On This Day in History....

0254 St Stephan I replaces Lucius I as Catholic Pope
0919 Duke Henry of Saxon becomes king Henry I of Oostfrankische rich
1082 Battle at Mailberg: Vratislav II of Bohemia beats Leopold II of Austria
1215 English barons serve ultimatum on king John without Country
1328 Louis IV de Beier selects P Rainalducci as anti-Pope Nicolaas V
1459 Sun City India founded by Rao Jodhpur
1525 Battle at Böblingen: Zwabische Union beats rebel Württembergse farmers
1534 Württemberg becomes Lutheran
1551 San Marcos University in Lima Peru, opens
1588 Catholic League under duke Henri de Guise occupies Paris France
1604 Spanish garrison of Aardenburg surrenders to Mauritius
1640 Uprising against Spanish king Philip IV
1641 Prince Willem II (14) marries English princess Henriette Mary Stuart (9)
1689 England & Netherlands form League of Augsburg
1695 English king Willem III departs to Netherlands
1701 Drenthe adopts Gregorian calendar (yesterday is 4/29/1701)
1733 Maria Theresa crowned queen of Bohemia in Prague
1776 Turgot, French minister of Finance, resigns
1777 1st ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi-New York Gazette)
1780 Charleston SC falls to the British (Revolutionary War)
1789 Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers - It later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses
1792 Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented
1832 Gaetano Donizetti's opera "L'Elisir D'amore" premieres in Milan
1835 Charles Darwin visits copper mines in North Chile
1849 Willem Alexander PFL crowned king Willem III in Amsterdam
1862 Federal troops occupies Baton Rouge LA
1863 Battle of Raymond MS
1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia
1864 Battle of Todd's Tavern VA (Sheridan's Raid)
1864 Butler attacks Drewry's Bluff on James River (Fort Darling)
1864 US Union colonel Emory Upton (24) promoted to Brigadier-General
1865 Last land action of Civil war at Palmito Ranch, Texas
1870 Manitoba becomes a province of Canada
1871 Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville KY
1874 US Assay Office in Helena MT authorized
1875 1st recorded shutout in pro baseball, Chicago 1, St Louis 0
1877 Ottawa Rough Riders 1st outside competition vs Britannia
1881 Treaty of Bardo, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate
1885 Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against Canada
1888 Crouching start 1st used by Charles Sherrill of Yale
1890 Louisiana legalized prize fighting
1891 Riot against tax increase in Paramaribo Suriname
1894 Ludwig Englander's musical "Passing Show" premieres in NYC
1897 1800-1900 year old fossil of "girl of Yde" found in Drente Netherlands
1897 Battle at Thessalië: Turkish army beats Greece
1898 Louisiana adopts new constitution with "grandfather clause" designed to eliminate black voters
1900 Boer attack under Sarel Eloff, about 70 killed
1900 Lord Roberts' troops occupies Crown city
1901 President McKinley visits San Fransisco
1908 George Bernard Shaws' "Getting Married" premieres in London
1908 Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield
1909 34th Preakness: Willie Doyle aboard Effendi wins in 1:39.8
1910 2nd NAACP conference (NYC)
1910 Philadelphia A's Chief Bender no-hits Cleveland Indians, 4-0
1913 Harry Green runs world record marathon (2:38:16.2)
1915 Croatians plunder Armenia, killing 250
1915 Franklin K Mathiews, presents the idea of "Book Week"
1917 43rd Kentucky Derby: Charles Borel on Omar Khayyam wins in 2:04.6
1919 Yankees & Senators play 2nd straight extra inning tie, 4-4 in 15
1921 National Hospital Day 1st observed
1923 49th Preakness: Benny Marinelli aboard Vigil wins in 1:53.6
1924 50th Preakness: John Merimee aboard Nellie Morse wins in 1:57.2
1924 7th PGA Championship: Walter Hagen at French Lick CC Indiana
1925 Uzbekistan & Kirgizistan become autonomous Soviet republics
1925 Walter Hagen wins PGA golf tournament
1926 British general strike ends
1926 Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st Symphony, premieres in Leningrad
1926 General Pilsudski sets coup on premier Witos compared
1926 Umberto Nobile flies Airship Norge is 1st vessel to fly over the North Pole
1928 Mussolini ends woman's rights in Italy
1928 Opium laws enforced
1929 Pulitzer prize awarded to Julia Peterkin (Scarlet Sister Mary)
1930 Pulitzer prize awarded to Marc Connelly (Green Pastures)
1932 Body of kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in Hopewell NJ
1932 Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, 1st appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney
1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Agricultural Adjustment Administration form to help the needy & farmers
1934 "Cocktails For Two" by Duke Ellington hits #1
1934 60th Preakness: Robert Jones aboard High Quest wins in 1:58.2
1936 Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Poisoned Kiss" premieres in London
1937 King George VI's coronation in Great Britain
1937 St Louis Cardinalss beat Philadelphia Phillies, 15-3
1938 Sandoz Labs manufactures LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
1940 French mariners occupy St Maarten
1940 German tanks conquer Moerdijkbrug
1940 Nazi blitz conquest of France began by crossing Meuse River
1941 Great British convoy marches into Alexandria
1942 1,500 Jews gassed in Auschwitz
1942 David Ben-Gurion leaves Jewish state in Palestine
1942 Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River
1942 Russia occupies Crackow, until August 23, 1943
1943 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in US
1943 German troops in Tunisia North Africa surrender
1944 900+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen & Brüx
1944 Krim purged of Nazi troops
1944 Secret Police arrest Gerrit Van de Peat
1948 Queen Wilhelmina resigns
1949 1st foreign woman ambassador received in US (S V L Pandit India)
1949 West begins Berlin Airlift to get supplies around Soviet blockade
1950 Darius Milhauds opera "Bolivar" premieres in Paris France
1951 1st H Bomb test, on Enewetak Atoll
1952 Charlton Playground named in the Bronx
1953 KUHT TV channel 8 in Houston TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
1955 Chicago Cub Sam Jones is 1st black to pitch no-hitter (Pirates, 4-0)
1956 Brooklyn Dodger Carl Erskine's 2nd no-hitter, beats New York Giants, 3-0
1956 East Pakistan struck by cyclone & tidal waves
1957 Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Smokey Golf Open
1958 "Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu" by Dicky Doo & The Dont's hits #40
1958 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1959 "Nervous Set" opens at Henry Miller's Theater NYC for 23 performances
1959 Liz Taylor's 4th marriage (Eddie Fisher)
1960 Elvis Presley appears on a Frank Sinatra special
1961 Botvinnik wins world chess championship for 3rd time
1962 Grevelingendam closes
1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
1963 Bob Dylan walks off Ed Sullivan Show
1963 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Alpine Civitan Golf Open
1963 Race riot in Birmingham AL
1964 Manlio Brosio chosen as secretary-general of NATO
1965 Israel & West Germany exchange letters beginning diplomatic relations
1966 Busch Stadium (St Louis MO) opens, Braves lose to Cardinals 4-3 in 12 innings
1967 H Rap Brown replaces Stokely Carmichael as chairman of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
1968 "March of Poor" under rev Abernathy reach Washington DC
1968 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Tall City Golf Open
1968 WSKG TV channel 46 in Binghamton NY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1969 Kenneth H Wallis achieved record speed for an autogiro-179 KPH
1970 Ernie Banks hits his 500th home run
1970 Harry A Blackmun is confirmed as a justice on the Supreme Court
1970 KTVM TV channel 6 in Butte MT (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1970 Race riots in Augusta GA; 6 blacks killed (5 by cops)
1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 Rolling Stone Mick Jagger weds Bianca Macias at St Tropez Town Hall
1972 Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings (completed 5/13)
1972 Paul McCartney & Wings release "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
1973 "Dueling Tubas" by Martin Mull hits #92
1973 6th ABA championship: Indiana Pacers beat Kentucky Colonels, 4 games to 3
1974 28th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat Milwaukee Bucks, 4 games to 3
1974 Jo Ann Prentice wins LPGA American Defender-Raleigh Golf Classic
1975 US merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces
1976 Bayern Munich wins 21st Europe Cup 1
1977 1st quadraphonic concert (Pink Floyd in London)
1977 Emmy 4th Daytime Award presentation
1978 Commerce Department announces that hurricane names will no longer be exclusively female
1979 Chris Evert's 125-match winning streak on clay comes to an end
1980 1st nonstop crossing of US via balloon (Maxie Anderson & son Chris)
1981 "Lena Horne: Lady, Music" opens at Nederlander NYC for 333 performances
1982 FC Barcelona wins 22nd Europe Cup II
1982 In Fatima Portugal, a Spanish priest with a bayonet is stopped prior to his attempt to attack Pope John Paul II
1982 Pulitzer prize awarded to John Updike (Rabbit is Rich)
1982 US Football League forms
1983 Julie Lynne Hayek, (California), crowned 32nd Miss USA
1983 Stanley Cup: New York Islanders beat Edmonton Oilers, 4 games to 0
1984 "White Horse" by Laid Back hits #26
1984 Discovery (OV-103) from Orbiter Processing Facility to Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, for mating for 41-D (STS-14)" for the first use of this Shuttle (OV-103)
1984 France performs nuclear test
1984 Joe Lucius scored his 13th hole-in-one on the same hole
1984 South Africa prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for 1st time in 22 years
1984 World of Rivers world exposition opens in New Orleans
1985 Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as 1st woman Conservative rabbi
1985 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic
1986 Fred Markham (US), unpaced & unaided by wind, is 1st to pedal 65 mph on a level course, Big Sand Flat CA
1986 President Reagan appoints Dr James C Fletcher NASA Administrator
1988 "Carrie" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 5 performances
1989 "Entertainment Tonight" performs their 2,000th TV performance
1989 Last graffiti covered NYC subway car retired
1989 Retired British pilot Jack Mann is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists
1990 3rd time Saturday Night Live uses time delay (Andrew Dice Clay hosts)
1990 Comic Relief '90 (4th one) raises $4.7 million
1990 Nora Dunn & Sinead O'Connor boycott Saturday Night Live to protest Andrew "Dice" Clay's hosting
1991 A new cancer drug is announced, which can only be found in bark of a rare tree in the Pacific Northwest
1991 Hollis Stacy wins LPGA Crestar-Fresh Farm Golf Classic
1992 1st Belgian woman (Ingrid Baeyens) to ascend Mount Everest
1993 Final episode of 6 year run of ABC's "Wonder Years" in Netherlands
1993 Last broadcast of "Cheers" on NBC-TV
1993 Last broadcast of "Knots Landing" on CBS
1993 Parma wins 33rd Europe Cup II
1994 WIBC Bowling Queens won by Anne Marie Duggan
1995 Dow Jones for 5th straight day of the week sets a new record (4430.59)
1995 Jose Mesa gets 1st of his M.L. record 37 consecutive saves
1995 Martin Brodeur ties NHL record getting his 3rd playoff shutout in 4
1996 "Inherit the Wind" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 45 performances
1996 "Night of the Iguana" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 68 performances
1996 42nd McDonald's LPGA Championship won by Laura Davies
1996 Yankees losing 8-0 to Chicago White Sox, come back to win 9-8
1997 14 North Koreans defect to South Korea
1997 Angels scores 13 in 7th vs White Sox
1997 Russia & Chechnya sign peace deal after 400 years of conflict
1997 Susie Maroney, 22, of Australia, is 1st to swim from Cuba to Florida
1997 Tornado narrowly misses downtown Miami
======================================================

Missing In Action.....

1967 ASHLOCK CARLOS PHILADELPHIA PA
1967 AGOSTO SANTOS JOSE PR 01/23/68 RELEASED / POW EXCHANGE
1967 GRENZEBACH EARL WILFRE JR. WORCHESTER NY
1967 GADDIS NORMAN C. KNOXVILLE TN 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV
1967 JEFFERSON JAMES M. SAN DIEGO CA POSS DEAD REMAINS ID 06/05/00
1967 PITMAN PETER P. ATLANTA GA
1967 STEWART ROBERT A. WASHINGTON DC
1968 BUCHER BERNARD L. EUREKA IL "EXPLODE, NO SEARCH, HOSTIL"
1968 COEN HARRY B. RIVERTON WY GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 CRAVEN ANDREW J. WILMINGTON NC GROUND ATTACT POSS KIA
1968 HEPLER FRANK M. GLENSIDE PA "EXPLODE, NO SEARCH, HOSTIL"
1968 LONG JULIUS W. JR. PULASKI WA 03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG
1968 LONG GEORGE W. MEDICINE KS "EXPLODE, NO SEARCH, HOSTIL"
1968 MOORE MAURICE H. BALTIMORE MD GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 MC ELROY JOHN L. SCHENECTADY NY "EXPLODE, NO SEARCH, HOSTIL"
1968 MORELAND STEPHEN C. LOS ANGELES CA "EXPLODE, NO SEARCH, HOSTIL"
1968 ORR WARREN R. JR. KEWANEE IL
1968 RANSBOTTOM FREDERICK J. OKLAHOMA CITY OK GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 SIMPSON JOSEPH L. DENVER CO GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 SKIVINGTON WILLIAM E. JR. LAS VEGAS NV GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 SANDS RICHARD E. SPRINGFIELD IL
1968 STULLER JOHN C. FALLS CHURCH VA GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 WIDNER DANNY L. GRAHAM TX GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 WILLIAMS ROY C. WOODVILLE TX GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1968 WIDDISON IMLAY S. WOODS CROSS UT GROUND ATTACK POSS KIA
1970 PREISS ROBERT F. JR. CORNWALL NY REMAINS RETURNED IDENTIFIED 06/30/98
1972 ADAIR SAMUEL Y. JR. MADISON GA REMAINS RECOVERED 11/74
1972 BOGARD LONNIE P. MATARIE LA
1972 CRESSEY DENNIS C. CHEYENNE WY 11/74 REMAINS RECOVERED
1972 OSTERMEYER WILLIAM H. ORLANDO FL

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Births which occurred on May 12:

1662 Jan F van Bloom [Orizonte] Flemish painter, baptized
1670 August II the Strong One, King of Poland (355 children)
1679 Giovanni Antonio Ricieri composer
1700 Luigi Vanvitelli Italian architect
1729 Michaël F B Freiherr von Melas Austrian general (7 Year Wars)
1739 Jan Krtitel Vanhal composer
1739 Johann Baptist Wanhal composer
1751 Gaetano Manna composer
1754 Franz Anton Hoffmeister composer
1776 Juan Bros y Bertomel composer
1790 [Johannes] Carsten Hauch Danish writer
1797 Johann Hermann Kufferath composer
1803 Justus Freiherr von Liebig German chemist (agricultural chemics)
1804 Robert Baldwin (L) helped establish cabinet government in Canada
1806 Amos Beebe Eaton Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1877
1806 J V Snellman Finland, journalist/statesman/nationalist
1812 Edward Lear England, landscape painter, (Complete Nonsense Book)
1812 Louis Ludwig Blenker Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1813 Johann Czerski German chaplin
1820 Florence Nightingale Florence Italy, nurse (Crimean War)
1828 Gabriel Dante Rossetti England, poet/painter, Pre-Raphaelite
1829 Paul Karrer composer
1842 Jules Emile Fred Massenet Montaud France, composer (Manon, Le Cid)
1845 Gabriel Urbain Fauré Pamiers France, composer (Requiem, Ballade)
1861 Ivan Caryll English composer (Pink Lady)
1863 Charles Bordes composer
1867 Hugh Trumble cricket off-spinner (great Australian at turn of century)
1868 Halsey William Wilson US, publisher of reference books
1874 Clemens Freiherr von Pirquet Austrian physician (Reaction of Pirquet)
1876 Harold grandson of English queen Victoria
1880 Lincoln Ellsworth led 1st transarctic, transantarctic flights
1880 W Hupkes engineer/director (Dutch Rail 1938)
1886 Albert Saverys Flemish painter
1886 Hermann Grabner composer
1886 Piotr F Scharoff Russian/Italian actor/director (Chechov)
1887 Nandor Zsolt composer
1889 Otto Frank father of Anne Frank
1894 Cleo Ridgely New York NY, silent screen actress (I Remember Mama, The Love Mask)
19-- Lisa Raggio New York NY, actress (Pvt Maria Gianelli-Pvt Benjamin)
1900 Helene Weigel Austria/German actress (Metropolis, Mutter Courage)
1901 Hyam Greenbaum composer
1902 Heinrich Kirchner German sculptor
1903 Lennox R F Berkeley British composer (Castaway)
1903 Wilfrid Hyde-White England, actor (My Fair Lady, Peyton Place)
1906 William M Ewing US geologist/geophysicist
1907 Katharine Hepburn Hartford CT, actress (African Queen, Adam's Rib, On Golden Pond)
1907 Leslie Charteris English/US detective writer (Enter the Saint)
1910 Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin British chemist (penicillin/B12/Nobel 1964)
1910 Gordon Jenkins Webster Grove MO, orchestra leader (NBC Comedy Hour)
1912 Marshall Royal jazz sax/clarinet
1914 Bertus Aafjes Dutch poet/writer
1914 Dan Daniel (Representative-D-VA, 1969- )
1914 Howard K Smith Los Angeles CA, TV newsman (ABC, Moderated Kennedy-Nixon debate)
1916 Ellis Bonoff Kohs composer
1917 André A Rieu Dutch conductor
1918 Oscar Beregi Jr Hungary, actor (Young Frankenstein, Panic in City)
1921 Edvard Mikcaeli Mirzoyan composer
1921 Giovanni Benelli archbishop (Florence)/Papal candidate
1921 Henry Mackie designer of the Belfast Calorimeter
1921 Joseph Beuys Germany, avant-garde painter/politician
1922 Barend Busnac office clerk/resistance fighter
1923 Ewart G Abner record company executive
1923 Giovanni Testori Italian writer (Rocco e i suoi fratelli)
1923 Lord Laing English biscuit manufacturer/pilot/multi-millionaire
1925 John Simon theater critic (New York Times)
1925 Lawrence "Yogi" Berra New York Yankee catcher/coach/manager, Mets, Astros
1925 Tony Hancock Birmingham England, actor (Rebel, Wrong Box)
1926 Earl Hutto Panama City FL, (Representative-D-FL, 1979- )
1926 Mervyn M Dymally (Representative-D-CA, 1981- )
1928 Manuel Lujan Jr (Representative-R-NM, 1969- )
1929 Burt Bacharach Kansas City MO, composer (I'll Never Fall in Love Again)
1930 Pat McCormick-Keller Lakewood CA, platform/springboard diver (Olympics-4 gold-1952, 56)
1931 Johan Fleerackers Flemish vice-president of Dutch One
1936 Tom Snyder Milwaukee WI, newscaster (Tommorow, NBC Weekend News)
1937 Beryl Burton UK, won record (7) women's cycling titles
1937 George Carlin Bronx NY, comedian (7 words you can't say on television, AM & FM, Carwash)
1937 Gerry E Studds (Representative-D-MA, 1973- )
1938 Andrei Amalrik Russian writer/dissident
1938 Millie Perkins Passaic NJ, actress (Jane-Knots Landings)
1938 Susan Hampshire London England, actress (Vanity Fair, Living Free)
1939 Ronald Ziegler press secretary (Nixon)
1941 Anthony Newman Los Angeles CA, harpsichordist/organist (Bhajeb)
1941 Little Jayotis Washington US R&B singer (Persuasions)
1941 Ruud de Wolff singer/guitarist (Blue Diamonds)
1942 Barry B[rookes] Longyear US, sci-fi author (City of Baraboo)
1942 Dumitru Dediu Romania, cosmonaut (Soyuz 40 backup)
1942 Ian Dury Upminster Essex, rocker (Blockheads)/actor (Judge Dredd)
1942 Susan Hampshire London, actress (David Copperfield)
1942 Timothy Hugh Brown theatre critic
1943 Billy Swan Cape Giradeau LA, rocker (I Can Help)
1943 David Walker rock keyboardist (Gary Lewis & Playboys-Diamond Ring)
1943 Linda Dano Los Angeles CA, actress (Felicia Gallant-Another World)
1944 Eva Demski writer
1944 James Purify US singer (I'm Your Puppet)
1945 Jayotis Washington rocker
1945 Linda Carlson Knoxville TN, actress (Bev-Newhart, Katie-Kaz)
1945 Willie Parnell US singer (Archie Bell & the Drells)
1946 Ian McLagen rocker (Faces)
1946 Leonard Baichan cricketer (West Indies opener, 103 vs Pakistan on debut 1975)
1948 Lindsay Ann Crouse New York NY, actress (Slapshot, Iceman, Places in Heart)
1948 Steve Winwood Birmingham England, singer/songwriter/keyboardist/guitarist (Higher Love, Roll With It)
1950 Billy Squier Wellesley Hills MA, heavy metal guitarist (Don't Say No)
1950 Bruce Boxleitner Elgin IL, actor (Scarecrow & Mrs King, Babylon 5)
1950 Gabriel Byrne Dublin Ireland, actor (Hello Again, Cool World)
1950 Jocko Marcellino rocker (Sha Na Na)
1950 Renate Stecher-Meissner German Democratic Republic, sprinter (Olympics-gold-72)
1950 Shozo Fujii judo champion
1951 Gunnar Larrson Sweden, 200 meter/400 meter swimmer (Olympics-gold-1972)
1951 Kid Creole [August Darnell], rocker/actor (Obsession A Taste of Fear)
1955 Kix Brooks Shreveport LA, singer (Brooks & Dunn-Brand New Man)
1957 Lou[is Rodman] Whitaker 2nd baseman (Detroit Tigers)
1958 Beth Maitland actress (Traci-Young & Restless)
1958 Christian Brando son of Marlon/killed sister's boyfriend
1958 Kim Greist Stamford CT, actress (CHUD, Brazil, Payoff, Manhunter)
1959 Dave Christian Minnesota, NHL right wing (Washington Capitals, Olympics-gold-1980)
196- Jamie Luner Palo Alto CA, actress (Cindy-Just the 10 of Us)
1960 Lisa Martin Australian marathoner (Olympics-silver 1988)
1960 Lisa Ondieki Australian marathoner (Olympics-84, 88, 96)
1961 Billy Duffy rocker (The Cult-Hell's Kitchen)
1961 Ray Gillen Cliffside Park NJ, rocker (Badlands-Dreams in the Dark)
1962 Amy Benz Rochester NY, LPGA golfer (1994 Oldsmobile Classic-3rd)
1962 Emilio Estevez New York NY, actor (Breakfast Club, Young Guns, Mighty Ducks)
1962 Mark Bradshaw Happy Camp CA, diver (Olympics-96)
1963 Vanessa Williams Brooklyn NY, actress (Rhonda Blair-Melrose Place)
1964 Joy Ellen Kitzmiller Los Angeles CA, US badminton player (Olympics-92)
1965 Stacy Wilson ice hockey forward (Canada, Olympics-98)
1965 Steve Finley Union City TN, outfielder (San Diego Padres)
1966 Rafael Bournigal Azua Dominican Republic, infielder (Oakland A's)
1966 Stephen Baldwin actor (Beast, Lawrenceville Stories, Usual Suspects)
1966 Steven Conran Lithgow New South Wales, Australasia golfer
1967 Cara Coughenour Sioux City IA, female pitcher (Colorado Silver Bullets)
1967 Lawrence Rucchin hockey defenseman (Team Italy 1998)
1967 Robert Blackmon defensive back (Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks)
1967 Warren Rychel Tecumseh, NHL left wing (Colorado Avalanche)
1968 Mark Clark Bath IL, pitcher (New York Mets)
1969 Kim Fields Freeman Los Angeles CA, actress (Tootie-Facts of Life, Regine-Living Single)
1970 Andreas Hestler Victoria British Columbia, cyclist (Olympics-96)
1970 Andrew Coltart Dumfries Scotland, Australasia golfer
1970 James Michael Furyk West Chester PA, PGA golfer (1994 Las Vegas-5th)
1970 Mike Malizia Utica NY, Nike golfer (1993 Doral-Ryder Open-61st)
1970 Mike Weir Sarnia Ontario, Canadian Tour golfer (Ontario Amateur-1990, 92)
1970 Stevie Anderson NFL wide receiver (Arizona Cardinals)
1970 Todd Hallett Shelburne Nova Scotia, rower (Olympics-92, 96)
1971 Craig Novitsky NFL tackle (New Orleans Saints)
1971 Jamie Luner Palo Alto CA, actress (Cindy-Just the 10 of Us)
1971 Tommy Johnson WLAF cornerback (Amsterdam Admirals)
1972 Annette Albertson Reno NV, Miss America-Nevada (1997)
1972 David Oaks 100 meter/200 meter runner
1972 Jason Kyle NFL linebacker (Seattle Seahawks)
1972 Michelle Kahn Miss Universe-Trinidad & Tobago (1996)
1972 Paul Stout Saugus CA, actor (Phillip-Scarecrow & Mrs King)
1973 MacKenzie Astin Los Angeles CA, actor (Facts of Life, Garbage Pail Kids)
1973 Stefano Margoni hockey forward (Team Italy 1998)
1974 Anna Ozolins Australian rower (Olympics-96)
1974 Tiffany Stoker Clovis CA, Miss America (California-4th-1996)
1975 Lawrence Phillips running back (St Louis Rams)
1976 Matthew P Newmark actor (Joseph Carroll-Guns of Paradise)
1977 Iva Majoli Yugoslavia, tennis star
1977 Monique de Bruin Porland OR, fencer-foil (Olympics-96)
1978 Amy Wheaton actress (Curse)
1978 Thomas Odoyo cricketer (Kenyan all-rounder 1996 World Cup)
====================================================

Deaths which occurred on May 12:

0912 Leo VI Sophos Byzantine Emperor (886-912), dies at 45
1003 Gerbert French scholar, dies in Rome
1003 Sylvester II [Gerbert van Aurillac], 1st Fren Pope (999-1003), dies
1012 Sergius IV [Pietro Crescentii], Italian Pope (1009-12), dies
1382 Johanna I Queen of Naples/Provence, dies
1634 George Chapman English dramatist/interpreter, dies
1641 Thomas Wentworth English viceroy of Ireland, beheaded at 48
1649 Isaac Doreslaer English lawyer/diplomat, murdered
1737 Cornelis van Alkemade historian, dies at 83
1788 Louis E van Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Austrian duke, dies at 69
1796 Johann P Uz German poet (Theodicee), dies at 75
1811 Louis-Charles-Joseph Rey composer, dies at 52
1814 Robert Treat Paine US judge (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 83
1825 Elias Mann composer, dies at 75
1825 Stanislao Mattei composer, dies at 75
1843 Johann Georg Lickl composer, dies at 74
1845 August Wilhelm Schlegel German poet/interpreter/critic, dies at 77
1852 John Richardson Canadian writer (War of 1812), dies
1861 Christian Heinrich Hohmann composer, dies at 50
1864 Abner Monroe Perrin Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 37
1864 J E B Stuart Confederate General, dies at 31
1864 J.E.B. Stuart Confederate General, dies at 31
1871 Daniel-François-Esprit Auber French opera composer, dies at 89
1871 John F W Herschel British astronomer (Catalogue of Nebulae), dies
1876 Henri A Esquiros French poet (Evangile du peuple), dies at 63
1884 Bedrich Friedrich Smetana Czechoslovakia, composer (2 Widows), dies at 60
1896 Juan Morel Campos composer, dies at 38
1897 Ulrika "Minna" Cant-Johnstown Finnish playwright, dies at 53
1897 Willem Roelofs painter/lithographer, dies
1900 Wilhelm Steinitz Prague, chess champion (1866-1894)
1907 J K Huysmans writer, dies at 59
1908 Melesio Morales composer, dies at 69
1921 Emilia Pardo Bazan Spanish writer (La sirena negra), dies
1924 Charles Henri Marechal composer, dies at 82
1925 Alfred Milner British Governor (Cape Colony)/minister, dies at 71
1925 Amy Lowell writer, dies at 51
1925 Artur Napoleao dos Santos composer, dies at 82
1930 Pieter Jelles Troelstra Dutch SDAP leader, dies at 70
1931 Eugene-Auguste Ysaye composer, dies at 72
1932 Lindbergh baby found dead
1935 Josef Pilsudski Polish dictator (1926-35), dies
1943 Albert Stoessel composer, dies at 48
1944 Arthur T Quiller-Couch [Q] British author/critic, dies at 80
1948 Isidor Achron composer, dies at 55
1951 Oscar DePriest (Representative-D-IL), dies at 80
1956 Hendrik P Marchant Dutch minister of Education, dies at 87
1956 Louis Calhern dies at 61
1956 Vladimir Ambros composer, dies at 65
1957 Erich von Stroheim Austrian/US actor (Grand Illusion), dies at 71
1960 Cecil Armstrong Gibbs composer, dies at 70
1962 Dick Calkins co-author (Buck Rogers), dies at 67
1963 Stanislaw Wiechowicz composer, dies at 69
1965 Roger Vailland French playwright (La Truite), dies at 57
1967 Julius Kalas composer, dies at 64
1970 Leonie "Nelly" Sachs German/Swedish poet (Nobel 1966), dies at 78
1970 Wladyslaw Anders Polish general (WWI, WWII), dies at 78
1971 J M Taylor cricketer (20 Tests 1920-26, 997 runs), dies
1973 Frances Marion screenwriter (Pollyanna, Camille), dies at 85
1980 Lillian Roth actress (Animal Crackers, Alice Sweet Alice), dies
1981 Benjamin H Sheares President of Singapore, dies
1982 Humphrey Searle writer (20th Century counterpoint), dies at 66
1984 Doris May actress (Peck's Bad Boy), dies of heart failure at 81
1985 Jean Debuffet French painter/sculptor, dies
1986 Elisabeth Bergner dies at 85
1986 Lee Bonnell dies
1987 Victor Feldman pianist/drummer, dies at 53
1989 Joe Valdez Caballero creator of hard taco shell, dies at 81
1989 Marcelle de Manziarly composer, dies at 89
1992 Joe Burke president (Kansas City Royals), dies at 68, dies
1992 Robert Reed actor (Brady Bunch), dies of AIDs at 59
1994 Alfred Lane Beit connoisseur, dies at 91
1994 David Brooks psychologist, dies at 91
1994 Helen Lee Mai Hong Kong actress, dies at 63
1994 John Smith British Labour Party chairman (1992-94), dies at 55
1994 Xenophon Balaskas cricketer (9 Tests for South Africa, 22 wickets), dies
1995 Arthur Lubin film director, dies at 95
1995 Giorgio Belladonna bridge champion, dies at 71
1995 Reza Abdoh theatre Director, dies at 32
1996 Hubert William Dean air armaments specialist, dies at 84
1996 Robert Edwin Hall mountaineer/businessman, dies at 35

1780 Americans suffer worst defeat of revolution at Charleston

After a siege that began on April 2, 1780, Americans suffer their worst defeat of the revolution on this day in 1780, with the unconditional surrender of Major General Benjamin Lincoln to British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton and his army of 10,000 at Charleston, South Carolina.

With the victory, the British captured more than 3,000 Patriots and a great quantity of munitions and equipment, losing only 250 killed and wounded in the process. Confident of British control in the South, Lieutenant General Clinton sailed north to New York after the victory, having learned of an impending French expedition to the British-occupied northern state. He left General Charles Cornwallis in command of 8,300 British forces in the South.

South Carolina was a deeply divided state, and the British presence let loose the full violence of a civil war upon the population. First, the British used Loyalists to “pacify” the Patriot population; the Patriots returned the violence in kind. The guerrilla warfare strategies employed by Patriots Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter and Nathanael Greene throughout the Carolina campaign of 1780-81 eventually chased the far more numerous British force into Virginia, where they eventually surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.

Having suffered the humiliation of surrendering to the British at Charleston, Major General Lincoln was able to turn the tables and accept Cornwallis’ ceremonial surrender to General George Washington at Yorktown on October 20.
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1864 Bloody day at the Bloody Angle

Close-range firing and hand-to-hand combat at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, result in one of the most brutal battles of the Civil War. After the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6), Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee raced respective Union and Confederate forces southward. Grant aimed his army a dozen miles southeast of the Wilderness, toward the critical crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House. Sensing Grant's plan, Lee sent part of his army on a furious night march to secure the road junction before the Union soldiers got there. The Confederates soon constructed a five-mile long system of entrenchments in the shape of an inverted U.

On May 10, Grant began to attack Lee's position at Spotsylvania. After achieving a temporary breakthrough at the Rebel center, Grant was convinced that a weakness existed there, as the bend of the Confederate line dispersed their fire. At dawn on May 12, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock's troops emerged from the fog and overran the Rebel trenches, taking nearly 3,000 prisoners and more than a dozen cannons. While the Yankees erupted in celebration, the Confederates counterattacked and began to drive the Federals back. The battle raged for over 20 hours along the center of the Confederate line—the top of the inverted U—which became known as the "Bloody Angle." Lee's men eventually constructed a second line of defense behind the original Rebel trenches, and fighting ceased just before dawn on May 13.

Around the Bloody Angle, the dead lay five deep, and bodies had to be moved from the trenches to make room for the living. The action around Spotsylvania shocked even the grizzled veterans of the two great armies. Said one officer, "I never expect to be fully believed when I tell what I saw of the horrors of Spotsylvania."

And yet the battle was not done; the armies slugged it out for another week. In spite of his losses, Grant persisted, writing to General Henry Halleck in Washington, "I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."

1863 Engagement at Raymond, Mississippi
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1918 Germany and Austria-Hungary sign pact to exploit Ukraine

On this day in 1918, the rulers of Germany and Austria-Hungary, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Emperor Karl I, meet to sign an agreement pledging their mutual allegiance and determining to share the economic benefits from their relationship with the newly independent state of Ukraine, one of the most fertile and prosperous regions of the former Russian Empire.

One of pre-war Russia’s most prosperous areas, the vast, flat Ukraine (the name can be translated as “at the border” or “borderland”) was one of the major wheat-producing regions of Europe and was also rich with mineral resources, including vast deposits of iron and coal. The majority of Ukraine was incorporated into the Russian empire after the second partition of Poland in 1793, while the remaining section—the principality of Galicia—remained part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and was a key battleground during World War I. With Bolshevik Russia having sued for peace with the Central Powers by the end of 1917, the Ukraine took the opportunity to declare its independence in January 1918.

On February 9, 1918, the leaders of Ukraine’s newly formed Rada government signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers, in which Germany and Austria-Hungary pledged to recognize the Ukrainian National Republic and to provide protection and military assistance against the Bolshevik forces of Russia that were occupying Ukrainian territory. In exchange, the Ukrainian National Republic would provide 100 million tons of food rations to Germany. In practice, the treaty amounted to a virtual annexation of the region by the Central Powers, who forced the Russian troops occupying the country to leave under the terms of the treaty at Brest-Litovsk, signed in March 1918, bringing in their own troops to preserve order and preside over the export of the promised wheat and other food resources to their home countries.

The meeting of the two emperors, Wilhelm and Karl, on May 12 was intended not only to divide the much-needed spoils of the Ukraine treaty but also to strengthen the steadily unraveling alliance between the Central Powers as World War I stretched into its fourth exhausting year. On the Austro-Hungarian side, complete failure on the battlefield against the Russians in Galicia had only been averted by Germany’s help and Russia’s own revolution; indeed, Germany seemed the only hope to preserve the dying empire. For its part, Germany was in his last desperate gasp on the battlefields of the west, throwing everything it had into a major spring offensive that had met with early success but was now confronting a hardening Allied defense, including an influx of fresh troops from the United States. Less than a month later, the Allies would launch their own offensive on the Western Front.

Time was running out for the Central Powers. On the home front, rampant hunger led to strikes and a general atmosphere of discontent and frustration with the war, both at home and on the battlefield. Barely a week after the May 12 meeting, the first in a series of mutinies occurred in the Austro-Hungarian army, led by a group of Slovenian nationalists. Similar rebellions were subsequently launched by Serbs, Rusyns (Ruthenians) and Czechs within the empire’s troops. By the autumn, Germany was confronting mutinies within its own troops and an Allied breakthrough on the previously invincible Hindenburg Line; on November 11, 1918, the war was over.
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1941 Hitler backs Rashid Ali in his fight against Britain

On this day in 1941, Adolf Hitler sends two bombers to Iraq to support Rashid Ali al-Gailani in his revolt against Britain, which is trying to enforce a previously agreed upon Anglo-Iraqi alliance.

At the start of the war, Iraqi Prime Minister General Nuri as-Said severed ties with Germany and signed a cooperation pact with Great Britain. In April 1941, the Said government was overthrown by Ali, an anti-British general, who proceeded to cut off the British oil pipeline to the Mediterranean. Britain fought back by landing a brigade on the Persian Gulf, successfully fending off 9,000 Iraqi troops. Ali retaliated by sealing off the British airbase at Habbaniya. Hitler, elated at the grief the British enemy was enduring in the Middle East, began sending arms, via Syria, as well as military experts to aid Ali in his revolt.

On May 12, Hitler sent Major Axel von Blomberg, an air force officer who was to act as a liaison between Iraq and Germany to Iraq, along with the two bombers. Blomberg arrived in the middle of an air battle between Iraqi and British fighters and was shot dead by a stray British bullet. By the end of the month, Iraq had surrendered, and Britain re-established the terms of the original 1930 cooperation pact. A pro-British government formed, with a cabinet led by former Prime Minister Said. Iraq went on to become a valuable resource for British and American forces in the region and in January 1942 became the first independent Muslim state to declare war on the Axis powers.
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1961 Lyndon B. Johnson visits South Vietnam

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon during his tour of Asian countries. Calling Diem the "Churchill of Asia," he encouraged the South Vietnamese president to view himself as indispensable to the United States and promised additional military aid to assist his government in fighting the communists. On his return home, Johnson echoed domino theorists, saying that the loss of Vietnam would compel the United States to fight "on the beaches of Waikiki" and eventually on "our own shores." With the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Johnson became president and inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. Over time, he escalated the war, ultimately committing more than 500,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam.
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1971 Heavy fighting erupts in A Shau Valley

The first major battle of Operation Lam Son 720 takes place as North Vietnamese forces hit the same South Vietnamese 500-man marine battalion twice in one day. Each time, the communists were pushed back after heavy fighting. Earlier, the South Vietnamese reportedly destroyed a North Vietnamese base camp and arms production facility in the A Shau Valley. On May 19, in a six-hour battle, South Vietnamese troops engaged the communists. Three Allied helicopters and a reconnaissance plane were downed by enemy ground fire. The fighting, air strikes, and artillery fire continued in the A Shau Valley through May 23; the South Vietnamese claimed the capture of more communist bunker networks and the destruction of large amounts of supplies and ammunition.