Walter Krueger (26 January 1881 – 20 August 1967) was an American
soldier who commanded the Sixth United States Army in the South West
Pacific Area during World War II, rising from private to general in his
army career. A child immigrant born in Flatow, West Prussia, he served
in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War and was
promoted to second lieutenant in 1901. When the U.S. entered World
War I in 1917, he was assigned to the 84th Infantry Division as
assistant chief of staff, later as chief of staff. In October 1918, he
commanded the Tank Corps. Between the wars, he served in various roles,
and in 1941 he assumed command of the Third Army. In 1943 he was sent to
the South West Pacific Area as commander of the Sixth Army, which he led
in a series of victorious campaigns against the Japanese. In the Battle
of Luzon in 1945 he was finally able to maneuver his army as he had in
1941 against a Japanese army under Tomoyuki Yamashita. (This article is
part of a featured topic: Command in the South West Pacific Area.).
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Command_in_the_South_West_Pacific_Area>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
Commodore Gordon Bremer took formal possession of Hong Kong
Island for the United Kingdom at Possession Point.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bremer>
1945:
Audie Murphy engaged in action at the Colmar Pocket that won
him a Medal of Honor and made him one of the most famous and decorated
U.S. soldiers of World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy>
1972:
JAT Flight 367 exploded in mid-air over Czechoslovakia; the
only survivor of the 28 on board, flight attendant Vesna Vulović, fell
10,160 m (33,330 ft), setting the record for surviving the highest
fall without a parachute.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87>
2001:
An earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat killed at least
13,000 people, injured another 167,000 and destroyed nearly 400,000
homes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Gujarat_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
emu:
1. (obsolete) A cassowary (genus Casuarius).
2. A large flightless bird native to Australia, Dromaius
novaehollandiae.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/emu>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I'd like to be remembered as a guy who tried — tried to be part
of his times, tried to help people communicate with one another, tried
to find some decency in his own life, tried to extend himself as a human
being. Someone who isn't complacent, who doesn't cop out.
--Paul Newman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Newman>