Events

• 1513 – Battle of Novara. In the Italian Wars, Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis II de la Trémoille, forcing them to abandon Milan; Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored.
• 1523 – Swedish regent Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden and, marking a symbolic end to the Kalmar Union, 06 June is designated the country’s national day.
• 1762 – In the Seven Years’ War, British forces begin the Siege of Havana and temporarily capture the city.
• 1813 – The Battle of Stoney Creek, considered a critical turning point in the War of 1812.
  • A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeats an American force twice its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
• 1822 – Alexis St Martin is accidentally shot in the stomach, leading to William Beaumont’s studies on digestion.
• 1832 – The June Rebellion in Paris is put down by the National Guard.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The First Battle of Memphis, a naval engagement fought on the Mississippi results in the capture of Memphis, Tennessee by Union forces from the Confederates.
• 1882 – The Shewan forces of Menelik II of Ethiopia defeat the Gojjame army in the Battle of Embabo.
  • The Shewans capture Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and their victory leads to a Shewan hegemony over the territories south of the Abay River.
• 1894 – Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners’ strike.
• 1918 – Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I: the US Marine Corps suffers its worst single day’s casualties while attempting to recapture the wood at Château-Thierry (the losses are exceeded at the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943).
• 1942 – World War II: The United States Navy’s victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway is a major turning point in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
  • All four Japanese fleet carriers taking part – Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū – are sunk, as is the heavy cruiser Mikuma.
  • The American carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann are also sunk.
• 1944 – World War II: Commencement of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, with the execution of Operation Neptune – commonly referred to as D-Day – the largest seaborne invasion in history.
  • Nearly 160,000 Allied troops cross the English Channel with about 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participating.
  • By the end of the day, the Allies have landed on five invasion beaches and are pushing inland.
• 1975 – British referendum results in continued membership of the European Economic Community, with 67% of votes in favour.
• 1982 – The Lebanon War begins. Forces under Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
• 1985 – The grave of “Wolfgang Gerhard” is opened in Embu, Brazil; the exhumed remains are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death”; Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979.
• 2017 – Syrian civil war: The Battle of Raqqa begins with an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to capture the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
• D-Day Invasion Anniversary.
• Memorial Day in South Korea.

People (Births)

• 1755 – Nathan Hale, American soldier (d. 1776).
• 1756 – John Trumbull, American soldier and painter (d. 1843).
• 1868 – Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy officer, sailor and explorer (d. 1912).
• 1891 – Erich Marcks, German general in WWII who planned Operation Barbarossa (d. 1944).
• 1896 – Henry Allingham, English World War I soldier and supercentenarian (d. 2009).
• 1896 – Italo Balbo, Italian air marshal and fascist politician who played a key role in developing Mussolini’s air force (d. 1940).
• 1919 – Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, English army officer and politician, 6th Secretary General of NATO (d. 2018).
• 1925 – Frank Chee Willeto, American soldier and politician, 4th Vice President of the Navajo Nation and a noted code talker during World War II (d. 2013).
• 1932 – David Scott, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut who was the commander of Apollo 15.
• 1935 – Jon Henricks, Australian swimmer; winner of two Olympic gold medals in 1956.
• 1944 – Tommie Smith, American sprinter and football player; winner of 1968 Olympic 200m gold medal in a world record time.
• 1947 – Ada Kok, Dutch butterfly stroke swimmer; winner of three Olympic medals including gold in 1968.

People (Deaths)

• 1583 – Nakagawa Kiyohide, Japanese daimyo (b. 1556).
• 1865 – William Quantrill, leader of a Confederate guerrilla band in the American Civil War (b. 1837).
• 1916 – Yuan Shikai, Chinese general and politician, 2nd President of the Republic of China (b. 1859).
• 1935 – Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, English field marshal and politician, 12th Governor-General of Canada (b. 1862).
• 1968 – Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (b. 1925).
• 2013 – Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (b. 1921).