The fledgling United States Marine Corps proved its dauntless
courage with a "miracle" victory in the Battle of Derna on the
shores of Tripoli in North Africa on this day in history, April 27,
1805.

The successful attack against overwhelming numbers on the
port city in present-day Libya, a stronghold of pirates who
Spent years attacking United States ships at sea, was the
climactic battle of the First Barbary War (1801-05).

The victory is immortalized in a patriotic American anthem.

"From the Halls of Montezuma/To the Shores of Tripoli/
We fight our country’s battles/In the air, on land and sea,"
proclaims the rousing opening lyrics of "The Marines’ Hymn".

   
ED DANAHUE

Lucille Désirée Ball
(August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989)

WASHINGTON (TND) — Archeologists in Peru have unearthed
what’s being described as a nearly 1,000-year-old child mummy.

The National University of San Marcos said the mummified
adolescent — who was approximately 12 or 13 year old when
he or she died — was discovered by a team of researchers
led by archaeologist Yomira Huamán (below).  

Harry Belafonte ( Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.)
(March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023)

Belafonte was a Jamaican-American singer, actor and activist,
who popularized calypso music with international audiences
in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the
first million-selling LP by a single artist.

Belafonte was best known for his recordings of "Day-O
(The Banana Boat Song)".

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917 – 1996)

On April 25, 1917, jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald is born in Newport
News, Virginia.

Fitzgerald’s most famous collaborations were with the vocal
quartet Bill Kenny & the Ink Spots, trumpeter Louis Armstrong,
the guitarist Joe Pass, and the bandleaders Count Basie and
Duke Ellington.