Explorer  6

From the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the U.S.
unmanned spacecraft Explorer 6 is launched into an orbit around the
earth (above). The spacecraft, commonly known as the “Paddlewheel”
satellite, featured a photocell scanner that transmitted a crude picture
of the earth’s surface and cloud cover from a distance of 17,000 miles
and was received in Hawaii after nearly 40 minutes.

The first image taken by Explorer 6 shows a sunlit area of the
Central Pacific Ocean and its cloud cover.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1945, the 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of
the U.S. Marines reached the top of Mount Surabachi. A photograph
of these Marines raising the American flag was taken by American
photographer Joe Rosenthal. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his
iconic World War ll photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. it
became one of the best-known photos of the war and was actually
the second flag raised on that day in 1945.

U.S. Marines with the first flag raised on Iwo 
Jima.The smaller flag was replaced with a
larger one (below). These photos were by
Navy photographer Louis Lowery.

Joseph John Rosenthal (October 9, 1911 – August 20, 2006)

George Anthony Mendonsa (February 19, 1923 – February 17, 2019)

(Fox News) – The 18-year-old sailor shown kissing a woman in New York’s
Time Square in an iconic photo that captured the ecstatic celebrations at
the end of World War II died Sunday in Rhode Island. 

According to family members, George Mendonsa was two days short of his
96th birthday when he died at an assisted living facility in Middletown.

Mendonsa’s daughter, Sharon Molleur, told the Providence Journal her father
had fallen and had a seizure before he was pronounced dead. He lived at the
facility with his wife of 70 years.

Mendonsa was shown kissing a woman he never met, Greta Zimmer Friedman,
a dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform, on Aug. 14, 1945. Known as V-J Day,
it was the day Japan surrendered to the United States. People spilled into the
New York City streets to celebrate the news.

SHIRLEY SMITH

Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph on
this day in 1877.

On this day in 1973, President Richard M. Nixon‘s attorney, J. Fred
Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of
the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.

President Nixon (seated) and H.R. Haldeman in 1972.

On this day in 1934, the Cole Porter musical "Anything
Goes" opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre (now
known as the Neil Simon Theatre). The musical has
been revived several times in the U.S. and Britain and
has been filmed twice. It has long been a popular
choice for school and community productions.

Ethel Merman (Ethel Agnes Zimmermann)
(January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984)