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TIL that France lost so many workers during its failed attempt to dig the Panama Canal, that for a time their project’s MAIN source of income was selling the corpses (pickled in brine water) to medical schools all over the world as cadavers.

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l8Ya TIL a WWII pilot with a severely damaged B-17 encountered a German flying ace who didn’t shoot him down and instead offered a salute all because of honor.
X0BWQ TIL about James McGuire VC, an Irishman who received the Victoria Cross (the highest British award) for his "coolness and personal daring" when he risked his life by throwing burning boxes of ammunition into nearby water. He later forfeited the award when he was convicted of stealing a cow.
RAm9 TIL on 8 September 2009, Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer disobeyed a direct order from a superior to pull back from his position so he could rescue wounded soldiers from a firefight a mile away. He ended up going back five times, saved the lives of 36 soldiers, and won the Medal of Honor.
lV4A TIL an average of 38 children die each year in the U.S from heat stroke as a result of being forgotten about in the back seat of a vehicle on a summer day. 755 children have needlessly died this way since 1990.
vPvOK TIL about Toivi Blatt and the 1943 Jewish uprising at the Sobibor death camp in Poland, one of three camps built for Operation Reinhardt. During the armed revolt by the Jewish prisoners, the Nazis were overpowered allowing several hundred to escape to freedom. The camp was never opened again.