In the early morning hours Allied forces landed in Normandy on the north coast of France. In an operation that took months of planning, afleet of 2,727 ships of every description converged from British ports from Wales to the North Sea. Operation Overlord involved 2,000,000 tons of war materials, including more than 50,000 tanks, armored cars, jeeps, trucks and half-tracks. The US alone sent 1,700,000 fighting men. The Germans believed the invasion would not take place under the adverse weather conditions of this early June day. But as the sun came up, the village of Saint Mre Eglise was liberated by American parachutists, and by nightfall the landing of 155,000 Allies attested to the success of D-Day. The long-awaited second front had at last materialized.
June 6, 1933. Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr, opened Americas first drive-in movie theater in Camden, NJ, on this date. At the height of their popularity in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-ins across America. Today there are fewer than 600 open.
June 6 July 5. Begins on Islamic lunar calendar date Ramadan 1, 1437. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is holy because it was during this month that the Holy Quran (Koran) was revealed. All adults of sound body and mind fast from dawn (before sunrise) until sunset to achieve spiritual and physical purification and self-discipline, abstaining from food, drink and intimate relations. It is a time for feeling a common bond with people who are poor and needy, a time of piety and prayer. Different methods for anticipating the visibility of the new moon crescent at Mecca are used by different Muslim groups.
Each year on June 7, the Kentucky Historical Society celebrates the anniversary of the day in 1767 when Daniel Boone, Americas most famous frontiersman, reportedly first sighted the land that would become Kentucky. The June 7 date is taken from the book The Discovery, Settlement andPresent State of Kentucky, by John Filson, published in 1784, with an appendix titled The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone. The information inthe appendix supposedly originated with Boone, although Filson is the actual author. The work is not considered completely reliable by historians.
June 7, 1975. The Sony Corporation released its videocassette recorder, the Betamax, which sold for $ 995. Eventually, another VCR format, VHS, proved more successful and Sony stopped making the Betamax.
June 7, 1909. Dr. Apgar developed the simple assessment methodthat permits doctors and nurses to evaluate newborns while they are still in the delivery room to identify those in need of immediate medical care. The Apgar score was first published in 1953, and the Perinatal Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics is named for Dr. Apgar. Born at Westfield, NJ, Apgar died Aug 7, 1974, at New York, NY.
June 8, 1789. The Bill of Rights, which led to the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, was first proposed by James Madison.
June 8, 1867. American architect born at Richland Center, WI.In his autobiography Wright wrote: No house should ever be on any hill oron anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each the happier for the other. Wright died at Phoenix, AZ, Apr 9, 1959.
June 8, 1697. On Mar 16, 1697, in an attack on Haverhill, MA, Indians captured Hannah Duston and killed her baby, also killing or capturing 39 others. After being taken to an Indian camp, she escaped on Apr29 after killing 10 Indians with a tomahawk and scalping them as proof of her deed. On June 8 her husband was awarded, on her behalf, the sum of 25pounds for her heroic efforts, the first public award to a woman in America.
June 9, 1891. Cole Porter published his first song, The Bobolink Waltz, at the age of 10. His career as a composer and lyricist for Broadway was launched in 1928 when five of his songs were used in the musical play Lets Do It. His prolific contributions to the Broadway stage include Fifty Million Frenchmen, Wake Up and Dream, The Gay Divorce, AnythingGoes, Leave It to Me, Du Barry Was a Lady, Something for the Boys, Kiss Me Kate, Can Can and Silk Stockings. Porter was born at Peru, IN, and died at Santa Monica, CA, Oct 15, 1964.
June 9, 1934. Donald Duck made his screen debut on this date with the release of The Wise Little Hen, a short film in the Disney series of Silly Symphonies.
June 9. A day to raise awareness of the importance of records and archives, in order to make it understood that records and archives provide the foundation for their rights and identity. Also a time to raise the public, private and public sectors awareness of the necessity of preserving archives for the long-term, and of providing access to them.
On June 10, 1935, the group Alcoholic’s Anonymous was foundedat Akron, Ohio when Dr. Robert Smith completed his first day of sobriety.
June 10, 1943. Hungarian Laszlo Biro patented the ballpoint pen, which he had been developing since the 1930s. He was living in Argentina, where he had gone to escape the Nazis. In many languages, the word forballpoint pen is biro.
June 10, 1895. Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Academy Award, winning it in 1940 for her role in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. Her career spanned radio and vaudeville in addition to her screen roles in Judge Priest, The Little Colonel, Showboat and Saratoga, among others. She was born at Wichita, KS (some sources say 1889 or 1892), and died Oct 26, 1952, at Los Angeles, CA.
June 10, 1922. American actress and singer born Frances Gumm at Grand Rapids, MN. While Garland played in many films and toured widely as a singer, she is probably most remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in the now-classic The Wizard of Oz. Died June 22, 1969, at London, England.
June 10, 1928. Author and illustrator born at Brooklyn, NY. In a career spanning more than half a century, Sendak wrote and illustratedmany notable childrens books, including In the Night Kitchen, Kennys Window, and his most famous work, Where the Wild Things Are. Widely regarded as the first picture book artist to deal openly with the childrens emotions, Sendak received numerous awards for his work, notably the CaldecottMedal (1964), the Hans Christian Andersen Award (1970) and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (1983). He died May 8, 2012, at Danbury, CT.
Iced tea was supposedly populairzed” at the St. Louis World’s Fair starting on June 10
June 11th. Belmont Park, NY. 148th annual. Final race of the Triple Crown was inaugurated in 1867. Traditionally run on the fifth Saturday after Kentucky Derby (third Saturday after Preakness).
June 11th is the day to celebrate the great Summer food that iscorn on the cob.
The Trooping the Colour parade dates from 1805 during the reignof King George III.
June 11, 1913. Vincent Thomas Lombardi, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach, born at New York, NY. Lombardi played football for Fordhams famed Seven Blocks of Granite line in the mid-1930s, became a teacher and began to coach high school football. He became offensive line coach at West Point in 1949 and moved to the New York Giants in 1954. Five years later, he was named head coach of the Green Bay Packers. His Packers won five NFL titles and two Super Bowls in nine years, and Lombardi was generally regarded as the greatest coach and the finest motivator in pro football history. He retired in 1968 but was lured back to coach the Washington Redskins a year later. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame posthumously in 1971. Died at Washington, DC, Sept 3, 1970.
June 12, 1987. US President Ronald Reagan, standing at the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall, gave one of the most powerful speechesof his career when he challenged Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to give liberalization in the Eastern Bloc more than lip service: General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall! The speech was audible to East Berliners, but East German police made a gathering crowd at the wall disperse. The State Department had sought to make thespeech more conciliatory, but Reagan and his speechwriter, Peter Robinson, refused. The wall was finally opened in 1989.
June 12, 1929. Born at Frankfurt, Germany. Anne Franks family moved to Amsterdam to escape the Nazis, but after Holland was invaded byGermany, they had to go into hiding. In 1942 Anne began to keep a diary. She died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. After the war, her father published her diary, on which a stage play and movie were later based.
June 12, 1967. The US Supreme Court decision in Loving v Virginia swept away all 16 remaining state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.
