May 22, 1809 - On the second and final day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling, located on the Danube river near Vienna, Napoleon’s French forces and his allies were driven back and defeated by Archduke Charles of the Austrian Empire. This would be Napoleon’s first major defeat.
Gilda Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989)
Roger Milla is born on May 20, 1952
- Having a career that spanned over 3 decades, Roger Milla is truly one of the most remarkable footballers of all time. He holds the record for the oldest goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history for scoring at the age of 42 in the 1994 World Cup and in 2006 was voted the Greatest African Footballer of the past century.
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Joe Cocker is born on May 20, 1944
- A native of Sheffield, England Joe Cocker is probably best known for his cover versions of popular songs. To me though, he will always be the spazz in the Woodstock film and for John Belushi’s perfect impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live and most importantly, the voice that introduced us all, of my generation, to the Arnold Family every week in the opening credits of The Wonder Years, with his cover of the Beatles’ song “With a Little Help from My Friends” heard here.
May 20, 1941 - Operation Mercury, a Nazi airborne invasion of the island of Crete is launched.
- Captured German paratroopers under British guard on May 20, 1941, the first day of the invasion.
May 20, 1941 - Operation Mercury, a Nazi airborne invasion of the island of Crete is launched.
- A picture showing a dead German paratrooper who didn’t even make it to the ground to fight before meeting his end.
May 20, 1941 - Operation Mercury, a Nazi airborne invasion of the island of Crete is launched.
- Known as one of the first major airborne operations in military history, the Nazis actually suffered staggering amounts of casualties the first day of the invasion. They faced fierce defensive forces that included Allied soldiers and the first real resistance movement to really give the Nazis any trouble.
All mistakes of the first day were corrected when the Allies and resistance made mistakes the second day and gave the Nazis a foothold, one that would prove vital and would result in them capture the island 8 days later. The entire invasion only took 10 days but resulted in 6,698 German men killed, captured, wounded, or missing and 23,830 British, Australian, New Zealanders, and Greek men killed, captured, wounded, or missing (17,090 captured)
May 20, 1916 - The first Norman Rockwell piece appears on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
-It would be the first cover he would do of over 300 during a 50 year career working for the Saturday Evening Post.
Jimmy Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997)
- Stewart won an Academy Award once for Best Actor in The Philadelphia Story in 1941 and was nominated 5 other times. He also has over 10 films in the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress and is in 5 of AFI’s Top 100 film list. Besides film honors, Stewart also received a Distinguished Service Medal, 2 Distinguished Flying Cross, 4 Air Medals, an Army Commendation Medal, an Armed Forces Reserve Medal, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for his military service.
Christopher Columbus (c. October 31, 1451 – May 20, 1506)
- Perhaps known best for his discovery of “The New World” and as an American hero, Christopher Columbus, to me is actually one of the greatest mass murderers of all time. His first voyage in 1492 is not really a problem but more his return in 1493 with seventeen ships full of soldiers and settlers and his institution of slavery and the elimination of the native population of Hispaniola. It is believed that there were around 8 million indigenous people on the island when he arrived and by 1514 when the Spanish took a census of the island only around 25,000 remained. This, of course, is then repeated as more and more of the Western Hemisphere is discovered and explored. Millions more would die in North America, Latin America, and South America.
I don’t usually like to be all opinion heavy on this blog but Columbus is one of those figures we’re taught to revere and respect growing up in school and then when you’re smart enough and look into it on your own, you find out all these awful things he did. It’s not really something I would celebrate if I were in charge of these things in this country. I mean, some people in this country still believe that Martin Luther King Day should not be a national holiday but no one ever argues about Columbus Day.
