On This Day in History.....

1267 Vienna's church orders all Jews to wear a distinctive garb
1278 Jews of England imprisoned on charges of coining
1291 Scottish nobles recognize authority of English king Edward I
1427 Jews are expelled from Berne Switzerland
1497 Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for 1st voyage to New World
1503 Columbus discovers Cayman Islands
1525 Church reformer John Pistorius caught in the Hague
1534 French navigator Jacques Cartier reaches Newfoundland
1559 Scottish Protestants under John Knox uprise against queen-mother Mary
1570 Czar Ivan IV becomes Protestant
1624 Jacob Willekens & Piet Heyn conquer Salvador, Civil rights activist
1652 John Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Northampton VA
1655 Jamaica captured by English
1676 Bacon's Rebellion, frontiersmen vs Virginia Government begins
1752 Benjamin Franklins 1st tests the lightning rod
1774 Louis XVI ascends to throne of France
1775 2nd Continental Congress convened in Pennsylvania; issues paper currency for 1st time
1775 2nd Continental Congress names George Washington, supreme commander
1775 Green Mountain Boys capture Fort Ticonderoga NY-American Revolution
1787 Parliament impeaches Warren Hastings
1796 French Government arrest 10 utopists
1796 Napoleon defeats Austria in Battle of Lodi Bridge
1796 Riot after disagreement of patriotic demand in Amsterdam
1797 1st Navy ship, the "United States" is launched
1816 English steamship "Defiance" arrives at Rotterdam harbor
1823 1st steamboat to navigate the Mississippi River arrives at Fort Snelling
1849 Pack destroys Astor Place opera house in NYC (22 killed)
1857 Indian Mutiny begins with revolt of Sepoys of Meerutkazerne, Delhi
1861 Union troops march on state militia in St Louis MI
1862 Battle of Plum Run Bend TN (Plum Point Bend)
1864 Battles at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia
1864 Skirmish at Ny River VA
1865 President Jefferson Davis is captured by Union Cavalry in Irwinsville GA
1865 Surrender of Sam Jones
1869 Golden Spike driven, completes Promontory Point UT-Transcontinental RR
1870 Jem Mace defends his heavyweight crown against Irish champion Joe Coburn, it lasts 1 hour & 17 minutes, and neither is struck by a punch
1871 Peace of Frankfurt-am-Main concluded between France & Germany; France cedes Elzas
1872 Victoria Woodhull becomes 1st woman nominated for US president
1876 Centennial Fair opens in Philadelphia
1879 Meteor falls near Estherville IA
1880 General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
1881 Lighthouse on Ameland begins operation
1889 17th Preakness: W Anderson aboard Buddhist wins in 2:17½
1893 19th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Kunze aboard Lookout wins in 2:39¼
1893 Imperial Institute in London opens
1905 31st Kentucky Derby: Jack Martin aboard Agile wins in 2:100.75
1906 Russia's Duma (Parliament) meets for 1st time
1907 Paul Dukas' opera "Ariane et Barbe Bleue" premieres in Paris France
1908 1st Mother's Day observed (Philadelphia)
1909 Winchester's Fred Toney no-hits Lexington for 17 innings
1910 1st aircraft air display held (Hendon, England)
1910 36th Kentucky Derby: Fred Herbert aboard Donau wins in 2:06.4
1910 Halley's Comet closest approach to Earth in 1910 pass
1913 39th Kentucky Derby: Roscoe Goose aboard Donerail wins in 2:04.8
1913 Yankees commit 8 errors & still beat Tigers 10-9 in 10 innings
1915 Zeppelin drops hundred of bombs on Southend-on-Sea
1916 Disastrous fire in Ellendale ND
1916 Historic Shipport Museum opens in Amsterdam
1917 Atlantic ships get destroyer escorts to stop German attacks
1918 HMS Vindictive sunk to block entrance of Ostend Harbor
1919 45th Kentucky Derby: Johnny Loftus aboard Sir Barton wins in 2:09.8
1919 Race riot in Charleston SC, 2 blacks killed
1921 Luigi Pirandello's "Sei Personaggi in Cerca d'Autore" premieres
1922 Dr Ivy Williams is 1st woman to be called to the English Bar
1922 WHB-AM in Kansas City MO begins radio transmissions
1924 J Edgar Hoover appointed head of the FBI
1926 52nd Preakness: John Maiben aboard Display wins in 1:59.8
1928 WGY, Schenectady begins regular TV programming
1929 55th Preakness: Louis Schaefer aboard Dr Freeland wins in 2:01.6
1929 64th British Golf Open: Walter Hagen shoots a 292 at Muirfield Gullane
1930 1st US planetarium opens (Adler-Chicago)
1930 Clarrie Grimmett takes 10 for 37 vs Yorkshire at Sheffield
1931 Golf ball size hail falls in Burlington NJ
1932 Government declares "Wilhelmus" Netherlands national anthem
1932 Senate chairman Albert Lebrun becomes President of France
1933 Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF) forms
1933 Nazis stage public book burnings in Germany
1933 Paraguay declares war on Bolivia
1933 Suriname worker's union leader A de Come banish to Netherlands
1936 Manuel Azaña elected President of Spain
1936 Nahas Pasja becomes premier of Egypt
1937 Busmen strike in London
1938 Banning speech on anti-fascism demonstration in Amsterdam
1940 British Local Defense Volunteers (Home Guard) forms
1940 Dutch torpedo boat Johan van Galen sinks
1940 Dutch-Indies Governor Van Starkenborch proclaims end to state of siege
1940 French marines stationed on Aruba
1940 French troops arrive in Zealand/Brabant Netherlands
1940 Nazi armies invade the Benelux countries of Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg
1940 Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British PM
1941 67th Preakness: Eddie Arcaro aboard Whirlaway wins in 1:58.8
1941 Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland
1941 England's House of Commons & Holborn Theater destroyed in a blitz
1941 Queen Wilhelmina on Radio Orange warns against treason
1944 Chinese offensive in West-Yunnan
1944 Smith v Allwright (excluding Blacks from primary voting) is illegal
1945 Allies capture Rangoon from the Japanese
1945 Russian troops occupy Prague
1946 Red Sox win 15th straight beat Yankees 5-4, DiMaggio hits Grand Slam
1946 Umberto II succeeds Victor Emmanuel III as king of Italy
1947 "Chocolate Soldier" closes at Century Theater NYC after 69 performances
1947 73rd Preakness: Doug Dodson aboard Faultless wins in 1:59
1948 1st attack by Egyptian irregular forces at Kfar Darom Israel
1948 Winston Churchill visits The Hague
1950 1st Netherlands-US telex sent
1951 Z Alexander Looby elected to Nashville City Council
1952 "Shuffle Along" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 4 performances
1953 Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Sacramento Golf Open
1953 KCBD TV channel 11 in Lubbock TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1954 Bolshoi-ballet does not appear in Paris France
1956 French Government sends 50,000 reservists to Algeria
1956 KFSN TV channel 30 in Fresno CA (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
1957 1st meeting of legislature of Cameroon
1957 Dmitri Sjostakovitsch 2nd Piano concert, premieres in Moscow
1959 Giants Jim Hearn allows 2 runs against Pirates, game is suspended, Hearn is released & charged with loss 2 months after his retirement
1959 Joyce Ziske wins LPGA Howard Johnson Golf Invitational
1959 Soviet forces arrive in Afghánistán
1960 John F Kennedy wins primary in West Virginia
1960 US atomic sub USS Triton completes 1st circumnavigation of globe under water
1961 "Beyond the Fringe" premieres in London
1963 Decca signs the Rolling Stones on advice of Beatle George Harrison
1964 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Squirt Ladies' Golf Open Invitational
1966 25ºF lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in May
1967 Foundation AZ soccer team forms in Alkmaar
1967 Hank Aaron only inside the park homerun (vs Jim Bunning)
1967 Keith Richards, Brian Jones & Mick Jagger arrested on drug charges
1967 Stockholm Vietnam-Tribunal declares US aggression in Vietnam/Cambodia
1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968 Vietnam peace talks began in Paris between the US & North Vietnam
1969 Apollo 10 transmit 1st color pictures of Earth from space
1969 Turtles play the White House, Mark Volman falls off stage 5 times
1969 US troops begin attack on Hill 937/Hamburger Hill
1970 Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1970 Brave's Hoyt Wilhelm pitches in his 1,000th game, loses to Cardinals 6-5
1970 Stanley Cup: Boston Bruins sweep St Louis Blues in 4 games
1971 US special delivery rates go from 45¢ to 60¢
1972 Overloaded South Korean bus plunges into reservoir, killing 77
1972 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1973 27th NBA Championship: New York Knicks beat Los Angeles Lakers, 4 games to 1
1973 9th Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yankees 8-4
1973 Establishment of Frente Polisario in Mauritania
1973 Stanley Cup: Montréal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 4 games to 2
1974 7th ABA championship: New York Nets beats Utah Stars, 4 games to 1
1975 Brian Oldfield of the US put the shotput 75', an unofficial record
1978 "Angel" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 5 performances
1978 Liverpool wins 23rd Europe Cup I
1979 Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing
1979 John McMullen becomes CEO of Houston Astros
1979 Vivekananda (Sri Lanka) completes nonstop cycle ride of 187 hours, 28 minutes, around Vihara Maha Devi Park, Colombo, Sri Lanka
1980 "Happy New Year" closes at Morosco Theater NYC after 17 performances
1981 Amy Alcott wins LPGA Lady Michelob Golf Tournament
1981 François Mitterrand defeats Valery Giscard d'Estang for President of France
1981 Montréal Expo Charlie Lee no-hits San Fransisco Giants, 4-0
1982 WABC-NYC plays its last record (John Lennon's Imagine) and joins ABC's All Talk radio network
1983 "Laverne & Shirley" last airs on ABC-TV
1983 Lee Chin Yong performs 170 continuous chin-ups in Seoul
1984 International Court of Justice rules on US blockade of Nicaragua
1985 Challenger transports back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly Air Force Base
1986 "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco hit #1 on UK pop chart
1986 Tommy Lee drummer of Motley Crüe marries Heather Locklear
1987 Jody Rosentha wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic
1988 Edgar Degas' "Danseresje of 14" sold for $10,120,000
1989 FC Barcelona wins 29th Europe Cup II
1989 General Manuel Noriega's Government nullifies country's elections, which the opposition had won by a 3-1 margin
1990 "Zoya's Apartment" opens at Circle in Square Theater NYC for 45 performances
1990 French TGV-train hits record speed of 510.6 kph
1990 Howard Stern holds a mock funeral for rival John DeBella
1991 Oakland A's Jose Canseco is seen leaving Madonna's apt
1992 "Hamlet" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 45 performances
1992 Bible Land Museum opens in Jerusalem Israel
1992 Jennifer Wyatt wins LPGA Crestar-Fresh Farm Golf Classic
1993 Fire in clothing factory at Bangkok, kills 145
1993 Last TV appearance of Mies Bouwman
1993 Paul Cézannes still life sells for $28,600,000 in NYC
1993 Premier Lubbers opens Terminal West on Schiphol
1994 "Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public" opens at Lunt-Font NYC for 16 per
1994 Barbra Streisand's begins 1st concert tour in 30 years
1994 Drew Barrymore (19) files for divorce from Jeremy Thomas (31)
1994 Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's 1st black president
1994 Silvio Berlusconi forms Italian Government with 5 neo-fascists
1995 30th Academy of Country Music Awards: Reba McEntire wins
1995 Britain lifts a 23-year ban on ministerial talks with Sinn Fein
1995 In South Africa, 104 miners killed in an elevator accident
1996 "Twister" premieres
1996 2 US Marine helicopters collided during joint US & British war games
1997 Chicago Cubs turn baseballs 68th triple play (vs San Fransisco Giants)
=======================================================

Missing In Action.....

1966 BAILEY JOHN EDWARD MINNEAPOLIS MN SURVIVAL UNLIKELY REMAINS IDENTIFIED 03/17/99
1966 ECKES WALTER W. NEW YORK NY 06/18/66 ESCAPED
1967 AHLMEYER HEINZ JR. PEARL RIVER NY
1967 MILLER MALCOM T. TAMPA FL
1967 NETHERLAND ROGER M. BEAVER PA REMAINS IDENTIFIED 06/16/00
1967 SHARP SAMUEL A. JR. SAN JOSE CA
1967 TYCZ JAMES N. MILWAUKEE WI
1968 BLACKMAN THOMAS J. RACINE WI
1968 CZERWONKA PAUL S. SOUTHTON MA
1968 COOK JOSEPH F. FOXBORO MA
1968 FLEMING HORACE H. III PENSACOLA FL
1968 FRITSCH THOMAS W. CROMWELL CT
1968 HEMPEL BARRY L. GARDEN GROVE CA
1968 HEYNE RAYMOND T. MASON WI
1968 KING GERALD E. KNOXVILLE TN
1968 LOPEZ ROBERT C. ALBUQUERQUE NM
1968 MC GONIGLE WILLIAM D. WICHITA KS
1968 MITCHELL DONALD W. PRINCETON KY
1968 MILLER GLENN E. OAKLAND CA
1968 PERRY THOMAS H. CANTON CT
1968 SARGENT JAMES R. ANAWALT WV
1969 WALTERS WILLIAM PHILADELPHIA PA
1971 BINGHAM KLAUS Y. WAHIAWA HI
1971 LUTTRELL JAMES M. FAYETTEVILLE NC
1971 WALTON LEWIS C. CRANSTON RI
1972 BLACKBURN HARRY L. JR. HIGHLAND SPRINGS VA POSS DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 04/10/86
1972 HARRIS JEFFREY L. CLINTON MD REMAINS RETURNED 05/97
1972 LODGE ROBERT A. LYNBROOK NY 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1972 RUDLOFF STEPHEN A. NEW YORK NY 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV
1972 WILKINSON DENNIS E. WEST PALM BEACH FL 08/26/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI

Births which occurred on May 10:

1536 Thomas Howard 4th duke of Norfolk, English Earl Marshall
1697 Jean Marie I'aine Leclair composer
1705 Gallus Zeiler composer
1724 Johan A Zoutman Dutch Lieutenant-Admiral (battle of Doggersbank)
1727 Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot French minister of Finance (17.. -76)
1730 George Ross US judge (signed Declaration of Independence)
1741 Johann Michael Schmidt composer
1754 Asmus Jakob Carstens painter
1760 Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle soldier/author/composer (Marseillaise)
1760 J P Hebel writer
1769 Jean Lannes duc de Montebello, Marshal of France
1770 Louis Nicholas Davout French field marshall (defeated Prussians)
1776 George Thomas Smart composer
1780 Peter Lichtenthal composer
1783 Niccola Benvenuti composer
1788 Augustin-Jean Fresnel optics pioneer/physicist
1795 Jacques-Nicolas-Augustin Thierry historian
1800 Nikolay Alexeyevich Titov composer
1810 James Shields Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1879
1813 Montgomery Blair Franklin County KY, lawyer (Dred Scot v Sandford)
1822 August Ritter von Pettenkofen painter
1823 John Sherman MC (Union), died in 1900
1824 Charles Henry Van Wyck Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1895
1825 Rudolf Viole composer
1830 François M Raoult French physicist/chemist (law of Raoult)
1837 Pinckney B S Pinchback Lieutenant Governor (Louisiana)
1838 James 1st Viscount Bryce, historian/statesman
1838 John Wilkes Booth assassin of Abraham Lincoln
1843 Benito Pérez Galdós Spain, novelist (Fountain of Gold, Nazáarin)
1843 Kaufmann Kohler reform rabbi/theologian
1850 Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton Glasgow Scotland, yachtsman/tea magnate (Lipton Tea)
1855 Anatol Konstantinovich Liadov St Petersburg Russia, composer (Enchanted Lake)
1857 Hendrik Zwaardemaker Dutch physiologist (olfactometer)
1858 Frederick Zech Jr composer
1867 Jim Kelly cricket wicket-keeper (Australian 1896-1905)
1873 Carl J Eldh Swedish sculptor
1873 Jan Kalf literary/art historian (Preservation of museums)
1876 Ivan Cankar Slavs author (Hlapec Jernej-Njegova Pravica)
1877 Roderich Mojsisovics-Mojsvar composer
1878 Gustav Stresemann German chancellor (1923, Nobel 1926)
1882 Thurston Hall Boston MA, actor (Roaming Lady, In Society)
1885 Fritz v Unruh writer
1885 Mae Murray [Girl with bee-stung lips] Portsmouth VA, actress (High Stakes)
1885 Marie Benavente [Maria Wissink] actress (Scapegoat)
1886 Karl Barth Basel Switzerland, theologian/author (Action in Waiting)
1886 Olaf Stapleton British religious sci-fi writer (Star Maker)
1887 Jacobus C Bloem Dutch poet (Sintels)
1888 Max(imilian Raoul Walter) Steiner Vienna, composer (Gone With Wind)
1894 Dimitri Tiomkin Russia, composer (Academy Award 1954-High & Mighty)
1897 Dalton Parry Conyngham cricketer (one Test South Africa vs England 1923)
1897 Ewart Levy
1898 Ariel Durant writer (Story of Civilization)
1898 Herbert Elwell Minneapolis MN, composer (Happy Hypocrite)
1899 Fred Astaire Omaha NE, tap dancer/actor (Easter Parade, Swingtime)
19-- Larry Flash Jenkins Long Island NY, actor (White Shadow, Fletch)
1901 Albert Dondeyne Belgian philosopher/theologist
1902 David O Selznick Pittsburgh PA, producer (Gone With the Wind)
1902 Joachim Prinz author/Rabbi of Berlin (1926-37)
1903 Kay Petre early racing driver
1904 David Brown CEO (Aston Martin Lagonda)
1905 Angus Paton civil engineer
1907 Harilaos Perpessas composer
1908 Carl Albert (D) speaker of the House
1908 Henry Diamond Irish Nationalist MP
1909 Lord Harold Francis Collison British union leader (agriculture workers)
1909 Maybelle Carter Nickelsville VA, country singer (Johnny Cash Show)
1910 Jimmy Demaret winner of 44 golf tournaments, but not the Open
1910 Margot Turner matron-in-chief (Army Nursing Service)
1912 Edward Gardner Queen's Court/MP
1912 Erik Jorgensen composer
1912 Harold Myers film journalist
1914 Charles McGraw New York NY, actor (Michael-Falcon, Smith Family)
1914 Lord Smith British surgeon
1915 Bert van Dongen [Abraham J Cohen], singer/impressionist/actor
1915 Christian Beyers Naudé South African anti-apartheid fighter
1915 Denis Thatcher husband of British PM Margaret (1979-90)
1915 Duke of Sutherland
1915 Monica Dickens author/founder (US Samaritians)
1915 Salah Abou Seif director
1916 Milton Babbitt US mathematician/composer (Widow's Lament)
1918 Margo singer (Golden Irish Favorites)
1918 T Berry Brazelton doctor (On Being a Father)
1919 Ella Grasso (Governor-D-CT)
1919 Louis Sen A Kaw Surinam dam builder
1919 Tibor Sarai composer
1920 Basil Kelly Lord Justice of Appeals (Northern Ireland)
1921 Bert Weedon rocker
1921 Nancy Walker Philadelphia PA, Bounty ads/actress (Rhoda, McMillan & Wife)
1922 David Orr deputy chairman (Inchcape)/CEO (British Council, Unilever)
1923 John Dugdal Lord-Lieutenant (Salop)
1925 Edward Fursdon British Major-General (defense council)
1926 Duncan Watson president (World Blind Union)
1929 Brian Corby CEO (Prudential)
1929 Fats Domino rocker (Blueberry Hill)
1929 Marquess of Downshire
1930 June Knox-Mawer British radio host/novelist (World of Islands)
1930 Pat Summerall NFLer (New York Giants)/Sportscaster (CBS)
1931 Lord Michael Mustill of Pateley Bridge, Lord Justice of Appeal
1932 Earl of Rothes
1932 Francoise Fabian Hussein Dey Algeria, actress (Happy New Year)
1933 Barbara Taylor Bradford author
1934 Cliff Wilson snooker player
1934 William Lithgow Scottish industrialist/multi-millionaire
1935 Henry Fambrough US singer (Spinners)
1935 Larry Williams rocker
1936 Anthony Mullens British Lieutenant-General (Deputy chief of defense)
1936 Gary Owens Mitchell SD, disc jockey/TV host (Laugh In, Gong Show)
1936 Michael Stone English broker/multi-millionaire (Man Group)
1936 Trevor Clay General-Secretary (Royal College of Nursing)
1937 Arthur Kopit US, playwright (Day Whores Came Out to Play Tennis)
1937 Jim Hickman baseball player (Mets, Dodgers, Cubs)
1937 Tamara Press USSR, shot putter/discus thrower (Olympics-gold-60)
1938 Manuel Santana tennis player (US Open 1965)
1938 Maxim Shostakovich Leningrad Russia, conductor (Atlanta Symphony)
1938 Merritt Ranew baseball player
1938 Michael Shea director (Hanson Trust)/Queen's press secretary
1938 Peter Davies Major-General/Director-General (RSPCA)
1938 Philip Gordon Winsor composer
1940 Arthur Alexander US singer/songwriter (Lonely Just Like Me)
1940 Taurean Blacque actor (Neal Washington-Hill Street Blues)
1940 William Cash MP
1941 Danny Rapp Philadelphia PA, rocker (Danny & Juniors)
1941 Ken Berry baseball player (White Sox, Angels, Brewers, Indians)
1941 Win Bischoff CEO (Schroders)
1942 Bill Coday US singer (You're Gonna Then Me)
1942 Ingram Douglas Marshall composer
1943 Bruce Raymond jockey
1943 Donovan [Leitch] Glasgow Scotland, guitarist/folk singer (Mellow Yellow)
1943 James Earl Chaney US civil rights activist
1944 Abdul Kadir cricketer (Pakistan batsman-keeper in 4 Tests 1964-65)
1944 Jackie Lomax Liverpool, rocker (Is This What You Want)
1944 Jim Abrahams Shorewood WI, director (Hot Shots, Top Secret)
1944 Kathy Farrer LPGA golfer
1944 Marie-France Pisier Daclat Vietnam, actress (Scruples, Midnight)
1945 Justice Laws
1945 Pamelo Mounk'a musician
1946 Graham Gouldman Manchester England, bassist (10cc-No Milk Today)
1946 Maureen Lipman actress (Educating Rita, Wonderworks)
1947 Dave Mason Worcester England, singer/songwriter (We Just Disagree)
1947 Jay Ferguson Burbank CA, rocker (Spirit-I Got A Line on You)
1947 Paul Nicholas Young architect
1948 Christopher Gent CEO (Vodafone Group)
1948 Meg Foster Reading PA, actress (Sunshine, Cagney & Lacey)
1951 Ron Banks US R&B singer (Dramatics-Whatcha See is Whatcha Get)
1951 Steve Gunderson (Representative-R-WI, 1981- )
1952 Sly Dunbar Kingston Jamaica, reggae drummer (Sly & Robbie)
1953 Barbara Moxness LPGA golfer
1953 Lawrence Lau actor (Jamie Frame-Another World)
1953 Steve Thomas rocker (Shooting Star)
1954 Jeff Apple Miami FL, producer (In the Line of Fire)
1955 Bruce Hartzler Washington DC, canoe (alternate-Olympics-96)
1955 Chris Berman sportscaster (ESPN)
1955 Homer Simpson animation (Simpsons)
1955 Laurence Lau actor (Jamie Frame-Another World)
1955 Mark David Chapman assassin of John Lennon
1957 Phil Mahre Yakima WA, twin alpine slalom skier (Olympics-gold/silver-80, 84)
1957 Sid Vicious [John Beverly], London England, punk rocker (Sex Pistols)
1957 Steve Mahre Yakima WA, twin alpine slalom skier (Olympics-silver-80, 84)
1958 Ellen Ochoa Los Angeles CA, PhD/Astronaut (STS 56, 66)
1958 Jeannette Kohlhaas LPGA golfer
1958 Margaret Ward LPGA golfer
1958 Rick Santorum (Representative-R-PA)
1959 Dan Schayes NBA center/forward (Miami Heat, Orlando Magic)
1960 Bono Vox [Paul Hauson] Dublin Ireland, rocker (U2-Joshua Tree)
1960 Merlene Ottey Jamaican/Italian running star (Olympics)
1960 Tauseef Ahmed cricketer (leading Pakistan off-spinner of 80's)
1960 Victoria Rowell Portland ME, actress (Dr Amanda Bentley-Diagnosis Murder, Drucilla-Young and Restless)
1961 Blyth Tait England, New Zealand equestrian 3 day event (Olympics-gold-96)
1961 Randy Cunneyworth Etobicoke, NHL left wing (Ottawa Senators)
1961 Teri Copley Arcadia CA, actress (Mickey-We've Got it Made)
1962 Garry Daley keyboard (China Crisis-Christian)
1962 Joey Meyer baseball player
1962 Robby Thompson W Palm Beach FL, infielder (San Fransisco Giants)
1963 Lisa M Nowak Washington DC, Lieutenant Commander USN/astronaut
1964 Dean Spriddle Plymouth England, Canadian Tour golfer (1994 Oak Valley)
1965 Jim Schreiner Kailua HI, kayak (alternate-Olympics-96)
1965 Linda Evangelista St Catherines Canada, model (Elite)
1965 Mike Butcher baseball player
1965 Rony Seikaly NBA center (Orlando Magic, Golden State Warriors)
1965 Todd Kalis NFL guard (Cincinnati Bengals)
1966 Jonathan Edwards Britain, triple jumper (Olympics-gold/silver-92, 96)
1966 Mikael Andersson Malmo Swe, NHL left wing (Tampa Bay Lightning)
1968 Julie Smith Glendora CA, softball infielder (Olympics-gold-96)
1969 Curtis Whitley NFL center (Panthers, Packers, Raiders)
1969 Dennis Bergkamp Amsterdam Netherlands, soccer player (Ajax)
1969 Judson Mills Purcellville VA, actor (Hutch-As The World Turns)
1969 Martin Driever WLAF tight end (Rhein Fire)
1969 Pete Schourek Austin TX, pitcher (Cincinnati Reds)
1970 Andre Stolz Brisbane Queensland, Australasia golfer
1971 Andrei Kravtsov Queensland Australia, gymnast (Olympics-96)
1971 Eric Stock soccer player (NEC)
1971 Ronnie Dixon NFL defensive tackle (Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets)
1972 Akili Johnson NFL defensive back (Atlanta Falcons)
1972 Emma Ridley Hanpstead England, actress (Return to Oz)
1972 Farrell Duclair CFL fullback (Calgary Stampeders)
1972 Stuart Carlisle cricketer (Zimbabwe Test batsman 1995-)
1973 Jerome Williams NBA forward (Detroit Pistons)
1974 Grant Williams NFL tackle (Seattle Seahawks)
1974 Janet Reasons Port Orchard WA, Miss America-Washington (1997)
1975 Adam Deadmarsh Trail British Columbia, NHL center (Colorado Avalanche, Olympics-98)
1977 Amanda Borden Cincinnati OH, gymnast (World-silver-94, Olympics-gold-96)
1991 Emily McEnroe daughter of Tatum O'Neal & John McEnroe
=====================================================

Deaths which occurred on May 10:

0238 Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus the Thracian, Roman Emperor, murdered
0995 Boudouin bishop of Utrecht
1566 Leonhard Fuchs German botanist, dies at 65
1569 Juan the Avila Spanish minister/writer
1637 Susanna van Baerle Dutch wife of Constantine Huygens, dies at 37
1653 John Bicker ship builder/merchant/regent, dies at 61
1696 Jean de La Bruyère French author, dies at 50
1710 Georg Dietrich Leiding composer, dies at 46
1760 Johann Christoph Graupner composer, dies at 77
1764 Picander [Christian Henrici] German writer (Die Weiberprobe), dies
1770 Charles Avison composer, dies at 61
1774 Louis XV king of France (1715-74), dies at 64
1784 Antoine Court de Gébelin French vicar/writer, dies at 56
1785 Etienne Joseph Floquet composer, dies at 36
1789 Guillaume Gommaire Kennis composer, dies at 72
1794 Elisabeth princess of France, beheaded at 30
1798 George Vancouver British explorer, (Voyage of Discovery), dies at 40
1818 Paul Revere American patriot, dies
1820 Matthaus Stegmayer composer, dies at 49
1826 Giuseppe Sigismondo composer, dies at 86
1829 Thomas Young physicist/decipherer of Egyptian hierogolyphics, dies
1833 François Andrieux French writer/politician, dies at 74
1849 Katsushika Hokusai Japanese painter, dies at 89
1859 Johan archduke of Austria (Firechief & Housewife), dies
1863 Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson Confederate General (Civil War), dies from wounds received at Chancellorsville
1864 James Clay Rice lawyer/Union Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 34
1864 Thomas Greeley Stevenson Union Brigadier-General, dies at about 27
1869 Wilhelm Bernard Molique composer, dies at 66
1880 John Goss composer/organist, dies at 79
1885 Edward Stephen composer, dies at 62
1885 Ferdinand Hiller composer, dies at 73
1897 William Thomas Best composer, dies at 70
1904 Henry M Stanley [John Rowlands] British explorer, dies
1909 Johannes de Koo journalist/playwright, dies
1910 Stanislao Cannizzaro Italian chemist, dies at 85
1910 William Huggins discoverer of stellar nature of Andromeda, dies
1915 Albert Weisgerber German painter/graphic artist, dies in battle
1920 John Wesley Hyatt inventor/plastics pioneer, dies
1923 Vaslav Vorovsky Russian delegate, assassinated
1924 Adolfo Albertazzi Italian writer (L'ave), dies at 58
1937 Johannes Walter German geologist (Die Denudation in Wüste), dies
1938 Percy McAlister cricketer (8 Tests, punches Clem Hill in 1912), dies
1940 Euphemia "Phemia" Molkenboer Dutch author/poster artist, dies at 56
1942 Joseph M Weber comedian/singer (Weber & Lewis Fields), dies at 74
1943 André Bertulot Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
1943 Arnaud/Armand Fraiteur Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
1943 Maurice-Albert Raskin Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
1950 John G Fletcher US poet (Burning Mountain), dies
1954 George Hirst cricketer (36,323 1st-class runs, 2739 wickets), dies
1960 Juri Olescha writer, dies at 61
1964 Carol Haney dancer (Pantomime Quiz), dies at 35
1964 Ignace Lilien composer, dies at 66
1965 Hubertus J van Mook Dutch minister of Colonization (1942-45), dies at 70
1968 Maurie Sievers cricket medium-pacer (Australia vs England 1936-37), dies
1968 Philippa Bevans dies at 55
1968 Scotty Beckett dies at 38
1971 Mihail Jora composer, dies at 79
1971 Shukichi Mitsukuri composer, dies at 75
1973 Jack E Leonard Chicago IL, comedian, dies at 62
1973 Loren Tindall dies of heart attack at 51
1976 George Curzon dies at 77
1977 Joan Crawford actress (Mildred Pierce), dies at 69
1979 John Cameron Andrieu Bingham Morton satirist (Beachcomber), dies
1979 Louis Paul Boon Flemish writer (Eros & the Lonely Man), dies at 67
1982 Jean C M Picart le Doux French designer, dies
1982 Peter Weiss German playwright (Marat-Sade), dies at 65
1983 John P Strijbos writer (Called that Bird), dies at 92
1984 Joaquin Agostinho Portuguese cyclist, dies at 41
1984 Robert Moore actor (Marshall-Diana), dies at 56
1990 Susan Oliver actress (Disorderly Orderly), dies of cancer at 61
1990 Walker Percy physician/novelist (Lancelot), dies of cancer at 73
1991 Armand Boni [Armand the Good], Flemish poet/writer, dies
1992 Joan Merrill vocalist, dies of a stroke at 74
1992 John Lund actor (Perils of Pauline), dies at 81
1992 Liesbeth Saijers sculptor, dies
1992 Sylvia Sims singer (Flower Drum Song), dies of a heart attack at 74
1994 John Wayne Gacy mass murderer, executed in Illinois at 52
1994 Lucebert [J Swaanswijk] poet/cartoonist (PC Hooft 1967), dies at 69
1994 Phyllis Flowerdew school Reading text author, dies at 81
1995 Harold Berens comedian, dies at 92
1995 Hilde Jarecki educationist, dies at 83
1995 Jimmy Raney jazz guitarist, dies at 67
1997 Joanie Weston roller derby queen (Bay Bombers), dies at 61

1775 Second Continental Congress assembles as Ticonderoga falls

On this day in 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead a successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, while the Second Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Congress faced the task of conducting a war already in progress. Fighting had begun with the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, and Congress needed to create an official army out of the untrained assemblage of militia laying siege on Boston.

The transformation of these rebels into the Continental Army was assisted by the victory of the Vermont and Massachusetts militia under the joint command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold at the British garrison at Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Their major achievement was to confiscate enough British cannon to make the Patriot militias into an army capable of an artillery barrage.

Allen and more than 100 of his “Green Mountain Boys” had already decided to take the fort when Arnold arrived with formal military commissions from Massachusetts and Connecticut and a militia of his own. The Green Mountain Boys were unwilling to follow anyone but Allen into battle, so Allen and Arnold shared command as the Patriot militia surprised and overwhelmed the 50 Redcoats in the isolated garrison, who were completely unaware of the bloodshed in Massachusetts. The cannon seized at Ticonderoga and the next day at Crown Point, also on Lake Champlain, allowed the new Continental Army under General George Washington to drive the British from Boston the following spring.

Ironically, both Allen and Arnold would eventually be accused of treason against the Patriot cause they had served so well in its earliest and neediest moments. Allen avoided conviction for his attempt to reattach Vermont to the British empire in the unstable days of the new republic. Arnold’s name, however, became synonymous with “traitor” for his attempt to sell the fort at West Point, New York, to the British in 1780.
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1863 Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson dies

The South loses one of its boldest and most colorful generals on this day. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson died of pneumonia a week after losing his arm when his own troops accidentally fired on him during the Battle of Chancellorsville. In the first two years of the war, Jackson terrorized Union commanders and led his army corps on bold and daring marches. He was the perfect complement to Robert E. Lee.

A native Virginian, Jackson grew up in poverty in Clarksburg, in the mountains of what is now West Virginia. Orphaned at an early age, Jackson was raised by relatives and became a shy, lonely young man. He had only a rudimentary education but secured an appointment to West Point after another young man from the same congressional district turned his appointment down. Despite poor preparation, Jackson worked hard and graduated 17th in a class of 59 cadets.

Upon graduating, Jackson served as an artillery officer during the Mexican War, seeing action at Vera Cruz and Chapultepec. He earned three brevets for bravery in just six months and then left the service in 1850 to teach at Virginia Military Institute. He was known as a difficult and eccentric classroom instructor, prone to strange and impromptu gestures in class. He was also a devout Presbyterian who refused to even talk of secular matters on the Sabbath. In 1859, he led a group of VMI cadets to serve as gallows guards for the hanging of John Brown.

When war broke out in 1861, Jackson became a brigadier general in command of five regiments raised in the Shenandoah Valley. At the Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, Jackson earned distinction by leading the attack that secured an advantage for the Confederates. Confederate General Bernard Bee, trying to inspire his troops, exclaimed "there stands Jackson like a stone wall," and provided one of the most enduring monikers in history.

By 1862, Jackson was recognized as one of the most effective commanders in the Confederate army. Leading his force on one of the most brilliant campaigns in military history during the summer of 1862, Jackson marched around the Shenandoah Valley and held off three Union armies while providing relief for Confederates pinned down on the James Peninsula by George McClellan's army. He later rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia for the Seven Days battles, and his leadership was brilliant at Second Bull Run in August 1862. He soon became Lee's most trusted corps commander.

The Battle of Chancellorsville was Lee's and Jackson's shining moment. Despite the fact that they faced an army twice the size of theirs, Lee daringly split his force and sent Jackson around the Union flank—a move that resulted in perhaps the Army of the Potomac's most stunning defeat of the war. When nightfall halted the attack, Jackson rode forward to reconnoiter the territory for another assault. But as he and his aides rode back to the lines, a group of Rebels opened fire. Jackson was hit three times, and a Southern bullet shattered his left arm. His arm had to be amputated the next day. Soon, pneumonia set in, and Jackson quickly began to fade. He died, as he had wished, on the Sabbath, May 10, 1863, with these last words: "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."

1861 Union troops and civilians riot in St. Louis

1862 Battle of Plum Run Bend, Tennessee
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1871 Treaty of Frankfurt am Main ends Franco-Prussian War

The humiliating defeat of Louis Napoleon’s Second Empire of France is made complete on May 10, 1871, when the Treaty of Frankfurt am Main is signed, ending the Franco-Prussian War and marking the decisive entry of a newly unified German state on the stage of European power politics, so long dominated by the great empires of England and France.

At the root of the Franco-Prussian conflict was the desire of the ambitious statesman Prince Otto von Bismarck to unify the collection of German states under the control of the most powerful of them, his own Prussia. The event that immediately precipitated the war was the Bismarck-engineered bid by Prince Leopold, of the Prussian Hohenzollern royal family, for the throne of Spain, left empty after a revolution in 1868. Horrified by the idea of a Prussian-Spanish alliance, the French government of Louis Napoleon (or Napoleon III) blocked this idea and, determined to humiliate Prussia into subordination, insisted that the Prussian king, Wilhelm I, personally apologize to the French sovereign and promise that there be no further such attempts by the Hohenzollerns. Wilhelm refused, and subsequently authorized Bismarck to publish the French demands and his own rejection of them; the prince did so knowing such a move would precipitate a war, which he himself greatly desired in order to free Prussia completely from French influence.

Eager to regain prestige after numerous defeats abroad and reassert its military dominance on the European continent, France declared war on July 19, 1870. Unfortunately for the French, the states of southern Germany honored their treaties with mighty Prussia and immediately backed Wilhelm’s armies. Thus the Germans were able to marshal some 400,000 men, double the number of French troops, at the outset of the war. Under the supreme command of Wilhelm and guided by Count Helmuth von Moltke—known as Moltke “The Elder”, to distinguish him from his nephew, who would command German forces during World War I—three German armies cut a broad swath through France, gaining the upper hand almost from the beginning of the fighting.

The crucial battle of the war, fought around the town of Sedan in northern France, resulted in a crushing German victory, in which Napoleon III himself was captured. Upon learning of the emperor’s capture, Paris exploded into rebellion; the legislative assembly was dissolved, and France was declared a republic. Meanwhile, the Germans were closing in: by the end of September, they had captured Strasbourg and completely surrounded France’s capital city, which they subjected to merciless siege and bombardment for the next several months. On January 19, 1871, the French government was forced to open negotiations for surrender. A day earlier, in an added humiliation for France, the Bismarckian dream of unification was fulfilled, as Wilhelm I of Prussia was crowned emperor, or kaiser, of the new German state, in a ceremony that took place in the sumptuous Hall of Mirrors, at Paris’s Versailles palace.

By the terms of the final treaty, signed on May 10, 1871, at Frankfurt am Main, Germany annexed the French provinces of Alsace (excluding Belfort) and Lorraine; the French were also ordered to pay an indemnity of five billion francs. German troops occupied France until September 1873, when the amount had been paid in full. The Franco-Prussian War and the nearly three years of German occupation that followed marked the beginning of a growing enmity between anxious France, its influence and power in decline, and striving Germany, a technologically and industrially superior nation that by the first decade of the 20th century had built the most powerful land army on the European continent. In the summer of 1914, this rivalry would explode into full-scale global warfare, pitting France and the Allies against Germany and the Central Powers in the most devastating conflict the world had yet seen.
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1940 As Germany invades Holland and Belgium, Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Great Britain

On this day in 1940, Hitler begins his Western offensive with the radio code word "Danzig," sending his forces into Holland and Belgium. On this same day, having lost the support of the Labour Party, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns; Winston Churchill accedes to the office, becoming defense minister as well.

As British and French Allied forces attempted to meet the 136 German divisions breaking into Holland and Belgium on the ground, 2,500 German aircraft proceeded to bomb airfields in Belgium, Holland, France, and Luxembourg, and 16,000 German airborne troops parachuted into Rotterdam, Leiden, and The Hague. A hundred more German troops, employing air gliders, landed and seized the Belgian bridges across the Albert Canal. The Dutch army was defeated in five days. One day after the invasion of Belgium, the garrison at Fort Eben-Emael surrendered, outmanned and outgunned by the Germans.

The Dutch and Belgian governments immediately appealed to Britain for help. Neville Chamberlain pleaded to Parliament that a coalition government, of Liberals and Labour, would be necessary to generate support for a war effort, especially given the lethargy that infected Britain, still reeling from World War I. Labour demonstrated no support for Chamberlain, preferring Churchill, who they thought better able to prosecute a war. As one member of Parliament put it: "Winston-our hope-he may yet save civilization." Great Britain had finally come to take the Nazi threat seriously.

Also on this day, in 1941, Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in an attempt to negotiate a truce between Britain and Germany

On May 10, the day Hitler planned to invade Russia, and German bombs dropped on London in a spring "blitz," Hess parachuted into Scotland, hoping to negotiate peace with Britain, in the person of the Duke of Hamilton, whom Hess claimed to have met at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Such a peace would have prevented Germany from fighting on two fronts and greatly increased Hess's own prestige within the Nazi regime.

He did, in fact, find peace-in the Tower of London, where the British imprisoned him, the last man ever to be held there under lock and key.
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1969 Operation Apache Snow is launched

The U.S. 9th Marine Regiment and the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, along with South Vietnamese forces, commence Operation Apache Snow in the A Shau Valley in western Thua Thien Province. The purpose of the operation was to cut off the North Vietnamese and prevent them from mounting an attack on the coastal provinces.

The operation began with a heliborne assault along the Laotian border and then a sweep back to the east. First contact with the enemy was made by a rifle company from the 101st Airborne on the slopes of Hill 937, known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. Entrenched in prepared fighting positions, the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment repulsed the initial American assault and on May 14 beat back another attempt by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry. An intense battle raged for the next 10 days and the mountain came under heavy Allied air strikes, artillery barrages, and 10 infantry assaults. On May 20, Maj. Gen. Melvin Zais, commanding general of the 101st, sent in two additional U.S. airborne battalions and a South Vietnamese battalion as reinforcements. The communist stronghold was finally captured in the 11th attack, when the American and South Vietnamese soldiers fought their way up to the summit of the mountain. In the face of the four-battalion attack, the North Vietnamese retreated to sanctuary areas in Laos.

During the intense fighting, 597 North Vietnamese were reported killed and U.S. casualties were 56 killed and 420 wounded. Due to the bitter fighting and the high loss of life, the battle for Ap Bia Mountain received widespread unfavorable publicity in the United States and American media dubbed it "Hamburger Hill," a name evidently derived from the fact that the battle turned into a "meat grinder." Since the operation was not intended to hold territory but rather to keep the North Vietnamese Army off-balance, the mountain was abandoned soon after the battle and occupied by the North Vietnamese a month later.

American public outrage over what appeared to be a senseless loss of American lives was exacerbated by publication in Life magazine of the pictures of the 241 U.S. soldiers killed the week of the Hamburger Hill battle. Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, was ordered by the White House to avoid such battles. Because of Hamburger Hill, and other battles like it, the U.S. started to shift its policy towards Vietnamization, wherein primary responsibility for the fighting would be handed over to the South Vietnamese.
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1972 Intense air war continues over North Vietnam

President Richard Nixon's decision to mine North Vietnamese harbors is condemned by the Soviet Union, China, and their Eastern European allies, and receives only lukewarm support from Western Europe. The mining was meant to halt the massive North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam that had begun on March 30.

In the continuing air war over North Vietnam, the United States lost at least three planes and the North Vietnamese 10, as 150 to 175 American planes struck targets over Hanoi, Haiphong, and along rail lines leading from China. Lt. Randy Cunningham and Lt. Willie Driscoll, flying a Navy F-4J Phantom from the USS Constellation knocked down three MiGs in one combat mission. Added to two previous victories, this made Cunningham and Driscoll the first American aces of the Vietnam War (and the only U.S. Navy aces of the war).

Also on this day: Air Force Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying with Capt. Richard S. Ritchie in a McDonnell Douglas F-4D, records his first aerial kill. Later, DeBellevue recorded four additional victories with pilot Ritchie--both men achieved the designation of ace (traditionally awarded for five enemy aircraft confirmed shot down in aerial combatt). In August, DeBellevue, flying with Captain John A. Madden, Jr., shot down two more MiGs, becoming the leading American ace of the Vietnam War.