At 7:52 a.m., American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh took off
from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, on the world’s
first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean and the first
ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris.

Lindbergh, a young airmail pilot, was a dark horse when he
entered a competition with a $25,000 payoff to fly nonstop
from New York to Paris. He ordered a small monoplane,
configured it to his own design, and christened it the Spirit
of St. Louis in tribute to his sponsor–the St. Louis Chamber
of Commerce.

Lindbergh’s achievement made him an international celebrity
and won widespread public acceptance of the airplane and
commercial aviation.

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

On May 19, 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt plot the cross-Channel
landing that would become D-Day—May 1, 1944.

That date would prove a bit premature, as bad weather
became a factor.

The D-Day invasion ended up taking place on June 6, 1944.

Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935)

T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia,
died as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an
assumed name.

The legendary war hero, author and archaeological scholar
succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six
days before.

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 film, starring Peter
O’Toole, based on the wartime activities of T.E.
Lawrence. 

       
CAMILLE BOHANNON

At 8:32 a.m. PDT on May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic
peak in southwestern Washington, suffered a massive eruption,
killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of
wilderness.

Called Louwala-Clough, or “the Smoking Mountain,” by Native Americans, Mount St. Helens stood 9,680 feet before its
eruption.

Though a new dome has been growing steadily near the top of
the peak and small earthquakes are frequent, scientists do not
expect a repeat of the 1980 catastrophe anytime soon.

Some six weeks after the United States formally entered
the First World War, the U.S Congress passed the Selective
Service Act on May 18, 1917, giving the U.S. president the
power to draft soldiers.

By the end of World War I in November 1918, some 24 million
men had registered under the Selective Service Act. Of the
almost 4.8 million Americans who eventually served in the
war, some 2.8 million had been drafted.