The Atomic Blast that Killed John Wayne?…..
May 19, 1953…..
An atomic bomb is tested in Nevada. Due to a miscalculation and change in wind-direction, a large amount of radioactive fallout fell on St. George, Utah, where two years later the movie The Conqueror was filmed. By 1980, of the 220 members of the cast and crew, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease. The deaths included John Wayne (1979), Pedro Armendariz (1963), Dick Powell (1963), Ted de Corsia (1973), Agnes Moorehead (1974), and Susan Hayward (1975).
Civil War…..
May 20, 1861…..
North Carolina becomes the 10th state to secede from the Union.
Top Secret Pearl Harbor Disaster…..
May 21, 1944…..
While everyone is familiar with the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese in 1941, few have heard about the Pearl Harbor disaster in 1944. That’s because it was classified top secret until 1960.
On May 21, 1944 an explosion aboard the USS LST-353 while it was moored at Pearl Harbor naval base set off a chain reaction of explosions causing the ship to sink and spread fire to the surrounding ships. In all, six LSTs sank and 163 men were killed. It is believed that incident was caused by a mortar round explosion during an unloading operation.