Bill Newton (8 June 1919 – 29 March 1943) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, honoured for his actions as a bomber pilot in Papua New Guinea during March 1943. Raised in Melbourne, he joined the Citizen Military Forces in 1938 and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in February 1940. He served as a flying instructor in Australia before being posted to No. 22 Squadron, which began operating Boston light bombers in New Guinea late in 1942. Having just taken part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, he was on his fifty- second mission when he was shot down. Newton was still posted as missing when given the Victoria Cross in October 1943. It later emerged that he was captured by the Japanese and beheaded. Newton was the only Australian airman to receive a Victoria Cross for action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, and the sole Australian to be so decorated while flying with an RAAF squadron.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Newton

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1862:

American Civil War: The Confederate Army won a resounding victory at the Battle of Cross Keys, one of the two decisive battles in Jackson's Valley campaign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cross_Keys

1929:

Margaret Bondfield became the first female member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom when she was named Minister of Labour by Ramsay MacDonald. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Bondfield

1941:

World War II: The Allies commenced the Syria–Lebanon campaign against Vichy French possessions in the Levant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria%E2%80%93Lebanon_campaign

1953:

An F5 tornado struck Flint and Beecher, Michigan, causing 116 fatalities, 844 injuries and $19 million in damage during a larger tornado outbreak sequence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint%E2%80%93Worcester_tornado_outbreak_sequence

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

memory hole: 1. A figurative place to which information is deliberately sent to be forgotten, or to which forgotten or lost information ends up; nowhere, oblivion. 2. (computing) 3. A fragment of physical address space which does not map to main memory. 4. (rare) Synonym of memory leak (“any of several faults in the memory allocation logic of a computer or program whereby parts of memory become hidden or unusable”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/memory_hole

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I was taught by both of my parents to work hard, to be passionate about whatever I did, and I felt that I did that and kind of got to where I am today because of hard work and passion and determination.   --Ashley Biden https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ashley_Biden