Years Ago

July 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Friday, July 30, the 211th day of 2010. There are 154 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1918: Poet Joyce Kilmer, a sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment, is killed during the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. (Kilmer may be best remembered for his poem “Trees.”)

1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill creating a women’s auxiliary agency in the Navy known as “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service” — WAVES for short.

1945: During World War II, the Portland class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 316 out of some 1,200 men survive the sinking and shark-infested waters.

1960: The recently founded American Football League sees its first pre-season game, in which the Boston Patriots defeat the host Buffalo Bills 28-7.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the Medicare bill, which goes into effect the following year.

1975: Former Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa disappears in suburban Detroit; although presumed dead, his remains have never been found.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Lemonie and Machele Hall, West German aerialists, cross the Shenango River in downtown Sharon on a high wire as part of the Bavarian Fun Fest.

Area leaders say that although Tennessee won the General Motors Saturn plant, the Mahoning Valley’s effort was not futile because it brought people from all walks of life together and established a new level of cooperation in the Valley.

1970: More than 600 people, including a 45-member delegation from Congress led by House Majority Leader Carl Albert, attend services in St. Brendan Church for U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan, who died at 83.

1960: Juvenile Court Judge Henry P. Beckenbach tells two East Side parents of 10 children that they will sit in county jail “until they rot” unless they fix up their home, which authorities say is unfit for human habitation.

Former Warren racketeer Frank Cammarata is arrested in Havana, Cuba, accused by police of being head of a cocaine ring. Cuban police say they confiscated $16,000 worth of cocaine and allege that Cammarata is associated with former New York underworld king Lucky Luciano.

1935: Two area youngs-ters, Charles Baun, 6, of Willis Avenue, Youngstown, and Stanley Lucas, 4, of W. Park Avenue, Niles, are killed when they dart into the path of cars near their homes.

Sheriff Ralph Elser conducts more surprise raids on Youngstown bootleggers arresting six on liquor charges and 14 others on gambling charges.