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TIL of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, an all-black airborne unit. Instead of overseas deployment, they fought wildfires started by Japanese balloon bombs on the US west coast. The "Triple Nickles" parachuted directly into affected areas for half the fires they fought.

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M7K6K TIL that so many historical artifacts were found while excavating the Rome Metro's Line C that one of its stations doubles as a museum
6EAx8 TIL of Robert Smalls, a slave during the Civil War who escaped by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, persuaded Lincoln to allow African-Americans in the army, and later became a US House Representative. One of his final actions as a leader was to stop a lynch mob from killing two black men.
x6ed5 TIL that King Kong vs Godzilla started out as King Kong vs Frankenstein. Written by King Kong’s co-creator and animator Willis O'Brien, the script was stolen, sold without his knowledge and retooled for Godzilla. He considered suing but died due to the stress.
vPYr TIL R.L. Stine, the author of the “Goosebumps” children’s books, also wrote the novelization of the film “Spaceballs”
5V0Pn TIL The Doomsday Clock was initially set to seven minutes to midnight purely because the artist, Martyl Langsdorf, thought it looked aesthetically right.