0648 BC - Earliest total solar eclipse; chronicled by Greeks
0402 - Battle at Pollentia - Roman army under Stilicho beats Visigoten
0610 - Lailat-ul Qadar, the night the Koran descended to Earth
1106 - Fire in Venice
1652 - Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in South Africa, established by John of Riebeeck
1663 - King Charles II signs Carolina Charter
1664 - France & Saksen sign alliance
1672 - France declares war on Netherlands
1712 - Slave revolt in New York
1722 - Peter the Great ends tax on men with beards
1724 - Duke of Newcastle becomes English minister of Foreign Affairs
1727 - Denmark signs Covenant of Hannover
1757 - English king George II fires minister William Pitt Sr
1789 - 1st US Congress begins regular sessions, Federal Hall, New York NY
1815 - English militia shoots prisoners, 100's killed
1830 - Joseph Smith & 5 others organize Mormon church in Seneca County, New York
1848 - Jews of Prussia granted equality
1859 - US recognizes Liberal government in México's War of the Reform
1862 - Battle of Shiloh, Union defeats Confederacy in SW Tennessee
1865 - Battle of Sayler's Creek, 1/3rd of Lee's army cut off
1866 - G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) is established
1868 - Brigham Young marries his 27th & final wife
1869 - 1st plastic, Celluloid, patented
1886 - Declaration of Berlin neutralizes Tonga
1889 - George Eastman places Kodak Camera on sale for 1st time
1890 - French troops under Captain Archinard occupy Segu, West-Sudan
1893 - Mormon temple in Salt Lake City dedicated
1896 - 1st modern Olympic games begin in Athens Greece; American, James Connolly, wins 1st Olympic gold medal in modern history
1906 - 1st animated cartoon copyrighted
1909 - 1st credit union established in US; North Pole reached by Americans Robert Peary & Matthew Henson
1912 - Electric starter 1st appeared in cars
1916 - German parliament OKs unrestricted submarine warfare
1917 - US declares war on Germany, enters World War I
1920 - French troop attacks Main/Darmstadt/Hanau
1924 - 4 planes leave Seattle on 1st successful around-the-world flight; Italian fascists receive 65% of vote of parliament; Völkische Block (Nazi's) receives 17.8% of vote in Bayern
1925 - 1st film shown on an airplane (British Air)
1930 - 1st transcontinental glider tow completed; Hostess Twinkies invented by bakery executive James Dewar
1936 - Tornado kills 203 & injures 1,800 in Gainesville GA
1938 - Teflon invented by Roy J Plunkett
1939 - US & UK agree on joint control of Canton & Enderbury Islands (Pacific); Great Britain & Poland sign military pact
1941 - Italian-held Addis Ababa capitulates to British & Ethiopian forces; Beginning of 3 day bombardment of Belgrade (17,000 die); British General Gambier-Parry caught in North Africa; German bombardment on Piraeus (munitions ship explodes)
1943 - British & US offensive at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia; Lou Jansen, leader of illegal Dutch political party (CPN) arrested
1944 - Jewish nursery at Izieu-Ain France overrun by Nazis
1945 - Coevorden freed from Nazis; Japanese giant battleship Yamato heads to Okinawa; Massive kamikaze-attack on US battle fleet near Okinawa; US Marines explore Tsugen Shima near Okinawa
1950 - John F Dulles becomes advisor to US Secretary of State Dean Acheson
1954 - TV Dinner is 1st put on sale by Swanson & Sons
1955 - Yemen failed coup by Abdullah Seif el-Islam
1956 - Polish communist Gomulka freed from prison
1957 - NYC ends trolley car service
1964 - Egypt & Belgium restore diplomatic relations
1965 - Intelsat 1 ("Early Bird") 1st commercial geosynchronous communications satellite
1967 - Premier Pompidou forms new French government
1968 - 94.5% of East German voters approve new socialist constitution; Gunpowder stock at a sporting-goods store explodes, killing 43 (Virginia)
1972 - Egypt drops diplomatic relations with Jordan
1973 - Indies troops invade Sikkim; US launches Pioneer 11 to Jupiter & Saturn
1981 - Yugoslav government sends troops to Kosovo
1984 - 11th Space Shuttle Mission (41-C)- Challenger 5 is launched; 1st time 11 people in space
1985 - Sudan suspends constitution after coup under General Swarreddahab
1988 - North pole explorer Matthew Henson buried next to Robert Peary in Arlington
1992 - Microsoft announced Windows 3.1, upgrading Windows 3.0; Serbian troops begin siege of Sarajevo; US Supreme Court rules a Nebraska farmer was entrapped by postal agents into buying mail-order child pornography
1993 - 1st test flight of Ilyushin IL-96M (Moscow)
1994 - Liberal Supreme Court Justice Blackmun (Roe vs Wade) resigns; Palestinian suicide bomber kills 7 Israelis & himself
1997 - Progress M-34 Launch (Russia)

Birthdays
1483 - Raphael [Raffaello Sanzio] Urbino, painter/master builder (Madonna Sistina)
1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (Sonnets from the Portuguese)/Mrs Robert Browning
1823 - Joseph Medill, newspaper editor (Chicago Tribune)
1828 - Charles William Field, Confederate Major General
1866 - Butch Cassidy [Robert Parker], US desperado (Wild Bunch Passage)
1890 - Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker, aircraft pioneer (Spider)
1892 - Donald Wills Douglas, aircraft pioneer (McConnell Douglas)
1903 - Harold Edgerton, foremost high-speed photographer
1910 - Desmond Dreyer, British Admiral
1925 - John Knox, British supreme court justice; Marcus Worsley Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire
1926 - Ian Paisley, clergyman/MP
1928 - James Dewey Watson, chemist (co-discovered structure of DNA)
1929 - "Crazy" Joe Gallo, mobster
1940 - Anne Campbell, MP
1946 - Paul Beresford, MP
1947 - Jan Kees Wiebenga, Dutch MP (VVD)
1950 - Dennis E Eckart (Representative-OH)

Passings
1199 - Richard I the Lion-hearted, King of England (1189-99), dies at 41
1362 - Jacques de Bourbon, Count of Marche, killed in battle
1489 - Hans Waldmann, Swiss military/mayor (Zurich), beheaded
1490 - Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary
1590 - Francis Walsingham English Secretary of State, dies at about 57
1593 - Henry Barrow English puritian/Congressionalist, hanged; John Greenwood English Congressionalist, hanged
1838 - José B de Andrada e Silva, Premier of Brazil (1822-23), dies at 74
1854 - William Strickland, US architect
1862 - Adley Hogan Gladden, Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 51; Albert Sidney Johnston Confederate General, dies in battle at 59
1865 - John Austin Wharton, Confederate General-Major, dies at 36; Reuben B. Boston, Confederate cavalry Colonel, dies in battle
1926 - Giovanni Amendola, antifascist/editor-in-chief (Il Mondo), dies at 43
1945 - Benjamin M. Telders, president (Dutch Liberal States Party), dies at 42
1961 - Jules J. B. V. Bordet, Belgian bacteriologist (Nobel 1919), dies at 90
1968 - Bobby Hutton, US Black Panther leader, shot to death
1972 - Heinrich Lübke West German President (1959-69), dies at 77
1983 - Ana Maria Salvador guerilla leader, murdered
1990 - Ronald E. Evans, astronaut (Apollo 17), dies of a heart attack at 57
1993 - Hedi Amira Nouira, PM of Tunisia (1970-80)
1994 - Agatha Uwilingiyimana, Rwanda/1st female PM in Africa, assassinated; Cyprian Niayamira, President of Burundi (1993-94), assassinated; Juvénal Habayarimana President of Rwanda (1973), assassinated
1995 - Vieno J. Sukselainen, PM of Finland (1959-61)

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Cook, Dennis P., USN (CA); A4E crashed in water shortly after launch, Killed, BNR

Gates, James W., US Army (LA); OV1A shot down, (pilot, w/Lafayette)

Lafayette, John W.,US Army (VT); OV1A shot down (observer, w/Gates)

1967
Hegdahl, Douglas B., USN (SD); washed overboard in Tonkin Gulf, released August, 1969 - alive and well as of 1998 ** brought back a list of over 200 POWs names which he memorized to the tune of "Old McDonald Had a Farm". **

1968
Kustigan, Michael T., USN (MA)

Pepper, Anthony John, USMC (VA); KIA / BNR

Trimble, James M., USMC (CA); KIA / BNR

1970
The following Civilian journalists all reported missing, believed abducted:
Arpin, Claude, (France)

Flynn, Sean L., ; British TV crew found remains May, 1991

Stone, Dana, ; British TV crew found remains May, 1991

Takagi, Yujiro, (Japan)

Klingner, Michael Lee, USAF (NE); F100D shot down, KIA / BNR

Brassfield, Andrew T., US Army SF (OH); KIA / BNR

1972
The following USAF pesonnel reported MIA when their HH53C was shot down:
Alley, James H. (FL); remains ID'd September, 1997

Avery, Allen J. (MA); remains returned October, 1997

Call, James Henry III; remains returned October, 1997

Chapman, Peter H., (OH); remains returned October, 1997

Pearson, William R. (NH); remains returend October, 1997

Prater, Roy Dewitt (OH); remains returned October, 1997

Also reported MIA this day in 1972:
Dunlop, Thomas E., USN (FL); A7E shot down

Capt. Jacqueline King, right, updates Lt. Col. (Dr.) Christopher Scharenbrock of the status of simulated victims during training on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, at Fort Bragg, N.C. Captain King is a physician assistant from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and Colonel Scharenbrock is an emergency medical doctor with the 60th Medical Operations Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. They are with the multi-service provincial reconstruction team that is helping with the reconstruction, security and governing of Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jack Braden)
Full Story

Joe Galloway April 05, 2006
FORT BENNING, Ga. -- The word "hero" has been so debased and over-used in our modern society that it is almost meaningless when applied to the real thing.
This past week, here at the U.S. Army home of the infantry, several hundred people gathered for the dedication of a larger-than-life bronze statue of a real American hero named Rick Rescorla.

The statue is iconic: the young infantry 2nd lieutenant platoon leader leading the way in combat, his M-16 rifle with bayonet attached ready for use. It is based largely on the photograph on the cover of the book "We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young," written by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and me, which tells the story of the deadly battles in the Ia Drang Valley in the dawn of the Vietnam War...

Read the rest at Military.com

MEDICAL OUTREACH — U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Elena Varela helps a local Afghan child lace his new pair of shoes donated from the U.S. Army during a medical outreach program in the village of Khakeran, Qalat Province, Afghanistan, March 18, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Leslie Angulo

Teen Sends Tunes to Troops - Story



TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Forces Rescue Kidnap Victims
Bush: Elected Must 'Do Their Job'
Marine's Body Recovered
Forces Rack Up Recent Successes
Rice Expresses Confidence
Casey: Ops Pressure Terrorists
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq (PDF)
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (PDF)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Troop Deaths Investigated
Attack Kills Bomber, Injures Soldier
Forces Kill Enemy Fighter
Afghan Agency Delivers Rations
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Military, Industry Must Work Jointly
Hearings Begin for Terror Suspect
Commissions to Resume at Gitmo
Medalist Returns to Sports Clinic
More Detainee Transcripts Released
Agency Mission: Reduce WMD Threat
Iran Might Have New Torpedo
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
America Pays Tribute to Weinberger
Medalist Returns to Sports Clinic
VA Secretary Lauds Vets’ Grit
17 Recover After Surviving Crash
No Pay System ID Theft Reported
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Defense Officials Identify Casualties - Story

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

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo