The 9/11 memorial and ground zero today.

SANDY KOZEL

Mount Vesuvius erupted killing approximately 20,000 people on this
day in 79 AD. The cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum were buried in volcanic ash.

The above Photos of Plaster casts were made from actual victims trapped in the lava flows of the  ancient Roman city of Pompeii, Italy.      

        
       

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Florida City: Gary Davis cradles his chihuahua Boo Boo in front of
his mobile home in the Goldcoaster Mobile Home Park the morning
after Hurricane Andrew.

Washington, DC, was invaded by British forces that set fire to the
White House and Capitol on this day in 1814.

The United States Capitol depicted after the 1812 burning of WA. D.C.

An artists depiction of the White House ruins after the conflagration
of August 24, 1814.

The planet Pluto was reclassified as a "dwarf planet" by the
International Astronomical Union on this day in 2006. Pluto’s
status was changed due to the IAU’s new rules for an object
qualifying as a planet. Pluto met two of the three rules because
it orbits the sun and is large enough to assume a nearly round
shape. However, since Pluto has an oblong orbit and overlaps
the orbit of Neptune it disqualified Pluto as a planet.

On this day in 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly
across the U.S. non-stop. The trip from Los Angeles, CA to Newark,
NJ, took about 19 hours.

It was on this day in 1989.

Peter Edward Rose Sr. turned 77 in April.

(History) – An ammunition ship explodes while being loaded in Port Chicago, California, killing 332 people on this day in 1944. The United States’ World
War II military campaign in the Pacific was in full swing at the time. Lack of
training and poor procedures led to the disaster.

Port Chicago, about 30 miles north of San Francisco, was developed into a munitions facility when the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, CA,
could not fully supply the war effort.

ROSS SIMPSON

In New York on this day in 2002, a ceremony was held to officially
mark the end of the clean up from the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

On this day in 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France, at the age of 19.

Bronze statue of Joan of Arc on Rue de Rivoli in Paris.

On this day in 1982,  MLB legend Cal Ripken Jr. began his record-
breaking streak of 2,632 consecutive games played. He entered
the Orioles’ lineup and didn’t leave until three more presidents
were inaugurated and nearly two decades passed.

Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. will be 58 August 24.

Benjamin David "Benny" Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986)

Benny Goodman was a jazz clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King
of Swing". In the mid-1930s, Goodman led one of the most popular musical
groups in the United States. His bands launched the careers of many major
jazz artists.

MIKE GRACIA

Martin Luther King Jr. led a group of 25,000 to the state capital in Montgomery, AL. on this day in 1965.

King delivering a speech on the steps of the State Capitol.

In New York City on this day in 1911, 146 women were killed in fire
at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City. The owners
of the company were indicted on manslaughter charges because
some of the employees had been behind locked doors in the
factory. The owners were later acquitted and in 1914 they were
ordered to pay damages to each of the twenty-three families that
had sued.

On this day in 1997, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush’s 85th
birthday was celebrated by a skydiving adventure at 9500 feet over 
Yuma, Arizona.

Aretha Franklin,1960

Aretha Franklin in April 2016.

Singer Aretha Louise Franklin is 76 years young today.

In 2017, Franklin canceled a series of concerts due to health reasons. During
an outdoors Detroit show, Franklin told the audience to "keep me in your
prayers". In July 2017, Franklin reemerged, appearing to lose more weight
before a performance at the Wolf Trap in Virginia.

Sir Elton Hercules John (Reginald Kenneth Dwight) is 71 today.

Rock and roll legend Elton John has sold over 250 million albums in a
career that’s spanned over 50 years. He is best known for such hit songs
as "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer," "Bennie and the Jets" and "Candle in
the Wind." He began playing the piano at age three and won a junior
scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.