Kenneth R. Shadrick (1931–1950) was a private in the United States
Army who was widely, but incorrectly, reported as the first American
soldier killed in action in the Korean War. Shadrick was born in Harlan
County, Kentucky, one of 10 children. After dropping out of high school
in 1948, he joined the US Army, and spent a year of service in Japan
before being dispatched to South Korea at the onset of the Korean War in
1950 along with his unit, the 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry
Division. During a patrol, Shadrick was killed by the machine gun of a
North Korean T-34 tank, and his body was taken to an outpost where
journalist Marguerite Higgins was covering the war. Higgins later
reported that he was the first soldier killed in the war, a claim that
was repeated in media across the United States. His life was widely
profiled, and his funeral drew hundreds of people. His death is now
believed to have occurred after the first American combat fatalities in
the Battle of Osan. Since the identities of other soldiers killed before
Shadrick remain unknown, he is still often incorrectly cited as the
first US soldier killed in the war.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_R._Shadrick>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
996:
Pope Gregory V crowned Otto III as Holy Roman Emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_III,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1881:
Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton>
1911:
Mexican President Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary
Francisco Madero signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to
the fighting between the forces of both men, and thus concluding the
initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez>
1924:
University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold,
Jr. murdered a 14-year-old boy in a thrill killing out of a desire to
commit a perfect crime.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb>
1998:
Indonesian President Suharto resigned as a result of the
collapse of support for his three-decade-long reign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cloudburst:
A sudden heavy rainstorm.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cloudburst>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The environment of human life has changed more rapidly and more
extensively in recent years than it has ever changed before. When
environment changes, there must be a corresponding change in life. That
change must be so great that it is not likely to be completed in a
decade or in a generation.
--Charles Lindbergh
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh>