November 21st, 2008

Today in History

1979:
The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing four. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)

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).

1962:
The Chinese People's Liberation Army declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Sino-Indian War.

1953:
Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the skull of the "Piltdown Man", held to be one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, was a hoax.

1927:
Columbine Mine Massacre: 500 striking coal miners, some with their families, were attacked with machine guns by a detachment of state police dressed in civilian clothes