4 May, 1970
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After a number of days of protest against US invasion of Cambodia the National Guards fired on protesters at Kent State University and 4 were killed and a further 10 were injured.

 

It's Cinco de Mayo!

This date, May 5, commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla, when Mexican forces kicked some serious French ass, who had invaded and were repulsed by a much smaller Mexican force under the command of Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. Thereafter the city was renamed Puebla de Zaragoza.

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in the USA than in Mexico, where the day, although still important, is overshadowed by Mexican Independence Day on September 16.

 

1904: Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in "modern" baseball as the Boston Americans beat Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0

 

1961 Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7).

Alan Shepard

 

5May 1945

In Europe, formal negotiations began for the German surrender.

In the United States, a Japanese balloon bomb detonated in Oregon, killing six. This changed the government policy of withholding information about the existence of the bombs to one of proper identification, notification, and handling protocols of the ordinance should more be discovered.

USS New Jersey, enters Bremerton, WA for scheduled maintenance.

In the Pacific, USS Missouri departs its battle station off Okinawa for replenishments at Ulithi Atoll.

 

This Day In History
May 5, 1877
Sitting Bull leads his people into Canada

Nearly a year after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull and a band of followers cross into Canada hoping to find safe haven from the U.S. Army.

On June 25, 1876, Sitting Bull’s warriors had joined with other Native peoples in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana, which resulted in the massacre of George Custer and more than 200 troops of the 7th Cavalry. Worried that their great victory would provoke a massive retaliation by the U.S. military, the Native Americans scattered into smaller bands. During the following year, the U.S. Army tracked down and attacked several of these groups, forcing them to surrender and move to reservations.

Sitting Bull and his followers, however, managed to avoid a decisive confrontation with the U.S. Army. They spent the summer and winter after Little Bighorn hunting buffalo in Montana and fighting small skirmishes with soldiers. In the fall of 1876, Colonel Nelson A. Miles met with Sitting Bull at a neutral location and tried to talk him into surrendering and relocating to a reservation. Although anxious for peace, Sitting Bull refused. As the victor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull felt he should be dictating terms to Miles, not the other way around.

 

May 6: A lot of very noteworthy events took place on this date, but I choose to commemorate the passing of the fabulous Marlene Dietrich in 1992 at age 90. A multi-talented force of nature, she fled Germany when the Nazis were on the rise. During the war, she performed for Allied troops in the USO.















Continue to Rest In Peace, Marlene...

 

On This Day In History
May 6, 1937
The Hindenburg Disaster

The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crew-members, on May 6, 1937.

On May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt, Germany, for a journey across the Atlantic to Lakehurst’s Navy Air Base. Stretching 804 feet from stern to bow, it carried 36 passengers and crew of 61. While attempting to moor at Lakehurst, the airship suddenly burst into flames, probably after a spark ignited its hydrogen core. Rapidly falling 200 feet to the ground, the hull of the airship incinerated within seconds. Thirteen passengers, 21 crewmen, and 1 civilian member of the ground crew lost their lives, and most of the survivors suffered substantial injuries.

Radio announcer Herb Morrison, who came to Lakehurst to record a routine voice-over for an NBC newsreel, immortalized the Hindenburg disaster in a famous on-the-scene description in which he emotionally declared, “Oh, the humanity!” The recording of Morrison’s commentary was immediately flown to New York, where it was aired as part of America’s first coast-to-coast radio news broadcast. Lighter-than-air passenger travel rapidly fell out of favor after the Hindenburg disaster, and no rigid airships survived World War II.

 

On this day in history, May 6, 1957, the last episode of hit sitcom 'I Love Lucy' airs
The episode featured Lucy accidentally breaking a statue and taking its place – hilarity ensued.

A scene from "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue," the last filmed episode of the TV sitcom "I Love Lucy," which aired on May 6, 1957. In the episode, Ball accidentally broke the statue — and decided to pose in its place.

 

May 6,

2002 Elon Musk launches the company Space-X
1954 British Runner Roger Bannister becomes first man to run a mile under 4 minutes.
1915 Babe Ruth hits his first Home Run as a major League employee
1877 Leader of the Sioux Tribes surrenders to the U.S. Cavalry in Nebraska

 

On May 7, 1945, General and Chief of Staff of the German Army Alfred Jodl signed the instrument of Germany's surrender at General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, France, ending World War II in the European Theater. At the time of that signing, German and Soviet forces were still fighting in the east. Stalin insisted on a seperate surrender, which was signed in Berlin on May 8.

It was the next day, May 8, that the German military physically surrendered to Allied forces, so tomorrow is celebrated as VE Day.

Japan would surrender 4 months later, ending the war completely.

 

On This Day In History
May 7, 1896
Serial killer H.H. Holmes is hanged in Philadelphia

Dr. H. H. Holmes, one of America’s first well-known serial killers, is hanged in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Born Herman Mudgett in New Hampshire, Holmes began torturing animals as a child. Still, he was a smart boy who later graduated from the University of Michigan with a medical degree. Holmes financed his education with a series of insurance scams whereby he requested coverage for nonexistent people and then presented corpses as the insured.

In 1886, Holmes moved to Chicago to work as a pharmacist. A few months later, he bought the pharmacy from the owner’s widow after his death. She then mysteriously disappeared. With a new series of cons, Holmes raised enough money to build a giant, elaborate home across from the store.

The home, which Holmes called “The Castle,” was reported to have had secret passageways, fake walls and trapdoors. Holmes’ basement also allegedly contained a lab with equipment used for his dissections. (Many of these allegations were likely exaggerated, however.)

Young women in the area, along with tourists who had come to see the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, and had rented out rooms in Holmes’ castle, suddenly began disappearing. Medical schools purchased many human skeletons from Dr. Holmes during this period but never asked how he obtained the anatomy specimens.

Holmes was finally caught after attempting to use another corpse in an insurance scam. He confessed, saying, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing.” He was executed on this day in 1896

 

1902: Martinique’s Mount Pelée begins the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. The following day, the city of Saint Pierre, which some called the Paris of the Caribbean, was virtually wiped off the map.

 

On this day in history, May 7, 1977, the song 'Hotel California' by the Eagles hits No. 1
Mysterious song is neither about satan worship nor drug addiction, said Don Henley.

The rock group The Eagles are shown here. Left to right: Don Felder, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner. (Getty Images)

 

On This Day In History
May 8, 1864
General Lee’s Army Beats Grant’s Union Troops To Spotsylvania

On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find the Rebels already there. After the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6), Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac marched south in the drive to take Richmond. Grant hoped to control the strategic crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House, so he could draw Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia into open ground.

Spotsylvania was important for a number of reasons. The crossroads were situated between the Wilderness and Hanover Junction, where the two railroads that supplied Lee’s army met. The area also lay past Lee’s left flank, so if Grant beat him there he would not only have a head start toward Richmond, but also the clearest path. Lee would then be forced to attack Grant or race him to Richmond along poor roads.

Unbeknownst to Grant, Lee had received reports of Union cavalry movements to the south of the Wilderness battle lines. On the evening of May 7, Lee ordered James Longstreet’s corps, which was under the direction of Richard Anderson after Longstreet had been shot the previous day, to march at night to Spotsylvania. Anderson’s men marched the 11 miles entirely in the dark, and won the race to the crossroads, where they took refuge behind hastily constructed breastworks and waited. Now it would be up to Grant to force the Confederates from their position. The stage was set for one of the bloodiest engagements of the war.

 

On May 8, 1942, the Lexington became the first US aircraft carrier to be sunk in battle. It went down after taking multiple hits from Japanese bombs and torpedos on the final day of the epic Battle of the Coral Sea.

This was the first battle in Naval history where the ships of the two opposing forces were not within eyesight of each other - fought by airplanes between the two fleets.

Both the US and Japan claimed victory, and both were true in their own way. Just by virtue of naval assets destroyed, the Japanese scored a tactical victory. The US scored an important strategic victory in that this was the first time in the war that the Japanese experienced failure in a major operation - the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, which would have been their jumping-off point for the invasion of Australia.

While this is said to be a 'turning point' in the war, a month later, what many historians agree was the major turning point in the war came at The Battle of Midway, where the main force of the Japanese Fleet was decimated, including 4 all-important aircraft carriers.

Japan would never rule the waters of the Pacific Ocean again.

 

1886: Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, begins offering a bubbly beverage called Coca-Cola, a patent medicine said to ease ailments such as dyspepsia, headache, impotence, and morphine addiction. The drink will become rather popular as time goes by.

 

8May 1945

To celebrate V-E day, Allied guns fire a single round at the Japanese on Okinawa.

 

On this day in history, May 8, 1945, President Truman announces surrender of Nazi Germany forces in WWII
Truman also cautioned on May 8 that the Allies 'must work to finish the war'.

President Harry S. Truman shown seated in the White House library.

 

On May 9, 1958, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo premiered in San Francisco, where the film is set. With James Stewart and Kim Novak starring, the movie did not initially fare well at the box office, but is now regarded as one of Hitchcock's best, and continues to rank around the top 5 films of all time.

It boasts my own favorite musical score among Hitchcock films.