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History on the 15th of April

History
Date Text
15 Apr 1746 RELIGIOUS Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose. Oh, that God would make me more fruitful and spiritual.'
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15 Apr 1817 RELIGIOUS In Hartford, CT, American clergyman Thomas H. Gallaudet, 30, and deaf Frenchman Laurent Clerc opened the first American school for the deaf, called the American Asylum.
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15 Apr 1872 RELIGIOUS In deciding the legal case "Watson v. Jones," the U.S. Supreme Court declared that a member of a religious organization may not appeal to secular courts against a decision made by a church tribunal within the area of its competence.
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15 Apr 1892 RELIGIOUS Birth of Corrie ten Boom, Dutch devotional author whose family was arrested by the Gestapo during WWII for hiding Jewish refugees in their home. (Corrie's experience with the Nazis was depicted in the 1971 film, "The Hiding Place.")
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15 Apr 1914 WW2 New York was commissioned into service. 
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15 Apr 1919 WW2 USS R-5 was commissioned into service at Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, United States with Lieutenant Commander Eric L. Barr in command. 
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15 Apr 1921 WW2 Kitakami was commissioned into service. 
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15 Apr 1925 WW2 Commander Choji Inoue was named the chief equipping officer of Naka. 
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15 Apr 1925 WW2 Prince Hiroyasu was named a member to the Supreme War Council. 
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15 Apr 1925 WW2 Masafumi Arima was assigned to Hiei. 
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15 Apr 1925 WW2 Vice Admiral Taro Inutsuka was named the commanding officer of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. 
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15 Apr 1932 WW2 The Manchukuoan Armed Forces Act was passed, establishing an army, a navy, and a 200-strong Imperial Guard unit for the Japanese-sponsored puppet state. 
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15 Apr 1933 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt exercised a new power given to his office by the United States Congress and force-purchased gold from gold hoarders. This was among his first steps in removing the US currency from the gold standard and to impose tighter control over the US currency. 
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15 Apr 1937 WW2 Viktor Abakumov was assigned to the 4th Department of the GUGB of the Soviet NKVD. 
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15 Apr 1938 WW2 Vinaroz, a village about half-way between Valencia and Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, was captured by Spanish Nationalist forces, thus cutting Republican Spain in half. 
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15 Apr 1939 WW2 The British and French responded negatively to the Soviet offer of alliance to protect Poland and Romania, noting that they would only engage in an alliance only for the protection of the three nations in question. 
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15 Apr 1939 WW2 Hermann Göring arrived in Rome, Italy to meet with Benito Mussolini. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 British unemployment figure decreased to 973,000, which was the lowest figure since 1920. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 British destroyers Fearless and Brazen sank German submarine U-49 with depth charges near Narvik, killing 1. 41 Germans were taken prisoner. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 The British 15th Brigade boarded transports in France and were sent for Norway. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 Vidkun Quisling was removed from power in Norway. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 Edmund Herring departed Australia for Palestine as a part of Major General Iven Mackay's headquarters. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 Walter Grabmann was named the commanding officer of the Zerstörergeschwader 76 wing. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara was named the commanding officer of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 British troops landed in the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway in response to German invasion; their original objective was to secure the rail line to Swedish iron ore fields. Also in northern Norway, instead of making a landing directly at Narvik against an unknown number of German defenders, British Major General Pierse Mackesy decided to land his troops north of the city at an undefended location; due to the large amounts of snow on the ground, his troops would have to wait before making a major advance at Narvik. Further south, the British 146th Territorial Brigade landed at Namsos and was immediately ordered to march south toward Trondheim, which saw attacks by RAF Blenheim bombers based in the United Kingdom; it was the first time the Bomber Command sent aircraft based in the UK against targets overseas. 
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15 Apr 1940 WW2 Italian "Barfile" naval infantry battalion landed on Krk (Italian: Veglia), Croatia, Yugoslavia. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 Yugoslavian 2nd Army surrendered Sarajevo to the Germans, effectively ending the country's official resistance; many fighters, however, fled into the mountains and would later fight as guerrillas. In Greece, German aircraft bombed the British RAF airfield at Larisa at dawn, destroying 10 Blenheim aircraft on the ground. Troops of Leibstandarte SS Regiment took the road to Greneva, isolating the Greek Epirus Army which was attempting to move from Albania back into Greece. This move also exposed the flank of the Allied Mount Olympus Line; in response, British General Wilson ordered the Mount Olympus Line abandoned at 1000 hours, with Australian and New Zealand troops acting as rear guards for several more days as the remaining Allies fell back to the Thermopylae Line. As the situation grew dire, British Admiral Cunningham begins began considering a general evacuation from Greece. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 Starting at 2300 hours, a heavy German air raid by 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The attack would last until 0500 hours on the next day. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt approved the formation of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) of combat pilots in China. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Achates departed Greenock, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0840 hours for Scapa Flow to the north, but was rerouted to Loch Alsh at 1400 hours. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Tazzoli sank British ship Aurillac 500 miles west of Lisbon, Portugal, killing 1. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 1,000 Italian troops attacked Tobruk, Libya at 1730 hours, overrunning Australian defensive lines, but they were driven back at 1815 hours the arrival of an Australian reserve company and heavy artillery. 250 Italians were killed and 113 were captured in this failed attack. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 Flying in a Bf 109 fighter en route to Theo Osterkamp's birthday party, Adolf Galland took a detour toward Britain in search of targets. After shooting down one Spitfire fighter, he was shot down by another Spitfire. He was rescued from the water a few hours later. 
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15 Apr 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh completed escort duties with Allied convoy SL.69 and arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-575 sank US freighter Robin Hood 250 kilometers east of New Jersey, United States at 0338 hours, killing 14 of 38 aboard. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 German headquarters at Arras, France was attacked by members of the French Resistance. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 Orde Wingate returned to Maymyo, Burma from China. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 Wickes was commissioned into service. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 Alexander, Slim, and Stilwell met at Maymyo, Burma. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Lexington was assigned to US Navy Task Force 11. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-14, how down to 6 cargo ships and 2 tankers, was spotted by a German BV 138 flying boat. Later in the day, Fw 200 Condor aircraft relieved the BV 138 aircraft in keeping track of this convoy. They called in several air attacks, but none of them succeeded in sinking any ships. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 As Japanese troops began to push through the British Minhia-Taungdwingyi-Pyinmana defensive line along the Irrawaddy River in Burma and approached the oil-producing region of Yenangyaung, William Slim gave the order to destroy 1,000,000 gallons of crude oil to prevent Japanese capture while the British 7th Armoured Division pushed through Japanese road blocks to prepare men on the line to fall back. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 152 British bombers (111 Wellington, 19 Hampden, 15 Stirling, and 7 Manchester) attacked Dortmund, Germany for a second night in a row, destroying 1 home and killing 1 civilian. 4 bombers were lost on this attack. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station commissioned 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Akkeshi Bay, Hokkaido, Japan. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 King George awarded Malta the George Cross for heroism and devotion. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 A tunnel near the James and Morrison coastal gun batteries at Corregidor island, Philippine Islands collapsed from Japanese artillery bombardment, killing 70. To the north, the Japanese continued to transfer US and Filipino prisoners of war from Balanga to Orani and Lubao on the Bataan Peninsula, while the first arrivals at Orani and Lubao were now being marched north for San Fernando; en route, the prisoners continued to die from heat, dehydration, disease, and murders. At the southern island of Mindanao, motor torpedo boat PT-41 was scuttled by her own crew to prevent capture. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead departed Simon's Town, South Africa. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Impulse (Lieutenant Commander M. Lyons) departed Londonderry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom for New York, United States. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Middlesbrough in northeastern England, United Kingdom after dark, lasting until the next date. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 Major General Hastings Ismay reported to Prime Minister Winston Churchill on German experiments with rockets. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 RAF bombers conducted a raid on La Spezia, Italy. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 USS Tunny set sail for Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 Baltimore was commissioned into service. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 The American airfield on Banika Island of Russell Islands, Solomon Islands became operational. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 William Halsey traveled to Brisbane, Australia aboard a PB2Y Coronado aircraft. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 7th Fighter Squadron and 8th Fighter Squadron (both flying P-40 aircraft) of USAAF 49th Fighter Group were transferred from Port Moresby to Dobodura Airfield, Australian Papua. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 USS S-28 departed Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada for the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, United States for overhaul. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: More of Marine Fighting Squadron 215 (VMF-215) departed. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 USS Flying Fish damaged a Japanese freighter off Japan, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired; the Japanese ship beached to prevent sinking. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 Viktor Abakumov was summoned to meet with Joseph Stalin. 
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15 Apr 1943 WW2 US 17th Airborne Division was activated at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, United States under the command of the newly-promoted Major General William M. Miley. 
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15 Apr 1944 WW2 Marshal Nikolai F. Vatutin died in hospital from wounds suffered when his car was ambushed by Ukrainian guerrillas on 28 Feb 1944. 
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15 Apr 1944 WW2 Fleet aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) was commissioned with Captain Fred C. Dickey in command. 
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15 Apr 1944 WW2 Hans Speidel became Erwin Rommel's chief of staff. 
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15 Apr 1944 WW2 The support units of United States Marine Corps' I Marine Amphibious Corps (IMAC) were transferred to the V Amphibious Corps Administrative Command, and the tactical units are redesignated as III Amphibious Corps (IIIAC) with the mission of seizing Guam, Mariana Islands in Jul 1944. 
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15 Apr 1944 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: More of 116th Construction Battalion (116th SeaBees) arrived on board. Part of 72nd Construction Battalion (72nd SeaBees) departed. 
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15 Apr 1944 WW2 The Indian 44th Airborne Division was established at Secunderabad, India under the command of Major General Ernest Down. 
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15 Apr 1944 WW2 The German defensive Gustav Line in Italy began to fall. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Allied troops captured Zutphen, Leeuwarden, and Zoutkamp in the Netherlands. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 US First Army captured Leuna and Merseburg, Germany. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 In Czechoslovakia, Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front assaulted toward the Mührisch-Ostrau industrial region of Moravia, while Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front moved towards Brno. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 USAAF bombers dropped napalm bombs on the German stronghold in Royan, France. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 German ships evacuated 20,000 people from East Prussia, Germany. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 USS Charr completed minelaying off Pulo Island, Vietnam. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Troops of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 405th Regiment, US 102nd Infantry Division discovered the aftermath of the massacre committed by German SS and Luftwaffe troops two days prior near Gardelegen, Saxony, Germany. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Operation Kikusui No. 3 was launched off Okinawa, Japan, participated by about 120 Japanese Navy and 45 Japanese Army special attack and escorting aircraft. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 About 200 aircraft of the US 14th Air Force attacked Japanese targets across a large area of eastern China, targeting bridges, river traffic, railroads, gun positions, warehouses, and troop concentrations. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Field Marshal Model, Commander-in-Chief of German Army Group B, ordered all young soldiers and old soldiers to be discharged from the army. As civilians they were to make their own way home. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front advanced toward Graz in occupied Austria. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 USS Iowa arrived at Okinawa, Japan. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Pierre Barjot was promoted to the rank of counter admiral. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 French First Army captured Kehl and Offenburg, Germany. On the same day, Dwight Eisenhower ordered US 3rd Army under George Patton and US 6th Army Group under Jacob Devers to make a thrust toward Austria. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 British troops liberated Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany, which had about 40,000 prisoners at the time. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Eva Braun arrived in Berlin, Germany. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Oberstleutnant Gerhard Prawitt, the commandant of the Oflag IV-C prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany, received the order to transfer the prisoners in his charge toward the east. As he moved to carry out the order, the prisoners refused to cooperate as they knew the European War was coming to an end. By the evening, as US 9th Armored Division neared Colditz, SS guards began to flee without orders. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 USS Capitaine arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 US II Corps advanced toward Bologna, Italy in two columns along Highway 64 and Highway 65. British troops launched another attack across the Fossa Marina canal east of Argenta, Italy. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 American carrier aircraft struck Japanese airfields in southern Kyushu, Japan while 300 US Army B-29 bombers conducted raids on Kawasaki and Tokyo. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 Rear Admiral Haruo Katsuta was named the chief of staff of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 USS Shamrock Bay launched four FM-2 Wildcat fighters, which shot down six Japanese aircraft 50 miles north of Okinawa, Japan; some of the six aircraft might have been special attack aircraft aiming for destroyer USS Laffey. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 At a conference in Moscow, Russia to discuss the war in the Far East, Joseph Stalin told Ambassador Averell Harriman that the forthcoming Soviet offensive will be aimed at Dresden, not Berlin, as he had already told Dwight Eisenhower. 
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15 Apr 1945 WW2 US B-24 bombers based in the Philippine Islands struck Shinchiku Airfield (now Hsinchu), Taiwan. 
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15 Apr 1946 WW2 USS Sea Cat arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States for overhaul. 
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15 Apr 1947 WW2 Jozef Tiso was found guilty of German collaboration and was sentenced to death. 
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15 Apr 1958 RELIGIOUS British apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in "Letters to an American Lady": 'I had been a Christian for many years before I really believed in the forgiveness of sins, or more strictly, before my theoretical belief became a reality to me.'
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