Events

• 627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II’s Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
• 1862 – American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River.
• 1915 – Yuan Shikai declares the establishment of the Empire of China and proclaims himself Emperor.
• 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China.
• 1939 – HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.
• 1941 – World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines.
  • Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.
• 1945 – The People’s Republic of Korea is outlawed in the South, by order of the United States Army Military Government in Korea.
• 1946 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam (now Thailand) to the United Nations is adopted.
• 1956 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 121 relating to acceptance of Japan to the United Nations is adopted.
• 1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
• 2012 – North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2.

People (Births)

• 1526 – Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish admiral (d. 1588).
• 1724 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, English admiral and politician (d. 1816).
• 1806 – Stand Watie, American general (d. 1871).
• 1830 – Joseph Orville Shelby, Confederate general (d. 1897).
• 1876 – Alvin Kraenzlein, American hurdler and runner (d. 1928).
• 1881 – Louise Thuliez, French school teacher, resistance fighter during World War I and World War II and author (d. 1966).
• 1920 – Josef Doležal, Czech race walker (d. 1999).
• 1955 – Eddy Schepers, Belgian cyclist.
• 1956 – Johan van der Velde, Dutch cyclist.
• 1961 – Andrey Perlov, Russian race walker.
• 1962 – Arturo Barrios, Mexican-American runner.
• 1969 – Wilfred Kirochi, Kenyan runner.
• 1971 – Sammy Korir, Kenyan runner.
• 1972 – Wilson Kipketer, Kenyan-Danish runner.
• 1972 – Georgios Theodoridis, Greek sprinter.
• 1974 – Bernard Lagat, Kenyan-American runner.
• 1977 – Yoel Hernández, Cuban hurdler.
• 1977 – Dean Macey, English decathlete and bobsledder.
• 1980 – Dejene Berhanu, Ethiopian runner (d. 2010).
• 1990 – Nixon Chepseba, Kenyan runner.

People (Deaths)

• 1751 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English philosopher and politician, Secretary at War (b. 1678).
• 1941 – César Basa, Filipino lieutenant and pilot (b. 1915).
• 1966 – Karl Ruberl, Austrian-American swimmer (b. 1880).
• 1975 – Richard Baggallay, English colonel and cricketer (b. 1884).
• 1994 – Stuart Roosa, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1933).
• 1998 – Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (b. 1930).
• 2003 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijani general and politician, 3rd President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923).
• 2007 – François al-Hajj, Lebanese general (b. 1953).