ON THIS DAY~APR 28

     1945  Benito Mussolini Executed

On this day in 1945, "Il Duce," Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.

The 61-year-old deposed former dictator of Italy was established by his German allies as the figurehead of a puppet government in northern Italy during the German occupation toward the close of the war. As the Allies fought their way up the Italian peninsula, defeat of the Axis powers all but certain, Mussolini considered his options. Not wanting to fall into the hands of either the British or the Americans, and knowing that the communist partisans, who had been fighting the remnants of roving Italian fascist soldiers and thugs in the north, would try him as a war criminal, he settled on escape to a neutral country.

He and his mistress made it to the Swiss border, only to discover that the guards had crossed over to the partisan side. Knowing they would not let him pass, he disguised himself in a Luftwaffe coat and helmet, hoping to slip into Austria with some German soldiers. His subterfuge proved incompetent, and he and Petacci were discovered by partisans and shot, their bodies then transported by truck to Milan, where they were hung upside down and displayed publicly for revilement by the masses.

 

 

 

1932   A Vaccine Against Yellow Fever Was Announced

 

1962  The fourth American runner to break the four-minute mile was Jim Grelle. He broke the mark at 3 minutes, 59.9 seconds in Walnut Creek, CA. 

 

1967  Muhammad Ali, the former Cassius Clay, refused induction into the U.S. Army.

Critics and supporters spent years discussing the boxing champ’s refusal to serve in the armed forces. In fact, Ali’s world heavyweight crown was later taken away from him as a result of his actions, which he said were based on religious grounds.

 

1985  The little town of Parker, TX, not far from Dallas, reported a 2-to-1 edge in the ratio of tourists to Residents.

Some of the good citizens of the town of just over 1,000 residents were not pleased, either. Some 2,100 tourists each day converged on the town to visit Southfork Ranch, the home of the Ewing family of the CBS-TV hit, Dallas.