On This Day in History...

653 St Martin I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
676 Deusdedit III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1397 Union of Kalmar established between Denmark, Sweden & Norway
1579 Sir Francis Drake lands on the coast of Calif
1745 American colonials capture Louisburg, Cape Breton I from French
1775 Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed's Hill)
1789 3rd Estate in France declared itself a national assembly
1837 Charles Goodyear obtains his 1st rubber patent
1850 Paddle-wheeler "G P Griffith" burns off Mentor Ohio (206 die)
1856 Republican Party opens its 1st national convention in Philadelphia
1863 Battle of Aldie, Confederates fail to drive back the Union in Virginia
1863 Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered (1st accident insurer)
1876 1st to hit 2 HRs; & score 5 runs in 9 inn NL game (George Hall, A's)
1880 John Ward, Providence, pitches perfect game vs Buffalo
1882 Tornado kills 130 in Iowa
1885 Statue of Liberty arrived in NYC aboard French ship `Isere'
1894 1st US poliomyelitis epidemic breaks out, Rutland, Vermont
1895 US Ship Canal (W 225th St) in the Bronx completed; cutting Marble
Hill off from Manhattan
1897 William Frank Powell, NJ educator, named minister to Haiti
1909 A Kopff discovers asteroid #682 Hagar
1919 "Barney Google" cartoon strip, by Billy De Beck, premiers
1928 Amelia Earhart leaves Nfld to become 1st woman to fly the Atlantic
(as a passenger in a plane piloted by Wilmer Stultz)
1930 Chuck Klein sets Phillies hitting streak at 26 straight games
1937 Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in NY
1940 France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WW II
1942 1st WW II American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast)
1944 Republic of Iceland proclaimed at Thingvallir, Iceland
1945 Day of Unity in West Germany (National Day)
1946 SW Bell innaugurates mobile telephone commercial service, St Louis
1947 1st round-the-world civil air service leaves NYC
1948 Joe Cronin pinch hit HRs in both ends of a doubleheader
1950 1st kidney transplant (Chicago)
1953 Riots in East Germany for reunification
1953 Sup Court Justice Wm O Douglas stays executions of spies Julius &
Ethel Rosenberg scheduled for the next day their 14th anniversary
1954 Televised Senate Army McCarthy hearings ends
1957 Tuskegee boycott begins (Blacks boycotted city stores)
1960 Ted Williams hit his 500th home run
1962 Brazil Beats Czechosolakia in soccer's 7th World Cup at Santiago
1963 Supreme Court rules against Bible reading/prayer in public schools
1965 28.14 cm (11.08") of rainfall, Holly, Colorado (state 24-hour record)
1965 Kinks arrive in NYC beginning their 1st US tour
1967 Barbra Striesand: A Happening in Central Park performed
1967 China becomes world's 4th thermonuclear (H-bomb) power
1971 C U Cesco discovers asteroid #2399 Terradas
1972 5 arrested for burglarizing Democratic Party HQ at Watergate
1972 Looking Glass releases "Brandy"
1974 Felix Aguilar Observatory discovers asteroids #2997 & #3083
1975 Voters in Northern Mariana Is approve commonwealth status with US
1976 ABA (Nets, Pacers, Nuggets & Spurs) merges into the NBA
1978 Ron Guidry sets Yankee record with 18 strike-outs
1980 C Shoemaker discovers asteroid #2586 Matson
1982 Pres Reagan 1st UN Gen Assembly address ("evil empire" speech)
1982 President Galtieri resigns after leading Argentina to defeat
1985 18th Space Shuttle Mission (51-G)-Discovery 5 launched
1986 Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger resigns Antonin Scalia nominated
1988 Bruce Springsteen seperates from Juliette Phillips
1988 Microsoft releases MS DOS 4.0
1988 The Givens' Family reports Mike Tyson beats his wife Robin Givens
1988 Women sentenced to 90 years in 1st product tampering murder case
1989 US beats Guatemala 2-1, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1991 Country entertainer Minnie Pearl suffers a stroke at 78
1994 1994 World Cup soccer match begins
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Missing In Action....

1966 ADAMS OLEY N. GREEN CITY MO EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 COBBS RALPH B. EAST ST LOUIS IL EXPLODE AIR IMAPCT SEA
1966 COLLETTE CURTIS D. WINDSOR CT EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 CAIRNS ROBERT A. HIGHLAND CA EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 DEMPSEY JACK I. HELENA MT EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 FRENG STANLEY J. MISSON HILL SD EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 GALANTI PAUL E. LODI NJ 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 GRAVITTE CONNIE M. CA-VEL NC EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 HESS GENE K. TOWNSEND DE EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 ROMIG EDWARD L. HAVERTOWN PA EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 SAVOY M.J. UNIVERSITY CITY MO EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 SIEGWARTH DONALD E. NEWARK NJ EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1966 WASHBURN LARRY E. SAN ANTONIO TX EXPLODE AIR IMPACT SEA
1969 SPARKS DONALD L. CARROLL IA "LETTERS FOUND, DIED IN PW CAMP"
1970 COCHRANE DEVERTON C. BROOKLINE MA SEARCH NEG
1970 LAKER CARL J. CLEARWATER FL "HEAD WOUND, SEARCH NEG"

Births which occurred on June 17:

1239 Edward I king of England (1272-1307)
1703 John Wesley cofounded Methodist movement/author
1742 William Hooper signed Decl of Ind
1811 Jon Sigurdsson Iceland, leader/collects Icelandic legends
1818 Charles Gounod Paris, France, opera composer (Faust)
1832 Sir William Crookes chemist/physicist; discovered thallium
1858 Eben Sumner Draper former MA Gov
1867 John Robert Gregg Ireland, inventor (shorthand)
1870 George Cormack created "Wheaties" cereal
1871 James Weldon Johnson lawyer, 1st black admitted to Florida Bar
1882 Igor Stravinsky Oranienbaum, Russia, composer (The Rite of Spring)
19-- Irwin "Sonny" Fox Bkln NY, TV host (Wonderama, $64,000 Challenge)
19-- Jason Patric actor (Lost Boys, Solar Babies)
19-- Michael Monroe rock vocalist (Hanoi Rocks, Ain't it Fun)
19-- Paul Stevens actor (Young & Restless)
1904 Ralph Bellamy Chicago, actor (Air Mail, Dive Bomber, Trading Places)
1910 Red Foley Blue Lick Ky, country singer (Mr Smith Goes to Washington)
1912 Don Gillis Cameron Missouri, composer (Symphony #5«)
1914 John Hersey author (Hiroshima, A Bell for Adano)
1915 Stringbean [David Akeman], Ky, banjoist/comedian (Hee Haw)
1919 Kingman Brewster college president (Yale)
1920 Beryl Reid actress (Joseph Andrews, Psycho Mania, Yellowbeard)
1920 Fran‡ois Jacob France, biologist/bacteriologist (Nobel 1965)
1922 Jerry Fielding Pitts Pa, orch leader (Lively Ones)
1923 Elroy (Crazylegs) Hirsch AAFC, NFL halfback, end (LA Rams)
1925 Keith Larsen Salt Lake City Utah, actor (The Hunter, Brave Eagle)
1928 James Brown rocker (Hot Pants)
1929 Tigran Petrosyan USSR, world chess champion (1963-69)
1931 Virginia McKenna London, actress (Born Free, Gathering Storm)
1940 Bobby Bell NFL linebacker (KC Chiefs)
1942 Norman Kuhlice England, rocker (Swinging Blue Jeans-You're No Good)
1945 Eddy Merckx Belguim, cyclist (5 time winner of Tour de France)
1946 Barry Manilow NYC, singer (Mandy)
1948 David Concepcion Venezuela, all star shortstop (Cincinatti Reds)
1948 Phylicia Allen Ayers Rashad Houston Tx, actress (Cosby)
1951 Joe Piscopo Passaic NJ, comedian (SNL, Miller Lite commercials)
1954 Mark Linn-Baker St Louis, actor (Larry Appleton-Perfect Strangers)
1958 Dan McVicar Independence Mo, actor (Clarke-Bold & Beautiful)
1964 Michael Gross West Germany, swimmer (Olympic-2 world records-1984)
1965 Kami Cotler Long Beach Calif, actress (Elizabeth-The Waltons)
1969 Kevin Thornton vocalist (Color Me Badd-I Want to Sex You Up)
1975 Frederick Koehler Queens NY, actor (Chip-Kate & Allie)
1977 Jason Miller Silver Springs Md, actor (New Mickey Mouse Club)
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Deaths which occurred on June 17:

1905 M ximo G¢mez Cuban general, dies at 68
1939 Eugene Weldman last guillotined in France
1961 Jeff Chandler actor, dies at 40
1973 Luis Van Rooten actor (One Man's Family), dies at 66
1974 Pamela Britton actress (Blondie, My Favorite Martian), dies at 50
1978 Cully Richards actor (Don't Call Me Charlie), dies at 68
1979 Lou Frizzel actor (Dusty Rhoades-Bonanza), dies at 58
1984 Chet Allen actor (Jerry-Bonino, Slats-Troubleshooter), dies at 51
1984 Swale Kentucky Derby winner, collapses & dies
1986 Kate Smith singer (God Bless America), dies in Raleigh NC at 78
1987 Dick Howser NY Yankee & KC Royal mgr, dies at 51 of brain cancer
1989 David S Griggs astronaut, dies in crash of WW II vintage plane
1989 John Matusek Oakland Raider/actor, dies at 38 of a heart attack
1989 Mr Griggs astronaut, dies in crash of WW II vintage plane
1990 Palmira Henry fashion designer, dies at 44 of cerebral hemorrhage

1775 Battle of Bunker Hill begins

British General William Howe lands his troops on the Charlestown Peninsula overlooking Boston, Massachusetts, and leads them against Breed's Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill, on this day in 1775.

As the British advanced in columns against the Americans, American General William Prescott reportedly told his men, "Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" When the Redcoats were within 40 yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, throwing the British into retreat. After reforming his lines, Howe attacked again, with much the same result. Prescott's men were now low on ammunition, though, and when Howe led his men up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand combat. The outnumbered Americans were forced to retreat. However, by the end of the engagement, the Patriots’ gunfire had cut down nearly 1,000 enemy troops, including 92 officers. Of the 370 Patriots who fell, most were struck while in retreat.

The British had won the so-called Battle of Bunker Hill, and Breed's Hill and the Charlestown Peninsula fell firmly under British control. Despite losing their strategic positions, the battle was a morale-builder for the Americans, convincing them that patriotic dedication could overcome superior British military might.

The British entered the Battle of Bunker Hill overconfident. Had they merely guarded Charlestown Neck, they could have isolated the Patriots with little loss of life. Instead, Howe had chosen to try to wipe out the Yankees by marching 2,400 men into a frontal assault on the Patriots’ well-defended position on top of the hill. The British would never make the same mistake again.
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1837 Union Colonel Strong Vincent is born

On this day in 1837, Strong Vincent is born in Waterford, Pennsylvania. After working as a lawyer, he went on to become a hero at the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was mortally wounded defending Little Round Top.

When hostilities erupted in April 1861, Vincent left the law to become an officer in the Erie Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. By early 1862, he rose to commander of the 83rd Pennsylvania. Vincent served in several campaigns with the Army of the Potomac, fighting at Yorktown, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was promoted to colonel after Yorktown, and prior to Gettysburg, Vincent was given command of the Third Brigade, First Division, of the Fifth Corps.

On the night of July 1, 1863, Vincent and his men were hurrying toward the battlefield under a bright moon. When the soldiers passed through a small town near Gettysburg, the regiment bands began to play and residents came to their doors to cheer the Yankee troops. Vincent remarked to an aide that there could be a worse fate than to die fighting in his home state with the flag overhead.

The next day, as Vincent and his brigade were arriving behind the Union lines, General Gouverneur K. Warren frantically summoned Vincent's force to the top of Little Round Top, a rocky hill at the end of the Federal line. Warren observed that the Confederates could turn the Union left flank by taking the summit, which was occupied by only a Yankee signal corps at the time. So Vincent and his men hurried up the hill, arriving just ahead of the Rebels. The brigade held the top, but just barely. Vincent was mortally wounded in the engagement and died on July 7. He was promoted posthumously to brigadier general.
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1917 Portuguese army sees first action in Flanders

On June 17, 1917, the Corpo Expedicionario Portugues (CEP), or Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, goes into action for the first time in World War I, on the battlefields of Flanders on the Western Front.

With the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914, Portugal entered the war on the side of the Allies in order to secure international backing of its colonial holdings in Africa. While Portuguese participation in the war was at first limited to naval support, Portugal sent its first troops—an expeditionary force of two divisions, or some 50,000 men—to the Western Front in February 1917.

On June 17 of that year, the CEP saw its first action of the war, against the Germans in Flanders, Belgium. From the beginning of the fighting, the Portuguese troops, fighting alongside the British, were plagued by problems, including negative reactions to the poor rations and harsh weather on the battlefield and low morale due to the fact that they were fighting far from their native land, on behalf of a foreign cause. On April 9, 1918, the CEP saw action again against Germany near the town of Lys, during the major German offensive of that spring. During the Battle of Lys, one Portuguese division of troops was struck hard by four German divisions; the preliminary shelling alone was so heavy that one Portuguese battalion refused to push forward into the trenches. All told, the victorious Germans took more than 6,000 prisoners at Lys and were able to push through the Allied lines along a three-and-a-half mile stretch. By the time World War I ended, a total of 7,000 Portuguese soldiers had died in combat.
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1940 British and Allied troops continue the evacuation of France, as Churchill reassures his countrymen

On this day in 1940, British troops evacuate France in Operation Ariel, an exodus almost on the order of Dunkirk. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill offers words of encouragement in a broadcast to the nation: "Whatever has happened in France ... [w]e shall defend our island home, and with the British Empire we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted."

With two-thirds of France now occupied by German troops, those British and Allied troops that had not participated in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk, were shipped home. From Cherbourg and St. Malo, from Brest and Nantes, Brits, Poles, and Canadian troops were rescued from occupied territory by boats sent from Britain. While these men were not under the immediate threat of assault, as at Dunkirk, they were by no means safe, as 5,000 soldiers and French civilians learned once on board the ocean liner Lancastria, which had picked them up at St. Nazaire. Germans bombers sunk the liner; 3,000 passengers drowned.

Churchill ordered that news of the Lancastria not be broadcast in Britain, fearing the effect it would have on public morale, since everyone was already on heightened alert, fearing an imminent invasion from the Germans now that only a channel separated them. The British public would eventually find out-but not for another six weeks--when the news finally broke in the United States. They would also enjoy a breather of another kind: Hitler had no immediate plans for an invasion of the British isle, "being well aware of the difficulties involved in such an operation," reported the German High Command.
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1969 North Vietnamese reoccupy Ap Bia Mountain

U.S. intelligence reports that an estimated 1,000 North Vietnamese troops have reoccupied Ap Bia Mountain (Hill 937), one mile east of the Laotian border. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had fought a fierce battle with North Vietnamese troops there in May. The battle was part of a 2,800-man Allied sweep of the A Shau Valley called Operation Apache Snow. The purpose of the operation was to cut off the North Vietnamese and stop any infiltration from Laos that was menacing Hue to the northeast and Da Nang to the southeast. Paratroopers from the 101st Airborne had engaged a North Vietnamese regiment 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 beat back another attempt by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry on May 14. An intense battle raged for 10 days as 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 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 was dubbed "Hamburger Hill" in the U.S. media (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. The news of the battle and subsequent U.S. withdrawal from the area resulted in public outrage over what appeared to be a senseless loss of American lives. This furor only increased when it was revealed that the North Vietnamese had reoccupied their original positions after the American soldiers left. Gen. Creighton Abrams, who had succeeded Gen. William Westmoreland as commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command!

Vietnam, was ordered to avoid such battles in the future.
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1972 Watergate burglars arrested

Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Senate investigations eventually revealed that President Richard Nixon had been personally involved in the subsequent cover-up of the break-in; additional investigation uncovered a related group of illegal activities that included political espionage and falsification of official documents, all sanctioned by the White House. Nixon became increasingly embroiled in the political scandal.

On July 29 and 30, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment, charging that Nixon had misused his powers to violate the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, obstructed justice, and defied Judiciary Committee subpoenas. To avoid almost certain impeachment, Nixon resigned from office on August 9.

The Watergate affair had a far-ranging impact, both at home and abroad. In the United States, the scandal shook the faith of the American people in the presidency. In the final analysis though, the nation survived the constitutional crisis, thus reinforcing the system of checks and balances and proving that not even the president is above the law.

Nixon's resignation had dire consequences for the Vietnam War. Nixon had always promised that he would come to the aid of South Vietnam if North Vietnam violated the terms of the Paris Peace Accords. With Nixon gone, there was no one left to make good on those promises. When the North Vietnamese began their final offensive in 1975, the promised U.S. support was not provided and the South Vietnamese were defeated in less than 55 days.