The Battle of Visby : ON JULY 22, 1361, 1,800 Gotland farmers were killed in a brutal clash with Danish troops.
King Valdemar had commanded his forces to conquer parts of southern Sweden, landing there with an army of mounted knights and German foot mercenaries. The invaders faced off against the poorly equipped locals who lost over half
of their army in the battle. The dead fighters were buried in mass graves with their chain mail, gloves and weapons.
Five mass graves were excavated in the 20th century outside Visby's walls from the medevial battle. The skeletons, chain mail and weapons were all remarkably preserved. A permanent exhibit with some of the soldiers remains and their armour is now in the Swedish History Museum.
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Ruth Cheney Streeter of Brookline, Massachusetts, was an American military officer who was the first director of the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve (USMCWR).
In 1943, she became the first woman to attain the rank of major in the United States Marine Corps when she was commissioned as a major on January 29, 1943. She retired in 1945 as a lieutenant colonel.
At the age of 47, Streeter earned her commercial pilot's license, with the intention of joining either the WAVES or the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) as a ferry pilot in the war effort.
After being rejected five times by the WASPS on account of her age, Streeter chose to give up flying altogether, and instead joined the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve. On January 29, 1943, she was commissioned as a major and appointed director of the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve.
She was in office on the official creation date of MCWR on February 13, 1943. She was promoted to lieutenant colonel later that year, and breveted to full colonel in 1944. On October 31, 1945 she was awarded the Legion of Merit. She resigned her commission on December 6, 1945. During Streeter's tenure, the Women's Reserve grew to a size of 831 officers and 17,714 enlisted.
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