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more events on May 15
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1988
Soviets forces begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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1975
The merchant ship Mayaguez is recaptured from Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge.
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1972
Gov. George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland.
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1968
U.S. Marines relieve army troops in Nhi Ha, South Vietnam after a fourteen-day battle.
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1963
The last Project Mercury space flight, carrying Gordon Cooper, is launched.
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1958
Sputnik III is launched by the Soviet Union.
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1942
The United States begins rationing gasoline.
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1930
Jasper Johns, Jr., painter, leader of the Pop Art movement.
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Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess.
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1926
Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Equus, Amadeus), twin brother of Anthony Shaffer.
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Anthony Shaffer, English playwright (Sleuth), twin brother of Peter Shaffer.
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1923
Richard Avedon, photographer.
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1918
Pfc. Henry Johnson and Pfc. Needham Roberts receive the Croix de Guerre for their services in World War I. They are the first Americans to win France’s highest military medal.
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1916
U.S. Marines land in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.
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1902
Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago through the 1960s and early 1970’s.