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TIL of Piper Bill Millin who played the bagpipes as British Commandos landed at Sword Beach on D Day. He was told by captured German snipers later on that he was spared because they thought he was crazy.

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78e0X TIL that Groundhog Day America was brought to America by German settlers. In the original tradition, a hedgehog was used to predict the weather but was switched to the groundhog which was much easier to come across in the Keystone State.
8Wk8 TIL that when the Brazilian battleship São Paulo was being towed across the Atlantic to be scrapped, her towlines were snapped by a storm and she drifted away. Despite British and American aircraft scouring the Atlantic for her, no sign of her or her 8 crew members were ever found.
yVY0v TIL the British submarine HMS Poseidon sank in 1931 after a collision with a Chinese steamship; 21 crew died in the incident. In 1972, the sub was secretly salvaged by China which wasn't known about in the West until a journalist discovered its description in a 2002 Chinese magazine article.
R7kpa TIL that Halsey Taylor came up with his improved fountain after his fellow employees started contracting dysentery from contaminated water. Taylor created a fountain where water came out in an arc allowing people to drink water from several inches away drastically reducing the spread of illness.
Eg4lW TIL a baby born in the USA in 2021 has an estimated life expectancy of about 76 years, representing the only case of declining life expectancy among 1st world countries