TIKRIT, Iraq -- Senior Airman James Correll stands atop a 5-ton truck as he prepares to set out on a convoy from forward operating base Speicher. Airmen with the 732nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron here provide armed escort of combat logistics patrols to ensure passengers and cargo safely reach their destinations throughout Iraq. (U.S. Air Force photo by Maj. Robert Couse-Baker)

1520 - Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean.
1795 - The U.S. pays $800,000 and a frigate as tribute to Algiers and Tunis.
1853 - Olympia is established as the capital of Washington Territory.
1861 - The Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to the CSA.
1871 - The Ku Klux Klan trials begin in a South Carolina Federal District Court.
1895 - America's first auto race starts; 6 cars start out on the 55-mile course; the winner averages 7 MPH.
1908 - 154 men die in a coal mine explosion in Marianna, PA.
1919 - The American-born Lady Astor is elected as the first female member of the British Parliament.
1922 - In NYC, Captain Cyril Turner of the RAF gives the first skywriting exhibition; he spells out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" - 47,000 do.
1929 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd first flies to the South Pole.
1942 - In Boston, MA, nearly 500 die in a fire that destroys the Coconut Grove nightclub.
1943 - FDR, Churchill and Stalin meet at Tehran to map out their strategy.
1958 - Chad, the Congo, and Mauritania become autonomous within the French Community.
1964 - Mariner-4 is launched; it will be the first probe to fly by Mars.
1966 - A coup in Burundi overthrows the monarchy; a republic is declared.
1979 - An Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes in Antarctica killing 257
1983 - The 9th Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 6-is launched
1986 - The Reagan administration exceeds the SALT-II arms limitations for the first time.
1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing 159.

Birthdays
1628 - John Bunyan, English cleric/author (Pilgrim's Progress)
1785 - Achille-Charles duc de Broglie, French PM (1835-36)
1810 - William Froude, English engineer, naval architect
1820 - Friedrich Engels, German social philosopher; Marx's collaborator
1936 - Gary Hart (Sen-CO)

Passings
1262 - Shinran, founder of Japan's True Pure Land Buddhist sect
1939 - James A. Naismith, creator of basketball
1971 - Wasfi Tal, Jordan's PM, assassinated
1987 - Choh Hao Li, bio-chemist professor (isolated growth hormones)

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Reynolds, Jon A., USAF (DE); released by DRV February, 1973 – retired as a Brigadier General - alive and well as of 1998

Rutledge, Howard E., USN (CA); F8E shot down, released by DRV February, 1973 – deceased in 1984

1966
Hoeffs, John H., US Army (CA); Killed while swimming when a wave swept him out to sea, body not recovered

1970
Smith, Ronald E., US Army SF (IN); KIA, body not recovered

1972
Earnest, Charles M., USN (AL); A6A shot down (pilot), KIA, body not recovered

Harvey, Jack R., USAF (ME); F4D shot down (w/Jones)

Jones, Bobby M., USAF (GA); F4D shot down (w/Harvey)

War protesters pack up, leave
11/27/05 06:11 PM, EST
Dozens of war protesters packed up their tents and left their campsite in a field near President Bush's ranch Sunday, vowing to return during Easter for a third vigil if U.S. troops are still in Iraq.
FULL STORY - from CNN.com

DRY RUN — U.S. Army Cpl. Joe Kavanaugh (top) monitors the movement of the Iraqi army soldiers as they clear a room during a dry run of close quarters battle at a weapons class on Forward Operations Base McHenry, Iraq, Nov. 23, 2005. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway

Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo

National Hurricane Center


"Today in History" post coming later