Well, Phil may have started something with his post on April 24; I had a birthday (rather bigger than his) coming up four days later and thought I should see what I could find. If you want to see what happened in US military history on yours, try this, and here’s my own selection for April 28! Pity I can no longer enjoy a personal state holiday in Iraq, though I suppose I would have had to go there to get the benefit...
1760 - French forces besieging Quebec defeated the British in the second battle on the Plains of Abraham.
1856 - Yokut Indians repelled an attack on their land by 100 would-be Indian fighters in California.
1864 - Rear Admiral Porter, stranded above the rapids at Alexandria, advised Secretary Welles of the precarious position in which his gunboats found themselves due to the falling water level of the Red River and the withdrawal forced upon Major General Banks:. . Porter faced the distinct possibility of having to destroy his squadron to prevent its falling into Confederate hands. ". . you may judge of my feelings," he wrote Welles," at having to perform so painful a duty." Only by the most ingenious planning and the strenuous efforts of thousands of soldiers and sailors was such a disaster avoided.
1918 - CGC Seneca saves 81 survivors from the torpedoed British naval sloop Cowslip while on convoy route to Gibraltar. Cowslip was attacked by three German U-boats.
1937 - Saddam Hussein, future president of Iraq, was born in the village of al-Oja near the desert town of Tikrit. His invasion of Kuwait prompted the Persian Gulf War. This became a state holiday under Hussein's rule and was abolished in 2003.
1943 - The German 8th Panzer Regiment counterattacks the British forces that have occupied Djebel Bou Aoukaz. American forces make some gains in "Mousetrap Valley."
1945 - "Il Duce," Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland He and his mistress made it to the Swiss border, only to discover that the guards had crossed over to the partisan side. Knowing they would not let him pass, he disguised himself in a Luftwaffe coat and helmet, hoping to slip into Austria with some German soldiers. His subterfuge proved incompetent, and he and Petacci were discovered by partisans and shot, their bodies then transported by truck to Milan, where they were hung upside down and displayed publicly for revilement by the masses.
1945 - On Okinawa, fighting along the Shuri Line continues. American forces employ tanks, flame-throwers and artillery in an effort to destroy Japanese defensive positions.
1952 - War with Japan officially ended as a treaty that had been signed by the United States and 47 other countries took effect.
1956 - Last French troops left Vietnam.
1967 - Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army and was stripped of his boxing title.
1967 - Gen. William C. Westmoreland told Congress the United States "would prevail in Vietnam."
1975 - Operation Frequent Wind evacuation from Vietnam begins.
1993 - Secretary of Defense Les Aspin issues a directive allowing women to fly fighter aircraft in combat.
2004 - CBS broadcast photos on “60 Minutes” showing US abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.