On this day

July 4, 1943

Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from July 4, 1943

YANKEES DROP TWO TO TIGERS, 6-5, 10-9; York's Homer in 11th Decides the Opener -- McCarthymen's Lead Reduced to 3 Points

By Jamzes P. Dawson

DETROIT, July 3 -- The Yankees spent this afternoon at Briggs Stadium blowing what might ordinarily be considered comfortable leads -- and wound up blowing two vital ball games. Everything went against the American League champions in their first local struggles of the year against the Tigers -- including Nick Etten and Johnny Murphy.

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DODGERS LOSE, 5-3, TO CARDS AND FALL 2 GAMES OFF PACE; St. Louis Margin Is 6 Lengths in 'Lost' Column -- Victory Tenth for Mort Cooper

By Roscoe McGowen

Mort Cooper asked Manager Billy Southworth for the pitching assignment against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field yesterday in the opener of the three-game series between the National League leaders and the second-place Brooks. Mort got it and, unhappily for 17,775 Flatbush fans, the world champion Redbirds won, 5 -- 3.

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Notable Births

Conny Bauer

1943Conny Bauer, German trombonist[†]

Konrad "Conny" Bauer is a German free jazz trombonist. He is the brother of the trombonist Johannes Bauer.

Emerson Boozer

1943Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster[†]

Emerson Boozer is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a running back for the New York Jets in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). In the last year of separate drafts by the AFL and the NFL, Boozer signed with the AFL's Jets, rather than with an NFL team. He was a member of the Jets team that defeated the NFL's champion Baltimore Colts, 16–7, in Super Bowl III. Before joining the AFL, Boozer played college football at Maryland State College, which is now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES).

Adam Hart-Davis

1943Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer[†]

Adam John Hart-Davis is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster. He presented the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts and the Ancients. He was also a co-presenter of Tomorrow's World, and presented Science Shack.

Geraldo Rivera

1943Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author[†]

Geraldo Michael Rivera is an American journalist, attorney, author, and political commentator who worked at the Fox News Channel from 2001 to 2023. He hosted the tabloid talk show Geraldo from 1987 to 1998. He gained publicity with the live 1986 TV special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults. Rivera hosted the news magazine program Geraldo at Large, hosts the occasional broadcast of Geraldo Rivera Reports. He served as a rotating co-host of The Five from 2022 to 2023. As of February 2024, Rivera retains the spot of correspondent-at-large with NewsNation.

Fred Wesley

1943Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist[†]

Fred Wesley is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s, and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s.

Alan Wilson (musician)

1943Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1970)[†]

Alan Christie Wilson, nicknamed "Blind Owl", was an American musician, best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues rock band Canned Heat. He sang and played harmonica and guitar with the group, live and on recordings. Wilson was the lead singer for the group's two biggest U.S. hit singles: "On the Road Again" and "Going Up the Country".

Notable Deaths

Władysław Sikorski

1943Władysław Sikorski, Polish general and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Poland (born 1881)[†]

Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independence. He fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during World War I, and later in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. In the latter war, he played a prominent role in the decisive 1920 Battle of Warsaw.

Historical Events

Battle of Kursk

1943World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.[†]

The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in a Soviet victory. The Battle of Kursk is the single largest battle in the history of warfare. It ranks only behind the Battle of Stalingrad several months earlier as the most often-cited turning point in the European theatre of the war. It was one of the costliest battles of the Second World War, the single deadliest armoured battle in history, and the opening day of the battle, 5 July, was the single costliest day in the history of aerial warfare in terms of aircraft shot down. The battle was further marked by fierce house-to-house fighting and hand-to-hand combat.

Gibraltar

1943World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives.[†]

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory and city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean. It has an area of 6.8 km2 (2.6 sq mi) and is bordered to the north by Spain. The landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, at the foot of which is a densely populated town area. Gibraltar is home to around 34,000 people, primarily Gibraltarians.