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Today in History 10/8 (Alvin C. York)

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Sgt. Alvin York of the US Army (© Department of US Army/AP)(1918) Alvin C. York goes above and beyond on the Western Front
Born poor in rural Tennessee, and a conscientious objector at the outbreak of WWI, Corporal Alvin York now fights against the Germans in the Argonne Forest, killing 25 and capturing 132 almost all on his own. This heroism will promote him to Sergeant York and merit him the Medal of Honor.
Alvin Cullum York, also known as Sergeant York, was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, taking at least one machine gun, killing at least 25 enemy soldiers and capturing 132. York’s Medal of Honor action occurred during the United States-led portion of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France, which was intended to breach the Hindenburg line and force the Germans to surrender. He earned decorations from several allied countries during WWI, including France, Italy and Montenegro.
Lived: Dec 13, 1887 – Sep 02, 1964 (age 76)
Nationality: American
Spouse: Gracie Williams (m. 1919 – 1964)
Founded: Alvin C. York Institute
Children: woodrow wilson york (Son)
Siblings: Joseph Marion York (Brother) · Henry Singleton York (Brother) · John Samuel York (Brother) · Hattie M. York (Sister) · Lillie Mae York (Sister) · James Preston York (Brother) · Albert York (Brother) · Robert Daniel York (Brother) · Lucy Erma York (Sister) · George Alexander York (Brother)
Highlights
  • 1919: Alvin C. York married Gracie Williams on June 01, 1919.

  • 1919: He had been home for barely a week when, on June 7, 1919, York and Gracie Loretta Williams (February 7, 1900 – September 27, 1984) were married by Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in Pall Mall.

  • 1926: The Alvin C. York Institute was founded in 1926 as a private agricultural high school by Alvin York and residents of Fentress County.

  • 1928: York Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City was named for the Sergeant in 1928.

  • 1935: In 1935 York, sensing the end of his time with the institute, began to work as a project superintendent with the Civilian Conservation Corps overseeing the creation of Cumberland Mountain State Park’s Byrd Lake, one of the largest masonry projects the program ever undertook.

  • 1964: York died at the Veterans Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 2, 1964, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Alvin York
Alvin York
wiki/Alvin_York
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(1918) Alvin C. York goes above and beyond on the Western Front.
Also on this day,

1871 | Great Chicago Fire as winds whip a small Chicago blaze into a firestorm
A long drought, strong winds, buildings made primarily of wood, and perhaps a twitchy cow all combine to stoke a minor fire into a conflagration the likes of which Chicago has never seen. Two days of ferocious flames will leave hundreds of thousands homeless and kill some 300 people.
1956 | Yankees pitcher Larsen is perfect in World Series game
Yankees pitcher Don Larsen starts game five of the World Series at Yankee Stadium against local rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Larsen completes the first perfect game in MLB postseason history, retiring 27 batters, and the Bronx Bombers will go on to win their 17th World Series.
1967 | A revolutionary’s journey ends in the Bolivian jungle as Che Guevara captured
Native of Argentina, revolutionary in Cuba, writer and doctor, Che Guevara has spent the last two years traveling in Africa and South America championing the cause of Marxist ideology. He’s now caught in Bolivia after 1,800 CIA-backed soldiers surround his guerrilla encampment.

Today in History 10/08/17

Revolutionary leader Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (© Tony Ortega/AP)(1967) A revolutionary's journey ends in the Bolivian jungle
Native of Argentina, revolutionary in Cuba, writer and doctor, Che Guevara has spent the last two years traveling in Africa and South America championing the cause of Marxist ideology. He's now caught in Bolivia after 1,800 CIA-backed soldiers surround his guerrilla encampment.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.
Lived: Jun 14, 1928 - Oct 09, 1967 (age 39)
Height: 5' 9" (1.75 m)
Spouse: Aleida March (m. 1959 - 1967) · Hilda Gadea (m. 1955 - 1959)
Movies: Che: Part Two · Os caminhos de Che: Um Diário de Motocicleta · Carnet de identidad
Children: Aleida Guevara (Daughter) · Hilda Guevara (Daughter) · Celia Guevara (Daughter) · Ernesto Guevara (Son) · Camilo Guevara (Son)
Related movies: The Motorcycle Diaries · Che: Part One
Highlights
  • 1953: Upon returning to Argentina, he completed his studies and received his medical degree in June 1953, making him officially "Dr. Ernesto Guevara".

  • 1955: In June 1955, López introduced him to Raúl Castro, who subsequently introduced him to his older brother, Fidel Castro, the revolutionary leader who had formed the 26th of July Movement and was now plotting to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

  • 1958: Then in late July 1958, Guevara played a critical role in the Battle of Las Mercedes by using his column to halt a force of 1,500 men called up by Batista's General Cantillo in a plan to encircle and destroy Castro's forces.

  • 1959: On June 2, 1959, he married Aleida March, a Cuban-born member of the 26th of July movement with whom he had been living since late 1958.

  • 1965: Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to foment revolution abroad, first unsuccessfully in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia, where he was captured by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and summarily executed.

  • 1966: His diary documented events of the guerrilla campaign in Bolivia, with the first entry on November 7, 1966, shortly after his arrival at the farm in Ñancahuazú, and the last dated October 7, 1967, the day before his capture.

Museo Che Guevara, Havana Cuba
Popularized cropped version of Guerrillero Heroico - Che Guevara at the funeral for the victims of the La Coubre explosion

wiki/Che_Guevara
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Today in History 09/24 (Devils Tower)

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Devils Tower in the Black Hills region of Wyoming (© Jean-Marc Giboux/Liaison/Getty Images)(1906) Wyoming’s monolith becomes a monument
Likely formed by a 40 million-year-old igneous intrusion, a 1,267-foot-high rock formation jutting from Wyoming’s Black Hills is designated as America’s first National Monument. Native Americans will petition that the name be changed from ‘Devils Tower’ to the Lakota ‘Bear Lodge.’
Devils Tower is a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Mountains near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet from summit to base. The summit is 5,112 feet above sea level.
Phone: (307) 467-5283
Elevation: 5,112 feet
Area: 2.10 sq miles
Managed by: National Park Service
Established: Sep 24, 1906
First ascent: Jul 04, 1893

Devils Tower National Monument at sunset in Wyoming, United States
Devils Tower National Monument at sunset in Wyoming, United States
wiki/Devils_Tower
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(1906) Wyoming’s monolith becomes a monument.
Also on this day,

1877 | Japan’s Satsuma Rebellion ends with the samurai’s last stand
A Westernized army is replacing the samurai warrior class and this loss of status has incited Saigō Takamori to lead 40,000 samurai in the Satsuma Rebellion. Samurai defeats, however, have left just 500 or so warriors to fight one last stand against 30,000 Imperial Army troops at the Battle of Shiroyama.
1957 | Ebbet’s Field bids farewell to their beloved ‘bums’ the Brooklyn Dodgers
The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 in a bittersweet victory as the Dodgers plays their final game at Ebbet’s Field. Just two years after winning their first World Series, the team’s been bought and will be moving to Los Angeles, much to the chagrin of their New York fans.
1982 | Prince predicts premillennial partying in ‘1999’
‘1999,’ the title track to the fifth album by rising Minneapolis music star Prince, hits the record stores and the airwaves. Its mixture of dance-party groove, cutting-edge synthesizers, and anti-nuke message grabs listeners almost two decades before the song’s titular time frame.

Today in History 09/24/17

Artist depiction of the Satsuma Rebellion (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)(1877) Japan's Satsuma Rebellion ends with the samurai's last stand
A Westernized army is replacing the samurai warrior class and this loss of status has incited Saigō Takamori to lead 40,000 samurai in the Satsuma Rebellion. Samurai defeats, however, have left just 500 or so warriors to fight one last stand against 30,000 Imperial Army troops at the Battle of Shiroyama.
The Battle of Shiroyama took place on 24 September 1877, in Kagoshima, Japan. It was the final battle of the Satsuma Rebellion, where the heavily outnumbered samurai under Saigō Takamori made their last stand against Imperial Japanese Army troops under the command of Generals Yamagata Aritomo and Kawamura Sumiyoshi. The battle culminated in the annihilation of Saigō's army as well as his death, marking the end of the Satsuma Rebellion.
Date: Sep 24, 1877

wiki/Battle_of_Shiroyama
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