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History on the 16th of August

History
Date Text
16 Aug 1815 RELIGIOUS Birth of St. John Bosco, Italian educator. Poverty among the children in the city of Turin led him in 1859 to establish the Society of St. Francis of Sales (the Salesians). Bosco was canonized by Pius XI in 1934.
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16 Aug 1852 RELIGIOUS Birth of Adolf von Schlatter, Swiss Protestant New Testament scholar. His 1921 History of Christ maintained that the success of any systematic theology had to be based on a foundation of solid biblical exegesis.
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16 Aug 1875 RELIGIOUS Death of early 19th century Presbyterian revivalist Charles G. Finney, 82. Converted at 29, he led revivals for several years before affiliating with Oberlin College in 1835, where he spent the rest of his professional life.
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16 Aug 1917 WW2 Richard O'Connor was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. 
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16 Aug 1917 WW2 Robert Greim achieved ace status while fighting in France. 
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16 Aug 1918 WW2 The 27th United States Infantry was transferred from the Philippines to Vladivoskok, Russia. They were followed by the 31st US Infantry a week later. 
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16 Aug 1918 WW2 Dragon was commissioned into service. 
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16 Aug 1920 WW2 Polish Marshal Pilsudski launched a counter offensive in the Deblin sector in Poland. Every available Polish aircraft was thrown into action in support of the ground troops. Under the combined air-ground onslaught the Red fprces wavered and broke. 
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16 Aug 1920 WW2 Lieutenant General Jiro Oba was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea, relieving Heitaro Utsunomiya. 
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16 Aug 1926 WW2 Wang Zhi boarded the passenger ship President McKinley at Shanghai, China. 
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16 Aug 1936 WW2 Spanish Republican Catalan troops led by Captain Bayo landed on Majorca, Spain and by the evening had advanced eight miles inland from their landing place at Porto Cristo. 
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16 Aug 1936 WW2 Filipp Golikov was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the first time. 
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16 Aug 1936 WW2 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time. 
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16 Aug 1937 WW2 The American Adviser on Political Relations sent a memo to the US Secretary of State Cordell Hull requesting further reinforcements for the US 4th Marine Regiment in Shanghai, China. 
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16 Aug 1937 WW2 Mugford was commissioned into service. 
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16 Aug 1937 WW2 11 Japanese G3M bombers attacked a Chinese airfield near Nanjing, China. Fighters of Chinese 17th and 28th Pursuit Squadrons shot down 3 Japanese bombers; the Chinese lost 3 fighters in the engagement. 
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16 Aug 1937 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Chinese positions at Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, China. 
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16 Aug 1937 WW2 Yuan Baokang, flying a Hawk III fighter, claimed an E8N floatplane over Shanghai, China as his first victory. However, Japanese records showed no such loss on this date. 
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16 Aug 1939 WW2 The US Ambassador in Moscow, Russia warned Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov that the United States believed Germany would betray the Soviet Union even if the two country engaged in an alliance. 
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16 Aug 1939 WW2 USS Skipjack arrived at San Diego, California, United States. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 British and Commonwealth troops began evacuating Berbera, British Somaliland, while Italian troops marched closer to the capital, though very cautiously and did not attack the British rearguard at Barkasan. Italian aircraft, for the most part, allowed the evacuation operation to take place in order to maintain good relations with Britain. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 Despite fine weather, German attacks on Britain were limited to small raids. At noon, German bombers attacked shipping in the Thames estuary and various airfields in southern England; at 1630 hours, some of the same targets were hit a second time. Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers attacked RAF Tangmere and Ventnor radar station, destroying many Hurricane fighters and Blenheim bombers in the hangar at the former and damaging radar installations at the latter. Pilot Officer W. M. "Billy" Fiske, an American pilot in the RAF, would become injured during one of the raids and would die on the following day, becoming the only American killed in combat during the Battle of Britain. On this day, the RAF lost 22 fighters while the Luftwaffe lost 72. In Germany, the 5th Directive (intelligence section) of the German Luftwaffe High Command reported the RAF Fighter Command only had about 300 fighters left; in actuality, it had about 400 Hurricane fighters and 200 Spitfire fighters available at the time, which was twice of the estimate. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 Despite being badly wounded and with his Hurricane fighter on fire, Flight Lieutenant James Nicolson shot down a German Bf 109 fighter before bailing out. He would later win the only Victoria Cross awarded to a fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 British submarine Osiris sank Italian ship Morea 50 miles west of Durrës, Albania. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 German submarine U-100 sank British ship Empire Merchant 150 miles northwest of Ireland, killing 7. 48 survivors were rescued by tug HMS Salvonia. 150 miles further northwest, a German submarine wolfpack consisted of U-30, U-46, and U-48 attacked Allied convoy OB-197, sinking Swedish ship Hedrun (8 killed, 20 survived) and British ship Clan Macphee (67 killed, 41 survived), and damaging Dutch ship Alcinous. In the same general area 170 miles northwest of Ireland, British Coastal Command Sunderland flying boats of 210 Squadron attacked German submarine U-51 with depth charges; U-51 narrowly survived the attack; this was the first successful use of aircraft against a German submarine. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 Hungary and Romania began negotiating over Transylvania, which Hungary wished to take over from Romania. The negotiation soon turned into a deadlock. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 Orion attacked and sank French ship Notu which was en route to Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 Adolf Galland recieved the Pilot's Badge in Gold with Diamonds from Hermann Göring. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 US President Roosevelt announced in a press conference that the United States had engaged with the United Kingdom to acquire land for military bases in the Western Hemisphere. No mention was made regarding the transfer to destroyers from the US to the UK. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 US Army Transport American Legion departed Petsamo, Finland for New York, United States with Crown Princess Martha of Norway and her three children on board. Also on board was a 40-millimeter Bofors gun purchased by the US Navy. American Legion was the last neutral ship to be allowed to depart from Petsamo. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 Wilhelm Keitel issued the order that, per Adolf Hitler's decision, the landing area in the invasion plan for Britain was to be slightly narrowed as a compromise between the Army (which wanted a wide front) and the Navy (which lacked the warships to secure too many landing sites). 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 James Lacey claimed a probable kill on a German Bf 109 fighter over Britain. 
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16 Aug 1940 WW2 A "Test" Platoon led by Major William Lee and consisting of 48 volunteers from the US 29th Infantry Regiment made the first US Army parachute jump from an aircraft in order to explore the prospect of bringing troops and equipment into battle by air. 
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16 Aug 1941 WW2 Stalin agreed to an aid plan from US and UK. 
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16 Aug 1941 WW2 German troops captured Novgorod, Russia. 
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16 Aug 1941 WW2 Dutch prisoners Steinmetz and Larive escaped the Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany; they would later become the first successful Dutch escapees of Colditz. 
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16 Aug 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur received word from his superiors in Washington DC, United States that the Philippine Islands would start receiving reinforcements, shipped from the US no later than 5 Sep 1941. This included the 200th Coastal Artillery Regiment, a tank battalion, and an ordnance battalion. 
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16 Aug 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 270, ordering all deserters executed and deserters' families arrested. 
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16 Aug 1941 WW2 German troops of Armeegruppe Sud captured the Soviet naval base at Nikolaev in Ukraine on the Black Sea. Nearby, Romanian troops launched a renewed attack on Odessa. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Argonaut departed with 121 US Marines, "Carlson's Raiders", for Makin Island. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Nautilus departed US Marines, "Carlson's Raiders", for Makin Island; she would remain there to provide gunfire support. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 The captured airfield at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands was renamed Henderson Field by the Americans. Far to the north in the Caroline Islands, Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki and 916 men departed Truk aboard 6 destroyers for Guadalcanal to take back the airfield; the remainder of the 28th Infantry Regiment embarked on slower transports, aiming to arrive a few days later. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 German troops reached the Kadar Gorge in southern Russia. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank Brazilian passenger ship Baependy at 0012 hours (270 were killed, 36 survived), merchant ship Araraquara at 0203 hours (131 were killed, 11 survivied), and ship Annibal Benévolo at 0913 hours (150 were killed, 4 survived) off Aracaju, Brazil. At 0745 hours, 620 miles west of Ireland, German submarine U-596 stopped Swedish merchant ship Suecia, forced the crew of 35 and 12 passengers to abandon ship (1 would drown in the process and 1 lifeboat containing 8 men would never be found), and sank the ship along with its cargo of American steel bound for Britain with a torpedo. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank small Palestinian sailing vessel Daniel with her deck gun off Palestine at 2334 hours. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent damaged Italian transport Nino Bixio 40 miles off the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece; unknown to the crew of HMS Turbulent, the Italian ship was carrying 3,200 Allied prisoners of war, which would make up most of the 336 killed during the attack. Nino Bixio would remain afloat and was towed to shore for repairs. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 Three Japanese transports arrived at Buna, Australian Papua and landed reinforcements. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 British carrier HMS Furious departed Gibraltar with 32 Spitfire fighters on board for delivery to Malta; she was escorted by cruiser HMS Charybdis, destroyer HMS Antelope, destroyer HMS Bicester, destroyer HMS Derwent, destroyer HMS Eskimo, destroyer HMS Keppel, destroyer HMS Laforey, destroyer HMS Lookout, destroyer HMS destroyer HMS Lightning, destroyer HMS Malcolm, destroyer HMS Somali, destroyer HMS Venomous, and destroyer HMS Wishart. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 In India, Joseph Stilwell departed Delhi for Ramgarh, the Chinese troops training site. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 Benito Mussolini presented Hans-Joachim Marseille the Gold Medal of Military Valor (Medaglia d'oro al Valore Militare) in Rome, Italy. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 Shokaku was assigned to Main Body, Striking Force, 3rd Fleet, Carrier Division 1. She departed Kure, Japan for Phase 2 of the Eastern Solomons battle. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 Admiral Scheer departed Ofotfjord near Narvik, Norway at 1500 hours, embarking on Operation Wunderland to raid Soviet merchant shipping. A Russian-speaking radio intelligence team was brought on board to help decipher intercepted messages. Admiral Scheer was escorted by destroyer Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, destroyer Z15 Erich Steinbrink, and destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet ocean tug Komsomelets, ocean tug Nord departed Chabarovo on the shore of Yugorsky peninsula in northern Russia, with barge P4 (328 people on board, most of whom were penal construction workers), lighter Sh-500, and tug Komiles in tow. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe conducted its first major bombing raid on Stalingrad, Russia. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Alabama was commissioned into service with Captain George B. Wilson in command. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 The US 101st "Screaming Eagles" Airborne Division was activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, United States under the command of Major General William C. Lee. 
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16 Aug 1942 RELIGIOUS Birth of Don Wyrtzen, contemporary Christian songwriter. Among his most enduring sacred compositions are "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" and "Worthy is the Lamb."
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 Starting this date and continuing for the next seven days, revolt and destruction took place in the Bialystok Ghetto in Poland. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 US troops entered Messina, Sicily, Italy. Meanwhile, the Axis forces successfully evacuated 100,000 troops from Sicily to the mainland. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 Intrepid was commissioned into service. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 USS S-28 arrived at Massacre Bay, Attu, US Territory of Alaska. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 The French I Corps was reconstituted at Ain-Taya, Algeria, under the command of Lieutenant-General Henry Jules Jean Martin, with American supplied uniforms and weapons as part of the rearmament of the French Army of Africa. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 15 Japanese bombers escorted by 33 fighters attacked Tsili-Tsili airfield, Australian Papua. 3 US fighter squadrons rose for defense. The Japanese lost 3 aircraft, while the Americans lost 1 aircraft (Lieutenant Leonard Leighton). 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 2,200 Russian troops of the German 1st Russian National SS Detachment fighting in Byelorussia switched sides and eventually formed the 1st Anti-Fascist Partisan Brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Gil, who was also known as I. G. Rodionov. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 The 317 inhabitants of the village of Kommeno in western Greece were rounded up by occupation troops and executed for the suspicion of partisan support. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 Oberstleutnant Josef Salminger of GebirgsJäger Regiment 98 of German 1st Mountain Division ordered the massacre of 317 people of the village of Kommeno in Greece. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 US Navy awarded a contract to build a new military hospital at Aiea, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 Yamato, loaded with troops and supplies, departed Kure, Japan with Fuso, Nagato, and Destroyer Division 16's Amatsukaze and Hatsukaze. Stopped at Yashima anchorage that night. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 The Soviets launched an attack toward Stalino (now Donetsk), Ukraine. 
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16 Aug 1943 WW2 The US 4th Marine Division was activated at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California, United States under the command of Major General Harry Schmidt. It was the only US Marine Division during WW2 to be mounted and staged into combat directly from the continental United States. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 George Patton was promoted to the permanent rank of major general, bypassing the permanent rank of brigadier general. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 USS Craoker sank a Japanese patrol vessel with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 French resistance fighters captured three German posts along the Swiss border. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 At Bafour, France, British Lieutenant Tasker Watkins captured two German machine gun posts, eliminated an anti-tank gun, led in a defense of a German counterattack, and while the company attempted to return to Allied lines silenced another machine gun position by himself. He would later win the Victoria Cross. Later in life he served as a Lord Justice of Appeal and deputy Lord Chief Justice of the United Kingdom. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 USS Finback, with the new commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Robert Russell Williams, Jr., departed Majuro, Marshall Islands for her tenth war patrol. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 Allied aircraft sank French cruiser Dupleix. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 Japanese troops entered northeastern Guangxi Province, China. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 The US coastal minesweeper YMSA-24 struck a mine and sank off Saint-Tropez, France. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 Jean de Lattre de Tassigny arrived in Provence, France. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 USS Marblehead bombarded Axis positions near Saint-Raphaël, France. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 USS Parche arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol. 
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16 Aug 1944 WW2 The Naval Air Technical Arsenal at Yokosuka, Japan formally began the development of the aircraft that would later be known as the Ohka. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 Soviets captured Emperor Kangde, puppet emperor of Manchukuo. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 Winston Churchill delivered an address warning of the communist "iron curtain" dividing Eastern and Western Europe. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 British Admiral Bruce Fraser awarded William Halsey the Order of the Knight of the British Empire aboard USS Missouri. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 British Admiral Bruce Fraser visited USS Missouri. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 Warrant Officer Torataro Matsumoto officially declared all Allied prisoners of war at Rabaul, New Britain free. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 Jonathan Wainwright was liberated from Japanese captivity in Liaoyuan, Liaobei Province, China. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 Takijiro Onishi committed ritual suicide in his quarters. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 At 2100 hours, I-401 received specific orders to set sail for Kure, Japan; this order came through just as the submarine was preparing to launch Seiran attack aircraft against the US anchorage at Ulithi, Caroline Islands (Operation Arashi). Tatsunosuke Ariizumi, commanding officer of 6th Fleet who was aboard the submarine and who previously continued the operation despite the country's surrender, now chose to obey. Instead of Kure, however, he set sail for the Sanriku coast in northeastern Honshu island so that the officers and men could disappear into the population rather than having to surrender dishonorably. 
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16 Aug 1945 WW2 USS Hackleback set sail for Midway Atoll. 
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16 Aug 1946 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was struck from the list of Japanese vessels used to repatriot overseas servicemen. 
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16 Aug 1946 WW2 Prince Hiroyasu of Fushimi away in Tokyo, Japan. 
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16 Aug 1947 WW2 Graf Zeppelin sank in the Baltic Sea, possibly as a target ship for the Soviet Navy. 
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16 Aug 1947 WW2 Captain Stanley Leith was named the commanding officer of USS Saint Paul. 
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16 Aug 1972 RELIGIOUS African-American Methodist clergyman from Dominica, West Indies, Philip A. Potter, 51, was named general secretary of the World Council of Churches. Serving until 1984, Potter gave strong spiritual guidance to the work of the WCC.
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