Today in History: October 9, Che Guevara executed

"Today in history: On Oct. 9, 1967, Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, 39, was executed by the Bolivian army a day after his capture. Also on this date: In 1910, a coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado left 56 miners dead. In 1962, Uganda won independence from British rule. In 1963, a mega-tsunami triggered by a landside at Vajont Dam in northern Italy destroyed villages and caused approximately 2,000 deaths."

"In 1985, Strawberry Fields in New York's Central Park, a memorial to former Beatle John Lennon, was dedicated. In 1992, the highly visible Peekskill Meteorite streaked through Earth's atmosphere for hundreds of miles over the U.S. Northeast before a small chunk of it crashed into the trunk of a parked car in Peekskill, New York. The car, a bright red 1980 Chevrolet Malibu, later went on exhibition at several museums worldwide."

"In 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. In 2010, a drill broke through into an underground chamber where 33 Chilean miners had been trapped for more than two months. In 2012, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, to 30 to 60 years in prison following his conviction on 45 counts of sexual abuse of boys."

Oct. 9 includes the 1967 execution of Marxist guerrilla leader Che Guevara by the Bolivian army one day after his capture. The date also records a 1910 coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado that killed 56 miners. Uganda gained independence from British rule in 1962. A 1963 landslide at Vajont Dam in northern Italy triggered a mega-tsunami that destroyed villages and killed about 2,000 people. Strawberry Fields in Central Park was dedicated in 1985. The Peekskill Meteorite streaked across the U.S. Northeast in 1992, and a fragment later struck a parked car that went on exhibition. The day also notes Nobel recognition, a miner rescue breakthrough, and a major criminal sentencing.

Read at www.mercurynews.com