1415 - At the Battle of Agincourt, the Welsh longbow defeats the armored knight.
1671 - Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, a satellite of Saturn.
1760 - George III ascends the British throne.
1764 - John Adams marries Abigail Smith - their marriage lasts 54 years.
1812 - The U.S. frigate United States captures the British vessel Macedonian.
1854 - The Light Brigade makes its charges (Battle of Balaklava-Crimean War)
1870 - Postcards are first used in the U.S.
1900 - The British annex Transvaal.
1903 - The Senate begins investigating the Teapot Dome scandals of the Harding administration.
1915 - Attorney James L. Curtis is named minister of Liberia.
1918 - The Canadian steamship Princess Sophia hits a reef off Alaska, killing 398.
1924 - The "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip makes its first appearance.
1929 - Former Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall is convicted of accepting a $100,000 bribe.
1930 - The first scheduled transcontinental air service begins.
1935 - Hurricane-produced floods kill 2,000 in Haiti.
1944 - The Japanese navy is defeated at the battle of Leyte Gulf.
1945 - The Japanese surrender Taiwan to General Chiang Kai-shek.
1951 - Peace talks aimed at ending the Korean War resume in Panmunjom.
1960 - In NYC, the first electronic wrist watch is placed on sale.
1962 - Uganda becomes the 110th member of the U.N.; Stevenson demands that Soviet ambassador Zorin give an answer regarding Cuban missle bases, saying that "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over."
1971 - Roy Disney dedicates Walt Disney World; The U.N. General Assembly admits China, and expels Taiwan.
1975 - The U.S.S.R.'s Venera-10 lands on Venus.
1978 - The Israeli Cabinet approves, "in principle," a draft compromise peace.
1983 - The U.S. invades Grenada.
1985 - The Kosmos-1700 communications satellite is placed in geostationary orbit.
1986 - The International Red Cross is ousted from South Africa.
1990 - The NY Daily News goes on strike (through March, 1991).

Birthdays
1759 - Baron Grenville, British PM (1806-07)
1825 - Johann Strauss (the younger), composer (Waltz King)
1838 - Georges Bizet, composer (Carmen)
1869 - John Heisman, pioneering football coach/trophy namesake
1877 - Henry Norris Russell, astronomer (Hertzsprung-Russell diagram)
1909 - Philleo Nash, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (1961-67)
1935 - Russell "Rusty" L. Schweickart, astronaut (Apollo 9)
1967 - Julia Roberts, actress (Mystic Pizza, Pretty Woman)

Passings
1400 - Geofrey Chaucer, author
1892 - Caroline Harrison, Preident Benjamin Harrison's wife
1986 - Forrest Tucker, actor (O'Rourke-F Troop, Dusty Trail)
1987 - Cecil Brown, news correspondant (CBS)

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Green, Robert B., USAF (TX); C47 shot down

Levan, Alvin L., USN (PA); suffered a seizure and fell overboard from PCF-87, Killed, body not recovered

1967
Horinek, Ramon A., USAF (KS); F105D shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

Kromenhoek, Jeffrey M., USN (IA); A4E shot down, presumed KIA

Smith, Richard Eugene, USAF (MS); F105D shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

1968
Thompson, Benjamin A., US Army (AL); swept away in current while crossing a river, Killed, body not recovered

1983
Also listed in the POW/MIA database for today are the names of more than 80 civilians, lost when the Glomar Java Sea, a civilian oil-drilling vessel, went down in a typhoon. (There is evidence to suggest the Glomar Java Sea was attacked prior to the typhoon, and that some survivors were captured and held by the Vietnamese).