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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Today in history


Today in history

            This is the birthday of Charles Wesley (born 1707, died 29 March 1788.) He wrote more that 1,700 hymns.

          Today is also the birthday of Jørgen Haagen Schmith (born December 18, 1910, died October 15, 1944). He was better known under the codename Citron, was a famous Danish resistance fighter in occupied Denmark. His biographical sketch at Wikipedia describes his death, after he was tracked down by the Nazis: "German soldiers arrived at the house to arrest or kill Schmith. He fought for hours against an overwhelming force of enemy troops killing 11 and wounded scores of others before the house was set on fire and he was shot attempting to escape the flames." His exploits were dramatized in the movie Flame and Citron.

          Today marks the birthday of Simo Häyhä (born 1905, died April 1, 2002.) He was the world's most successful sniper. Using an iron-sighted Mosin–Nagant in Finland's Winter War, he had an astounding 505 confirmed sniper kills.

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