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June 01

Published in On this Day listing

1921 The Kerry IRA ambushed a detachment of Black and Tans and RIC at Castlemaine, Co. Kerry, killing three, including an RIC district inspector. The IRA lost one Volunteer.
1984 US President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, arrived on a four-day official visit to the Republic of Ireland.
1968 Helen Keller (87), deaf-blind American political activist and writer, died.
1944 An American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress en route from Newfoundland to Nutt’s Corner Airfield, Co. Antrim, crashed in dense fog on Cave Hill, Belfast. All ten airmen lost their lives.

On this Day

1920 Recruitment began, mainly from among demobilised British Army officers, into a new force—the ‘Auxiliary Division’—to augment the RIC.
1939 Michael Longley, poet, notable for ‘Gorse Fires’ (1991), ‘The Weather in Japan’ (2000) and ‘The Stairwell’ (2014), born in Belfast of English parents.
2004 Bob Tisdall (96), Olympic gold medal-winner in the 400m hurdles (Los Angeles, 1932) in a world record time of 51.7 seconds—which was not recognised under the rules at the time because he had hit a hurdle—died.
1866 The SS Great Eastern completed the laying of a transatlantic telegraph cable between Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, and Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.