On this date
In 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face trial and execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
In 1947, U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager became the first test pilot to break the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California. In 1959,
actor Errol Flynn died in Vancouver, British Columbia, at age 50. In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy suggested the idea of a Peace Corps while addressing an audience of students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
In 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1977, singer Bing Crosby died outside Madrid, Spain, at age 74.
In 1987, a 58-hour drama began in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down a narrow abandoned well at a private day care center; she was rescued on Oct. 16.
Ten years ago: The reality TV show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” premiered on E! Entertainment Television. Five years ago: Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, at the age of 89, marked the 65th anniversary of his supersonic flight by smashing through the sound barrier again, this time in the backseat of an F-15 which took off from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. One year ago: A judge in Connecticut dismissed a wrongful-death lawsuit by Newtown families against the maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre, citing a federal law that shielded gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products.