Today is Saturday, March 28, the 88th day of 2020. There are 278 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On March 28, 2003, American-led forces in Iraq dropped thousand-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah (nah-sih-REE’-uh). President George W. Bush warned of “further sacrifice” ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.
On this date:
In 1941, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf, 59, drowned herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.
In 1942, during World War II, British naval forces staged a successful raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot, destroying the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast capable of repairing the German battleship Tirpitz.
In 1963, the Alfred Hitchcock film “The Birds” premiered in New York.
In 1969, the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington, D.C., at age 78.
In 1979, America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.
In 1987, Maria von Trapp, whose life story inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music,” died in Morrisville, Vermont, at age 82.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the widow of U.S. Olympic legend Jesse Owens.
Today’s Birthdays: Author Mario Vargas Llosa is 84. Country musician Charlie McCoy is 79. Movie director Mike Newell is 78. Actress Conchata Ferrell is 77. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is 75. Actress Dianne Wiest (weest) is 74. Country singer Reba McEntire is 65. Olympic gold medal gymnast Bart Conner is 62. Actress Alexandra Billings (TV: “Transparent”) is 58. Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa) is 54. Actress Tracey Needham is 53. Actor Max Perlich is 52. Movie director Brett Ratner is 51. Country singer Rodney Atkins is 51. Actor Vince Vaughn is 50. Singer Lady Gaga is 34.
Thought for Today: “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” — Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).
