› added 6 years ago

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TIL that during WWI, officials didn't trust units of the D.C. National Guard to secure infrastructure around the capital because so many of their men had foreign ties.The job was given to the only unit they felt they could trust as 100% American: the all-black 1st Separate Infantry.

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wL9jY TIL that the 1982 hit "Gloria" by Laura Branigan was originally an Italian hit of the same name, written and performed in 1979 by Umberto Tozzi.
9wKjr TIL that when boxer Sonny Liston became world heavyweight, he had prepared a speech for the crowd he was told would be greeting him at the airport. No crowd turned up, and this is put at the point that Liston realised he would never be accepted as champion.
9VJX TIL in Feb. 24, 1942, the US Military ordered a total black out of Los Angeles and fired 1,400 anti-air artillery and thousands of .50 caliber shots at a hovering object for 1 hour
b6EZ TIL Russian women pilots during WW2 would turn off their engines, and glide bomb German targets to avoid being heard on approach.
R5KYw TIL the battleship in Cher's 1989 music video "If I Could Turn Back Time" is the USS Missouri, the site of the official Japanese surrender in WWII