› added 12 years ago

99

TIL: Lauri Törni was an officer who during WW2 served both the Finnish Army and the Waffen SS of Nazi Germany, both decorated him highly. After the war, he immigrated to the US and became a highly decorated Green Beret, served as inspiration for John Wayne’s Green Beret and then died in Vietnam.

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LLZ TIL that when Rudolph Diesel produced his engine in 1896, he assumed that it would run off of vegetable and seed oils - especially hemp.
16b87 TIL the Cocos (Keeling) Islands were once ruled by a Scottish dynasty and considered a micronation. Established in the 19th century, they witnessed unique events, including the settlement of a White Rajah and a population largely brought against their will. Australia bought the islands the 1970s.
kOaRW TIL Upon his death in 1790, Benjamin Franklin willed Philadelphia and Boston over $4,000 each with the stipulation it could not be spent for two centuries -- it then grew to millions of dollars.
07PL TIL a RAF pilot accidentally took off with a woman sitting on the tail of the aircraft. After a brief flight, the aircraft, pilot and “passenger’ landed safely.
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