Oerip Soemohardjo (1893–1948) was an Indonesian general and the first chief of staff of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. He trained in Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) to become a lieutenant in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, and after almost 25 years of service was the highest-ranking Native Indonesian officer in the country. He resigned in 1938, but was recalled to active duty after Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. When the Empire of Japan occupied Indonesia less than two years later, he was detained in a prisoner-of- war camp for three and a half months. Indonesia proclaimed its independence from the Netherlands in 1945; several months later, he was declared the chief of staff and interim leader of the newly formed army. Working to build a united force from the fractured former military groups in the country, he oversaw army development during the Indonesian National Revolution along with General Sudirman, the leader of the armed forces. He has received several awards from the Indonesian government, including the title National Hero of Indonesia.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1644:

English Civil War: The combined armies of Parliament inflicted a tactical defeat on the Royalists, but failed to gain any strategic advantage in the Second Battle of Newbury. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Newbury

1838:

Governor of Missouri Lilburn Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44, ordering all Mormons to leave the state or be killed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Executive_Order_44

1958:

General Ayub Khan deposed Iskander Mirza in a bloodless coup d'état to become the second President of Pakistan, less than three weeks after Mirza had appointed him the enforcer of martial law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayub_Khan_(President_of_Pakistan)

1981:

Cold War: Soviet Whiskey-class submarine U 137 ran aground near Sweden's Karlskrona naval base, sparking an international incident termed "Whiskey on the rocks". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_S-363

2005:

The deaths of two Muslim youths in the Clichy-sous-Bois suburb of Paris triggered four months of rioting by mostly youths of North African origins in various parts of France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_French_riots

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

miscellany: 1. Miscellaneous items. 2. A collection of writings on various subjects or topics; an anthology. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miscellany

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

We must recognize that it is a cardinal sin against democracy to support a man for public office because he belongs to a given creed or to oppose him because he belongs to a given creed. It is just as evil as to draw the line between class and class, between occupation and occupation in political life. No man who tries to draw either line is a good American. True Americanism demands that we judge each man on his conduct, that we so judge him in private life and that we so judge him in public life.   --Theodore Roosevelt https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt