as a solution for “chronic halitosis”, the faux medical term that the Listerine advertising group created in 1921 to describe bad breath.
1926 – The New York Rangers became the newest franchise to be awarded by the National Hockey League. Two years later, the Rangers won their first Stanley Cup.
1929 – A fire in X-ray film stock at the Cleveland Clinic (Crile) in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
1930 – Ellen Church, the first airlines stewardess, went on duty. During World War II Church served with the Army Nurse Corps as a flight nurse, earning an Air Medal.
1934 – Department of Justice offers $25,000 reward for Dillinger, dead or alive.
1938 – Guy Lombardo and his orchestra recorded “Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride”, the group’s last side for Victor Records
1939 – Supreme Court Justice James McReynolds in the US vs. Miller case said that the Second Amendment did not bar restrictions on the ownership of sawed-off shotguns, because the regulations did not have a “reasonable relationship” to militias.
1940 – World War II: Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation. This poorly trained and equipped army could not stand up to the onslaught.
1940 – McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1940 – Nylon stockings go on sale for first time (US). Over 780,000 pairs of stockings were sold in the first day alone and in the first year, 64 million pairs of nylon stockings were sold in the US.
1941 – Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
1942 – World War II: A bill creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1942 – Gasoline first rationed in US (17 Eastern States). Sales were limited to three gallons a week for nonessential vehicles.
1943 – World War II: Warsaw ghetto uprising ended in its destruction by Nazi-SS troops.
1944 – World War II: A partisan attack on a movie theater killed 5 German soldiers in Genoa. 4 days later SS Officer Friedrich Engel ordered the killing of 59 Italian prisoners in reprisal.
1944 – World War II: American forces have eliminated the Japanese garrison on Wadke, New Guinea. On the mainland, nearby, Japanese forces conduct weak attacks near Arare.
1945 – World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
1945 – World War II: The USS Forsyth joined the USS Sutton (DE-771) in accepting the surrender of U-234 at 46º 39′ N. x 45º 39′ W. This submarine was carrying a German technical mission and supplies, including a cargo of uranium, to Tokyo. Earlier, two Japanese passengers on board had committed suicide rather than surrender.
1945 – World War II: Elements of the 1st Marine Division, part of US 3rd Amphibious Corps, capture Wana Ridge. On Okinawa, American troops secure Chocolate Drop Hill.
1948 – Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
1951 – CHART TOPPERS – “If” by Perry Como, “Mockingbird Hill” by Patti Page, “On Top of Old Smokey” by The Weavers (vocal: Terry Gilkyson) and “Cold, Cold Heart” by Hank Williams
1951 – AT&T becomes first corporation to have one million stockholders.
1952 – Johnny Longden becomes 2nd jockey to ride 4,000 winners.
1952 – Korean War: Air Force First Lieutenant James H. Kasler, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, became the war’s 15th ace after downing two MiGs for a total of five kills.
1953 – World heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano collected his 44th pro boxing victory on this night, knocking out former champ, Jersey Joe Walcott, at Chicago Stadium in 2 minutes, 25 seconds of the first round.
1954 – “Wanted” by Perry Como topped the charts.
1958 – The MGM movie musical “Gigi,” starring Leslie Caron as a young French courtesan-in-training, was released.
1959 – CHART TOPPERS - “The Happy Organ” by Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez, “Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)” by The Impalas, “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)” by Edward Byrnes & Connie Stevens and “White Lightning” by George Jones all topped the charts.
1960 – Taxes took 25% of earnings in US.
1962 – After five years on “Wagon Train“, Robert Horton let his performing contract expire and he leaves the popular TV series.
1963 – The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space.
1963 – Peter, Paul & Mary win their first Grammy (“If I Had a Hammer”)
1965 – “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermits topped the charts
1967 – CHART TOPPERS - “The Happening” by The Supremes, “Sweet Soul Music”by Arthur Conley, “Groovin’” by The Young Rascals and “Sam’s Place” by Buck Owens all topped the charts.
1967 – Vietnam War: Marine positions between Dong Ha and Con Thien are pounded by North Vietnamese artillery. At the same time, more than 100 Americans were killed or wounded during heavy fighting along the DMZ.
1968 – First American League game played in Milwaukee, is a 4-2 California win against Chicago.
1968 – A tornado at Jonesboro, Arkansas, killed 34 people. Another near Anchorage, Alaska, killed one person.
1968 – Vietnam War: U.S. Marines relieved army troops in Nhi Ha, South Vietnam after a fourteen-day battle.
1969 – The nuclear powered attack submarine Guitarro (SSN-665) sank while tied up to the dock at the Mare Island site of the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard.
1969 – US Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned amid a controversy over his past legal fees.
1970 – “Close to You“, the Carpenter’s second album was released by A&M Records
1970 – President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female US Army Generals.
1970 – Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
1971 – “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night topped the charts
1972 – The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
1972 – In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to be become President. In 2007 Bremer was released from jail after serving 35 of his 53 year sentence.
1973 – California Angel Nolan Ryan’s first no-hitter beats Kansas City Royals, 3-0.
1975 – CHART TOPPERS - “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)” by Tony Orlando & Dawn, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” by Freddy Fender, “Jackie Blue” by Ozark Mountain Daredevils and “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” by Gary Stewart all topped the charts.
1976 – “Boogie Fever” by the Sylvers topped the charts.
1978 – The US Supreme Court’s Santa Clara Pueblo vs. Martinez decision held that tribal enrollment issues are an Indian-only matter immune from outside interference.
1980 – The first transcontinental balloon crossing of the United States took place.
1982 – “Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder topped the charts.
1983 – CHART TOPPERS - “Beat It” by Michael Jackson, “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, “Overkill” by Men at Work and “Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love” by B.J. Thomas all topped the charts.
1983 – The Madison Hotel in Boston, Mass., was destroyed by planned implosion.
1986 – Searchers on Oregon’s Mount Hood found two teenage survivors of a hiking expedition that became trapped in a whiteout blizzard. Nine other climbers died.
1987 – President Reagan told a gathering of out-of-town reporters at the White House he did not consider himself “mortally wounded” by the Iran-Contra affair.
1988 - More than eight years after they intervened in Afghanistan to support the pro-communist government, Soviet troops begin their withdrawal. Not far away we got trapped in a similar conflict..
1991 – CHART TOPPERS - “Joyride” by Roxette, “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)” by Hi-Five, “Here We Go” by C + C Music Factory Presents Freedom Williams and Zelma Davis and “If I Know Me” by George Strait all topped the charts.
1991 – President Bush takes Queen Elizabeth to Oakland A’s-Baltimore Oriole game – 2 innings worth.
1991 – Red Sox & White Sox play then slowest 9 inning game (4:11).
1993 – Alamodome in San Antonio TX opens.
1993 – Prairie Bayou won the Preakness.
1993 – “That’s the Way Love Goes” by Janet Jackson topped the charts.
1995 – Dow Corning Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing potentially astronomical expenses from liability lawsuits.
1996 – The Coast Guard formally closed their base at Governors Island in New York.
1997 – The United States government acknowledges the existence of the “Secret War” in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other “Secret War” veterans.
1997 – The Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia’s orbiting Mir station.
1997 – In Louisiana Hayes Williams (49) was released after 30 years from the State Penitentiary at Angola after new evidence confirmed his innocence in the 1967 murder of a white service station owner.
1999 – Charismatic won the Preakness, finishing 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Menifee.
2000 – By a five-to-four vote, the US Supreme Court threw out a key provision of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, saying that rape victims could not sue their attackers in federal court.
2000 – United Press International was sold to the parent company of The Washington Times.
2001 – The US Federal Reserve lowered the short term federal funds interest rate .5% to 4%.
2001 – The US government issued new guidelines for managing high cholesterol.
2001 – A runaway freight train rolled about 70 miles through Ohio with no one aboard before a railroad employee jumped onto the locomotive and brought it to a stop.
2002 – The White House acknowledged that in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush was told by U.S. intelligence that Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network might hijack American airplanes, but that officials did not know that suicide hijackers were plotting to use planes as missiles.
2002 – The Bush administration rejected pleas by former Pres. Carter and farm-state lawmakers to ease the trade embargo on Cuba.
2002 – Financier Martin Frankel pleaded guilty in New Haven, Conn., to pulling off one of the most brazen swindles Wall Street had ever seen. In 2004 Frankel (50) was sentenced to over 16 years in prison.
2003 – Runaway Texas Democrats boarded two buses and returned home after a self-imposed weeklong exile in Oklahoma that succeeded in killing a redistricting bill they opposed.
2003 – Iraq War: US Army forces stormed into a village near the northern city of Tikrit before dawn, seizing more than 260 prisoners, including one man on the most-wanted list of former Iraqi officials.
2003 – Scott S. Sheppard of the Univ. of Hawaii reported 43 more moons around Jupiter and said he expects to find 50 more. The total number of Jupiter moons reached 80.
2004 – U.S. forces fought militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Karbala, while insurgents in the northern city of Mosul attacked an Iraqi army recruiting center, killing four people and wounding nineteen.
2004 – Smarty Jones won the Preakness by a record 11 1/2 lengths.
2004 – In Golden, Colorado, a 40-ton steel bridge girder collapsed on I-70 near Golden and sheared off the top of an SUV killing its 3 passengers.
2005 – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid a surprise visit to Iraq to express support for its new government.
2006 – Washington banned all US arms sales to Venezuela, punishing President Hugo Chavez for his ties with Cuba and Iran.
2007 – Kenny Chesney collected his third consecutive entertainer of the year trophy from the Academy of Country Music.
2007 – Pres. Bush tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as a new White House War Czar. At least 5 four-star generals had turned the offer down.
2007 – Associated Press reported that many VA officials who got hefty bonuses last year sat on the boards that recommended the payments.
2007 – The Rev. Jerry Falwell (73), the television minister whose 1979 founding of the Moral Majority galvanized American religious conservatives into a political force, died.
2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
2010 – Jessica Watson, a 16-year-old Australian completed a sail around the world in 210 days. She is the youngest to have ever completed the 23,000 nautical mile trek. Her first request was to be allowed to get her driver’s license and eat some fresh fruit.
2009 – General Motors said it plans to eliminate some 1,000 of 6,000 showrooms over the next year in an effort to boost profits by lessening competition among dealers.
1749 – Levi Lincoln, Sr., American revolutionary, statesman, politician, and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1820)
1857 – Williamina Fleming, Scottish-born astronomer (d. 1911)
1859 – Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
1902 – Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
1905 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (d. 1994)
1918 – Eddy Arnold, American country music singer (d. 2008)
1937 – Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State
*COURTNEY, HENRY ALEXIUS, JR.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 6 January 1916, Duluth, Minn. Appointed from: Minnesota. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Executive Officer of the 2d Battalion, 22d Marines, 6th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Islands, 14 and 15 May 1945. Ordered to hold for the night in static defense behind Sugar Loaf Hill after leading the forward elements of his command in a prolonged fire fight, Maj. Courtney weighed the effect of a hostile night counterattack against the tactical value of an immediate marine assault, resolved to initiate the assault, and promptly obtained permission to advance and seize the forward slope of the hill. Quickly explaining the situation to his small remaining force, he declared his personal intention of moving forward and then proceeded on his way, boldly blasting nearby cave positions and neutralizing enemy guns as he went. Inspired by his courage, every man followed without hesitation, and together the intrepid marines braved a terrific concentration of Japanese gunfire to skirt the hill on the right and reach the reverse slope. Temporarily halting, Maj. Courtney sent guides to the rear for more ammunition and possible replacements. Subsequently reinforced by 26 men and an LVT load of grenades, he determined to storm the crest of the hill and crush any planned counterattack before it could gain sufficient momentum to effect a breakthrough. Leading his men by example rather than by command, he pushed ahead with unrelenting aggressiveness, hurling grenades into cave openings on the slope with devastating effect. Upon reaching the crest and observing large numbers of Japanese forming for action less than 100 yards away, he instantly attacked, waged a furious battle and succeeded in killing many of the enemy and in forcing the remainder to take cover in the caves. Determined to hold, he ordered his men to dig in and, coolly disregarding the continuous hail of flying enemy shrapnel to rally his weary troops, tirelessly aided casualties and assigned his men to more advantageous positions. Although instantly killed by a hostile mortar burst while moving among his men, Maj. Courtney, by his astute military acumen, indomitable leadership and decisive action in the face of overwhelming odds, had contributed essentially to the success of the Okinawa campaign. His great personal valor throughout sustained and enhanced the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
CANFIELD, HETH
INDIAN WAR PERIOD
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date. At Little Blue, Nebr. 15 May 1870. Entered service at. ——. Birth: New Meddford, Conn. Place of issue. 22 June 1870. Citation. Gallantry in action.
CRAIG, SAMUEL H.
INDIAN WAR PERIOD
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 4th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Santa Cruz Mountains, Mex., 15 May 1886. Entered service at: ——. Birth: New Market, N.H. Date of issue: 27 April 1887. Citation: Conspicuous gallantry during an attack on a hostile Apache Indian Camp; seriously wounded.
HIMMELSBACK, MICHAEL
INDIAN WAR PERIOD
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Blue, Nebr., 15 May 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Allegheny County, Pa. Date of issue: 22 June 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.
HUBBARD, THOMAS
INDIAN WAR PERIOD
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Blue, Nebr., 15 May 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 22 June 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.
LEONARD, PATRICK
INDIAN WAR PERIOD
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Blue, Nebr., 15 May 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 22 June 1870. Second award. Citation: Gallantry in action.
THOMPSON, GEORGE W.
INDIAN WAR PERIOD
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Blue, Nebr., 15 May 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Victory, N.Y. Date of issue: 22 June 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.
BENJAMIN, SAMUEL N.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 2d U.S. Artillery. Place and date: From Bull Run to Spotsylvania, Va., from July 1861 to May 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: New York, N.Y. Date of issue: 11 June 1877. Citation: Particularly distinguished services as an artillery officer. Exact date is unknown
BURNS, JAMES M.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 1st West Virginia Infantry. Place and date: At New Market, Va., 15 May 1864. Entered service at: Jefferson County, Ohio. Birth: Jefferson County, Ohio. Date of issue: 20 November 1896. Citation: Under a heavy fire of musketry, rallied a few men to the support of the colors, in danger of capture and bore them to a place of safety. One of his comrades having been severely wounded in the effort, Sgt. Burns went back a hundred yards m the face of the enemy’s fire and carried the wounded man from the field.
COLLINS, THOMAS D.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company H, 143d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga., 15 May 1864. Entered service at: Liberty, Sullivan County, N.Y. Born: 14 August 1847, Neversink, N.Y. Date of issue: 14 August 1896. Citation: Captured a regimental flag of the enemy.
COSGROVE, THOMAS
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 40th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Drurys Bluff, Va., 15 May 1864. Entered service at: East Stoughton, Mass. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 7 November 1896. Citation: Individually demanded and received the surrender of 7 armed Confederates concealed in a cellar, disarming and marching them in as prisoners of war.
KENYON, CHARLES
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Fireman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1840, New York. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Calena in the attack upon Drewry’s Bluff, 15 May 1862. Severely burned while extricating a priming wire which had become bent and fixed in the bow gun while his ship underwent terrific shelling from the enemy, Kenyon hastily dressed his hands with cotton waste and oil and courageously returned to his gun while enemy sharpshooters in rifle pits along the banks continued to direct their fire at the men at the guns.
KENYON, JOHN S.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 3d New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Trenton, N.C., 15 May 1862. Entered service at: Schenevus, N.Y. Born: 5 May 1843, Grosvenors, Schoharie County, N.Y. Date of issue: 28 September 1897. Citation: Voluntarily left a retiring column, returned in face of the enemy’s fire, helped a wounded man upon a horse, and so enable him to escape capture or death.
MACKIE, JOHN F.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 1836, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Calena in the attack on Fort Darling at Drewry’s Bluff, James River, on 15 May 1862. As enemy shellfire raked the deck of his ship, Corporal Mackie fearlessly maintained his musket fire against the rifle pits along the shore and, when ordered to fill vacancies at guns caused by men wounded and killed in action, manned the weapon with skill and courage.
OLIVER, PAUL A.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Captain, Company D. 12th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga. 15 May 1864 Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 18 July 1831, at sea in the English Channel aboard American flagship. Date of issue. 12 October 1892. Citation: While acting as aide assisted in preventing a disaster caused by Union troops firing into each other.
POND, GEORGE F.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 3d Wisconsin Cavalry. Place and date: At Drywood, Kans., 15 May 1864. Entered service at. Fairwater, Fond du Lac County, Wis. Birth: Lake County, Ill. Date of Issue: 16 May 1899. Citation: With 2 companions, attacked a greatly superior force of guerrillas, routed them, and rescued several prisoners.
REGAN, JEREMIAH
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Born: 1832 Boston, Mass. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: As captain of No. 2 gun on board the U.S.S. Galena in the attack upon Drewy’s Bluff, 15 May 1862. With his ship severely damaged by the enemy’s shellfire and several men killed and wounded Regan, continued to man his gun throughout the engagement despite the concentration of fire directed against men at their guns by enemy sharpshooters in rifle pits along the banks.
SWEATT, JOSEPH S. G.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 6th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Carrsville, Va., 15 May 1863. Entered service at: Lowell, Mass. Born: 23 October 1843, Boscawen, N.H. Date of issue: 22 March 1892. Citation: When ordered to retreat this soldier turned and rushed back to the front, in the face of heavy fire of the enemy, in an endeavor to rescue his wounded comrades, remaining by them until overpowered and taken prisoner.
TREMAIN, HENRY E.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Major and Aide-de-Camp, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga., 15 May 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: New York, N.Y. Date of issue: 30 June 1892. Citation: Voluntarily rode between the lines while two brigades of Union troops were firing into each other and stopped the firing.
Unerased History – May 14th
National Chicken Dance Day
Stars and Stripes Forever Day
Underground America Day
Skylab
Skylab was America’s first experimental space station. It was launched May 14, 1973, from the NASA Kennedy Space Center by a huge Saturn V launch vehicle, the moon rocket of the Apollo Space Program. The equipment used to make this rocket was new and extensive use of Saturn and Apollo equipment.
Skylab was designed to be used for long term missions. Its objectives were twofold: 1)To prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods, and 2) to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based observations. For the most part, except some early problems, it was very successful. Three three-man crews occupied Skylab for 171 days and 13 hours. Almost 300 scientific and technical experiments were conducted. Among those experiments were medical experiments on humans’ adaptability to zero gravity, solar observations that were not possible from earth and mapping of some of earth’s resources.
The rocky start occurred sixty-three seconds after liftoff. The meteoroid shield–designed also to shade Skylab’s workshop–deployed inadvertently. It was torn from the space station by atmospheric drag. This event and its effects started a ten-day period in which Skylab was beset with problems that had to be conquered before the space station would be safe and habitable for the three manned periods of its planned eight-month mission.
When the meteoroid shield ripped loose, it disturbed the mounting of workshop solar array “wing” two and caused it to partially deploy. The exhaust plume of the second stage retro-rockets impacted the partially deployed solar array and literally blew it into space. Also, a strap of debris from the meteoroid shield overlapped solar array “wing” number one such that when the programmed deployment signal occurred, wing number one was held in a slightly opened position where it was able to generate virtually no power.
In the meantime, the space station had achieved a near-circular orbit at the desired altitude of 270 miles. All other major functions including payload shroud jettison, deployment of the Apollo Telescope Mount (Skylab’s solar observatory) and its solar arrays, and pressurization of the space station occurred as planned.
During their time in space, all three crews exceeded the operational and experimental requirements placed upon them by the pre-mission flight plan and schedule. In addition, the third crew performed a number of sightings of Comet Kohoutek which were not initially scheduled.
On July 11, 1979, Skylab impacted the Earth surface. The debris dispersion area stretched from the Southeastern Indian Ocean across a sparsely populated section of Western Australia.
“Practice the presence of God just as you would practice music.”
~ Emilie Cady
ephemeral \ih-FEM-er-ul\, adjective:
1. Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; as, an ephemeral flower.
2. Short-lived; existing or continuing for a short time only.
Ephemeral derives from Greek ephemeros, from epi, upon + hemera, day.
1607 – Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony. 104 Englishmen came ashore from the small sailing ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, onto what English adventurers came to call Jamestown Island in Virginia.
1610 – Assassination of Henri IV of France, bringing Louis XIII to the throne.
1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
1767 – British government disbanded the import duty on tea in America.
1787 – Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US Constitution.
1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination to his gardener’s son, James Phipps (8).
1801 – Tripoli declares war against the United States.
1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begins its historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
1812 – The Ordnance Department was established by act of Congress.
1836 - U.S. Exploring Expedition authorized to conduct exploration of Pacific Ocean and South Seas, first major scientific expedition overseas.
1845 – First U.S. warship visits Vietnam. While anchored in Da Nang for provisioning the USS Constitution conducts a show of force against Vietnamese authorities. It was to obtain the release of a French priest held prisoner by Emperor of Annam at Hue.
1853 – Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk.
1856 – James P. Casey, editor of the SF Times, shot James King, proprietor of the rival Evening Bulletin. King died 3 days later. A “Vigilance Committee” of 2,600 later marched up Sacramento St. and broke into the jail where Casey was held. He was lynched with his unfortunate cell mate.
1863 – Civil War: Union General Nathanial Banks took his army out of Alexandria, Louisiana, and headed towards Port Hudson along the Mississippi River. Port Hudson was considered the second most important strategic location on the river, after Vicksburg.
1863 – Civil War: The Battle of Jackson, MS takes place.
1864 – Civil War: Union and Confederate troops clash at Resaca, Georgia. This was one of the first engagements in a summer-long campaign by Union General William T. Sherman to capture the Confederate city of Atlanta.
1874 – Harvard & McGill play first game of football. It was actually a combination of British rugby and soccer.
1878 – Vaseline is first sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly).
1885 – Erskine Henderson African American jockey wins the Kentucky Derby on a horse trained by African American trainer Alex Perry.
1894 – Fire in Boston bleachers spread to 170 adjoining buildings.
1897 – “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa was registered. Sousa was leader of the U.S. Marine Band from 1880 until 1892, when he formed his own band. It was played for the first time at a ceremony where a statue of George Washington was unveiled.
1904 – In St. Louis, the Olympic games were held. It was the first time for the games to be played in the U.S. Some 1,500 athletes competed from 13 countries. The US won 80 of 100 gold medals.
1908 – First passenger flight in an airplane. The Wrights decided it was time to test the airplane with a real person in the seat, and they asked Charlie Furnas to do the honors.
1913 – New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller. |
1918 – Sunday baseball is made legal in Washington, DC. District commissioners rescind the ban in view of the large increase in the city’s wartime population and the need for recreation and amusement facilities.
1920 – Giants inform Yankees that the lease allowing them to play in the Polo Grounds will not be renewed at end of 1920 season.
1920 – Washington Senator Walter Johnson wins his 300th game vs Detroit.
1921 – Florence Allen is first woman judge to sentence a man to death.
1925 – Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway is published.
1927 – The University of Chicago’s local collegiate organization, Phi Sigma, becomes incorporated under Illinois law as Eta Sigma Phi, the National Honorary Classical Fraternity.
1932 – “We Want Beer!” parade in New York. An estimated 100,000 people turned out to cheer for the legalization of beer. One New Yorker in attendance, a toddler, held a sign that read, “My daddy had beer, why can’t I?”
1935 – Los Angeles’ Griffith Planetarium opens, third in the US.
1937 – Duke Ellington and his band recorded the classic, “Caravan”
1939 – Lina Medina becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
1940 – Boston’s Jimmie Foxx homerun goes over Comiskey Park’s left field roof and is the longest hit in Comiskey Park history.
1940 – World War II: Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.
1940 – World War II: The Netherlands surrenders to Germany.
1941 – World War II: French Admiral Francois Darlan, leader of the armed forces of Vichy France, broadcast to the citizens that only within the confines of the Third Reich can France thrive.
1941 – World War II: Some 3,600 Parisian Jews were arrested.
1942 – World War II: The first indications of Japanese planning for an attack on Midway Island, in the Central Pacific, reach the code breakers.
1942 – World War II: Women are allowed to enlist for non-combat duties in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), the Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), and Semper Paratus Always Ready Service (SPARS), the Women’s Reserve of the Marine Corps.
1942 – “Lincoln Portrait” by Aaron Copland was performed for the first time by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
1943 – World War II: Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine. Of the 332 people on board, only 64 survived.
1944 – World War II: Attacks by forces of the US 5th Army continue. The French Expeditionary Corps advances into the Ausente Valley, capturing Ausonia, and continue to advance over the Aurunci Mountains toward the next German defensive line.
1944 – World War II: Ninety-one German bombers harassed Bristol, England.
1944 – World War II: German Generals Rommel, Speidel and von Stulpnagel plotted to assassinate Hitler.
1945 – World War II: A Kamikaze Zero struck the US aircraft carrier Enterprise.
1945 – World War II: US Army announced the discovery of millions of dollars worth of art looted by the Nazis from all over Europe well as 100 tons of gold bars and currency hidden in a salt mine located on the Losa Plateau in Austria.
1945 – World War II: The concentration camp at Ebensee is liberated and described as “more horrible than Buchenwald.”
1945 – World War II: On Luzon, units of the US 25th Division, part of US 1st Corps, advance north of the Balete Pass.
1945 – World War II: The US 20th Air Force conducts a fire bombing raid Nagoya. About 2500 tons of incendiary bombs are dropped by 472 B-29 Superfortress bombers. Some 20 Japanese fighters are shot down.
1945 – World War II: On Okinawa, twenty US Marines reach the summit of Sugar Loaf Hill. The airfield at Yonabaru is captured.
1945 – “The Sparrow and the Hawk”, a serial for kids, was first broadcast over CBS radio. It recounted the wild, blue yonder adventures of Col. Spencer Mallory (The Hawk) and his juvenile nephew, Barney (The Sparrow.)
1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1949 – “Forever & Ever” by Russ Morgan topped the charts.
1949 – President Truman signed a bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral.
1950 – CHART TOPPERS – “My Foolish Heart” by The Gordon Jenkins Orchestra (vocal: Eileen Wilson), “It Isn’t Fair” by The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Don Cornell), “The Third Man Theme” by Alton Karas and “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” by Hank Williams all topped the charts.
1951 – The Ernie Kovacs Show, TV Variety debuts on NBC. The daily 15-minute broadcast aired from WPTZ featuring Kovacs and music from a local combo known as the Tony deSimone Trio.
1955 – “Dance with Me Henry” by Georgia Gibbs topped the charts.
1955 – “Unchained Melody” by Les Baxter topped the charts
1958 – CHART TOPPERS – “All I Have to Do is Dream” by The Everly Brothers, “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck” by Elvis Presley, “Return To Me” by Dean Martin and “Oh Lonesome Me” by Don Gibson all topped the charts.
1960 – Bally Ache, the winner of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, MD, was sold for $1,250,000.
1961 – American Civil Rights Movement: The Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protesters are beaten by an angry mob.
1961 – Stirling Moss wins the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix.
1963 – Arthur Ashe (22) becomes the first African American to make the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team.
1964 – Jan and Dean began recording “Little Old Lady From Pasadena.”
1966 – CHART TOPPERS – “Monday, Monday” by the Mamas and the Papas, “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” by Bob Dylan, “Kicks” by Paul Revere & The Raiders and “Want to Go with You” by Eddy Arnold all topped the charts.
1967 – Mickey Mantle hits his 500th home run off Baltimore Oriole’s Stu Miller.
1968 – The Rascals recorded “People Got to Be Free.”
1969 – Last Chevrolet Corvair built. With gas at $.34 per gallon, the Falcon and most “economy cars” were also gone by 1969.
1969 – Jacqueline Susann’s second novel, “The Love Machine,” was published by Simon and Schuster.
1969 – John B. McLendon becomes the first African American coach in the ABA when he signs a two year contract with the Denver Nuggets.
1969 – Vietnam War: Three companies of the 101st Airborne Division failed to push North Vietnamese forces off Hill 937 (Hamburger Hill) in South Vietnam.
1970 – Mississippi state police kill two black students at Jackson State University.
1971 – The Honey Cone received a gold record for the single, “Want Ads“.
1973 – Human Space Flight: Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched. It is the last launch of the Saturn V rocket.
1973 – Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, last airs on NBC-TV.
1973 – US Supreme Court approved equal rights to females in military.
1974 – CHART TOPPERS – “The Loco-Motion” by Grand Funk, “The Streak” by Ray Stevens, “Dancing Machine” by The Jackson 5 and “Is It Wrong (For Loving You)” by Sonny James all topped the charts.
1975 – Vietnam War: U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia. About 40 U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. About 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in the military operation.
1976 – Lowell Thomas ends 46 years as radio network reporter. His signature sign-on was “Good evening, everybody” and his sign-off “So long, until tomorrow.”
1977 – “When I Need You” by Leo Sayer topped the charts.
1980 – Bucky Dent hits an inside the park homerun, as Yankees win 16-3.
1980 – President Jimmy Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services.
1982 – CHART TOPPERS – “Chariots of Fire” by Titles – Vangelis, “Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder, “Don’t Talk to Strangers” by Rick Springfield and “Always on My Mind” by Willie Nelson all topped the charts.
1983 – “Beat It” by Michael Jackson topped the charts.
1985 – The first McDonald’s restaurant became the first fast-food business museum. It is located in Des Plaines,IL
1985 – Michael Jackson received a humanitarian award from President Ronald Reagan at the White House.
1986 – Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary.
1986 – Reggie Jackson hit his 537th homerun passing Mickey Mantle into 6th place.
1987 – Colt revolver (Peacemaker) of 1873 sells for $242,000.
1988 – Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27.
1988 – “Anything for You” by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine topped the charts.
1989 – First time since 1948 a player, Kirby Puckett, hit 6 consecutive doubles in one game.
1989 – Moonlighting, TV Crime Drama, last aired on ABC.
1990 – CHART TOPPERS – “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor, “Vogue” by Madonna, “All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You” by Heart and “Help Me Hold On” by Travis Tritt all topped the charts.
1990 – The hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa hit the top #40 on the pop singles chart with “Expression.”
1991 – President Bush announced his selection of Robert M. Gates to head the Central Intelligence Agency.
1994 – Dave Winfield passes Frank Robinson for 12th on RBI list with 1,617.
1995 – Eddie Murray of Indians hits his 463rd career homerun (ties for 18th).
1995 – Myrlie Evers-Williams was sworn in to head the NAACP, pledging to lead the civil rights group away from its recent troubles and restore it as a political and social force.
1996 – The US Energy Dept. announced that it would import 20 tons of nuclear waste from research reactors in 41 nations to prevent the weapons grade material from being used for bombs.
1996 – The Voice of America turned on its newest radio transmitter in Kuwait. It was 12 times more powerful than any broadcast station in the US and was directed at Iraq and Iran.
1996 – A jury in Pontiac, Mich., acquitted Dr. Jack Kevorkian of assisted-suicide charges, his third legal victory in two years. The judge dismissed murder charges in the same case.
1996 – The Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Tigrett, Tenn., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
1997 – Jurors at the Timothy McVeigh trial in Denver saw chilling black-and-white surveillance pictures of a Ryder truck moving toward the Oklahoma City federal building minutes before a bomb blew the place apart.
1997 – There was an explosion at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Wash. state. Plutonium and other hazardous chemicals were released and emergency response procedures broke down almost completely.
1997 – Margaret Lesher (64), inheritor of the Lesher media empire, was reported missing by her new husband, T.C. Thorstenson (39), at Bartlett Lake near Phoenix and was found drowned.
1998 – Last episode of Seinfeld on NBC (commercials are $2 million for 30 seconds).
1998 – Frank Sinatra died after a heart attack at the age of 82.
1998 – The Associated Press marked its 150th anniversary.
1998 – A US district judge ruled that all California pot clubs were in violation of federal law.
1998 – In Wisconsin abortion clinics across the state closed as a sweeping ban against “partial birth” abortions went into effect following last month’s bill signed by Gov. Tommy Thompson.
1999 – The US Senate approved a Republican plan to require background checks at gun shows 48-47.
1999 – North Korea returned the remains of six U.S. soldiers that had been killed during the Korean War.
2000 – In Washington DC tens of thousands took part in the Million Mom March for tougher gun laws.
2001 – The Supreme Court ruled 8-to-0 that there is no exception in federal law for people to use marijuana to ease their pain from cancer, AIDS or other illnesses.
2002 – Former Pres. Carter addressed the Cuban people and said the US should end its embargo and that Cuba should become more democratic.
2003 – Iraq War: In Iraq villagers pulled body after body from a mass grave in Mahaweel, exhuming the remains of up to 3,000 people they suspect were killed during the 1991 Shiite revolt against Saddam Hussein’s regime.
2003 – In Texas Victoria County Sheriff’s deputies found 17 people dead in and around a tractor-trailer rig at a South Texas truck stop. Another died at hospital. The victims were illegal immigrants.
2004 – Iraq War: In Iraq four people were detained in Salaheddin province for the killing of American Nicholas Berg, whose decapitation was captured on videotape. The informant who tipped off authorities was killed by unidentified gunmen the day after the arrests.
2005 – Eleven-year-old Katie Brownell, the only girl playing in the Oakfield-Alabama Little League in Batavia, New York, struck out every batter she faced in an 11-0 win. The Dodgers pitcher never even had a full count.
2005 – The former USS America (CV-66), a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States Navy, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. She is the largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.
2005 – The art exhibit “Gumby and Friends: The First 50 Years” opened at the Lynn House Gallery in Antioch, CA.
2006 - Mexican President Vicente Fox telephoned President Bush to express his concern about the border between the two nations, a day before Bush’s planned Oval Office speech on immigration.
2006 - Lew Anderson (b.1922) died in Hawthorne, NY. He captivated young baby boomers as the Howdy Doody Show’s final Clarabell the Clown.
2007 – The cost of first-class US letters went up 2 cents to 41 cents.
2007 - The trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla opened in Miami. Padilla and two co-defendants were convicted in August, 2007, of terrorism conspiracy; Padilla was sentenced to seventeen years in prison.
2008 – The US House (Democrat majority) passed a veto-proof, $290 billion farm bill that included $40 billion in subsidies to commodity farmers. The Senate (Democrat majority) was also expected to pass the bill by a veto-proof margin.
2008 – US Interior Sec. Dirk Kempthorne said the government will list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, making it the 1st animal to win protection due to global warming.
2008 – Sen. Obama won the support of John Edwards, former North Carolina Senator and presidential candidate.
2009 - It was disclosed that the US Treasury Department has agreed to extend billions in bailout funds to six major life insurers, following a months-long quest by some in the sector for government help in shoring up capital positions in the wake of major investment losses.
2009 – Chrysler plans to shut 25% (approximately 800) of its dealers.
2009 – EMT fired over Facebook photo of victim.
2009 - Scientists reported that ginger, long used as a folk remedy for stomach aches, limits nausea caused by chemotherapy used in cancer treatments.
2010 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Cape Canaveral for its final voyage with a crew of six heading to the International Space Station.
1752 – Timothy Dwight was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He was the eighth president of Yale College (1795-1817) (d. 1817)
1897 – Ed Ricketts, American marine biologist (d. 1948)
1904 – Hans Albert Einstein, American professor (d. 1973)
1936 – Bobby Darin, American singer (d. 1973) He was born in the Bronx as Walden Robert Cassotto.
1944 – George Lucas, American film director – Star Wars
1952 – Donald R. McMonagle, American astronaut
1952 – Robert Zemeckis, American film director
1964 – James M. Kelly, American astronaut
1964 – Suzy Kolber, American sportscaster
1974 – Jennifer Allan, American model
1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, American internet entrepreneur is the creator of the online social website Facebook and is it’s (2009) current CEO.
1985 – Sally Martin, American actress
1990 – Emily Samuelson, American ice dancer
1993 – Miranda Cosgrove, American actress
*FOUS, JAMES W.
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company E, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. Place and date: Kien Hoa Province, Republic of Vietnam, 14 May 1968. Entered service at: Omaha, Nebr. Born: 14 October 1946, Omaha, Nebr. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Fous distinguished himself at the risk of his life while serving as a rifleman with Company E. Pfc. Fous was participating in a reconnaissance-in-force mission when his unit formed its perimeter defense for the night. Pfc. Fous, together with three other American soldiers, occupied a position in a thickly vegetated area facing a woodline. Pfc. Fous detected three Viet Cong maneuvering toward his position and, after alerting the other men, directed accurate fire upon the enemy soldiers, silencing two of them. The third Viet Cong soldier managed to escape in the thick vegetation after throwing a hand grenade into Pfc. Fous’ position. Without hesitation, Pfc. Fous shouted a warning to his comrades and leaped upon the lethal explosive, absorbing the blast with his body to save the lives of the three men in the area at the sacrifice of his life. Pfc. Fous’ extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army
McCLEERY, FINNIS D.
VIETNAM WAR
Rank and organization: platoon Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 1st Battalion, 6th U.S. Infantry. Place and Date: Quang Tin province, Republic of Vietnam, 14 May 1968. Entered service at: San Angelo, Tex. Born: 25 December 1927, Stephenville, Tex. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. P/Sgt. McCleery, U.S. Army, distinguished himself while serving as platoon leader of the 1st platoon of Company A. A combined force was assigned the mission of assaulting a reinforced company of North Vietnamese Army regulars, well entrenched on Hill 352, 17 miles west of Tam Ky. As P/Sgt. McCleery led his men up the hill and across an open area to close with the enemy, his platoon and other friendly elements were pinned down by tremendously heavy fire coming from the fortified enemy positions. Realizing the severe damage that the enemy could inflict on the combined force in the event that their attack was completely halted, P/Sgt. McCleery rose from his sheltered position and began a one-man assault on the bunker complex. With extraordinary courage, he moved across sixty meters of open ground as bullets struck all around him and rockets and grenades literally exploded at his feet. As he came within thirty meters of the key enemy bunker, P/Sgt. McCleery began firing furiously from the hip and throwing hand grenades. At this point in his assault, he was painfully wounded by shrapnel, but, with complete disregard for his wound, he continued his advance on the key bunker and killed all of its occupants. Having successfully and single-handedly breached the enemy perimeter, he climbed to the top of the bunker he had just captured and, in full view of the enemy, shouted encouragement to his men to follow his assault. As the friendly forces moved forward, P/Sgt. McCleery began a lateral assault on the enemy bunker line. He continued to expose himself to the intense enemy fire as he moved from bunker to bunker, destroying each in turn. He was wounded a second time by shrapnel as he destroyed and routed the enemy from the hill. P/Sgt. McCleery is personally credited with eliminating several key enemy positions and inspiring the assault that resulted in gaining control of Hill 352. His extraordinary heroism at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, was in keeping with the highest standards of the military service, and reflects great credit on him, the Americal Division, and the U.S. Army.
*SHEA, DANIEL JOHN
VIETNAM
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. Place and Date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 14 May 1969. Entered service at: New Haven, Conn. Born: 29 January 1947, Norwalk, Conn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Shea, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, distinguished himself while serving as a medical aidman with Company C, 3d Battalion, during a combat patrol mission. As the lead platoon of the company was crossing a rice paddy, a large enemy force in ambush positions opened fire with mortars, grenades and automatic weapons. Under heavy crossfire from three sides, the platoon withdrew to a small island in the paddy to establish a defensive perimeter. Pfc. Shea, seeing that a number of his comrades had fallen in the initial hail of fire, dashed from the defensive position to assist the wounded. With complete disregard for his safety and braving the intense hostile fire sweeping the open rice paddy, Pfc. Shea made four trips to tend wounded soldiers and to carry them to the safety of the platoon position. Seeing a fifth wounded comrade directly in front of one of the enemy strong points, Pfc. Shea ran to his assistance. As he reached the wounded man, Pfc. Shea was grievously wounded. Disregarding his welfare, Pfc. Shea tended his wounded comrade and began to move him back to the safety of the defensive perimeter. As he neared the platoon position, Pfc. Shea was mortally wounded by a burst of enemy fire. By his heroic actions Pfc. Shea saved the lives of several of his fellow soldiers. Pfc. Shea’s gallantry in action at the cost of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
*DIAMOND, JAMES H.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company D, 21st Infantry, 24th Infantry Division. Place and date: Mintal, Mindanao, Philippine Islands, 8-14 May 1945. Entered service at: Gulfport, Miss. Birth: New Orleans, La. G.O. No.: 23, 6 March 1946. Citation: As a member of the machinegun section, he displayed extreme gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty . When a Japanese sniper rose from his foxhole to throw a grenade into their midst, this valiant soldier charged and killed the enemy with a burst from his submachine gun; then, by delivering sustained fire from his personal arm and simultaneously directing the fire of 105mm. and .50 caliber weapons upon the enemy pillboxes immobilizing this and another machinegun section, he enabled them to put their guns into action. When two infantry companies established a bridgehead, he voluntarily assisted in evacuating the wounded under heavy fire; and then, securing an abandoned vehicle, transported casualties to the rear through mortar and artillery fire so intense as to render the vehicle inoperative and despite the fact he was suffering from a painful wound. The following day he again volunteered, this time for the hazardous job of repairing a bridge under heavy enemy fire. On 14 May 1945, when leading a patrol to evacuate casualties from his battalion, which was cut off, he ran through a virtual hail of Japanese fire to secure an abandoned machine gun. Though mortally wounded as he reached the gun, he succeeded in drawing sufficient fire upon himself so that the remaining members of the patrol could reach safety. Pfc. Diamond’s indomitable spirit, constant disregard of danger, and eagerness to assist his comrades, will ever remain a symbol of selflessness and heroic sacrifice to those for whom he gave his life.
*HAUGE, LOUIS JAMES, JR.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 12 December 1924, Ada, Minn. Accredited to: Minnesota. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as leader of a machinegun squad serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Chain on 14 May 1945. Alert and aggressive during a determined assault against a strongly fortified Japanese hill position, Cpl. Hauge boldly took the initiative when his company’s left flank was pinned down under a heavy machinegun and mortar barrage with resultant severe casualties and, quickly locating the 2 machineguns which were delivering the uninterrupted stream of enfilade fire, ordered his squad to maintain a covering barrage as he rushed across an exposed area toward the furiously blazing enemy weapons. Although painfully wounded as he charged the first machinegun, he launched a vigorous single-handed grenade attack, destroyed the entire hostile gun position and moved relentlessly forward toward the other emplacement despite his wounds and the increasingly heavy Japanese fire. Undaunted by the savage opposition, he again hurled his deadly grenades with unerring aim and succeeded in demolishing the second enemy gun before he fell under the slashing fury of Japanese sniper fire. By his ready grasp of the critical situation and his heroic one-man assault tactics, Cpl. Hauge had eliminated two strategically placed enemy weapons, thereby releasing the besieged troops from an overwhelming volume of hostile fire and enabling his company to advance. His indomitable fighting spirit and decisive valor in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon Cpl. Hauge and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.
*WAUGH, ROBERT T.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 339th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Tremensucli, Italy, 11-14 May 1944. Entered service at: Augusta, Maine. Birth: Ashton, R.I. G.O. No.: 79, 4 October 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy. In the course of an attack upon an enemy-held hill on 11 May, 1st Lt. Waugh personally reconnoitered a heavily mined area before entering it with his platoon. Directing his men to deliver fire on six bunkers guarding this hill, 1st Lt. Waugh advanced alone against them, reached the first bunker, threw phosphorus grenades into it and as the defenders emerged, killed them with a burst from his tommygun. He repeated this process on the five remaining bunkers, killing or capturing the occupants. On the morning of 14 May, 1st Lt. Waugh ordered his platoon to lay a base of fire on two enemy pillboxes located on a knoll which commanded the only trail up the hill. He then ran to the first pillbox, threw several grenades into it, drove the defenders into the open, and killed them. The second pillbox was next taken by this intrepid officer by similar methods. The fearless actions of 1st Lt. Waugh broke the Gustav Line at that point, neutralizing six bunkers and two pillboxes and he was personally responsible for the death of thirty of the enemy and the capture of twenty-five others. He was later killed in action in Itri, Italy, while leading his platoon in an attack.
JORDAN, GEORGE
INDIAN WARS
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company K, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Fort Tularosa, N. Mex., 14 May 1880; at Carrizo Canyon, N. Mex., 12 August 1881. Entered service at: Nashville, Tenn. Birth: Williamson County, Tenn. Date of issue: 7 May 1890. Citation: While commanding a detachment of twenty-five men at Fort Tularosa, N. Mex., repulsed a force of more than one-hundred Indians. At Carrizo Canyon, N . Mex., while commanding the right of a detachment of nineteen men, on 12 August 1881, he stubbornly held his ground in an extremely exposed position and gallantly forced back a much superior number of the enemy, preventing them from surrounding the command.
BOX, THOMAS J.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Captain, Company D, 27th Indiana Infantry. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga., 14 May 1864. Entered service at: Bedford, Ind. Birth:——. Date of issue: 7 April 1865. Citation: Capture of flag of the 38th Alabama Infantry (C.S.A.).
NEWMAN, MARCELLUS J.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 111th Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga., 14 May 1864. Entered service at: Richview, Washington County, Ill. Birth: Richview, Washington County, IL. Date of issue: 13 May 1899. Citation: Voluntarily returned, in the face of a severe fire from the enemy, and rescued a wounded comrade who had been left behind as the regiment fell back.
RANNEY, GEORGE E.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Assistant Surgeon, 2d Michigan Cavalry. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga., 14 May 1864. Entered service at: Detroit, Mich. Born: 13 June 1839, Batavia, N.Y. Date of issue: 24 April 1901. Citation: At great personal risk, went to the aid of a wounded soldier, Pvt. Charles W. Baker, lying under heavy fire between the lines, and with the aid of an orderly carried him to a place of safety.
SLADEN, JOSEPH A.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 33d Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga., 14 May 1864. Entered service at: Lowell, Mass. Birth: England. Date of issue: 19 July 1895. Citation: While detailed as clerk at headquarters, voluntarily engaged in action at a critical moment and personal example inspired the troops to repel the enemy.
TYRRELL, GEORGE WILLIAM
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 5th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Resaca, Ga., 14 May 1864. Entered service at: Hamilton County, Ohio. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 7 April 1865. Citation: Capture of flag.
Unerased History – May 13th
Frog Jumping Day
Mothers Day – 2012
Calaveras Frog Jumpin’ Day
It’s time once again to celebrate our friends the frogs on the not-really-a-holiday-but-sorta kinda- a-holiday, Frog Jumping Day!
The idea actually came from Mark Twain’s short story entitled “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” This story was originally published as “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” and ”The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”
Now frogs make great pocket pets. If you want to celebrate Frog Jumping Day correctly then get a frog—or a toad—as a pet. frogs can be simple to care for, they can be fun to watch, and they can be a great first pet for children. Make sure you teach the kids proper hand washing techniques!
Be sure to do your research before you buy a frog. First, make sure they can live in your climate. Frogs are generally NOT desert dwellers. You’ll need to set up a good habitat with proper lighting, water, and food—which may include live bugs! You might want to set up your own frog pond in your yard or build a small habitat inside your home.
Back to the story. Mark Twain’s short-story was a tall tale of the life and happenings of the gold rush town, Angels Camp. The narrator details a story he heard in a tavern. It is about a frog, Dan’l Webster, who could out jump any other frog, and a man, Jim Smiley, who was the “curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn’t he’d change sides.” Jim Smiley had bet forty dollars. Smiley was figuring that his frog could “out jump any frog in Calaveras County”. Smiley also met a stranger who filled Dan’l Webster with buckshot, therefore, Smiley won the frog jump and the forty dollars in gold. Figuring out what happened Smiley ran after the stranger but he never caught him. The story was published and delighted audiences worldwide but didn’t appear to have much impact on Calaveras County until much later.
Today, in the third week of May, if you find yourself anywhere near Angels Camp, CA just southwest of Sacramento and northeast of Stockton, CA, stop in and enjoy the festivities of the CALAVERAS COUNTY FAIR & JUMPING FROG JUBILEE.
“Believe you can do it. Believing something can be done puts your mind to work for you and helps you find ways to do it.”
~ George Shinn
arbiter \AR-buh-tuhr\, noun:
1. A person appointed or chosen to judge or decide a dispute.
2. Any person who has the power of judging and determining.
Arbiter is from Latin arbiter, “a witness, a spectator,” hence “a judge of any matter.”
1110 – Crusaders marched into Beirut causing a bloodbath.
1494 – Columbus found the natives on Jamaica hostile and left for Cuba.
1607 – Jamestown, Virginia, was settled as a colony of England with about 100 English colonists.
1648 – Margaret Jones of Plymouth was found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck.
1781 – British Gen. William Phillips died of a fever t Petersburg, Va., as his forces confronted the American army under Lafayette.
1801 – Tripoli declares war against the United States.
1821 – Samuel Rust of New York City patented the Washington press, the first, practical and successful printing press to be built in America.
1828 – US passed the Tariff of Abominations. The Tariff of 1828 had been purposely drafted to make Andrew Jackson appear as a free trade advocate in the South and as a protectionist in the North.
1836 – U.S. Exploring Expedition authorized to conduct exploration of Pacific Ocean and South Seas. It was the first major scientific expedition overseas.
1846 – Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico even though the fighting had started two months before. Mexico had not recognized the secession of Texas in 1836 and announced its intention to take back what it considered a rebel province.
1854 – First big American billiards match was held at Malcolm Hall in Syracuse, NY. Joseph White and George Smith participated in the event for a $200 prize.
1861 – Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain issues a “proclamation of neutrality” which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
1861 – Civil War: Union troops occupy Baltimore, MD.
1862 – Civil War: Confederate steamer Planter, with her captain ashore in Charleston, was taken out of the harbor by an entirely Negro crew under Robert Smalls and turned over to U.S.S. Onward of the blockading Union squadron.
1862 – Civil War: The U.S.S. Iroquois and U.S.S. Oneida occupied Natchez, Mississippi, as Flag Officer Farragut’s fleet moved steadily toward Vicksburg.
1863 – Civil War: Due to the siege and assault on Vicksburg forced Confederate strategists to withdraw troops from Charleston in order to bring relief to those at Vicksburg.
1863 – Civil War: Union General Ulysses S. Grant advances toward the Mississippi capital of Jackson during his drive to take Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River.
1864 – Civil War: Battle of Resaca – the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta, Georgia.
1864 – Civil War: Sidewheel steamer U.S.S. Ceres with Army steamer Rockland and 100 soldiers conducted a raiding expedition on the Alligator River, North Carolina. They captured Confederate schooner Ann S. Davenport and disabled a mill supplying ground corn for the Southern armies.
1865 – American CIVIL WAR: Battle of Palmito Ranch – in far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the last land battle of the CIVIL WAR ends with a Confederate victory.
1873 – Ludwig M. Wolf of Avon, CT, patented the sewing machine lamp holder (No. 138,831). It was developed for those who wanted to sew at night.
1873 – The US Post Office Department issued America’s first postal card. They were the only ones allowed to print the cards until May 19, 1898 when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act.
1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
1884 – The Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) was founded. The initials are still used when speaking of electrical and computer components.
1888 – Ernest Thayer composes “Casey at the Bat”. It was dashed off in an hour to fill a hole on page 4 of the Harvard Lampoon. . The author thought so little of it he insisted it be credited simply to “Phin” – his college nickname. DeWolf Hopper first recited “Casey at the Bat.”
1903 – The Dewey Memorial in Union Square, San Francisco, was dedicated by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. Robert Aitken sculpted the 12-foot statue of Victory that stood atop an 83-foot column.
1905 – An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the noncontiguous territory of Guam Island.
1911 – New York Giant Fred Merkle is first to get 6 RBIs in an inning.
1911 – The New York Giants set a major league baseball record. Ten runners crossed home plate before the first out of the game against St. Louis.
1913 – Igor Sikorsky built the first four-engine airplane, with an innovative enclosed cabin and became the first man to pilot such an aircraft.
1916 – New York became the first state to observe American Indian Day.
1918 – The first U.S. airmail stamps featuring a picture of an airplane were introduced. The denominations were 6, 16, and 24 cents. The very first sheet of the twenty-four cent ones had the airplane, a Jenny, upside down. It was sold and no others were ever found to be that way. A single inverted Jenny was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in November 2007 for US $977,500.
1928 – Marines participated in the Battle of Coco River in Nicaragua.
1934 – Great dustbowl storm. Experts estimate that 650,000,000 tons of topsoil were blown away by this storm and the ones before it.
1938 – Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded “When the Saints Go Marching In”
1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.
1939 – Holocaust : The SS St Louis departed Hamburg with some 937 passengers including over 900 Jewish refugees. They sought refuge in Cuba, but only 22 were allowed to disembark there. No country in the Americas would take them. It returned to Germany where a number of the Jews were later murdered.
1940 – The completed Maryhill Museum in Washington state opened on founder Sam Hill’s (d.1931), birthday. Much of the art collection was donated by Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of the California sugar magnate. Mrs. Spreckels was also the model for the Victory statue. (See 1903 on this page.)
1940 – Winston Churchill, in advance of WW II, gave his first speech as Prime Minister of Britain, he told the House of Commons, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He was well aware of the difficulties ahead and, not wanting to raise false hope, he entered notes of caution and warning.
1940 – World War II: Germany’s conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River.
1940 – World War II: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Great Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
1940 – First successful helicopter flight. Igor Sikorsky first flew the VS-300. The original VS-300 was powered by a 75 HP engine. The aircraft’s body was nothing more than an open cockpit with a welded steel tubing frame.
1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
1942 – Helicopter makes its first cross-country flight with Igor Sikorsky at the stick. It was from Stratford, Connecticut to Dayton, Ohio, a distance of about 761 miles.
1943 – World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
1943 – World War II: US forces now outnumber the Japanese defenders on Attu Island by 4 to 1. However, the Americans are unable to extend their front beyond the landing areas. Bad weather and the terrain hinder progress.
1944 – World War II: An American escort destroyer sinks the Japanese submarine I-501 (formerly U-1224) off the Azores. The submarine had been presented to the Japanese by the German Kriegsmarine.
1944 – World War II: Allied forces in Italy broke through the German Gustav Line into the Liri Valley.
1945 – World War II: On Okinawa, fierce fighting continues along the Shuri Line. The US 6th Marine Division suffers heavy losses but completes the capture of Dakeshi Ridge.
1945 – The Baya, US submarine SS-318 under the command of Capt. Benjamin C. Jarvis, sank a Japanese tanker and left two other ships severely disabled off of French Indochina. Capt. Jarvis received a Navy Cross for his action.
1945 – World War II: Del Monte airfield is captured by units of the US 40th Division.
1946 – US condemned 58 camp guards of Mauthausen concentration camp to death.
1947 – The US Senate approved the Taft-Hartley Act limiting the power of unions.
1949 – CHART TOPPERS – “Cruising Down the River” by The Russ MorganOrchestra (vocal: The Skyliners), “Forever and Ever” by Perry Como, “Careless Hands” by Mel Torme and “Lovesick Blues” by Hank Williams all topped the charts.
1949 – The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR.
1950 – Diner’s Club issued its first credit cards.
1952 – Minor-league Bristol (Appalachian League) pitcher Ron Necciai strikes out 27 in nine innings against a team called Welch. This went to a 7-0 victory for Bristol.
1952 – The Coast Guard announced the establishment of an Organized Reserve Training Program, the first in U.S. Coast Guard history. Morton G. Lessans was sworn in as the first member of the Organized Air Reserve on 12 December 1951.
1952 – Korean War: Naval Task Force 77 began Operation INSOMNIA – a series of abbreviated night attacks.
1953 – Korean War: The Air Force’s 58th Fighter-Bomber Wing attacked Toksan Dam in North Korea and destroyed this major irrigation system.
1954 – President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.
1954 – “The Pajama Game” made its debut on Broadway in New York City at the St. James Theatre.
1954 – Bobby Adams of the Cincinnati Redlegs hits a lead-off home run against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts. Roberts then retires the next 27 batters to win, 8-1.
1955 – New York Yankees Mickey Mantle hits three consecutive homeruns of at least 463′ in a single game.
1955 – Elvis Presley’s performance at Jacksonville, FL, became the first Presley show at which a riot ensued.
1957 – CHART TOPPERS – “School Day” by Chuck Berry, “A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)” by Marty Robbins, “So Rare” by Jimmy Dorsey and “All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley all topped the charts.
1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
1958 – Stan Musial, is eighth to get 3,000 hits.
1958 – VELCRO was trademark registered . (See May 4th for more)
1960 – The first US launch of the Delta satellite launching vehicle failed.
1960 – Bill Mandel was brought before a HUAC committee at SF City Hall concerning his broadcasts at KPFA radio and KQED TV about press and periodicals of the Soviet Union. His TV show was canceled but he continued broadcasting at KPFA. There was a protest over the hearing and 64 people were arrested as police turned on fire hoses to quell the disturbance.
1960 – Hundreds of UC Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Thirty-one students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.
1961 – “Runaway” by Del Shannon topped the charts.
1965 – Rolling Stones record “Satisfaction.”
1965 – CHART TOPPERS – “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermits, “Count Me In” by Gary Lewis & The Playboys, “Ticket to Ride” by The Beatles and “Girl on the Billboard” by Del Reeves all topped the charts.
1965 – Several Arab nations broke ties with West Germany after it established diplomatic relations with Israel.
1966 – Rolling Stones release “Paint it Black.”
1966 – The Kinks recorded “Sunny Afternoon.”
1967 – “The Happening“ by the Supremes topped the charts.
1967 – Mickey Mantle hit his 500th homerun.
1967 – “Somethin’ Stupid” by Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra topped the charts.
1967 – Octagonal boxing ring is tested to avoid corner injuries. Today, it is a requirement of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship.)
1970 – Beatles movie “Let it Be” premieres.
1971 – Aretha Franklin received a gold record for “Bridge over Troubled Water,” originally a Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel tune.
1972 – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack topped the charts.
1972 – A burglary occurred at the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC. Two members of Pres. Nixon’s secret White House team were involved. Nixon later blamed the robbery on White House counsel John Dean.
1972 – Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings.
1973 – CHART TOPPERS – “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, “You are the Sunshine of My Life” by Stevie Wonder, “Little Willy” by The Sweet and “Come Live with Me” by Roy Clark all topped the charts.
1973 – Tennis hustler Bobby Riggs (1918-1995) beat Margaret Smith Court (b.1942) in a Mother’s Day match in California.
1974 – More than fifty people were hurt when youths started throwing bottles outside a Jackson 5 concert at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. 43 people were arrested.
1975 – Tennis ball-sized hail stones hit Wernersville TN to a depth of 10”.
1975 – Marines recapture Mayaguez, go ashore on Koh Tang Island and release the crew.
1976 – In the ninth & final ABA championship, New York Nets beat Denver Nuggets, 4 games to 2.
1977 – Dolly Parton made her New York City debut with a concert at the Bottom Line.
1978 – “If I Can’t Have You” by Yvonne Elliman topped the charts.
1978 – Joie Chitwood set a world record when he drove a Chevrolet Chevette for 5.6 miles on just 2 wheels. It was broadcast on ABC television’s Wide World of Sports.
1978 – The last season of “Columbo,” begun in 1971, ended on NBC TV.
1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
1981 – CHART TOPPERS – “Morning Train (Nine to Five)” by Sheena Easton, “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington, Jr./Bill Withers, “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes and “Am I Losing You” by Ronnie Milsap all topped the charts.
1981 – Pope John Paul II shot, wounded by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca. in St Peter’s Square.
1982 – Chicago Cubs win their 8,000th game against the Houston Astros.
1983 – Reggie Jackson is first major leaguer to strike out 2,000 times.
1984 – “The Fantasticks‘” 10,000th performance. It became the longest-running musical in theatre history, premiering in the Sullivan Street Playhouse, a small New York City off-Broadway theater, on May 3, 1960, with Jerry Orbach in the role of the narrator.
1985 – Carlton Fisk becomes the 5th catcher to steal 100 bases.
1985 – Tony Perez became the oldest major league baseball player to hit a grand slam home run at the age of 42 and 11 months.
1985 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, police storm MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off, killing eleven MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
1986 – Coast Guard Cutter Manitou stopped the 125-foot Sun Bird in 7th District in Miami, FL waters and her boarding team discovered 40,000 pounds of marijuana hidden aboard.
1988 – The U.S. Senate voted 83-6 to order the U.S. military to enter the war against illegal drug trafficking, approving a plan to give the Navy the power to stop drug boats on the high seas and make arrests.
1989 – CHART TOPPERS – “I’ll Be There for You” by Bon Jovi, “Real Love” by Jody Watley, “Forever Your Girl” by Paula Abdul and “Is It Still Over?” by Randy Travis all topped the charts.
1989 – Minnesota Twin Kirby Puckett becomes the 35th to hit 4 doubles in a game.
1992 – Three astronauts simultaneous walked in space for the first time. During the STS-49 shuttle mission, the INTELSAT VI (F-3) satellite, stranded in an unusable orbit since launch aboard a Titan vehicle in March 1990, was captured by these three crewmembers.
1992 – President Bush announced a $600 million loan package to help rebuild riot-scarred Los Angeles.
1993 – Kansas City Royal George Brett hits his 300th homerun.
1994 – Johnny Carson makes last television appearance on The David Letterman Show.
1994 – President Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun.
1995 – Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood was convicted at his court-martial in Fort Drum, N.Y., of conducting an unauthorized investigation of reported human rights abuses at a Haitian prison. Rockwood was dismissed from the military the next day.
1996 – The Supreme Court unanimously struck down Rhode Island’s ban on ads that list or refer to liquor prices, saying the law violated free-speech rights.
1996 – Recovery workers in the Florida Everglades retrieved the flight data recorder from ValuJet Flight 592.
1997 – Eddie Murray is 6th baseball player to play in 3,000 games. He gets two hits in Anaheim’s 8-7 win over the White Sox.
1997 – At the Oklahoma City bombing trial, prosecutors showed jurors the key to the Ryder truck used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building, alleging Timothy McVeigh left it behind in the same alley he picked to stash his getaway car.
1998 – Federal regulators approved a plan to store nuclear bomb waste in New Mexico at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP).It is the world’s third deep geological repository licensed to permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste for 10,000 years. Transuranic waste is waste containing more than 100 nanocuries of radiation.
1999 – GOP leadership agreed to approve background checks for all buyers at gun shows following angry calls from constituents.
2002 – In Baltimore Dontee Stokes (26), a former altar boy, shot and seriously wounded Rev. Maurice Blackwell (56), who had sexually abused him from age 9 to 13.
2002 – President Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign a treaty to shrink their countries’ nuclear arsenals by two-thirds to 1,700-2,200 active warheads at the end of ten years.
2003 – The US government unveiled a new $20 bill with color added to help thwart counterfeiters.
2003 – L. Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, reportedly authorized troops to shoot looters on sight. Rumsfeld said muscle would be used to stop looting.
2003 – A judge ruled that Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols should stand trial in state court on 160 counts of first-degree murder. Nichols was later found guilty on 161 counts; the 161st count was for the fetus of a pregnant victim. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.
2004 – The SpaceShipOne rocket climbed to 211,400 feet, becoming the 1st privately funded vehicle to reach the edge of space.
2004 – The last episode of “Frasier” aired on TV following an 11-year run.
2008 – EarthLink said it is pulling out of its high-speed Internet network in Philadelphia, and that it would shut down the operation on June 12.
2008 – Microsoft Corp. introduced its WorldWide Telescope, bringing the free Web-based program for zooming around the universe to a broad audience.
2009 – Chicago became the first US city to adopt a ban on the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the chemical BPA.
2009 – In North Carolina, the country’s top tobacco growing state by sales, legislators approved a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars.
1830 – Zebulon Baird Vance, three-time governor of North Carolina (d. 1894)
1914 – Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
1922 – Beatrice Arthur, American actress
1931 – Jim Jones, American cult leader (d. 1978)
1941 – Ritchie Valens, American singer (d. 1959)
1950 – Stevie Wonder, American singer and musician
1961 – Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army, Company A, 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry, Americal Division. Place and date: Quang Tin Province, Republic of Vietnam, 13 May 1969. Entered service at: Los Angeles, Calif. Born: 20 February 1934, Superior, Ariz. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Maj. (then Capt.) Dunagan distinguished himself during the period May 13 and 14, 1969, while serving as commanding officer, Company A. On May 13, 1969, Maj. Dunagan was leading an attack to relieve pressure on the battalion’s forward support base when his company came under intense fire from a well-entrenched enemy battalion. Despite continuous hostile fire from a numerically superior force, Maj. Dunagan repeatedly and fearlessly exposed himself in order to locate enemy positions, direct friendly supporting artillery, and position the men of his company. In the early evening, while directing an element of his unit into perimeter guard, he was seriously wounded during an enemy mortar attack, but he refused to leave the battlefield and continued to supervise the evacuation of dead and wounded and to lead his command in the difficult task of disengaging from an aggressive enemy. In spite of painful wounds and extreme fatigue, Maj. Dunagan risked heavy fire on two occasions to rescue critically wounded men. He was again seriously wounded. Undaunted, he continued to display outstanding courage, professional competence, and leadership and successfully extricated his command from its untenable position on the evening of May 14. Having maneuvered his command into contact with an adjacent friendly unit, he learned that a six-man party from his company was under fire and had not reached the new perimeter. Maj. Dunagan unhesitatingly went back and searched for his men. Finding 1 soldier critically wounded, Maj. Dunagan, ignoring his wounds, lifted the man to his shoulders and carried him to the comparative safety of the friendly perimeter. Before permitting himself to be evacuated, he insured all of his wounded received emergency treatment and were removed from the area. Throughout the engagement, Maj. Dunagan’s actions gave great inspiration to his men and were directly responsible for saving the lives of many of his fellow soldiers. Maj. Dunagan’s extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
*OLSON, KENNETH L.
VIETNAM WAR
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company A, 5th Battalion, 12th Infantry, 199th Infantry Brigade (Separate) (Light). Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 13 May 1968. Entered service at: Minneapolis, Minn. Born: 26 May 1945, Willmar, Minn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Olson distinguished himself at the cost of his life while serving as a team leader with Company A. Sp4c. Olson was participating in a mission to reinforce a reconnaissance platoon which was heavily engaged with a well-entrenched Viet Cong force. When his platoon moved into the area of contact and had overrun the first line of enemy bunkers, Sp4c. Olson and a fellow soldier moved forward of the platoon to investigate another suspected line of bunkers. As the two men advanced they were pinned down by intense automatic weapons fire from an enemy position ten meters to their front. With complete disregard for his safety, Sp4c. Olson exposed himself and hurled a hand grenade into the Viet Cong position. Failing to silence the hostile fire, he again exposed himself to the intense fire in preparation to assault the enemy position. As he prepared to hurl the grenade, he was wounded, causing him to drop the activated device within his own position. Realizing that it would explode immediately, Sp4c. Olson threw himself upon the grenade and pulled it in to his body to take the full force of the explosion. By this unselfish action Sp4c. Olson sacrificed his own life to save the lives of his fellow comrades-in-arms. His extraordinary heroism inspired his fellow soldiers to renew their efforts and totally defeat the enemy force. Sp4c. Olson’s profound courage and intrepidity were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
*WINDER, DAVID F.
Vietnam
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 1st Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 13 May 1970. Entered service at: Columbus, Ohio. Born: 10 August 1946, Edinboro, Pa. Citation: Pfc. Winder distinguished himself while serving in the Republic of Vietnam as a senior medical aidman with Company A. After moving through freshly cut rice paddies in search of a suspected company-size enemy force, the unit started a thorough search of the area. Suddenly they were engaged with intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fire by a well entrenched enemy force. Several friendly soldiers fell wounded in the initial contact and the unit was pinned down. Responding instantly to the cries of his wounded comrades, Pfc. Winder began maneuvering across approximately 100 meters of open, bullet-swept terrain toward the nearest casualty. Unarmed and crawling most of the distance, he was wounded by enemy fire before reaching his comrades. Despite his wounds and with great effort, Pfc. Winder reached the first casualty and administered medical aid. As he continued to crawl across the open terrain toward a second wounded soldier he was forced to stop when wounded a second time. Aroused by the cries of an injured comrade for aid, Pfc. Winder’s great determination and sense of duty impelled him to move forward once again, despite his wounds, in a courageous attempt to reach and assist the injured man. After struggling to within 10 meters of the man, Pfc. Winder was mortally wounded. His dedication and sacrifice inspired his unit to initiate an aggressive counterassault which led to the defeat of the enemy. Pfc. Winder’s conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the cost of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit and the U.S. Army.
ANDERS, FRANK L.
PHILLIPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: At San Miguel de Mayumo, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 May 1899. Entered service at: Fargo, N. Dak. Birth: Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory. Date of issue: 3 March 1906. Citation: With eleven other scouts, without waiting for the supporting battalion to aid them or to get into a position to do so, charged over a distance of about 150 yards and completely routed about three-hundred of the enemy who were in line and in a position that could only be carried by a frontal attack.
BIRKHIMER, WILLIAM E.
PHILLIPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Captain, 3d U.S. Artillery. Place and date: At San Miguel de Mayumo, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 May 1899. Entered service at: lowa. Birth: Somerset, Ohio. Date of issue: 15 July 1902. Citation: With twelve men charged and routed three-hundred of the enemy.
DOWNS, WILLIS H.
PHILLIPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: At San Miguel de Mayumo, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 May 1899. Entered service at: Jamestown, N. Dak. Birth: Mount Carmel, Conn. Date of issue: 16 February 1906. Citation: With eleven other scouts, without waiting for the supporting battalion to aid them or to get into a position to do so, charged over a distance of about 150 yards and completely routed about three-hundred of the enemy who were in line and in a position that could only be carried by a frontal attack.
JENSEN, GOTFRED
PHILLIPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: At San Miguel de Mayumo, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 May 1899. Entered service at: Devils Lake, N. Dak. Birth: Denmark. Date of issue: 6 June 1906. Citation: With eleven other scouts, without waiting for the supporting battalion to aid them or to get into a position to do so, charged over a distance of about 150 yards and completely routed about 300 of the enemy, who were in line and in a position that could only be carried by a frontal attack.
LYON, EDWARD E.
PHILLIPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 2d Oregon Volunteer Infantry. Place and date: At San Miguel de Mayumo, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 May 1899. Entered service at: Amboy, Wash. Birth: Hixton, Wis. Date of issue: 24 January 1906. Citation: With 11 other scouts, without waiting for the supporting battalion to aid them or to get into position to do so, charged over a distance of about 150 yards and completely routed about 300 of the enemy, who were in line and in a position that could only be carried by a frontal attack.
QUINN, PETER H.PHILLIPINE INSURRECTION
Rank and organization: Private, Company L, 4th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At San Miguel de Mayumo, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 May 1899. Entered service at: San Francisco, Calif. Birth: San Francisco, Calif. Date of issue: 6 June 1906. Citation: With eleven other scouts without waiting for the supporting battalion to aid them or to get into a position to do so, charged over a distance of about 150 yards and completely routed about three-hundred of the enemy who were in line and in a position that could only be carried by a frontal attack.
Unerased History – May 12th
National Nutty Fudge Day
Limerick Day
A limerick is a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem that is five lines following the form aabba. The form can be found in England as of the early years of the 18th century. It was popularized by Edward Lear in the 19th century.
The following example of a limerick is of unknown origin and to make it work pronounce it “lim-rik”.
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical,
But the good ones I’ve seen
So seldom are clean,
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
The origin of the name limerick for this type of poem is debated. As of several years ago, its usage was first documented in England in 1898 (New English Dictionary) and in America in 1902. The name is generally taken to be a reference to the City or County of Limerick in Ireland.
Here are some more examples:
Linda Blair with great favor confessed,
She’d been exorcised, thus finding rest,
But alack and alas
Her old demon came back
and now the poor girl’s repossessed.
(Contributed by Dick Lamb)
There once was a fly on the wall
I wonder why didn’t it fall
because its feet stuck
Or was it just luck
Or does gravity miss things so small?
There once was a girl named Irene,
who lived on distilled kerosene.
But she started absorbin’
A new hydrocarbon,
And since then has never benzene!
In a castle that had a deep moat
Lived a chicken a duck and a goat.
They wanted to go out
And wander about
But all they needed was a boat.
There was a young girl from Oliver,
And all the men did follow her,
Until a guy came along,
And played her his song,
And all the rest quit call’n her.
There once was a man from Bombay
who wore on his head a toupee.
He thought that he might
give friends a delight
and remove his toupee for a day.
There one was a man from Peru,
Who dreamed of eating his shoe,
he awoke with a fright,
in the middle of the night,
and found that his dream had come true!
There was a farmer from Leeds,
Who ate six packets of seeds,
It soon came to pass,
He was covered with grass,
And he couldn’t sit down for the weeds!
(author unknown)
There once was a man from Great Britain
Who interrupted two girls at their knittin’.
Said he with a sigh,
“That park bench, well I
Just painted it right where you’re sittin’.”
(author unknown)
There was a young hunter named Shepherd
Who was eaten for lunch by a leopard.
Said the leopard, “Egad!
You’d be tastier, lad
If you had been salted and peppered!”
Ogden Nash
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “let us flee!”
“Let us fly!” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
There was a young woman named Bright
Whose speed was much faster than light.
She set out one day
In a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.
(author unknown)
An epicure dining at Crewe
Found a very large bug in his stew.
Said the waiter, “Don’t shout
And wave it about,
Or the rest will be wanting one too.”
Spend a little time and come up with more. They can be a lot of fun and great for speeches. For more limericks go to: 
“It matters not what a person is born, but who they choose to be.”
~ Joanne Kathleen Rowling
cajole \kuh-JOHL\, transitive verb:
To persuade with flattery, repeated appeals, or soothing words; to coax.
Cajole derives from Early Modern French cajoler, originally, “to chatter like a bird in a cage, to sing; hence, to amuse with idle talk, to flatter,” from Old French gaiole, jaiole, “a cage,” from Medieval Latin caveola, “a small cage,” from Latin cavea, “an enclosure, a den for animals, a bird cage,” from cavus, “hollow.” It is related to cave, cage and jail (British gaol)
1700 – The Royal Governor, Earl of Bellomont, presides over the annual muster of New York City’s militia. Following English law, each spring all of the American colonies held a muster of the men enrolled in a city or county’s militia.
1777 – The first advertisement for ice cream in this country appeared in the New York Gazette. Confectioner Philip Lenzi announced that ice cream was available “almost every day.” Records kept by a Chatham Street, New York, merchant show that President George Washington spent approximately $200 for ice cream during the summer of 1790.
1780 – Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
1789 – Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers.
1792 – Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented.
1797 – George Washington addressed the Delaware chiefs and stated: “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and to humbly implore his protection and favor.”
1831 – Edward Smith became the first indicted bank robber in the U.S.
1847 – William Clayton invented the odometer.
1851 – A treaty was signed on the south bank of the Kaweah River, the site of John Wood’s grave. Woods was killed by Yokut Indians. The California Tule River War ended.
1862 – Civil War: U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1863 – Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson’s XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton’s defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.
1864 – Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in “the Bloody Angle”.
1864 – Civil War: Battle of Todd’s Tavern, VA (Sheridan’s Raid).
1864 – Civil War: Union General Benjamin Butler attacked Drewry’s Bluff on the James River.
1864 – Civil War: U.S.S. Somerset, transported a detachment of troops to Apalachicola, Florida, to disperse a Confederate force thought to be in the vicinity.
1865 – Civil War: the Battle of Palmito Ranch: the first day of the last major land action to take place during the CIVIL WAR, resulting in a Confederate victory.
1871 – Segregated street cars were integrated in Louisville, Ky.
1873 – The penny postal card, issued by the Post Office Department, was first put on sale in Springfield, Mass., and in other cities a day later.
1874 – The US Assay office in Helena, Montana, was authorized.
1885 – Ottmar Mergenthaler, a German-born American, received a U.S. patent for his linotype machine that set entire lines of lead type as “slugs” for printing. Typesetting was transformed by the introduction of these keyboard machines.
1888 – Charles Sherrill of the Yale track team became the first runner to use the crouching start for a fast break in a foot race.
1890 – Louisiana legalized prize fighting.
1898 – Louisiana adopted a new constitution with a “grandfather clause” designed to eliminate black voters.
1902 – Union chief John Mitchell raised the call for a nationwide strike in the coal industry; 140,000 members of the United Mine Workers joined in his call.
1908 – Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield.
1921 – National Hospital Day first observed. It provided a window of opportunity for hospitals to capture the trust of their communities.
1928 – Brothers Joe and Tom Longs (Longs Drug Stores) opened their first store on Oakland CA’s Piedmont Ave.
1934 – “Cocktails For Two” by Duke Ellington hit #1.
1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindberghs’ home.
1938 – Lieutenant C. B. Olsen became the first Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He earned the award for “heroism in removing Lieutenant Colonel Gullion, U.S. Army, who was stricken with acute appendicitis, from the Army transport ‘Republic.’”
1938 – Sandoz Labs manufactured LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide).
1939 – Boatswain’s Mate First Class Clarence Samuels was appointed as a Chief Photographer’s Mate (Acting). He was the first African-American chief petty officer.
1940 – World War II: The Nazi conquest of France began with the German army crossing Muese River.
1942 – World War II: Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship SS Virginia at the mouth of Mississippi River killing 26 sailors.
1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov – in the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
1942 – World War II: Holocaust: 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
1943 – World War II: The Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.
1943 – World War II: Admiral Ainsworth leads four cruisers and seven destroyers in two groups to shell Vila and Munda. American ships lay more mines near New Georgia Island.
1945 – Elements of US 7th Army capture the Japanese ambassador to Germany, General Oshima, and 130 members of his staff.
1948 – CHART TOPPERS – “Now is the Hour” by Bing Crosby, “Manana” by Peggy Lee, “The Dickey Bird Song” by The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Glenn Hughes) and “Anytime” by Eddy Arnold all topped the charts.
1949 – The Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade.
1950 – “The Third Man Theme” by Guy Lombardo topped the charts.
1950 – The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.
1951 -”How High the Moon” by Les Paul & Mary Ford topped the charts.
1951 – The first Hydrogen Bomb test was on Eniwetok Atoll.
1955 – Gisele MacKenzie played a singer on the NBC-TV program, “Justice”. On the show, she introduced her soon-to-be hit song, “Hard to Get”. Her popularity skyrocketed when the song was actually released and stayed on the charts for 16 weeks.
1955 – The last portion of the IRT Third Avenue Elevated in Manhattan closes. The first segments of the line opened in Manhattan in 1878. Service in Manhattan closed completely in 1955, and in the Bronx in 1973.
1955 – Chicago Cub Sam Jones is first African-American to pitch no-hitter against the Pirates, 4-0.
1956 – CHART TOPPERS – “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley, “Standing on the Corner” by The Four Lads, “The Wayward Wind” by Gogi Grant and “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins all topped the charts.
1957 – A.J. Foyt earned his first auto racing victory in Kansas City, Missouri .
1957 – The Coast Guard Cutter Wachusett, on Ocean Station NOVEMBER, halfway between Honolulu and San Francisco, rescued the two-man crew who had bailed out of a U.S. Air Force B-57 because of a fuel shortage.
1958 – “All I Have to Do Is Dream” by Everly Brothers topped the charts.
1960 – Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley appeared on the same TV special and performed the other’s hit. Elvis sang “Witchcraft” and Sinatra sang “Love Me Tender.”
1962 – Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous “Duty, Honor, Country“ valedictory speech at the United States Military Academy.
1962 – “Soldier Boy” by the Shirelles topped the charts.
1963 – There was a race riot in Birmingham, Alabama.
1964 – CHART TOPPERS – “Hello Dolly!” by Louis Armstrong, “Do You Want to Know a Secret” by The Beatles, “My Guy” by Mary Wells and “My Heart Skips a Beat” by Buck Owens all topped the charts.
1965 – “Satisfaction” was recorded by The Rolling Stones.
1966 – Busch Stadium (St Louis MO) opens, Braves lose to Cardinals 4-3 in 12 innings.
1967 – H. Rap Brown (b.1943) replaced Stokely Carmichael (1941-1968) as chairman of Student Nonviolating Coordinating Committee and announced that the organization will continue its commitment to black power.
1969 – Kenneth H Wallis achieved record speed for an autogyro-111 MPH.
1969 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong sappers tried unsuccessfully to overrun Landing Zone Snoopy in Vietnam.
1970 – Ernie Banks becomes the eighth member of the 500 home run club, connecting off Pat Jarvis during a 4-3 eleven-inning Cub win over the Braves.
1970 – The US Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice. Justice Blackmun (1908-1999) was nominated to the US Supreme Court by Richard Nixon on April 14, 1970.
1970 – In Augusta, Georgia, an overnight riot left 6 black men dead. Autopsies confirmed that the six men killed were all shot in the back with police-issued shotguns.
1972 – CHART TOPPERS – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack, “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex, “Betcha By Golly, Wow” by The Stylistics and “Grandma Harp” by Merle Haggard all topped the charts.
1972 – The Rolling Stones released the album “Exile on Main St.”
1973 – “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando & Dawn topped the charts.
1975 – U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez was seized by Cambodian forces in international waters.
1977 – “Hotel California” earned a gold record for the Eagles.
1978 – Commerce Department announces that hurricane names will no longer be exclusively female.
1979 – “Reunited” by Peaches & Herb topped the charts.
1980 – CHART TOPPERS – “Call Me” by Blondie, “Ride like the Wind” by Christopher Cross, “Lost in Love” by Air Supply and “Beneath Still Waters” by Emmylou Harris all topped the charts.
1980 – First nonstop crossing of US via balloon (Maxie Anderson & son Chris).
1982 – Braniff Airlines, based in Dallas, ceased operations. N601BN “747 Braniff Place” made the very last Braniff flight from Hawaii to Dallas/Fort Worth.
1984 – “Hello” by Lionel Richie topped the charts.
1985 – An honorary Doctor of Music degree was given to Lionel Richie from his alma mater Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
1986 – Destroyer USS David R. Ray deters an Iranian Navy attempt to board a U.S. merchant ship.
1988 – CHART TOPPERS – “Wishing Well” by Terence Trent D’Arby, “Anything for You” by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine, “Pink Cadillac” by Natalie Cole and “Cry, Cry, Cry” by Highway 101 all topped the charts.
1989 – “Entertainment Tonight” performs their 2,000th TV performance.
1989 – Last graffiti covered NYC subway car retired.
1990 – “Nothing Compares 2U” by Sinead O’Connor topped the charts.
1992 – Four suspects were arrested in the beating of trucker Reginald Denny at the start of the Los Angeles riots.
1995 – Dow Jones, for 5th straight day of the week, sets a new record (4430.59).
1995 – Jose Mesa gets first of his Major League record 37 consecutive saves.
1995 – President Clinton, during a stopover in Ukraine, visited Babi Yar, where the Nazis massacred more than 30,000 Kiev Jews in 1941.
1996 – Authorities in Florida called off the search for possible survivors from the crash of ValuJet Flight 592, a day after the jetliner nose-dived into the Everglades with 110 people on board.
1996 – The house in which Margaret Mitchell wrote “Gone With the Wind” in Atlanta, Georgia, and purchased by Daimler-Benz for $4.5 mil, burned down while under re-construction for the summer Olympics.
1997 – Susie Maroney, 22, of Australia, is first to swim from Cuba to Florida. Swimming much of the way in a shark cage, she swam the 111 mile distance in just under 25 hours.
1998 – The UAE announced that it would buy 80 F-16s from the US for about $7 billion.
2000 – The Los Alamos fire toll covered 30,000 acres with 191 housing structures burned.
2000 – Adam Petty, 19, the fourth-generation driver of NASCAR’s most famous family, died in a crash during practice for the Busch 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway.
2001 – Perry Como (b.1913), singer, died at age 88 in Jupiter, Fla. His Perry Como Show ran on TV for 15 years (1948-1963).
2002 – US forces in Afghanistan killed five enemy fighters and captured 32 during a raid at Deh Rawod, north of Kandahar. US air strikes at Char Chine, killed 5 civilians.
2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution.
2003 – Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.
2003 – Gulf War: L. Paul Bremer, the new American civilian administrator, took over the task of piecing Iraq together. He replaced retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner.
2003 – North Korea declared that the 1992 agreement with South Korea to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons was nullified, citing a “sinister” U.S. agenda.
2003 – In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, multiple, simultaneous car bombings at three foreign compounds killed thirty people, including eight Americans and nine suicide bombers.
2005 – The Islamic Center of America, a $12 million mosque, opened in Dearborn, Mich., down the road near the world headquarters of the Ford Motor Co.
2006 – Tony Snow made his debut as White House press secretary.
2006 – Gold surged to 730.65 a troy ounce.
2007 – Voters in Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, became the first in the nation to prohibit landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants. Texas courts quickly issued a restraining order against the city to prevent the ordnance from taking effect.
2008 – Price for a one-ounce First-Class stamp increased from 41 to 42 cents.
2008 – US immigration agents arrested more than 300 people at Agriprocessors Inc, a kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa, amid an ongoing investigation into identification theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, and for illegal immigrants.
2010 - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met at the White House in a show of unity aimed at patching over differences at a pivotal time in the nearly nine-year-old war.
2011 – Flooding along the Mississippi River threatens $2-4 billion estimated damages.
1820 – Florence Nightingale, British nurse (d. 1910)
1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (d. 1924)
1907 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
1912 – Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General (d. 2004)
1914 – Howard K. Smith, American journalist (d. 2002)
1915 – Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (d. 2001)
1925 – Yogi Berra, American baseball player
1928 – Burt Bacharach, American composer
1937 – George Carlin, American comedian (d. 2008)
1939 – Ron Ziegler, White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
1950 – Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
1963 – Vanessa A. Williams, American actress
JACKSON, JOE M.
VIETNAM WAR
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force, 311th Air Commando Squadron, Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam. Place and date: Kham Duc, Republic of Vietnam, 12 May 1968. Entered service at: Newman, Ga. Born: 14 March 1923, Newman, Ga. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Lt. Col. Jackson distinguished himself as pilot of a C-123 aircraft. Lt. Col. Jackson volunteered to attempt the rescue of a three-man USAF Combat Control Team from the special forces camp at Kham Duc. Hostile forces had overrun the forward outpost and established gun positions on the airstrip. They were raking the camp with small arms, mortars, light and heavy automatic weapons, and recoilless rifle fire. The camp was engulfed in flames and ammunition dumps were continuously exploding and littering the runway with debris. In addition, eight aircraft had been destroyed by the intense enemy fire and one aircraft remained on the runway reducing its usable length to only 2,200 feet. To further complicate the landing, the weather was deteriorating rapidly, thereby permitting only one air strike prior to his landing. Although fully aware of the extreme danger and likely failure of such an attempt, Lt. Col. Jackson elected to land his aircraft and attempt to rescue. Displaying superb airmanship and extraordinary heroism, he landed his aircraft near the point where the combat control team was reported to be hiding. While on the ground, his aircraft was the target of intense hostile fire. A rocket landed in front of the nose of the aircraft but failed to explode. Once the combat control team was aboard, Lt. Col. Jackson succeeded in getting airborne despite the hostile fire directed across the runway in front of his aircraft. Lt. Col. Jackson’s profound concern for his fellowmen, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself, and the Armed Forces of his country.
SHEA, CHARLES W.
WW II
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company F, 350th Infantry. 88th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Mount Damiano, Italy, 12 May 1944. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: New York, NY. G.O. No.: 4, 12 January 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, on 12 May 1944, near Mount Damiano, Italy. As 2d Lt. Shea and his company were advancing toward a hill occupied by the enemy, 3 enemy machineguns suddenly opened fire, inflicting heavy casualties upon the company and halting its advance. 2d Lt. Shea immediately moved forward to eliminate these machinegun nests in order to enable his company to continue its attack. The deadly hail of machinegun fire at first pinned him down, but, boldly continuing his advance, 2d Lt. Shea crept up to the first nest. Throwing several hand grenades, he forced the four enemy soldiers manning this position to surrender, and disarming them, he sent them to the rear. He then crawled to the second machinegun position, and after a short fire fight forced two more German soldiers to surrender. At this time, the third machinegun fired at him, and while deadly small arms fire pitted the earth around him, 2d Lt. Shea crawled toward the nest. Suddenly he stood up and rushed the emplacement and with well-directed fire from his rifle, he killed all three of the enemy machine gunners. 2d Lt. Shea’s display of personal valor was an inspiration to the officers and men of his company.
ALBER, FREDERICK
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 17th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Manchester, Mich. Born: 1838, Germany. Date of issue: 30 July 1896. Citation: Bravely rescued Lt. Charles H. Todd of his regiment who had been captured by a party of Confederates by shooting down one, knocking over another with the butt of his musket, and taking them both prisoners.
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 148th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Center County, Pa. Birth: Center County, Pa. Date of issue: 31 January 1865. Citation: Capture of battle flag of 8th North Carolina (C.S.A.), being one of the foremost in the assault.
BARKER, NATHANIEL C.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 11th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Manchester, N.H. Born: 28 September 1836, Piermont, N.H. Date of issue: 23 September 1897. Citation: Six color bearers of the regiment having been killed, he voluntarily took both flags of the regiment and carried them through the remainder of the battle.
BEECH, JOHN P.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 4th New Jersey Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Trenton, N.J. Born: 1 May 1844, England. Date of issue: 5 June 1894. Citation: Voluntarily assisted in working the guns of a battery, all the members of which had been killed or wounded.
Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 125th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotslvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag, seizing it as his regiment advanced over the enemy’s works. He received a bullet wound in the chest while capturing flag.
CLARKE, DAYTON P.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Captain, Company F, 2d Vermont Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Hermon, N.Y. Birth: Hermon, N.Y. Date of issue: 30 June 1892. Citation: Distinguished conduct in a desperate hand-to-hand fight while commanding the regiment.
CLAUSEN, CHARLES H.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First lieutenant, Company H, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 25 June 1892. Citation: Although severely wounded, he led the regiment against the enemy, under a terrific fire, and saved a battery from capture.
FALL, CHARLES S.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 26th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Hamburg, Mich. Born: 1842, Noble County, Ind. Date of issue: 13 May 1899. Citation: Was one of the first to mount the Confederate works, where he bayoneted two of the enemy and captured a Confederate flag, but threw it away to continue the pursuit of the enemy.
FASNACHT, CHARLES H.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 99th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Lancaster County, Pa. Date of issue: 2 April 1878. Citation: Capture of flag of 2nd Louisiana Tigers (C.S.A.) in a hand-to-hand contest.
FREEMAN, ARCHIBALD
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 124th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Newburgh, N.Y. Birth: Goshen, N.Y. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 17th Louisiana (C.S.A.).
HARRIS, GEORGE W.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 148th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Bellefonte, Pa. Birth: Schuylkill, Pa. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag, wresting it from the color bearer and shooting an officer who attempted to regain it.
JONES, WILLIAM
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 73d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 65th Virginia Infantry (C.S.A.).
KINDIG, JOHN M.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company A, 63d Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: East Liberty, Pa. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 28th North Carolina Infantry. (C.S.A.).
LOHNES, FRANCIS W.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 1st Nebraska Veteran Cavalry. Place and date: At Gilmans Ranch, Nebr., 12 May 1865. Entered service at:——. Birth: Oneida County, N.Y. Date of issue: 24 July 1865. Citation: Gallantry in defending Government property against Indians.
MARSH, ALBERT
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 64th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Randolph, N.Y. Birth: Cattaraugus County, N.Y. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag.
McANALLY, CHARLES
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, Company D, 69th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 2 August 1897. Citation: In a hand-to-hand encounter with the enemy captured a flag, was wounded in the act, but continued on duty until he received a second wound.
McFALL, DANIEL
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 17th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Ypsilanti, Mich. Born: 1836, Niagara County, N.Y. Date of issue. 27 July 1896. Citation: Captured Col. Barker, commanding the Confederate brigade that charged the Union batteries; on the same day rescued Lt. George W. Harmon of his regiment from the enemy.
McHALE, ALEXANDER U.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 26th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Muskegon, Mich. Born: 1842, Ireland. Date of issue: 11 January 1900. Citation: Captured a Confederate color in a charge, threw the flag over in front of the works, and continued in the charge upon the enemy.
MITCHELL, ALEXANDER H.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company A, 105th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Hamilton, Pa. Birth: Perrysville, Pa. Date of issue: 27 March 1890. Citation: Capture of flag of 18th North Carolina Infantry (C.S.A.), in a personal encounter with the color bearer.
MORGAN, LEWIS
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company I, 4th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Delaware County, Ohio. Birth: Delaware County, Ohio. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag from the enemy’s works.
MORSE, BENJAMIN
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 3d Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Grand Rapids, Mich. Born: 20 September 1844, Livingston, N.Y. Date of issue: 24 February 1891. Citation: Capture of colors of 4th Georgia Battery (C.S.A.)
NOLL, CONRAD
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 20th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Ann Arbor, Mich. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 28 July 1896. Citation: Seized the colors, the color bearer having been shot down, and gallantly fought his way out with them, though the enemy were on the left flank and rear.
NOYES, WILLIAM W.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 2d Vermont Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Montpelier, Vt. Birth: Montpelier, Vt. Date of issue: 22 March 1892. Citation: Standing upon the top of the breastworks, deliberately took aim and fired no less than fifteen shots into the enemy’s lines, but a few yards away.
ROBBINS, AUGUSTUS I.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company B, 2d Vermont Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Grafton, Vt. Birth: Grafton, Vt. Date of issue: 24 March 1892. Citation: While voluntarily serving as a staff officer successfully withdrew a regiment across and around a severely exposed position to the rest of the command; was severely wounded.
ROBINSON, THOMAS
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 81st Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Tamaqua, Pa. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag in a hand-to-hand conflict.
ROSSBACH, VALENTINE
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, 34th New York Battery. Place and date. At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 10 July 1896. Citation: Encouraged his cannoneers to hold a very dangerous position, and when all depended on several good shots it was from his piece that the most effective were delivered, causing the enemy’s fire to cease and thereby relieving the critical position of the Federal troops.
ROUNDS, LEWIS A.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 8th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Huron County, Ohio. Birth: Cattaraugus County, N.Y. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag.
RUSSELL, CHARLES L.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 93d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Malone, N.Y. Birth: Malone, N.Y. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 42d Virginia Infantry (C.S.A.).
SCHLACHTER, PHILIPP
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 73d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 15th Louisiana Infantry (C.S.A.).
THOMPSON, CHARLES A.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 17th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Kalamazoo, Mich. Born: 1843, Perrysburg, Ohio. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation: After the regiment was surrounded and all resistance seemed useless, fought single-handed for the colors and refused to give them up until he had appealed to his superior officers.
TRACY, CHARLES H.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 37th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864; At Petersburg, Va., 2 April 1865. Entered service at: Springfield, Mass. Birth: Jewett City, Conn. Date of issue: 19 November 1897. Citation: At the risk of his own life, at Spotsylvania, 12 May 1864, assisted in carrying to a place of safety a wounded and helpless officer. On 2 April 1865, advanced with the pioneers, and, under heavy fire, assisted in removing two lines of chevaux-de-frise; was twice wounded but advanced to the third line, where he was again severely wounded, losing a leg.
WEEKS, JOHN H.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 152d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Hartwick Seminary, N.Y. Born: 15 March 1845, Hampton, Conn. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag and color bearer using an empty cocked rifle while outnumbered five or six to one.
WESTERHOLD, WILLIAM
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company G, 52d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Prussia. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 23rd Virginia Infantry (C.S.A.).
WILCOX, WILLIAM H.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company G, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Lempster, N.H. Birth: Lempster, N.H. Date of issue: 28 July 1896. Citation: Took command of his company, deployed as skirmishers, after the officers in command of the skirmish line had both been wounded, conducting himself gallantly; afterwards, becoming separated from command, he asked and obtained permission to fight in another company.
WILSON, CHRISTOPHER W.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 73d New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania. Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: West Meriden, Conn. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 30 December 1898. Citation: Took the flag from the wounded color bearer and carried it in the charge over the Confederate works, in which charge he also captured the colors of the 56th Virginia (C.S.A.) bringing off both flags in safety.
WISNER, LEWIS S.
CIVIL WAR
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company K. 124th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Spotsylvania, Va., 12 May 1864. Entered service at: Wallkill, Orange County, N.Y. Birth: Wallkill, Orange County, N.Y. Date of issue: 2 January 1895. Citation: While serving as an engineer officer voluntarily exposed himself to the enemy’s fire.
Unerased History – May 11th
Donate A Day’s Wages to Charity
Eat What You Want Day
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
The Spanish-American War was fought in 1898 but it started ninety years before. Imagine how a man might feel if he had reached a pinnacle of success in a business career. Imagine what would happen if another business leader with a strong personality came along and makes inroads into the first man’s power base. As his reputation starts to diminish, the business adversary starts taking things away from the first man. His frustrations start to get a grip on him and he starts to make major mistakes. Finally due to all this pressure he decides to fight back and then loses it all.
Spain was such a man. It was very successful in the late 18th century. It was strong and feared. Then in the early 19th century Spain fought the Peninsular War which was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal. The war was for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic War.
Spain was such a man. It was very successful in the late 18th century. It was strong and feared. Then in the early 19th century Spain fought the Peninsular War which was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal. The war was for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic War.
The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807 and then in 1808 France turned on its ally, Spain. All through these early years Spain was under pressure.
The remainder of the mid-19th century saw revolts against Spanish rule that had been almost endless for decades in Cuba and were closely watched by Americans. There had been war scares before but by 1897–98, American public opinion grew angrier at reports of Spanish atrocities. After the mysterious sinking of the American battleship Maine in Havana harbor, political pressures from the Democratic Party pushed the government of President William McKinley, a Republican, into a war McKinley had wished to avoid.. Compromise proved impossible, resulting in an ultimatum sent to Madrid demanding it relinquish control of Cuba immediately, which was not accepted. First Madrid, then Washington, formally declared war.
The war occurred in both the Caribbean and in the Pacific. The trigger that finally set off this powder-keg was the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine. The war involved Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam.
“ In the long run, we shape our lives, we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
quixotic \kwik-SOT-ik\, adjective:
1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals.
2. Capricious; impulsive; unpredictable.
Quixotic refers to the eccentric, generous idealism of Don Quixote, the hero of a satiric romance by Miguel de Cervantes.
1310 – Fifty-four members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics.
1502 – Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies.
1588 – The Spanish Armada of 130 ships with 30,000 men left Lisbon for England.
1647- Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor.
1751 – First US hospital founded in Philadelphia, PA (Pennsylvania Hospital) .
1752 – Philadelphia’s volunteer fire companies formed America’s first successful property insurance company, The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire.
1792 – Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented non-Hispanic Caucasian to sail into the Columbia River.
1812 – OF SPECIAL NOTE: The Waltz was introduced into English ballrooms. Most observers considered it disgusting and immoral.
1814 – War of 1812: Americans defeated the British at Battle of Plattsburgh.
1816 – The American Bible Society came into being. The assembled delegates declared as their purpose “to encourage the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures throughout the world,” and stipulated that none of the Bibles would contain notes or comments.
1820 – Launch of HMS Beagle the ship that took young Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.
1841 – Lt. Charles Wilkes lands at Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound.
1846 – Congress declares war against Mexico at request of the President James Polk.
1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
1862 – Civil War: The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
1864 – Civil War: Battle of Yellow Tavern – Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded by a dismounted Union soldier at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.
1866 – Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after spending two years in prison for his role in the CIVIL WAR. He died at age 81 on December 6th, 1889.
1870 – The Brooklyn Atlantics pitcher George “Charmer” Zettlein pitches the first 9 inning shutout against the Cincinnati Red Stockings..
1880 – Battle of Mussel Slough: A US Marshal and his deputies faced a group of farmers in the San Joaquin Valley of California over a land dispute between the farmers and the Southern Pacific Railroad. Seven men died.
1889 – Major Joseph Washington Wham takes charge of $28,000 in gold and silver to pay troops at various points in the Arizona Territory. The money was stolen in a train robbery near Fort Thomas.
1894 – Pullman Strike: Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois. President Cleveland intervened to keep the mail running. Thirty-four union workers were killed when federal troops intervened. The strike ended on July 11.
1897 – Washington Senator catcher Charlie Farrell set a major-league record by throwing out eight Orioles trying to steal 2nd base.
1898 – Spanish – American War: Revenue Cutter Hudson towed the crippled USS Winslow from certain destruction under the Spanish forts at Cardenas, Cuba.
1898 – Spanish- American War: Sailors and Marines from USS Marblehead and USS Nashville cut trans-oceanic cable near Cienfuegos, Cuba, isolating Cuba from Spain.
1900 – James J Jeffries KO’s James J Corbett in 23rounds for heavyweight boxing title.
1907 – A derailment outside Lompoc, California kills 32 Shriners when their chartered train jumps off the tracks at a switch near Surf Depot.
1910 – President Taft signed the bill creating Glacier National Park which comprised 1,600 square miles. Glacier’s first superintendent, William Logan, spent that first summer attempting to control numerous forest fires.
1916 – Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity published.
1919 – Yankees’ Jack Quinn & Senators’ Walter Johnson, 12 inning 0-0 tie.
1920 – The 16th Marine Regiment organized at Philadelphia for duty in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1926 – Maxwell House Coffee’s “Good To The Last Drop”, was trademark registered.
1927 – Louis B Mayer forms Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences .
1928 – Radio station WGY, in Schenectady, NY, began America’s first regularly scheduled TV broadcasts. The programs lasted from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Most of the viewers were on the technical staff at nearby General Electric, which had designed the system and was using the broadcasts to refine its equipment.
1934 – Dust Bowl: A strong two-day dust storm removes massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst dust storms of the Dust Bowl in North America.
1935 – The US Rural Electrification Administration was established. Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas.
1937 – Spam, a canned ham by Hormel, was registered as a trademark.
1941 – World War II: The first Messerschmidt 109F was shot down above England.
1942 – William Faulkner’s collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
1942 – World War II: The Air Medal was authorized by President Roosevelt by Executive Order 9158.
1943 – World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces. America was successful nineteen days later.
1943 – World War II: Hermann Goering division in Tunisia surrendered.
1944 – World War II: The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
1944 – World War II: The US 9th Air Force begins a series of raids on airfields around Caen, France.
1944 – World War II: The Japanese begin to assemble most of their remaining heavy warships at Tawitawi. Admiral Ozawa commands the forces.
1945 – World War II: Kiyoshi Ogawa, Japanese pilot, crashed his plane into the US carrier Bunker Hill near Okinawa. 496 Americans died with him and the ship was knocked out of the war.
1946 – The first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Harve, France.
1946 – First night game at Boston Braves Field (Giants 5, Braves 1).
1947 – CHART TOPPERS – “Linda” by Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra, “Heartaches” by The Ted Weems Orchestra (whistler: Elmo Tanner), “The Anniversary Song” by Dinah Shore and “New Jolie Blonde (New Pretty Blonde)” by Red Foley all topped the charts.
1947 – BF Goodrich manufactures first tubeless tire at its plant in Akron OH.
1948 – Edward Ricketts (Doc Ricketts, 51), marine biologist and friend of author John Steinbeck, died in Monterey, Ca., after his car stalled on railroad tracks and was struck by a Del Monte Express.
1949 – First Polaroid camera sold for $89.95 in New York City. Using the Consumer Price Index this would be the equivalent of $822.00 in 2011 dollars.
1949 – Recognizing that rocket test ranges will exceed White Sands capability, Cape Canaveral was selected for future long range flights. President Truman signed a bill providing a 5,000-mile guided-missile test range.
1951 – Jay Forrester patented computer core memory.
1953 – The 1953 Waco tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado hit downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114 people with 597 injured. Damages were estimated at $200 million. In 2011 dollars that equals
1. 63 billion dollars.
1953 – Winston Churchill criticized the domino theory of John Foster Dulles.
1955 – CHART TOPPERS – “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” by Perez Prado, “Unchained Melody” by Les Baxter, “Honey-Babe” by Art Mooney and “In the Jailhouse Now” by Webb Pierce all topped the charts.
1956 – Pinky Lee Show, last airs on NBC-TV.
1957 – “All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley topped the charts.
1957 – Buddy Holly and the Crickets auditioned for “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” and were rejected.
1957 – The Everly Brothers made their debut on “Grand Ole Opry” in Nashville, TN.
1959 – “The Happy Organ” by Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez topped the charts.
1959 – “Kookie, Kookie Lend Me Your Comb” by Byrnes & Connie Stevens hits #4.
1959 – Yankee catcher Yogi Berra’s errorless streak of 148 games ends.
1960 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, living under the assumed name Ricardo Klement.
1960 – The first contraceptive pill is made available on the market.
1961 – Vietnam War: President Kennedy approves sending 400 Special Forces troops and 100 other U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam.
1963 – CHART TOPPERS – “I Will Follow Him” by Little Peggy March, “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul & Mary, “If You Wanna Be Happy” by Jimmy Soul and “LOnesome 7-7203” by Hawkshaw Hawkins all topped the charts. “I Will Follow Him” was also used in the movie “Sister Act.”
1963 – Los Angeles Dodger Sandy Koufax 2nd no-hitter beats New York Giants, 8-0.
1963 – Racial bomb attacks took place in Birmingham, Alabama.
1965 – The Byrds made their TV debut with “Mr. Tambourine Man” on NBC’s “Hullabaloo.” Hullabaloo was a music show that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965 until August 29, 1966.
1965 – Vietnam: U.S. destroyers deliver first shore bombardment of Vietnam War.
1967 – The ABC-TV special “Rodgers & Hart Today” aired. It starred Bobby Darin, the Supremes, Petula Clark and the Mamas & the Papas.
1967 – 100,000,000th US phone connected.
1967 – The siege of Khe Sanh ended.
1968 – Richard Harris releases “MacArthur Park.”
1968 – “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro topped the charts.
1969 – Vietnam War: Operation Apache Snow: American and South Vietnamese forces fight North Vietnamese troops for Ap Bia Mountain (aka Hill 937 or “Hamburger Hill”).
1970 – “Long & Winding Road” by the Beatles was released in the US. It was their last American release.
1970 – “Give Me Just a Little More Time” earned a gold record for The Chairmen of the Board, a moderately successful Detroit group.
1970 – Henry Marrow is murdered in a violent racially-motivated crime in Oxford, North Carolina.
1970 – The Lubbock Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Lubbock, Texas, killing 26.
1971 – CHART TOPPERS – “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night, “Never Can Say Goodbye” by The Jackson 5, “I Am…I Said” by Neil Diamond and “How Much More Can She Stand” by Conway Twitty all topped the charts.
1971 – Cleveland Indians’ Steve Dunning becomes last American League pitcher to hit grand slam.
1972 – John Lennon says his phone is tapped by the FBI on Dick Cavett Show.
1972 – San Francisco Giants trade Willie Mays to New York Mets.
1972 – Vietnam War: Air Force pilot First Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie (b.1948) was shot down by anti-aircraft fire after having logged 137 combat missions. His remains were entombed on Memorial Day, 1984, at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington. In 1998 his remains were exhumed and identified by DNA testing.
1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has his charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times dismissed.
1974 – Steely Dan releases “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number.”
1974 – “The Loco-Motion” by Grand Funk topped the charts.
1977 – Braves owner Ted Turner gives manager Dave Bristol a 10-day paid leave and takes over as field manager.
1979 – CHART TOPPERS – “Reunited” by Peaches & Herb, “Music Box Dancer” by Frank Mills, “Stumblin’ In” by Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman and “Backside of Thirty” by John Conlee all topped the charts.
1980 – Pete Rose, 39, steals second, third, & home in one inning for Phillies. It is the fifth time since 1928 that this has been accomplished: The last National Leaguer to pull this feat was Jackie Robinson in 1954.
1981 – Heavyweight boxing challenger Gerry Cooney left former champ Ken Norton on the ropes and unconscious after 54 seconds of the first round at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1982 – US Football League forms. The USFL existed from 1982 to 1985 for three full seasons. It was founded by David Dixon, from New Orleans, Louisiana.
1984 – The Detroit Tigers improve their record to 26-4 with an 8-2 win over the Angels and establish a new record for the best 30-game start in ML history.
1985 – Dave Concepcion becomes 4th Cincinnati Red teammate to get 2,000 hits.
1985 – Scott Brayton turned in the fastest lap ever at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Brayton was traveling at 214.199 MPH in the third lap of qualifying.
1986 – Fred Markham (US), unpaced and unaided by wind, became the first to pedal 65 mph on a level course, Big Sand Flat, Calif.
1985 – “Crazy forYou” by Madonna topped the charts.
1987 – CHART TOPPERS – “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” by Cutting Crew, “Looking for a New Love” by Jody Watley, “With or Without You” by U2 and “The Moon is Still Over Her Shoulder” by Michael Johnson all topped the charts.
1987 – In Baltimore, Maryland, The first heart-lung transplant takes place. The surgery is performed by Dr. Bruce Reitz, of Stanford University School of Medicine. Clinton House, the nation’s first living heart donor, died 14 months later.
1987 – Former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane began testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings.
1989 – President Bush recalled the US ambassador and planned to dispatch about 1,700 soldiers and 165 Marines in phases to reinforce troops already in Panama.
1989 – US Federal Judge Walter Nixon (61) of Mississippi was impeached by the House of Representatives.
1989 – The Franklin Mills mega-mall, the former Liberty Bell Racetrack, opened in Philadelphia.
1991 – “Joyride” by Roxette topped the charts.
1991 – President Bush dispatched an amphibious task force with thousands of Marines and dozens of helicopters to help cyclone-ravaged Bangladesh with disaster relief efforts.
1994 – Arkansas put to death two convicted murderers; it was the first time a state executed two people on the same day since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to restore the death penalty in 1976.
1995 – In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
1996 – After taking-off from Miami, Florida, a fire started by improperly handled oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.
1996 – In Pomona, CA, police officer Daniel Fraembs was shot and killed on South Humane Way.
1997 – IBM Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
1999 – Gulf War: US and British warplanes bombed air defense targets in northern and southern Iraq after they were targeted by radar.
1999 – The solar wind from the sun died away 98% for 24 hrs and allowed the Earth’s magnetic field to stretch out to the moon.
2000 – At Los Alamos 25,000 people were evacuated and the fire destroyed at least 150-260 homes. Flames scorched parts of the nuclear weapons facility.
2001 – U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced his decision to approve a 30-day delay of the execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
2001 – Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.
2002 – Joseph Bonanno (97), former Mafia boss known as “Joe Bananas,” died in Tucson, Az. His autobiography was titled “A Man of Honor.”
2004 – The Bush administration ordered economic sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorism. Food and medicine were excepted.
2004 – A video, posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site, showed the beheading of Nick Berg, an American civilian in Iraq. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, aka Ahmad Fadhil al Khalayeh, was later identified as the beheader. Nick Berg (26) was from West Chester, Pa.
2004 – NBA star Kobe Bryant pleaded not guilty in a Colorado court to a rape charge. Prosecutors later dropped the case.
2004 – Oil for June delivery rose to 40.06 per barrel, the highest price in 13 years.
2005 – The US Real ID Act of 2005 was signed into law. It was Division B of an act of the United States Congress entitled Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005.
2006 – The Philadelphia City Council unanimously approved a plan to blanket the city’s 135 square miles with a high-speed wireless Internet connection, a measure the mayor is expected to sign soon.
2006 – In Kingston, Tenn., deputy Bill Jones and a friend were shot and killed as they served felony warrants alleging aggravated assault. Jones was shot 33 times by two brothers at a rural farmhouse.
2007 – In California firefighters struggled to protect Avalon, Catalina Island’s main city, from a wildfire that forced hundreds of residents to flee on ferries as ash rained down like snow.
2007 – In California the high school graduation rate fell to 67%, a 10-year low, as the exit exam for basic skills was required for the first time.
2009 – US District Judge Samuel Kent was sentenced to 3 years in prison for lying to investigators about sexually abusing two female employees at his Galveston, Texas, courthouse. This was the first sex abuse case ever against a sitting federal judge.
2009 – The space shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts blasted off from Cape Canaveral on a mission to repair the Hubble telescope.
2009 – The price of a US first-class stamp rose 2 cents to 44 cents.
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1720 – Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German adventurer. He served until 1750, in particular taking part in two campaigns against the Turks. Returning home, Münchhausen supposedly told a number of outrageous tall tales about his adventures. Munchhausen Syndrome is a mental condition named after him. (d. 1797)
1799 – John Lowell, was a U.S. businessman, early philanthropist, and through his will, founder of the Lowell Institute. (d. 1836)
1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks, American Politician and the twenty-sixth Vice President of the United States. (d. 1918)
1875 – Harriet Quimby, American aviator. was the first female to gain a pilot license in the United States.
1888 – Irving Berlin, American composer. (d. 1989)
1888 – Willis A. Lee, admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. (d. 1945)
1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, (d. 1991)
1911 – Phil Silvers, His best-known work is The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a US Army post in which he played Sergeant Bilko; the show was also often referred to by this name. (d. 1985)
1912 – Foster Brooks, was an American actor and comedian who was most famous for his ongoing portrayal of a drunken man in Las Vegas nightclub performances and television programs. One of his famous lines (said as a drunken man) was “Some seeple pink I’m under the affluence on incohol.”(d. 2001)
1928 – Brother Andrew, is a Christian missionary famous for his exploits smuggling Bibles to communist countries in the height of the Cold War, a feat that has earned him the nickname “God’s smuggler”.
1946 – Robert Jarvik is an American scientist, researcher and entrepreneur known for his role in developing the Jarvik-7 artificial heart.
McKlNNEY, JOHN R.
WW II
Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Private), U.S. Army, Company A, 123d Infantry, 33d Infantry Division. Place and date: Tayabas Province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 11 May 1945. Entered service at: Woodcliff, Ga. Birth: Woodcliff, Ga. G.O. No.: 14, 4 February 1946. Citation: He fought with extreme gallantry to defend the outpost which had been established near Dingalan Bay. Just before daybreak approximately one-hundred Japanese stealthily attacked the perimeter defense, concentrating on a light machinegun position manned by three Americans. Having completed a long tour of duty at this gun, Pvt. McKinney was resting a few paces away when an enemy soldier dealt him a glancing blow on the head with a saber. Although dazed by the stroke, he seized his rifle, bludgeoned his attacker, and then shot another assailant who was charging him. Meanwhile, one of his comrades at the machinegun had been wounded and his other companion withdrew carrying the injured man to safety. Alone, Pvt. McKinney was confronted by ten infantrymen who had captured the machinegun with the evident intent of reversing it to fire into the perimeter. Leaping into the emplacement, he shot seven of them at pointblank range and killed three more with his rifle butt. In the melee the machinegun was rendered inoperative, leaving him only his rifle with which to meet the advancing Japanese, who hurled grenades and directed knee mortar shells into the perimeter. He warily changed position, secured more ammunition and reloading repeatedly, cut down waves of the fanatical enemy with devastating fire or clubbed them to death in hand-to-hand combat. When assistance arrived, he had thwarted the assault and was in complete control of the area. Thirty-eight dead Japanese around the machinegun and two more at the side of a mortar forty-five yards distant was the amazing toll he had exacted single-handedly. By his indomitable spirit, extraordinary fighting ability, and unwavering courage in the face of tremendous odds, Pvt. McKinley saved his company from possible annihilation and set an example of unsurpassed intrepidity.
*TERRY, SEYMOUR W.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company B, 382d Infantry, 96th Infantry Division. Place and date: Zebra Hill, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 11 May 1945. Entered service at: Little Rock, Ark. Birth: Little Rock, Ark. G.O. No.: 23, 6 March 1946. Citation: 1st Lt. Terry was leading an attack against heavily defended Zebra Hill when devastating fire from five pillboxes halted the advance. He braved the hail of bullets to secure satchel charges and white phosphorus grenades, and then ran thirty yards directly at the enemy with an ignited charge to the first stronghold, demolished it, and moved on to the other pillboxes, bombarding them with his grenades and calmly cutting down their defenders with rifle fire as they attempted to escape. When he had finished this job by sealing the four pillboxes with explosives, he had killed twenty Japanese and destroyed three machineguns. The advance was again held up by an intense grenade barrage which inflicted several casualties. Locating the source of enemy fire in trenches on the reverse slope of the hill, 1st Lt. Terry, burdened by six satchel charges launched a one-man assault. He wrecked the enemy’s defenses by throwing explosives into their positions and himself accounted for ten of the twenty hostile troops killed when his men overran the area. Pressing forward again toward a nearby ridge, his two assault platoons were stopped by slashing machinegun and mortar fire. He fearlessly ran across one-hundred yards of fire-swept terrain to join the support platoon and urge it on in a flanking maneuver. This thrust, too, was halted by stubborn resistance. 1st Lt. Terry began another one -man drive, hurling grenades upon the strongly entrenched defenders until they fled in confusion, leaving five dead behind them. Inspired by this bold action, the support platoon charged the retreating enemy and annihilated them. Soon afterward, while organizing his company to repulse a possible counterattack, the gallant company commander was mortally wounded by the burst of an enemy mortar shell. By his indomitable fighting spirit, brilliant leadership, and unwavering courage in the face of tremendous odds, 1st Lt. Terry made possible the accomplishment of his unit’s mission and set an example of heroism in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.
*WAUGH, ROBERT T.
WW II
Posthumously
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 339th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Tremensucli, Italy, 11-14 May 1944. Entered service at: Augusta, Maine. Birth: Ashton, R.I. G.O. No.: 79, 4 October 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy. In the course of an attack upon an enemy-held hill on 11 May, 1st Lt. Waugh personally reconnoitered a heavily mined area before entering it with his platoon. Directing his men to deliver fire on six bunkers guarding this hill, 1st Lt. Waugh advanced alone against them, reached the first bunker, threw phosphorus grenades into it and as the defenders emerged, killed them with a burst from his tommygun. He repeated this process on the five remaining bunkers, killing or capturing the occupants. On the morning of 14 May, 1st Lt. Waugh ordered his platoon to lay a base of fire on two enemy pillboxes located on a knoll which commanded the only trail up the hill. He then ran to the first pillbox, threw several grenades into it, drove the defenders into the open, and killed them. The second pillbox was next taken by this intrepid officer by similar methods. The fearless actions of 1st Lt. Waugh broke the Gustav Line at that point, neutralizing six bunkers and two pillboxes and he was personally responsible for the death of thirty of the enemy and the capture of twenty-five others. He was later killed in action in Itri, Italy, while leading his platoon in an attack.
Spanish-American War
The cutting of the cables at Cienfuegos, Cuba was one of the most remarkable events of the Spanish American War. In the face of severe fire, a group of men raised the cables through which communications passed between Cuba and the outside world. The following men received the Medal of Honor for this action:
BAKER, BENJAMIN F.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 12 March 1862, Dennisport, Mass. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Baker set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action .
BARROW, DAVID D.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 22 October 1877, Reelsboro, N.C. Entered service at: Norfolk, Va. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Barrow set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
BENNETT, JAMES H.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Chief Boatswain’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 11 August 1877, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Bennett set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
BEYER, ALBERT
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 13 June 1859, Hanover, Germany. Entered service at: Boston, Mass. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Beyer set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
BLUME, ROBERT
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 19 November 1868, Pittsburgh, Pa. Accredited to: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Blume set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
BRADY, GEORGE F.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Chief Gunner’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 7 September 1867, Ireland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 497, 3 September 1899. Citation: On board the torpedo boat Winslow during the actions at Cardenas, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Conspicuously gallant during this period, Brady, by his energy in assisting to sustain fire, his efforts to repair the steering gear and his promptness in maintaining watertight integrity, was largely instrumental in saving the vessel.
BRIGHT, GEORGE WASHINGTON
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Coal Passer, U.S. Navy. Born: 27 December 1874, Norfolk, Va. Accredited to: Virginia. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Bright set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
CAMPBELL, DANIEL
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 26 October 1874, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Campbell set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
CARTER, JOSEPH E.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Blacksmith, U.S. Navy. Born: 15 August 1875, Manchester, England. Accredited: North Dakota. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Carter set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
CHADWICK, LEONARD
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Apprentice First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 24 November 1878, Middletown, Del. Accredited to: Delaware. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Chadwick set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period.
COONEY, THOMAS C.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Chief Machinist, U.S. Navy. Born: 18 July 1853, Westport, Nova Scotia. Accredited to: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 497, 3 September 1898. Citation: On board the U.S. Torpedo Boat Winslow during the action at Cardenas, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Following the piercing of the boiler by an enemy shell, Cooney, by his gallantry and promptness in extinguishing the resulting flames, saved the boiler tubes from burning out.
DAVIS, JOHN
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Gunner’s Mate Third Class, U.S. Navy. Place and date: On board U.S.S. Marblehead at Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 28 October 1878, Germany. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead, during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Davis set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
DORAN, JOHN J.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Boatswain’s Mate Second Class, U.S. Navy. Born: Massachusetts. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Doran set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
DURNEY, AUSTIN J.
SPANISH- AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Blacksmith, U.S. Navy. Born: 26 November 1867, Philadelphia, Pa. Entered service at: Woodland, Mo. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Durney set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
EGLIT, JOHN
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 17 October 1874, Finland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Eglit set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
ERICKSON, NICK
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 18 July 1870, Finland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Erickson set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
FIELD, OSCAR WADSWORTH
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 6 October 1873, Jersey City, N.J. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Field set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
FOSS, HERBERT LOUIS
SPANISH-AMERICAN
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 12 October 1871, Belfast, Maine. Accredited to: Maine. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Foss set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
FRANKLIN, JOSEPH JOHN
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 18 June 1870, Buffalo, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Franklin set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
GAUGHAN, PHILIP
SPANISH-AMERICAN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U .S. Marine Corps. Born: 17 March 1865, Belmullet, Ireland. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Gaughan set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
GIBBONS, MICHAEL
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Oiler, U.S. Navy. Born: Ireland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfugos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Gibbons set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
GILL, FREEMAN
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Gunner’s Mate First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 5 September 1851, Boston, Mass. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Gill set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
HART, WILLIAM
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Machinist First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 9 June 1866, Massachusetts. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Hart set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
HENDRICKSON, HENRY
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 12 March 1862, Germany. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Hendrickson displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
HILL, FRANK
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 13 August 1864, Hartford, Conn. Accredited to: Connecticut. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Hill displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
HOBAN, THOMAS
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 11 September 1872, New York, N.Y.. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Hoban displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
JOHANSON, JOHN P.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
| Sweden |
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 22 January 1865, Sweden. Accredited to: Maryland. G.O. No.: 529, 21 November 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Johanson set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| JOHANSSON, JOHAN J. SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
|
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 12 May 1870, Sweden. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Johansson set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| JOHNSEN, HANS SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Norway |
Rank and organization: Chief Machinist, U.S. Navy. Born: 3 January 1865, Sandnes, Norway. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 497, 3 September 1898. Citation: On board the torpedo boat Winslow during the action at Cardenas, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Showing great presence of mind, Johnsen turned off the steam from the engine which had been wrecked by a shell bursting in the cylinder.
| KEARNEY, MICHAEL SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
|
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 4 October 1874, Newmarket, Ireland. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Kearney set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| KRAMER, FRANZ SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Germany |
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born. 20 January 1865, Germany. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Kramer set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| KRAUSE, ERNEST SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Germany |
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 3 July 1866, Germany. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Krause displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| KUCHNEISTER, HERMANN WILLIAM SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Germany |
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: Hamburg, Germany. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing ;he heavy fire of the enemy, Kuchneister displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| LEVERY, WILLIAM SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Apprentice First Class, U.S. Navy. Born. 3 June 1879, Pennsylvania. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Levery displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| MAGER, GEORGE FREDERICK SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Apprentice First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 23 February 1875, Philipsburg, N.J. Accredited to: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 529, 2 November 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Mager displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| MAXWELL, JOHN SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
|
Rank and organization: Fireman Second Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 21 June 1841, Ireland. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Maxwell displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| MEREDITH, JAMES SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. (Name changed to Patrick F. Ford, Jr ) Born: 11 April 1872, Omaha, Nebr. Accredited to: Virginia. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Meredith displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action .
| MEYER, WILLIAM SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Germany |
Rank and organization: Carpenter’s Mate Third Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 22 June 1863, Germany. Accredited to: Illinois. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Meyer displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness through this action.
| MILLER, HARRY HERBERT SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Nova Scotia |
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Place and date: On board the U.S.S. Nashville, Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Entered service at: Massachusetts. Born: 4 May 1879, Noel Shore, Hants County, Nova Scotia. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville, during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Miller displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action .
| MILLER, WILLARD SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Nova Scotia |
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: S June 1877, Noel Shore, Hants County, Nova Scotia, Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Miller displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| NELSON, LAURITZ SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Norway |
Rank and organization: Sailmaker’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 26 March 1860, Norway. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Nelson displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| OAKLEY, WILLIAM SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
England |
Rank and organization: Gunner’s Mate Second Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 8 August 1860, Colchester, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Oakley displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period.
| OLSEN, ANTON SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Norway |
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 26 April 1867, Norway. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 529, 2 November 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Olsen displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period.
| PARKER, POMEROY SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 17 March 1874, Gates County, N.C. Accredited to: North Carolina. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Parker displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| RILLEY, JOHN PHILLIP SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 22 January 1877, Allentown, Pa. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Rilley displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| RUSSELL, HENRY P. SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 10 June 1878, Quebec, Canada. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Russell displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| SCOTT, JOSEPH FRANCIS SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 4 June 1864, Boston, Mass. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Scott displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| SULLIVAN, EDWARD SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
|
Rank and organization: Private, U .S. Marine Corps. Born: 16 May 1870, Cork, Ireland. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Sullivan displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| SUNDQUIST, GUSTAV A. SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Sweden |
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 4 June 1879, Sweden. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 529, 2 November 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Sundquist displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| VADAS, ALBERT SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Austria-Hungary |
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. (Named changed to Wadas, Albert.) Born: 26 March 1876, Austria-Hungary. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Vadas displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period .
| VAN ETTEN, HUDSON SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 17 May 1874, Port Jervis, N.J. Accredited to: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Van Etten displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period.
| VOLZ, ROBERT SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born. 31 January 1875, San Francisco, Calif. Accredited to: Virginia. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Nashville during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Volz displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period.
| WEST, WALTER SCOTT SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 13 March 1872, Bradford, N.H. Accredited to: New Hampshire. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, West displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| WILKE, JULIUS A. R. SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
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Rank and organization: Boatswain’s Mate First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 14 November 1860, Germany. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Wilke displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
| WILLIAMS, FRANK SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR |
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Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 19 October 1872, Germany. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 521, 7 July 1899. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Williams displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period.
| BROWN, BENJAMIN INDIAN WARS |
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 24th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: Arizona, 11 May 1889. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Spotsylvania County, Va. Date of issue: 19 February 1890. Citation: Although shot in the abdomen, in a fight between a paymaster’s escort and robbers, did not leave the field until again wounded through both arms.
| MAYS, ISAIAH INDIAN WARS |
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company B, 24th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: Arizona, 11 May 1889. Entered service at: Columbus Barracks, Ohio. Born: 16 February 1858, Carters Bridge, Va. Date of issue: 19 February 1890. Citation: Gallantry in the fight between Paymaster Wham’s escort and robbers. Mays walked and crawled 2 miles to a ranch for help.
| FOWLER, CHRISTOPHER VERA CRUZ |
Rank and organization: Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Born: 1850, New York. Accredited to: New York. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Fortune off Point Zapotitlan, Mexico, 11 May 1874. On the occasion of the capsizing of one of the boats of the Fortune and the drowning of a portion of the boat’s crew, Fowler displayed gallant conduct.
| RUTHERFORD, JOHN T. CIVIL WAR |
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company L, 9th New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Yellow Tavern, Va., 11 May 1864; At Hanovertown, Va., 27 May 1864. Entered service at: Canton, N.Y. Birth:——. Date of issue: 22 March 1892. Citation: Made a successful charge at Yellow Tavern, Va., 11 May 1864, by which 90 prisoners were captured. On 27 May 1864, in a gallant dash on a superior force of the enemy and in a personal encounter, captured his opponent.
| TREAT, HOWELL B. CIVIL WAR |
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 52d Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Buzzard’s Roost, Ga., 11 May 1864. Entered service at: Painesville, Ohio. Birth: Painesville, Ohio. Date of issue: 14 August 1894. Citation: Risked his life in saving a wounded comrade.
| YEAGER, JACOB F. CIVIL WAR |
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 101st Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Buzzard’s Roost, Ga., 11 May 1864. Entered service at: Tiffin, Ohio. Birth: Lehigh County, Pa. Date of issue: 3 August 1897. Citation: Seized a shell with fuze burning that had fallen in the ranks of his company and threw it into a stream, thereby probably saving his comrades from injury.