today.nukz.net: Almanac October 27

Joseph Medicine Crow (or Joe Medicine Crow, full name Joseph Medicine Crow-High Bird, born October 27, 1913) is a Crow historian and author. He is also an enrolled member of the Crow Nation of Native Americans. His writings on Native American history and reservation culture are considered seminal works, but he is best known for his writings and lectures concerning the Battle of Little Big Horn. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Légion d'honneur. He is a founding member of the Traditional Circle of Indian Elders & Youth.

Joseph Medicine Crow joined the army, becoming a scout in the 103rd Infantry Division. Whenever he went into battle, he wore his war paint beneath his uniform and a sacred eagle feather beneath his helmet. Medicine Crow completed all four tasks required to become a war chief. He touched a living enemy soldier (1) and disarmed an enemy (2) when he turned a corner and found himself face to face with a young German soldier: “ The collision knocked the German's weapon to the ground. Mr. [Medicine] Crow lowered his own weapon and the two fought hand-to-hand. In the end Mr. Crow got the best of the German, grabbing him by the neck and choking him. He was going to kill the German soldier on the spot when the man screamed out "momma." Mr. Crow then let him go. ” He also led a successful war party (3) and stole an enemy horse (4), making a midnight raid to steal the horses from a battalion of German officers (as he rode off, he sang a traditional Crow honor song.) He is the last member of the Crow tribe to become a war chief.

Events

312 – Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross.
710 – Saracen invasion of Sardinia.
939 – Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of England.
1275 – Traditional founding of the city of Amsterdam.
1524 – Italian Wars: The French troops lay siege to Pavia.
1553 – Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
1644 – Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
1682 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded.
1795 – The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
1806 – The French Army enters Berlin.
1810 – United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
1827 – Bellini's third opera Il pirata is premiered at Teatro alla Scala di Milano
1838 – Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.
1870 – Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at the conclusion of the Siege of Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.
1904 – The first underground New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes the biggest in United States, and one of the biggest in world.
1914 – World War I: The British super-dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious (23,400 tons), is sunk off Tory Island, north-west of Ireland, by a minefield laid by the armed German merchant-cruiser Berlin.
1916 – Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari abte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
1922 – A referendum in Rhodesia rejects the country's annexation to the South African Union.
1924 – The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union.
1930 – ratifications exchanged in London, for the first London Naval Treaty signed in April modifying the 1925 Washington Naval Treaty and the arms limitation treaty's modified provisions go into effect immediately; further limiting the expensive naval arms race between its five signatories.
1936 – Mrs Wallis Simpson files for divorce which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne.
1944 – World War II: German forces capture Banská Bystrica during Slovak National Uprising thus bringing it to an end.
1948 – Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc.
1953 – British nuclear test Totem 2 is carried out at Emu Field, South Australia.
1954 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
1958 – Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who had been appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.
1961 – NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.
1961 – Mauritania and Mongolia join the United Nations.
1962 – Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
1962 – A plane carrying Enrico Mattei, post-war Italian administrator, crashes in mysterious circumstances.
1964 – Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launched his political career and came to be known as "A Time for Choosing".
1967 – Catholic priest Philip Berrigan and others of the Baltimore Four protest the Vietnam War by pouring blood on Selective Service records.
1971 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
1973 – The Cañon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite, strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
1979 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1981 – The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
1986 – The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang.
1988 – Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
1991 – Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating first military, then national, debate about gays in the military that resulted in the United States "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy.
1994 – The U.S. prison population tops 1 million for the first time in American history.
1994 – Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified.
1995 – Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.
1995 – Former Prime Minister of Italy Bettino Craxi is convicted in absentia of corruption.
1997 – October 27, 1997 mini-crash: Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15.
1999 – Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and 6 other members.
2004 – Major League Baseball: The Boston Red Sox complete a four-game sweep of the 2004 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, giving the team their first World Series championship since 1918.
2005 – Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.
2005 – The SSETI Express micro-satellite is successfully launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
2011 – The Royal Australian Navy announces that they discovered the wreck of a World War II submarine in Simpson Harbour, Papua New Guinea during Operation RENDER SAFE - it is likely to be Japanese.

Births

1156 – Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (d. 1222)
1401 – Catherine of Valois, queen of Henry V of England (d. 1437)
1703 – Johann Gottlieb Graun, German Baroque/Classical era composer and violinist (d. 1771)
1728 – James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (d. 1779)
1744 – Mary Moser, English painter (d. 1819)
1760 – August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1831)
1766 – Nancy Storace, the first soprano to sing Susanna in Mozart's opera Le nozze di Figaro (d. 1817)
1782 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
1806 – Juan Seguín, Tejano commander during Texas Revolution (d. 1890)
1811 – Isaac Singer, American inventor (d. 1875)
1811 – Stevens Thomson Mason, 1st Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
1814 – Daniel H. Wells, Mormon leader and politician (d. 1891)
1838 – John Davis Long, 32nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
1842 – Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (d. 1928)
1844 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1916)
1854 – Sir William Smith, Scottish founder of the Boys' Brigade (d. 1914)
1858 – Theodore Roosevelt, American politician, 33rd Governor of New York, 25th Vice President of the United States, 26th President of the United States, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1919)
1865 – Charles Spencelayh, English painter (d. 1958)
1869 – Viola Allen, American actress (d. 1948)
1872 – Emily Post, American etiquette author (d. 1960)
1877 – George Thompson, English cricketer (d. 1943)
1885 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish modernist painter (d. 1948)
1894 – Oliver Leese, British general (d. 1978)
1896 – Edith Brown, survivor of the Titanic (d. 1997)
1904 – Erno Schwarz, Hungarian American soccer player (d. 1974)
1906 – Earle Cabell, American politician (d. 1975)
1906 – Kazuo Ohno, Japanese dancer (d. 2010)
1908 – Lee Krasner, American painter (d. 1984)
1910 – Jack Carson, Canadian actor (d. 1963)
1911 – Leif Erickson, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
1913 – Joe Medicine Crow, American tribal historian and anthropologist
1914 – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
1915 – Harry Saltzman, American film producer (d. 1994)
1917 – Augustine Harris, British Bishop of Middlesbrough (d. 2007)
1917 – Oliver Tambo, South African freedom fighter (d. 1993)
1918 – Teresa Wright, American actress (d. 2005)
1920 – Nanette Fabray, American actress
1920 – K. R. Narayanan, 10th President of India (d. 2005)
1921 – Warren Allen Smith, American encyclopedist
1922 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (d. 1998)
1922 – Michel Galabru, French actor
1922 – Ralph Kiner, American baseball player
1923 – Roy Lichtenstein, American artist (d. 1997)
1924 – Ruby Dee, American actress
1925 – Warren Christopher, American diplomat and 63rd United States Secretary of State (d. 2011)
1926 – H.R. Haldeman, American political aide and 4th White House Chief of Staff (d. 1993)
1927 – Dominick Argento, American composer
1928 – Gilles Vigneault, Canadian poet, singer and songwriter
1929 – Maurice Robert Johnston, English Lieutenant-General
1931 – Nawal el-Saadawi, Egyptian writer
1932 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (d. 2007)
1932 – Dolores Moore, American baseball player (d. 2000)
1932 – Sylvia Plath, American poet (d. 1963)
1933 – Floyd Cramer, American popular pianist (d. 1997)
1934 – Giorgos Konstantinou, Greek actor and director
1935 – Frank Adonis, American actor
1937 – Lara Parker, American actress
1939 – John Cleese, British actor and writer
1939 – Suzy Covey, American scholar (d. 2007)
1940 – John Gotti, American crime boss (d. 2002)
1940 – Maxine Hong Kingston, American writer
1941 – Dick Trickle, American auto racer
1942 – Lee Greenwood, American singer
1942 – Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Polish politician
1943 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor
1943 – Jerry Rook, American basketball player
1944 – J.A. Jance, American author
1945 – Arild Andersen, Norwegian bass player
1945 – Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, 35th President of Brazil
1945 – John Kane, British actor and writer
1946 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
1946 – Ivan Reitman, Czechoslovakian-born Canadian film actor, producer and director
1946 – Peter Martins, Danish danseur and choreographer
1949 – Garry Tallent, American bass player (E Street Band)
1949 – Clifford Antone, American businessman (d. 2006)
1950 – Fran Lebowitz, American writer
1950 – Július Šupler, Slovak ice-hockey coach
1951 – K.K. Downing, English guitarist (Judas Priest)
1951 – Carlos Frenk, Mexican/British cosmologist
1951 – Nancy Jacobs, American politician
1951 – Jayne Kennedy, American actress, model and sportscaster
1951 – Éric Morena, French singer
1952 – Roberto Benigni, Italian director and actor
1952 – Francis Fukuyama, American philosopher
1952 – Hameed Haroon, Pakistani publisher
1952 – Topi Sorsakoski, Finnish singer
1953 – Peter Firth, British actor
1953 – Robert Picardo, American actor
1954 – Jan Duursema, American comic book artist
1955 – Debra Bowen, American politician
1956 – Jaq D. Hawkins, British author, occultist and lecturer
1956 – Veronica Hart, American porn actress
1956 – Babis Tsertos, Greek singer and musician
1957 – Jeff East, American actor
1957 – Glenn Hoddle, English footballer
1958 – Simon Le Bon, English singer (Duran Duran)
1958 – Lee Carter, American jurist
1958 – Felix Wurman, American cellist and composer (d. 2009)
1959 – Rick Carlisle, American basketball coach
1960 – Tom Nieto, American baseball player
1963 – Marla Maples, American actress and model
1963 – Farin Urlaub, German singer and guitarist (Die Ärzte)
1964 – Mark Taylor, Australian test cricket captain (1994–1999)
1966 – Matt Drudge, American blogger
1966 – Hege Nerland, Norwegian politician (d. 2007)
1967 – Simone Moro, Italian mountaineer
1967 – Steve Almond, American author
1967 – Dejan Raickovic, Montenegrin footballer
1967 – Scott Weiland, American singer (Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver)
1968 – Alain Auderset, Swedish writer
1968 – Vinny Samways, English footballer
1968 – Dileep, Indian actor
1969 – Peter O'Meara, Irish actor
1970 – Felix Bwalya, Zambian boxer
1970 – Adrian Erlandsson, Swedish drummer (Cradle of Filth)
1970 – Alama Ieremia, New Zealand rugby union player
1970 – Jonathan Stroud, British author
1971 – Jade Arcade, American comics artist and writer
1971 – Stefano Guidoni, Italian footballer
1971 – Jorge Soto, Peruvian footballer
1971 – Theodoros Zagorakis, Greek footballer
1972 – Lee Clark, English footballer
1972 – Elissa, Lebanese singer
1972 – Evan Coyne Maloney, American filmmaker
1972 – Brad Radke, American baseball player
1972 – Marika Krook, Finnish singer (Edea)
1972 – Maria de Lurdes Mutola, Mozambican athlete
1973 – Jason Johnson, American baseball pitcher
1975 – Nicola Mazzucato, Italian rugby union player and coach
1976 – Wilson Júnior, Brazilian footballer
1977 – Jirí Jarošík, Czech footballer
1977 – Sheeri Rappaport, American actress
1977 – Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lankan cricketer
1978 – Sergei Samsonov, Russian ice hockey player
1978 – Vanessa-Mae, Singapore musician
1978 – Stephanie Abrams, American meteorologist
1980 – Tanel Padar, Estonian singer
1981 – Han Hye-jin, South Korean actress
1981 – Kristi Richards, Canadian freestyle skier
1981 – Salem Al Fakir, Swedish musician and singer
1981 – Volkan Demirel, Turkish footballer
1982 – Patrick Fugit, American actor
1982 – Dennis Moran, American computer hacker
1982 – Takashi Tsukamoto, Japanese actor
1983 – Brent Clevlen, American baseball player
1983 – Martín Prado, Venezuelan baseball player
1984 – Bam Doyne, American basketball player
1984 – Kostas Kapetanos, Greek footballer
1984 – Kelly Osbourne, English television personality
1984 – Irfan Pathan, Indian cricketer
1984 – Brady Quinn, American football player
1984 – Emilie Ullerup, Danish actress
1986 – Matty Pattison, English footballer
1986 – Jon Niese, American baseball player
1986 – David Warner, Australian cricketer
1987 – Andrew Bynum, American basketball player
1987 – Guillaume Franke, French-born German rugby player
1987 – Victor Genev, Bulgarian footballer
1987 – Yi Jianlian, Chinese basketball player (birth date disputed)
1987 – Thelma Aoyama, Japanese singer
1988 – Brady Ellison, American archer
1988 – Evan Turner, American basketball player
1990 – Dimitrios Gkourtsas, Greek footballer
1990 – Oktavianus Maniani, Indonesian footballer
1992 – Emily Hagins, American director
1994 – Eddie Alderson, American actor
1995 – Cooper Pillot, American actor
1997 – Eden Taylor-Draper, English actress
1999 – Haruka Kudo, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)

Deaths

939 – King Athelstan I of England (b. 895)
1271 – Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (b. 1213)
1312 – John II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1275)
1327 – Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert I of Scotland (b. 1289)
1331 – Abu al-Fida, Kurdish historian, geographer, and tribal leader (b. 1273)
1430 – Grand Duke Vytautas the Great of Lithuania (b. 1350)
1439 – Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1397)
1449 – Ulugh Beg, Persian ruler and astronomer (b. 1394)
1505 – Ivan III of Russia (b. 1440)
1553 – Miguel Servet aka Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian and doctor (b. 1511)
1561 – Lope de Aguirre, Spanish conquistador (b. 1510)
1573 – Laurentius Petri, Swedish religious figure (b. 1499)
1605 – Emperor Jellaladin Mahommed Akbar of Mughal (b. 1542)
1617 – Ralph Winwood, English politician (b. 1563)
1670 – Vavasor Powell, Welsh religious figure (b. 1617)
1674 – Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet (b. 1614)
1675 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
1789 – John Cook, American farmer and politician (b. 1730)
1880 – Thrasyvoulos Zaimis, Greek politician, twice Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1822)
1917 – Arthur Rhys Davids, British pilot (b. 1897)
1926 – Warren Wood, American golfer (b. 1887)
1927 – Joseph "Squizzy" Taylor, Australian organized crime figure (b. 1888)
1935 – E. A. D. Eldridge, British racing driver (b. 1897)
1942 – Helmuth Hubener, German anti-Nazi activist (b. 1925)
1947 – William Fay, Irish actor and theatre producer (b. 1872)
1949 – Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)
1949 – Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)
1953 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
1954 – Harry Tate, American soccer player (b. 1886)
1962 – Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)
1962 – Rudolf Anderson, American pilot and officer (b. 1927)
1968 – Lise Meitner, German physicist (b. 1878)
1974 – C. P. Ramanujam, Indian mathematician (b. 1938)
1975 – Rex Stout, American novelist (b. 1886)
1976 – Deryck Cooke, British musicologist (b. 1919)
1977 – James M. Cain, American novelist (b. 1892)
1980 – Steve Peregrin Took, British singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
1980 – John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
1980 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician, author and broadcaster (b. 1924)
1990 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-born musician (b. 1900)
1990 – Princess Sophie von Hohenberg, daughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1901)
1990 – Elliott Roosevelt, American author and advertising executive (b. 1910)
1990 – Jacques Demy, French film director (b. 1931)
1990 – Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor (b. 1922)
1991 – George Barker, British poet (b. 1913)
1992 – David Bohm, American-born British quantum physicist (b. 1917)
1996 – Morey Amsterdam, American actor (b. 1908)
1996 – Arthur Tremblay, French Canadian politician (b. 1917)
1999 – Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)
1999 – Charlotte Perriand, French architect and designer (b. 1903)
2000 – Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)
2001 – Pradeep Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1925)
2002 – Tom Dowd, American recording engineer (b. 1925)
2003 – Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
2003 – Stephanie Tyrell, American songwriter and record producer (b. 1949)
2004 – Serginho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1974)
2004 – Zdenko Runjic, Croatian composor (b. 1942)
2004 – Lester Lanin, American bandleader (b. 1907)
2006 – Joe Niekro, American baseball player (b. 1944)
2006 – Brad Will, American anarchist and journalist (b. 1970)
2006 – Jozsef Gregor, Hungarian opera singer (b. 1940)
2006 – Reko Lundán, Finnish writer (b. 1969)
2006 – Marlin McKeever, American football player (b. 1940)
2007 – Moira Lister, South African actress (b. 1923)
2007 – Satyen Kappu, Indian actor (b. 1931)
2008 – Frank Nagai, Japanese singer (b. 1932)
2008 – Chris Bryant, British screenwriter (b. 1936)
2008 – Roy Stewart, Jamaican-born British actor and fitness industry figure (b. 1925)
2008 – Ray Ellis, American record producer and arranger (b. 1923)
2009 – David Shepherd, British cricket umpire (b. 1940)
2009 – August Coppola, American academic; father of Nicolas Cage (b. 1934)
2009 – John David Carson, American actor (b. 1952)
2010 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentine politician (b. 1950)
2010 – Denise Borino, American actress (b. 1964)
2010 – James Wall, American actor and stage manager (b. 1917)
2011 – James Hillman, founder of Archetypal Psychology (b. 1926)