YEARS AGO FOR FEB. 21

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2018. There are 313 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1916: The World War I Battle of Verdun begins in France as German forces attack. The French would prevail after 10 months of fighting.

1945: During the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea is sunk by kamikazes with the loss of 318 men.

1947: Inventor Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrates his Polaroid Land camera, which produces a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.

1965: Black Muslim leader and civil-rights activist Malcolm X, 39, is shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam.

1975: Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.

2017:President Donald Trump condemns recent threats against Jewish community centers in the U.S. as “painful reminders” of lingering prejudice and evil.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: The Cafaro Co. converts the vacant 44,000-square-foot Busy Beaver building adjacent to Eastwood Mall into an exposition center for home, auto and boat shows and similar events.

In an ABC-TV interview of President Bill Clinton, a Berlin Center boy, Jared Myers, 11, asks the president what he does for fun. Clinton answered that he plays Trivial Pursuit, among other things.

Tammy Judy, an eighth-grade student in the hearing-impaired program at Volney Rogers Junior High, wins first place in a communications contest in Columbus sponsored by Optimist Clubs. She plans to use her $1,500 scholarship to study at Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C.

1978: Striking Taylor-Winfield Corp. workers demonstrate in front of the Trumbull County Courthouse in favor of a Warren city ordinance that prohibits the company from hiring replacement workers.

In a letter to Warren Mayor Arthur J. Richards, the U.S. Treasury Department says the lack of blacks and women on the city payroll violates federal civil-rights laws.

The Boardman boys gymnastics team, coached by Brian Gallagher, will participate in the state meet in Dayton. Team members are Eugene Frankhouser, Bob Barrett, Duane Moff, Scott Moff, Tony Granger, Rob Friend, K.C. Barrett, Rick Gesing, Jeff Kesler and Todd Bigley.

1968: Freedoms Foundation awards for the Youngstown district double over a year earlier, with 20 given. Individuals honored include Dr. Jack Schreiber, Dolores Depetro, Richard Holt, Elizabeth Galluppi, Harold Butcher, Charles Stiles, Larry Brooks, John Ricci and Wesley Graham.

Six Youngstown State University coeds vie for 1968 ROTC queen: Bonnie Lou Burger, Claudia Van Oustwalden, Leslie Ann Emery, Diane F. Guthrie, Claudia Ward and Constance Murray.

Sister Agnes Jean Lavin of Sharon, a member of the Dana School faculty, is appointed to help advise the Protestant chaplain at Youngstown State University.

1943: Youngstown women who want to enlist in the WAVES or SPARS will no longer have to go to Cleveland to do so. A Youngstown recruitment office is opening with a goal of enlisting 500 women.

With Sam Stites as chairman, the Red Cross will open its drive for $368,000 for its War Fund.

Sale of canned fruits and vegetables is suspended until March 1 when new ration coupons will sharply limit allowances.