April 5, 1940

1940Tommy Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2024)^[†]

Tommy Cash was an American country musician. His elder brother was Johnny Cash.

1940Gilles Proulx, Canadian journalist, historian, and radio host^[†]

Gilles Proulx is a Canadian radio and television host in the province of Quebec. His radio career began in 1962, notably working for CHMP-FM and currently for Quebecor and Radio Ville-Marie. A strong Quebec nationalist, known for his conservative views and criticism of the anglophone community, he’s published 153 opinion columns in the Le Journal de Montréal as of 2020.

1940Charles Freer Andrews, English-Indian priest, missionary, and educator (born 1871)^[†]

Charles Freer Andrews was an Anglican priest and Christian missionary, educator and social reformer, and an activist for Indian independence. He became a close friend of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi and identified with the Indian liberation struggle. He was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi had been a leading light in the Indian civil rights struggle.

1940Robert Maillart, Swiss civil engineer (born 1872)^[†]

Robert Maillart was a Swiss civil engineer who revolutionized the use of structural reinforced concrete with such designs as the three-hinged arch and the deck-stiffened arch for bridges, and the beamless floor slab and mushroom ceiling for industrial buildings. His Salginatobel (1929–1930) and Schwandbach (1933) bridges changed the aesthetics and engineering of bridge construction dramatically and influenced decades of architects and engineers after him. In 1991 the Salginatobel Bridge was declared an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

1940Jay O'Brien, American bobsledder (born 1883)^[†]

Jay James O'Brien was an American bobsledder who competed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He won two medals at the Winter Olympics with a gold in the four-man event at Lake Placid, New York, in 1932 and a silver in the five-man event at St. Moritz in 1928. At 48 years old, he was the oldest Olympic champion.

1940Song Zheyuan, Chinese general (born 1885)^[†]

Song Zheyuan was a Chinese general during the Chinese Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).