Today in History: June 6, Allies land in Normandy on D-Day

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Today is Saturday, June 6, the 157th day of 2026. There are 208 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 6, 1944, during World War II, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on D-Day as they launched Operation Overlord to liberate German-occupied Western Europe. More than 4,400 Allied troops were killed on D-Day, including 2,501 Americans.

Also on this date:

In 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London.

In 1889, an industrial accident sparked a devastating fire in Seattle, Washington, destroying 120 acres of the city center, including the majority of the city’s commercial district and waterfront.

In 1912, Novarupta, a volcano on the Alaska peninsula, began a three-day eruption, sending ash nearly 19 miles (30 kilometers) high; it was the most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century and the largest ever recorded in North America.

In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened, in Camden, New Jersey.

In 1939, the first Little League Baseball game was played as Lundy Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy 23-8 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

In 1966, James Meredith was shot and wounded by a sniper early in the civil rights activist’s march from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, to raise awareness about racial injustice in the U.S. South. (Meredith would recover from his injuries and rejoin the march, which had swelled from a small group to 15,000 marchers, the day before reaching Jackson.)

In 2015, American Pharoah became the first horse in 37 years to claim horse racing’s Triple Crown, winning the Belmont Stakes by 5 ½ lengths.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer-songwriter Gary U.S. Bonds is 87. Civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman is 87. Country musician Joe Stampley is 83. Olympic track & field gold medalist Tommie Smith is 82. Actor Robert Englund is 79. Folk singer Holly Near is 77. Tennis Hall of Famer Bjorn Borg is 70. Comedian Colin Quinn is 67. Music producer Jimmy Jam is 67. Filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda is 64. Actor Jason Isaacs is 63. Actor Paul Giamatti is 59. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is 46. Actor Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (TV: “Modern Family”) is 19.