A Brief History On May 5, 1945, a rare circumstance arose when German troops fought alongside US Army troops against an attack by the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division. Making the event even more bizarre, freed French prisoners of war joined the Americans and Germans in fighting off the attacking SS soldiers. Digging Deeper The Germans fighting with the Americans to defend Castle Itter in Austria were led by Hauptsturmführer Kurt-Siegfried Schrader of the SS and Major Josef Gangl. The German soldiers involved had quit fighting for Germany and joined the Austrian resistance. Castle Itter was used to house prisoners,…
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A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on May 5th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On May 5, 1802, two of Napoleon’s generals entered into a pistol duel to the death over perceived insults between them. On May 5, 1809, Mary Kies became the first woman granted a US patent. She had invented a process for weaving straw with silk and thread. On May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, erstwhile Emperor of the French died on the lonely…
A Brief History On May 5, 1904, Denton “Cy” Young of the Boston Americans pitched an historic American League game against the Philadelphia Athletics, not allowing any base runners in the first major league “Perfect Game” of the modern baseball era. Digging Deeper The name “Cy” was a shortened form of “Cyclone,” a nod to his ability to demolish fencing like a cyclone with his fastball. Born in Ohio in 1867, Young first played professionally in Canton, Ohio, moving up to the Big Show with the Cleveland Spiders of the National League. Young embarked on a major league career that…
A Brief History On May 5, 1993, 3 innocent 8 year old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, the apparent victims of 3 Satan worshipping teenagers. While horror movies and scary stories around the campfire are overflowing with tales of Satan worshipping miscreants kidnapping and sacrificing humans, often virgins or children, for some sort of Satanic ritual or another, the real life news stories have documented such horrors actually occurring, even in these modern times. Digging Deeper In the West Memphis incident, the 3 little boys were missing as of the early evening on May 5, 1993, causing parents…
A Brief History On May 5, 1994, American teenager Michael Fay made international news when he was punished in Singapore for theft and vandalism by the local custom of “caning.” The case caused outrage in the United States that one of our own 18 year old citizens could be treated with corporal punishment for a youthful prank, but the rest of the world saw the offenses of Fay as an egregious affront on the hospitality of another country. A protest by the United States got Fay’s sentence reduced from 6 strokes of the cane to only 4 strokes. Digging Deeper…
