Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11,
20011, terrorist attacks in the United States, was killed by U.S.
forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan.

The notorious, 54-year-old leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist
network of Islamic extremists, had been the target of a nearly
decade-long international manhunt.

The raid began around 1 a.m. local time (4 p.m. EST on May 1,
2011 in the United States), when 23 U.S. Navy SEALs in two
Black Hawk helicopters descended on the compound in
Abbottabad, a tourist and military center north of Pakistan’s
capital, Islamabad. One of the  helicopters crash-landed into
the compound but no one aboard was hurt.

During the raid, which lasted approximately 40 minutes, five
people, including bin Laden and one of his adult sons, were
killed by U.S. gunfire. No Americans were injured in the
assault.

Bin Laden’s body was flown by helicopter to Afghanistan for
official identification, then buried at an undisclosed location
in the Arabian Sea less than 24 hours after his death, in
accordance with Islamic practice.

The grounds of the compound are seen after US Navy Seal
commandos raid.

CAMILLI
BOHANNON

On April 18, 1906, at 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close
to 8.0 on the Richter scale struck San Francisco, California, killing
an estimated 3,000 people as it topples numerous buildings.

The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a
segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves could be felt
from southern Oregon down to Los Angeles.

San Francisco’s brick buildings and wooden Victorian structures
were especially devastated. Fires immediately broke out and–
because broken water mains prevented firefighters from stopping
them–firestorms soon developed citywide. At 7 a.m., U.S. Army
troops from Fort Mason reported to the Hall of Justice, and San Francisco Mayor E.E. Schmitz called for the enforcement of a
dusk-to-dawn curfew and authorized soldiers to shoot to kill
anyone found looting.

Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz (1864 – 1928)

Eddie Cochran, the man behind “Summertime Blues” and “C’mon Everybody,” was killed on April 17, 1960 when the taxi carrying
him from a show in Bristol, England, crashed en route to the
airport in London, where he was to catch a flight back home to
the United States.

SANDY KOZEL

    
    

Titanic on sea trials, 2 April 1912.

Titanic Sinking, engraving by Willy Stöwer.