On this Day

Saturday, May 28th
The 147th day of 2005
There are 217 days left in the year

Today's Highlights in History

On May 28, 1984, President Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. (Go to article)

On May 28, 1888, Jim Thorpe, the accomplished all-around athlete, was born. Following his death on March 28, 1953, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obituary Other Birthdays)

On May 28 1887, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about completion of the elevated railroad. (See the cartoon and read an explanation)

Reference: The New York Times



(The following Via Iraq War Today)

Today in History

1349 - In Breslau Silesia, sixty Jews are murdered.
1539 - Hernando de Soto lands in Florida.
1674 - German Parliament declares war on France.
1754 - George Washington defeats the French and Indians at Fort Duquesne (PA).
1774 - The first Continental Congress convenes in Virginia.
1830 - Congress authorizes Indian removal from all states to the western prairie.
1851 - Sojourner Truth attends the Women's Rights Convention.
1863 - The 54th Massachusetts, the first black regiment leaves Boston to fight in the Civil War.
1919 - Armenia declares its independence
1923 - The Attorney General says it is legal for women to wear trousers anywhere.
1940 - Belgium surrenders to Germany; King Leopold III gives himself up; British-French troops capture Narvik, Norway
1942 - 1,800 Czechoslovakians are murdered by the Nazis during their attack on Heydrich.
1959 - Monkeys Able & Baker become the first animals retrieved from a space mission, after soaring 300 miles into space in a Jupiter missile.
1961 - After nearly eightly years, theOrient Express makes its last trip (Paris to Bucharest) .
1964 - The Palestine National Congress forms the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) in Jerusalem.
1971 - The first spacecraft to soft-land on Mars, the USSR's Mars 3, is launched.
1974 - Italians fascists bomb demonstrators in Brescia, killing 6.
1975 - Soyuz 18 launches.
1985 - David Jacobsen is taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon.
1987 - The Civil War Ironclad Monitor is discovered by a deep sea robot
1991 - Ethiopian rebels seize Addis Ababa
1997 - Linda Finch completes the around-the-world flight Amelia Earhart failed to finish.

Birthdays
1371 - John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy/warrior
1660 - King George I of England
1738 - Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin, French physician/inventor (guillotine)
1759 - William Pitt the Younger, English PM
1818 - Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard St-Bernard known by Confederates as the Hero of Sumter
1819 - Union Brevet Major General William Birney
1828 - Confederate Brigadier General Alpheus Baker
1830 - Union Major General George Lucas Hartsuff
1831 - Eliza Ann Gardner, underground railway conductor
1838 - Confederate Bridadier General Basil Wilson Duke
1914 - W. G. G. Duncan-Smith, fighter pilot
1940 - Thomas E Petri (Representative-WI)
1944 - Rudy Giuliani (Mayor-NYC)
1957 - Walter R Tucker (Representative-CA)

Passings
1259 - King Christoffel I of Denmark
1357 - King Afonso IV of Portugal
1863 - Union Brigadier General Edmund Kirby, Jr., of injuries
1864 - Union Brigadier Henry H. Giesy, in battle
1972 - Duke of Windsor, who abdicated British throne
1972 - King Edward VIII of Great Britain / Northern Ireland

Reported Missing in Action
1968
Hill, Joseph A., USMC (IL)
Ingvalson, Roger D., USAF (MN); Released by DRV March, 1973 - alive and well 1998
1971
Chavira, Stephen, US Army (CA)
Urquhart, Paul D., US Army (PA)