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Made for the 250thOn this day › August 11
What happened on August 11 in American history
August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (the 224th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from August 11 spanning 1934 to 2003. Among them: in 1934, Handcuffed and under guard, the first inmates step onto Alcatraz; and in 1942, a Hollywood actress and a composer patent a way to jam-proof Navy torpedoes.
1934
Handcuffed and under guard, the first inmates step onto Alcatraz
Sixty federal agents and marshals escorted 137 men from Leavenworth to an island the government called escape-proof.
1942Member story · 1776 Club
A Hollywood actress and a composer patent a way to jam-proof Navy torpedoes
The system borrows its timing from a player piano; the Navy calls it too bulky to use.
1972
The last American ground combat unit pulls out of South Vietnam
Air crews and advisers stay behind, but the infantry that once numbered over half a million is gone.
1984
Reagan, mic hot before a soundcheck, jokes he'll outlaw Russia and start bombing in five minutes
The line wasn't meant for air, but by August 13 wire services had it anyway.
1992Member story · 1776 Club
Bloomington opens the biggest mall in the country, on the site of the Twins' old ballpark
330 stores and 10,000 employees open at once; a stadium seat marks the exact spot of a Harmon Killebrew home run.
2003Member story · 1776 Club
NATO takes formal command of Afghanistan's peacekeeping force in Kabul
Fifty-four years after its founding as a European defense pact, the alliance runs a mission neither in Europe nor North America.
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