Today’s Motto: ‘You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated’.

This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History!

On this day, June 17………

1756 – Nawab Sira-ud-Daulah attacked on Calcutta with 50,000 soldiers and captured it on June 21.

1837 – Charles Goodyear obtained his first rubber-processing patent.

1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbour from France. The hand and torch of the Statue of Liberty had been displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, in Philadelphia, ten years before the rest of the statue was completed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The engineer for the framework was Gustave Eiffel (also known for his Eiffel Tower).

1928 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman passenger to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to Wales.

1932 – Bonus Army: around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits. (The Bonus Army – also referred to as Bonus Marchers were the 43,000 marchers—17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups. They had been awarded bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945. Since due to the Great Depression most veterans were out of job, they wanted immediate payment. The contingent was led by Walter W Waters, a former Sergeant. To disperse them Washington police opened fire in juring two who later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the Army to clear the marchers’ campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned).

1936 – Edwin H. Armstrong demonstrated his invention of FM radio in Washington D.C. (image credit-Radio Hall of Fame)

1950 – The first kidney transplant operation took place in Chicago in a 45-minute operation performed by Dr. Richard H. Lawler.

1961 – India’s 1st Jet Aircraft took Flight.

1967 – China tested its first hydrogen bomb. This was China’s sixth nuclear test, and its first full scale radiation implosion weapon test. Thus, China became world’s 4th thermonuclear power.

1970 – Edwin Land patented the Polaroid camera.

1988 – Microsoft releases MS DOS 4.0.

1991 – The body of Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the USA, is exhumed to test how he died; rumours had persisted since his death in 1850 of arsenic poisoning – no evidence of this was found.

1991 – South Africa abolishes last of its apartheid laws.

2015 – The Japanese parliament votes to lower the nation’s voting age to 18 from 20.

Born….

1930 – Anup Kumar, Bengali actor (Kolkata).

1973 – Leander Vece Paes, Indian tennis player (photo credits- Tennis World USA)

1980 – Venus Williams, American tennis star considered one of the all-time greats of women’s tennis.

1986 – Liza Haydon, actor/model (Chennai- photo credit- BollywoodMDB)

RIP….

1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal.

1674 – Jijabai Shahaji Bhosale, sometimes referred to as Rajmata Jijabai or even simply Jijai, Jijau was the mother of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of Maratha Empire.

1858 – Rani Lakshmibai, queen of Jhansi, one of the leading figures of the Indian rebellion of 1857.

1965 – Motilal, film actor.

1996 – Balasahab Devras, third Sarsangha Chalak of Rashtriya Sawyamsewak Sangh.

You may have known….

The Appollo astronauts’ footprints could remain on the moon for millions of years.

{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}