On this day in..........

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KentK93
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10:37a, 4/18/26
AG
Forgot to post this yesterday:
“If you think you can do it better, go ahead. We will step aside.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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ABATTBQ87
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In reply to ABATTBQ87 • 11:24a, 4/18/26
AG
ABATTBQ87 said:
On April 18, 1945, just six days after President Franklin Roosevelt succumbed to a fatal stroke, a bullet from a Japanese machine gun prematurely ended the 44-year-old journalist's life. In less than a week, Americans everywhere found themselves collectively mourningand publicly commemoratingthe loss of two national heroes.

"The death of Ernie Pyle this week was a real loss to every soldier everywhere. He understood the soldier and presented his case to the public as nobody else had done during the war."

Given Pyle's immense popularity with both citizens and troops, it is unsurprising that news of his sudden death sparked a global outpouring of love and spurred numerous plans to memorialize his life. Incredulous callers flooded newsroom switchboards and correspondence deluged mail rooms. One wounded vet suggested changing the name of Ie Shima to Ernie Pyle Island, and a Captain in the Army proposed renaming Okinawa itself in Pyle's honor. Though these grandiose plans never materialized, memorials soon sprang up from Japan to Germany.



The Battalion April 19, 1945


April 18, 1945
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ABATTBQ87
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8:44a, 4/19/26
AG
Today, the 19th of April in 1775, on the village green of Lexington, Massachusetts and at the bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, Americans met the British regulars. The "redcoats" were attempting to capture American weapons and munitions and patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. On the Lexington Green a shot rang out and it was "heard round the world". Both sides fired on each other. Men fell wounded and dead. Our American Revolutionary War began.
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ABATTBQ87
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8:48a, 4/19/26
AG
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm."

https://poets.org/poem/paul-reveres-ride



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ABATTBQ87
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9:29a, 4/23/26
AG
April 21, 1946: The Aggies return to Corregidor!

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nortex97
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8:50a, 4/24/26
AG
1800 The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
1877 Last federal occupying troops withdraw from the South (New Orleans), ending Reconstruction.
1918 First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
1967 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily."
1967 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
1980 Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis under the watchful eye and leadership of that failure, Jimmy Carter, the worst president in the history of the United States. A C-130 got stuck/ran into a helicopter on a makeshift runway in Iran (for refueling), after Jimmy had ok'd the ayatollah to fly in from Paris, seeing him as a 'Ghandi like leader' for our former ally.
1990 STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
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BQ78
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In reply to nortex97 • 10:22a, 4/24/26
AG
Here is the site of the Villers-Bretonneaux tank battle taken from the perspective of the British tanks entering the battle. The German tanks were to the left of the ridge line. One of them tipped over and fell in the low area to the right of the road. After the big boys fought, the British sent Whippet tankettes over the ridge into Villers-Bretonneaux to run over German infantrymen, good times!
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BQ78
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In reply to nortex97 • 10:27a, 4/24/26
AG
Bone to pick on Eagle Claw, the helicopter ran into the C-130 while maneuvering at ground level during refueling operations. The helicopter was maneuvering to get fuel from an HC-130 and did not clear the other C-130 who never saw it coming.
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nortex97
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In reply to BQ78 • 7:47p, 4/24/26
AG
Good catch, thx. I was lazy and didn't check my recollection.
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BQ78
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10:00a, 4/27/26
AG
April 27, 1862: "the night the South lost the war" when it surrendered its largest city New Orleans

Lincoln suspends habeas corpus in Maryland

1863: Streight begins his raid in north Alabama that will end with the start of the Nathan Bedford Forrest legend.

Stoneman begins his raid that will also end badly but kicks off the Chancellorsville Campaign

1865: the worst maritime disaster in US History occurs when the boilers of the "Sultana" explode on the Mississippi just north of Memphis. The overcrowded vessel had thousands on it. Many former prisoners from Andersonville still in poor physical health. The story hardly got any press. The Lincoln assassination news that Booth had been killed and Joe Johnston had surrendered the day before sucked all the media air out of the room.
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nortex97
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In reply to BQ78 • 4:28a, 4/29/26
AG
Also yesterday:
1789 Mutiny on the Bounty, Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.

1944 World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946. The news is suppressed.

29 April;
Joan of Arc arrives at the siege of Orleans (the old one).

I think the papal bull from Gregory XIII was issued on this date to adopt the Gregorian Calendar, in 1582, since we are tracking dates still using that system it bears noting.
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nortex97
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6:34a, 4/29/26
AG

Sorry for the double post.
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ABATTBQ87
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In reply to ABATTBQ87 • 10:12a, 4/29/26
AG
Hmmm, looks like Monty Python had 2 release dates
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BonfireNerd04
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3:07p, 4/29/26
1992 - A jury in Los Angeles finds four police officers not guilty of assault for using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King.

In response, LA's Black community started a riot that would cause over $1 billion in damage and kill 63 people, the deadliest race riot since the Tulsa massacre of 1921.
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CanyonAg77
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In reply to BQ78 • 3:09p, 4/29/26
AG
BQ78 said:
Stoneman begins his raid that will also end badly but kicks off the Chancellorsville Campaign.

Is that when his cavalry came, and tore up the tracks again?
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BQ78
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In reply to CanyonAg77 • 3:50p, 4/29/26
AG
Nah, that was in the winter of '65 when southerners were hungry just barely alive.

Poor old Stoneman, it must have been tough spending your army career as a cavalryman with hemorrhoids. Many of his raids he spent riding in a captured carriage or army ambulance.
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Smeghead4761
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1:42a, 5/1/26
April 30, 1975: the last helicopter leaves the US Embassy in Saigon.
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Cinco Ranch Aggie
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6:28a, 5/1/26
AG
April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler kills himself in the Fuhrerbunker with the Red Army on his doorstep.

May 1, 1945: Germany announces Hitler's death. One of the most evil women in history, Magda Goebbels, murders her children. Joseph Goebbels kills Magda then himself in the Chancellery garden. Karl Doenitz is named the new Chancellor of Germany.
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nortex97
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5:16a, 5/2/26
AG
1 May 1786; the marriage of Figaro opens. Mozart at his best.

2 May 1982 The Royal Navy when it was still a military force: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano is sunk by British submarine HMS Conqueror with the loss of more than 350 men during the Falklands War.

Not entirely good, as the red army would then rape/murder German women by the tens of thousands.
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lb sand
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In reply to nortex97 • 7:37a, 5/2/26
AG
Looks like that photo is the "official" Soviet propaganda photo released after they air brushed all the wrist watches off that soldier's arm that he had looted.
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KentK93
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6:34p, 5/4/26
AG
1780: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is founded in Boston, with James Bowdoin, John Adams, and Samuel Adams as founding members.
1805: Henry C. Overing buys 80 acres of Throggs Neck in the Bronx.
1878: Thomas Edison's phonograph is shown for the first time at the Grand Opera House in New York City.
1896: The first edition of the London Daily Mail sells for a halfpenny.
1904: Charles Rolls meets Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, England. They go on to form the car manufacturer Rolls-Royce.
1929: Lou Gehrig hits three consecutive home runs.
1932: Al Capone enters Atlanta Penitentiary, convicted of income tax evasion
1942: Battle of Coral Sea begins (the first naval battle fought solely in the air) between Japanese, U.S., and Australian navies and air forces.
1948: The Boston Pops Orchestra, with Arthur Fiedler conducting, debuts Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride."
1953: Ernest Hemingway receives the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for The Old Man and the Sea.
1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1984: Dave Kingman's fly ball never comes down (because it got stuck in the Metrodome's ceiling).
1998: A federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., gives "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
“If you think you can do it better, go ahead. We will step aside.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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BonfireNerd04
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10:50a, 5/5/26
1862: A Mexican army led by General Ignacio Zaragoza successfully defended a fort near Puebla against an attack by French troops, thus creating an annual excuse for Mexico to sell alcoholic beverages to gringos.
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KentK93
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In reply to BonfireNerd04 • 11:41a, 5/5/26
AG
BonfireNerd04 said:
1862: A Mexican army led by General Ignacio Zaragoza successfully defended a fort near Puebla against an attack by French troops, thus creating an annual excuse for Mexico to sell alcoholic beverages to gringos.

Here is an excellent description of French defeat!

Quote:
Certain that French victory would come swiftly in Mexico, roughly 6,000 French troops under General Charles de Lorencez set out in May 1862 to attack Puebla de Los Angeles. From his new headquarters in the north, Juarez rounded up a ragtag force of loyal men and sent them to Puebla. Meanwhile, Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza led an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 Mexicans as they fortified the town and prepared for the assault by the well-equipped French force.



https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-5/cinco-de-mayo
“If you think you can do it better, go ahead. We will step aside.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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nortex97
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12:14p, 5/5/26
AG
"Wherever Lee goes, you will go also." Say whatever else one will, he was effective.
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KentK93
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6:17a, 5/6/26
AG
On May 6, 1527, 189 Swiss Guards made a legendary last stand during the Sack of Rome, defending Pope Clement VII against a mutinous army of ~20,000 imperial mercenaries. While 147 guards died fighting on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica, their sacrifice allowed the Pope to escape via the Passetto di Borgo to safety at Castel Sant'Angelo.
“If you think you can do it better, go ahead. We will step aside.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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nortex97
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6:16a
AG
1846 Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war. For those of you who might be confused, the Rio Grande is the border. Mexico is SOUTH of that river.
1886 Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that would later be named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
1902 In Martinique, Mount Pele erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
1945 Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Stif massacre. Yet another brilliant French victory in WW II. Elsewhere, combat in Europe ends in World War II: V-E Day. German forces agree to an unconditional surrender.

Yesterday (May 7):
1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by Confederate troops. A battle won in a war lost. General Lee loses General Stonewall Jackson to friendly fire. Lee likens this to losing his right ar
1877 Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska. He's a veteran of Little Big Horn and many other battles.
1882 The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
1889 The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
1935 New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration.
1937 Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
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KentK93
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9:15a
AG
Quote:
Her name is Joan of Arc, a 17-year-old from the tiny village of Domremy. She claims to hear voices from saints, divine messages urging her to save France. Against all odds, she's convinced the dauphin, Charles VII, to let her lead troops to Orleans. When she arrives in late April, clad in armor and riding a white horse, the soldiers and townsfolk are skeptical. A girl leading an army? Unheard of. Yet her unshakable convictionher certainty that God has sent herignites a spark in their weary hearts.
By May 8, after days of fierce fighting, Joan's leadership proves decisive. She rallies the French troops to attack the English fortifications, personally scaling ladders under a hail of arrows. At one point, she's wounded by a crossbow bolt to the shoulder, yet she refuses to retreat, her banner waving defiantly. Her courage is infectious. The French soldiers, inspired by this fearless maiden, push harder than ever. By the end of the day, the English are in full retreat, abandoning their siege. Orleans is saved.



https://open.substack.com/pub/historytruth/p/thisdayinhistory-joan-of-arc-lifts?selection=498fd494-b1fc-4040-9f6f-2e6b67503ed5&r=tfmfm&utm_medium=ios
“If you think you can do it better, go ahead. We will step aside.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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