1943: USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.
1941: World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica.
1940: Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.
1939: Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.
1936: Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air.
1935: In an attempt to stay out of the growing turmoil in Europe, the United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts.
1920: The first radio news program is broadcast by 8MK in Detroit.
1886: The 7.0 Mw Charleston earthquake affects southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme); 60 people killed with damage estimated at $5-6 million.
1813: At the final stage of the Peninsular War, British-Portuguese troops capture the town of Donostia (now San Sebastián), resulting in a rampage and eventual destruction of the town. Elsewhere, Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial.