Story by Jesse Beckett

Today is Code Talker Day

To keep their plans a secret from the enemy during the fighting in WWII, the US famously employed Native American code talkers who communicated in their native languages. However, WWII was not the first time Native Americans were employed in this critical role. Their combat debut was actually WWI.

Keeping your communications a secret from the enemy is one of the most important tasks during a conflict. If an enemy can listen in to your communications, they can plan ahead and counter any moves you intend to make.

The development of modern computers received a huge boost during WWII when they were used to decrypt enemy-coded messages. In fact, the world’s first programmable, electronic, digital computer was created for this purpose.

Photograph of Choctaw Joseph Oklahombi, a World War I Code Talker, early twentieth century. (Photo by Oklahoma Historical Society/Getty Images)© Provided by War History Online

The government of the Choctaw Nation asserts that the Choctaw were the first Native American code talkers to serve in the US military.

This took place in the 1918 Meuse-Argonne campaign in France. During this battle, the Germans had cracked Allied codes and tapped into their communication lines. Speaking great English, they continuously listened to radio messages. Even sending messages by hand was difficult, as the Germans were capturing on average one in every four runners.

One American officer, Colonel Alfred Wainwright Bloor, devised a clever way to overcome their communicational predicament after overhearing two Choctaw soldiers in his regiment having a conversation in their native language.

1521 – Present day Mexico City was captured by Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez from the Aztec Indians.

1704 – The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.

1792 – French revolutionaries took the entire French royal family and imprisoned them.

1784 – The United States Legislature met for the final time in Annapolis, MD. 

1846 – The American Flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles, CA. 

1876 – The Reciprocity Treaty between the U.S. and Hawaii was ratified. 

1889 – A patent for a coin-operated telephone was issued to William Gray.

1912 – The first experimental radio license was issued to St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia, PA.

1931 – The first community hospital in the U.S. was dedicated in Elk City, OK.

1932 – Adolf Hitler refused to take the post of vice-chancellor of Germany. He said he was going to hold out “for all or nothing.”

1934 – Al Capp’s comic strip “L’il Abner” made its debut in newspapers.

1942 – Henry Ford unveiled his “Soybean Car.” It was a plastic-bodied car that weighed about 1000 lbs. less than a steel car.

1942 – Walt Disney’s “Bambi” opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, NY.
Disney movies, music and books

1959 – In New York, ground was broken on the $320 million Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

1960 – “Echo I,” a balloon satellite, allowed the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite to take place.

1961 – Berlin was divided by a barbed wire fence to halt the flight of refugees. Two days later work on the Berlin Wall began.

1979 – Lou Brock (St. Louis Cardinals) got his 3,000th career hit.

1986 – United States Football League standout Herschel Walker signed to play with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

1990 – Iraq transferred $3-4 billion in bullion, currency, and other goods seized from Kuwait to Baghdad.

On August 12, 1990, fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovers three huge bones jutting out of a cliff near Faith, South Dakota. They turn out to be part of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its discoverer.

Amazingly, Sue’s skeleton was over 90 percent complete, and the bones were extremely well-preserved. Hendrickson’s employer, the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, paid $5,000 to the land owner, Maurice Williams, for the right to excavate the dinosaur skeleton, which was cleaned and transported to the company headquarters in Hill City. The institute’s president, Peter Larson, announced plans to build a non-profit museum to display Sue along with other fossils of the Cretaceous period.

Source:

history.com

Citation Information

Article Title

Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex discovered

AuthorHistory.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/skeleton-of-tyrannosaurus-rex-discovered

Access Date

August 11, 2021

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

August 10, 2021

Original Published Date

November 24, 2009

August 11-16, 1965 – Six days of riots began in the Watts area of Los Angeles, triggered by an incident between a white member of the California Highway Patrol and an African American motorist. Thirty-four deaths were reported and more than 3,000 people were arrested. Damage to property was listed at $40 million

Source: historyplace.com

The 1964 Elizabeth, New Jersey uprising lasted from August 11 to 13. The three-day uprising occurred simultaneously with a separate clash in nearby Paterson, New Jersey.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) both uprising, was the aftershocks of the larger uprisings in New York City, New York (July 18-23), Rochester, New York (July 24-25) and Jersey City, New Jersey (August 2-4).

The Elizabeth uprising began on the night of August 11 when three or four carloads of young African Americans began throwing Molotov cocktails and other projectiles at stores and businesses in the waterfront area along the Hudson River setting off fires. The violence lasted for approximately an hour and Elizabeth city officials believed that this incident was not necessarily racially motivated. One man was arrested and another was injured. Three buildings were set on fire by Molotov cocktails and two other nearby buildings were damaged as the flames spread.

The following night violence erupted again as approximately 700 African Americans took to the streets. This time there were battles between rioters and city police with the rioters using Molotov cocktails, bricks, stones, and other projectiles. The violence finally subsided by 3:00 a.m. on August 13. Over the rest of the day there were sporadic mostly minor incidents but the worst of the violence had subsided. By the end of August 13, 18 people had been arrested.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) inquiry seemed to concur, citing “school dropouts,” “young punks,” “common hoodlums” and “drunken kids” as the ones responsible for the outbreak of violence. However, African American community leaders in Elizabeth saw the situation differently, citing high unemployment, poverty, discrimination, and the treatment of blacks by the police as the causes of the unrest.

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