A Brief History On May 6, 2001, Pope John Paul II of the Roman Catholic Church became the first pope to ever set foot in a mosque when he entered the Great Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, during a visit to that predominantly Muslim country. Digging Deeper Born in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920, Karol Józef Wojtyła was the first Catholic pope to hail from Poland and the first non-Italian pope since 1523. In fact, John Paul II was the first pope ever of any Slavic origin. John Paul II headed the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005, the third longest…
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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,…
A Brief History On May 4, 1946, the US Marine Corps was called to assault and secure an island, this time in San Francisco Bay! Why would Marines assault an American island? Because that island was Alcatraz, home to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, built to house the worst federal criminals, and those ultra-bad guys were in the middle of a violent riot. Digging Deeper The riot started as an escape attempt by convicts who overpowered a guard and managed to steal guns and gas grenades. Prisoners jammed a lock while trying different keys, ruining their escape. Then the convicts took more…
A Brief History On May 3, 2023, a 13 year old Serbian schoolboy opened fire at an elementary school in Belgrade, Serbia, killing nine students and a security guard. An additional six people were wounded. Incredibly, due to Serbian law, the shooter was not criminally prosecuted due to his age! Digging Deeper The teenaged shooter used his father’s legally owned pistols in the event, firing 57 shots during the attack. Although not charged criminally, the shooter did wind up under psychiatric care. His parents, in a scenario eerily similar to a recent case in the US, found themselves in legal…
A Brief History On May 2, 1982, Britain’s nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror fired torpedoes at the Argentine Navy’s World War II era cruiser, ARA General Belgrano, rapidly sinking the big ship and killing 323 of her crew of 1,095. Digging Deeper General Belgrano was the former USS Phoenix, 608 feet long and 62 feet wide, with a displacement of over 12,000 tons. Armed with 15 X 6 inch guns and 8 X 5 inch guns, she was one of the biggest and baddest warships in any third world navy. General Belgrano has the distinction of being the only ship sunk…