Today in World War II History—December 10, 1939 & 1944
Men of the US 77th Infantry Division man heavy machine guns cover the Antilao River at Ormoc, Leyte, Dec 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
85 Years Ago—Dec. 10, 1939: Nobel Prizes are officially awarded:
- * Physics–Ernest Lawrence (US)
- * Chemistry–Adolf Butenandt (Germany) & Leopold Ruzicka (Croatia)
- * Medicine–Gerhard Domagk (Germany)
- * Literature–Frans Sillanpää (Finland)
- * No peace prize awarded due to the war
- * Germany forces its recipients to decline the awards
France bans sale of meat on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.
First Canadian troop convoy (TC-1) sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Britain with the 7,415 men of 1st Division.
Flight nurse Ens. Jane Kendeigh, US Navy, caring for wounded Marine William J Wycoff on Iwo Jima, March 3, 1945 (US Navy photo)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 10, 1944: On Leyte in the Philippines, US Sixth Army takes Ormoc, the main supply base.
First class of 24 flight nurses and 24 pharmacist’s mates starts at the US Navy’s School of Air Evacuation Casualties at Naval Air Station, Alameda, CA. (Read more: “Medical Air Evacuation in World War II—The Flight Nurse”)
Nobel Prizes are awarded:
- * Physics–Isidor Rabi (Polish, in US)
- * Chemistry–Otto Hahn (German, received in 1945)
- * Medicine–Joseph Erlanger (US) & Herbert Gasser (US)
- * Literature–Johannes Jensen (Danish)
- * Peace–International Committee of the Red Cross..
