Edwin Taylor Pollock (1870–1943) was a career officer in the United States Navy, serving in both the Spanish–American War and World War I. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Captain. As a young ensign, Pollock served on board the USS New York during the Spanish–American War. After the war, he gradually rose through the ranks and served on many ships, including doing important research into wireless communication. Less than a week before World War I, he won a race against a fellow officer to be the one to officially sign over the U.S. Virgin Islands from the Danish and serve as the territory's first acting-governor. During the war, he was promoted to captain and successfully transferred 60,000 American soldiers to France, for which he was awarded a Navy Cross. Afterward, he was made the eighth Naval Governor of American Samoa and then the superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, before retiring in 1927.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1034:
After Malcolm II of Scotland died at Glamis, Duncan, the son of his second daughter, instead of Macbeth, the son of his eldest daughter, inherited the throne to become the King of Scots. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_II_of_Scotland
1120:
William Adelin, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England, drowned in the White Ship Disaster, leading to a succession crisis which would bring down the Norman monarchy of England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Ship
1795:
Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland, was forced to abdicate after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by Austria, Prussia, and Russia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski
1970:
Failing to instigate a military coup to restore the powers of the Emperor of Japan, Yukio Mishima committed the ritual suicide seppuku at the Japan Self-Defense Forces headquarters in Tokyo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima
1975:
Johan Ferrier became the first President of Suriname. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Ferrier
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
shill (v): To promote or endorse in return for payment, especially dishonestly http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shill
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Now and then it occurs to one to reflect upon what slender threads of accident depend the most important circumstances of his life; to look back and shudder, realizing how close to the edge of nothingness his being has come. --Upton Sinclair http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair
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