1919 – In the last defiant act of the war, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.

1940 – In a move described in diplomatic circles as “rubbing their nose in it”, France signs an armistice with Germany at Compiègne, in the same location and same railroad car as Germany had signed the surrender in 1918. France raises its alert status from “Surrender” to “Collaborate”.

1942 – World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by the Japanese against the United States mainland.

1945 – World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends. Presaging the upcoming invasion of the Japanese main islands, 12,513 Americans were killed, along with 110,000 Japanese military and somewhere between 42,000 and 150,000 Japanese civilians. Planners for the invasion of Japan added a zero to each of those figures for the next invasion. Operation Olympic, scheduled for November 1945. Dad would have been coxswain on a landing craft for Olympic.

1948 – Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. This technology was replaced by technologies in the eighties and nineties that didn’t present as much of a hurdle to shoplifters. Now you can steal music from the comfort of your own home through the miracle of the internet.