› added 12 years ago

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TIL that Calvin Graham enlisted in the Navy in 1942 at age 12. He shipped out and became the youngest decorated veteran, earning the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. His mom saw him in a newsreel and notified the Navy who then threw him in the brig, stripped him of his medals and revoked his benefits.

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kP1e TIL Jews arrived in India 2500 years ago and unlike many parts of the world, Jews have historically lived in India without any instances of antisemitism from the local majority populace.
6EOal TIL about Avro Yeadon, which built nearly 700 Lancaster bombers in WW2. To avoid German bombing, an elaborate camouflaging operation took place, grass covering the roof and hedges made out of fabric to replicate the original field pattern. Dummy animals were moved daily to increase the camouflage
pgm8 TIL that the pitch of a hyena’s laugh/giggle reveals its age, while variations in the frequency of notes can encode information about dominant and subordinate status.
yOMv TIL While filming The African Queen (1950) in the Congo,everybody on the crew including Katherine Hepburn, became extremely ill with dysentery from drinking the water. Everybody that is except for Humphrey Bogart, who only drank whiskey
4XwEN TIL Jupiter's moon Europa is covered by a thick layer of ice, with a huge subsurface ocean of liquid water underneath it. Estimates give the ocean an average depth of 100km, and a radius of 877km. This equates to 3 times the combined volume of water of Earth's oceans.