Today in History for 6th August 2025

[CoM Moderators]

Historical Events

1917 - WWI: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins
1948 - Dutch super athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen wins the 200 m in 24.4 seconds at the London Olympics, becoming the first woman to claim three individual track and field gold medals at a Games, having already won the 100 m and 80 m hurdles
1965 - 32nd NFL Chicago College All-Star Game at Soldier Field: Cleveland 24, All-Stars 16 (68,000 attendees)
1974 - Explosion and fire destroy Great Northern Railroad yard in Wenatchee, Washington
2015 - Eqyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi inaugurates the Suez Canal Expansion at a ceremony in Ismaïlia

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Famous Birthdays

1738 - Hayashi Shihei, Japanese military scholar, born in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan (d. 1793)
1942 - George Jung [Boston George], American drug trafficker whose story was portrayed in the biopic "Blow", born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2021)
1943 - Ray Buktenica, Greenwich Village actor (Rhoda, House Calls), born in New York City
1953 - Pat MacDonald, American rock singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Timbuk 3 - "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades"), born in Green Bay, Wisconsin
1963 - Charles Ingram, English former British Army major known for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, born in Derbyshire, England

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Famous Deaths

1272 - Stephen V, King of Hungary and Croatia (1270-72), son of Béla IV, dies at 32 or 33
1928 - W. H. Grattan Flood, Irish author and composer, dies at 68
1996 - Richard M. Goodwin, American mathematician and economist (The Dynamics of A Capitalist Economy), dies at 83
2009 - Bahadır Akkuzu, Turkish rock guitarist and singer (Kurtalan Ekspres), dies of a heart attack at 54
2022 - David Muse, American rock and smooth jazz saxophonist and flutist (Firefall - "You Are The Woman"; Marshall Tucker Band), dies of cancer at 73

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[mike carey]

So, there was a big fire at a railway yard in Washington state, 51 years ago. Glad we marked that.

There was also a somewhat larger fire on this day 29 years before that.

'I am now become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' Said not of this day, but one for which it was sequel.

This was the day the world changed in a way that still haunts us. Eighty years ago, 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb was detonated in anger for the first time, over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. At 8.15am today, the bell tolled, again, at the memorial service.