Today in History: June 6, Allies land in Normandy on D-Day

Boston Globe

a day ago

In 1889, an industrial accident sparked a devastating fire in Seattle, Wash., destroying 120 acres of the city center, including the majority of the city's commercial district and waterfront.
In 1912, Novarupta, a volcano on the Alaska peninsula, began a three-day eruption, sending ash nearly 19 miles high; it was the most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century and the largest ever recorded in North America.
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In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened, in Camden, N.J.
In 1939, the first Little League Baseball game was played as Lundy Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy 23-8 in Williamsport, Pa.
In 1944, during World War II, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on D-Day as they launched Operation Overlord to liberate German-occupied Western Europe. More than 4,400 Allied troops were killed on D-Day, including 2,501 Americans.
In 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith was shot and wounded by a sniper on the second day of Meredith's march from Memphis, Tenn., to Jackson, Miss., which he began to raise awareness of ongoing racial oppression in the South. (Meredith would recover from his injuries and was able to rejoin the march, which had grown from a small group of supporters to 15,000 marchers, the day before the group arrived in Jackson.)
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In 2015, American Pharoah became the first horse in 37 years to claim horse racing's Triple Crown, winning the Belmont Stakes by 5 ½ lengths.