SUNDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Palm Sunday, April 9, the 99th day of 2017. There are 266 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On April 9, 1942, during World War II, some 75,000 Philippine and American defenders on Bataan surrendered to Japanese troops, who forced the prisoners to travel on foot more than 60 miles to a prison camp in what became known as the Bataan Death March. (Thousands died or were killed en route.)

On this date:

In 1682, French explorer Robert de La Salle claimed the Mississippi River Basin for France.

In 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

In 1917, during World War I, Canadian forces launched a successful counter-offensive against German troops in the Battle of Vimy Ridge on the Western Front.

In 1940, during World War II, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.

In 1947, a series of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas claimed 181 lives.

In 1959, NASA presented its first seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton.

In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger ended its first mission.

In1996, in a dramatic shift of purse-string power, President Bill Clinton signed a line-item veto bill into law. (However, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the veto in 1998.)

Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of Shiites marched in Iraq to demand that U.S. forces leave their country.

Five years ago: A Florida special prosecutor said a grand jury would not look into the Trayvon Martin case, leaving the decision of whether to charge the teen’s shooter in her hands alone.

One year ago: After weeks of frantic searching, Belgian authorities announced they had identified recently detained Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini as the “man with the hat” who was spotted alongside two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport the previous month.

Today’s Birthdays: Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner is 91. Satirical song writer and mathematician Tom Lehrer is 89. Actress Michael Learned is 78. Actor Dennis Quaid is 63. Talk showhost Joe Scarborough is 54. Actor Mark Pellegrino is 52. Actor Charlie Hunnam is 37. Actress Elle Fanning is 19. Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright is 18.

Thought for Today: “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” — Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959).