MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 2001, former president of Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special
forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.

On this day in 1945, American forces invaded Okinawa during WW II.

Nazi Germany begins persecution of Jews by boycotting Jewish businesses on this day in 1933.

Nazis affix a sign to Jewish store urging shoppers not to patronize
it.

On this day in 1984, Marvin Gaye, the Grammy-winning
singer who topped the soul charts with such classics as
“I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” was shot twice in the
chest and killed by his minister father. The Rev. Marvin
Gaye Sr. picked up a handgun during a family dispute
over an “insurance matter”. The singers death was one
day short of his 45th birthday.

Marvin Gaye SR. being escorted in handcuffs.

Marvin Gaye (Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.)  (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984)

Jessica Dawn Lynch is a former U.S. Army soldier who was serving as a unit
supply specialist with the 507th Maintenance Company when her convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces during the Battle of Nasiriyah. Lynch was seriously injured. Her subsequent recovery by U.S. Special Operations Forces on April
1, 2003 received considerable media coverage; it was the first successful
rescue of an American prisoner of war since World War II and the first ever
of a woman.

The above photo is from combat video footage of Jessica Lynch
on a stretcher during her rescue in Iraq.

Jessica Lynch will be 35 on April 26.

TIM MAGUIRE

It was on this day in 1963.

On this day in 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Attorney Gen.
Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran
had been diverted to rebels in Nicaragua. The National Security
Advisor John Poindexter resigned and Oliver North was fired.

From left: President Reagan and Attorney Gen. Edwin Meese.

During the Revolutionary War on this day in 1783, the British
evacuated New York. It was their last military position in the 
United States.

A group of fishermen from Florida spotted Elián Gonzales off the
coast of Fort Lauderdale. He was completely alone, floating in an
inner tube. He was rescued on this day in 1999.

The boat that Elian and his mother, and 10 other people had been traveling on to the United States from Cuba had been ripped apart
in the rough seas, and he was one of the only survivors.      

Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, 1954

Baseball’s Joe Dimaggio was born on this day in 1914.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1859, Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on Harper’s Ferry, VA
(now located in West Virginia).

During the French Revolution on this day in 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette (below) was beheaded after being convicted of treason.

Poland’s Karol Josef Wojtyla was elected Pope John Paul II
on this day in 1978.

On Friday, October 16, 1998, police from Britain’s Scotland
Yard entered a room in a small, private hospital in London
and arrested former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet
Ugarte who was recovering from back surgery.

On this day in 1987, rescuers freed Jessica McClure from the abandoned
well that she had fallen into in Midland, TX. She was trapped for 58 hours.

Jessica McClure Morales turned 31 in March.

James Albert Michener (February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997)

Michener was the author of more than 40 books, most of which were
fictional, family sagas. His first book was adapted as the popular
Broadway musical South Pacific by Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein.

Michener’s typewriter at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

MIKE GRACIA

It was on this day in 1945.

Jessica Dawn Lynch will be 34 on April 26.

It was on this day in 1984.

Marvin Gaye (Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.)  (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984)

TIM MAGUIRE