MIKE GRACIA
Singer John J. (Cougar) Mellencamp is 71 years old today.
Mellencamp has sold over 30 million albums in the US and
over 60 million worldwide.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, followed by an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 2018.
MIKE GRACIA
On this day in 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (right)
and City Supervisor Harvey Milk (left), a gay-rights activist, were
shot to death inside City Hall by Dan White (below), a former
supervisor.
CARLATA BRADLEY
On this day in 1972, the last U.S. combat troops depart Vietnam.
MIKE GRACIA
On this day in 2001, the U.S. and Great Britain began airstrikes in Afghanistan in response to that state’s support of terrorism and
Osama bin Laden. The act was the first military action taken in
response to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11,
2001.
President George W. Bush addresses the nation announcing the
airstrikes.
US airstrikes destroy Taliban camp in Afghanistan.
A cross marked the fence where 21-year-old Matthew Shepard
was robbed, beaten and left to die on this day in 1998. He was
lured by two men pretending to also be gay. Shepard was taken
to a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he died six days
later from severe head injuries. The fence has since been torn
down.
Matthew Wayne "Matt" Shepard
(December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998)
Shepard’s death inspired the play The Laramie Project, later
turned into a television movie, countless songs, a foundation
devoted to his memory along with a political lobbying effort
that pressed for, and eventually obtained, a new federal hate
crimes statute named after him.
From left: Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney
were charged with the murder of Matthew Shepard
and are both serving long prison terms.
John J Mellencamp (previously known as John Cougar Mellencamp)
is 67 years old today.
Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp is best known for his #1 hit song, "Jack
& Diane." He has been nominated for more than ten Grammy Awards and
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.
CARLATA BRADLEY
Last U.S. combat troops leave Vietnam on this day in 1972.
It was on this day in 1944 during World War 11.
Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. perished in one of the first American
fatalities associated with a pilotless aircraft, which we usually know today
as a drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The older brother of future
president, John F. Kennedy, was taking part in an extraordinary secret war
being waged across the English Channel with new generations of exotic
weapons.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944)
New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey resigned on this day in 2004,
declaring he’s gay.
James Edward McGreevey turned 61 on August 6th.
The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank and its 118-man
crew died during naval exercises in the Barents Sea on this
day in 2000.
Following salvage operations, analysts concluded that 23 sailors in the
sixth through ninth compartments had survived the two explosions. They
took refuge in the small ninth compartment and survived more than six
hours. When the oxygen ran low, crew members attempted to replace a
volatile potassium superoxide chemical oxygen cartridge when it contacted
oily sea water that had seeped into the compartment. A resulting explosion
killed several crew members and triggered a flash fire that consumed the
remaining oxygen, suffocating the remaining survivors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the monument to the sailors who died in the Kursk disaster.
