Dec. 22 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1785, the American Continental Navy fleet was organized, consisting of two frigates, two brigs, and three schooners. Sailors were paid $8 a month.
In 1894, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason by a military court-martial on the basis of flimsy evidence in a highly irregular trial and sentenced to life in prison for his alleged crime of passing military secrets to the Germans. Dreyfus was released from prison in 1899 and officially exonerated in 1906.
In 1944, General Anthony McAuliffe of the American 101st Airborne Division was ordered to surrender after his unit was captured south of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Ardennes Offensive. He responded with one word: “Nuts!”
In 1984, “subway vigilante” Bernhard Goetz shot and wounded four would-be robbers on a New York City subway. He served eight months in prison for carrying an illegal weapon, but was acquitted of assault and attempted murder.
On December 22, 2001, American Airlines passengers and escorts overpowered a man – Richard Reid – who tried to light a match to detonate powerful explosives hidden in his sneakers during a flight from Paris to Miami. File photo courtesy of the FBI
In 1986, political dissident and Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov and his wife Jelena Bonner were allowed to return to Moscow after seven years of internal exile.
Jelena Bonner, wife of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, waves goodbye as she passes the American flag at Logan Airport in Boston on May 24, 1986. File Photo by Jim Bourg/UPI
This long exposure shows the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the safe return of the rocket’s first stage at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 21, 2015. File Photo courtesy of SpaceX
In 1989, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, the last hard communist backer against reforms in the Eastern Bloc, fell from power as a result of massive demonstrations.
In 1992, all 157 people aboard Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 died when the jetliner crashed, apparently after an in-flight collision with a military aircraft.
On December 22, 1984, “subway vigilante” Bernhard Goetz shot and wounded four would-be robbers on a New York City subway. File photo by Monika Graff/UPI
In 2001, American Airlines passengers and escorts overpowered a man, Richard Reid, who tried to light a match to detonate powerful explosives hidden in his sneakers during a flight from Paris to Miami. As a result of the incident, US airports began requiring passengers to remove their shoes for screening.
In 2005, Walmart was ordered to pay more than 100,000 workers in California $172 million for depriving them of meal breaks.
On December 22, 1944, General Anthony McAuliffe of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division was ordered to surrender by Nazi forces who had trapped his unit south of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge south of Bastogne with one word: “None! ” File Photo courtesy of the US Army
In 2006, rape charges against three former members of the Duke University lacrosse team were dropped after the alleged victim said she was unsure she had been raped.
In 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the repeal of the ban on gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military. The so-called “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” legislation was signed into law by former President Bill Clinton in 1994.
Protesters demand that Walmart provide a living wage and full-time work as part of a nationwide Black Friday strike outside a Walmart store in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles on November 29, 2013. On December 22, 2005, Walmart was ordered to pay more than 100,000 workers in California are getting $172 million for not giving them breaks to eat. File photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
File photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI
In 2015, SpaceX successfully returned the company’s Falcon 9 rocket to Earth, landing it vertically on a landing pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida — 10 minutes after taking off on its journey to space and back.
In 2018, the US government began a record 35-day partial shutdown after the Senate failed to agree on a funding bill.
In 2020, FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi scored his 644th career goal for the La Liga side, surpassing Brazilian legend Pele’s all-time record for most goals with one club.
In 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the average life expectancy in the US was 76.4 years, the lowest since 1996. The agency blamed the decline on the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in fatal overdoses from illegal drugs such as fentanyl. .
