November 21st, 2008

Today in History

1985:
United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested for spying (he was caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison).

1974:
1974 - George W. Bush is discharged from the US Air Force Reserve.

1970:
A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be held there (there were zero Americans killed, but the prisoners had already moved to another camp; All US POWs were moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).

1942:
The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (the highway was not usable by general vehicles until 1943, however).

1877:
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound (this is considered to be Edison's first great invention).