1991 - United States President George Bush told US Gulf War soldiers that their victory not only drove Iraq from Kuwait, but “helped this country liberate itself from old ghosts and doubts”. In a rousing homecoming ceremony for South Carolinians who served in the Gulf, Bush looked over a sea of 15,000 people, including many families of returned servicemen and thanked them for their service and sacrifice. He said the spirit of patriotism that led Americans to support the Gulf War effort, wearing yellow ribbons and sending letters and gifts to troops overseas, had exorcised the ghost of Vietnam that haunted many in the US. Bush addressed the crowd from the stands at Sumter Memorial Stadium. Behind him were some of the pilots from the 9th Air Force.
Other important events
1328 - Scotland wins its independence from England.
1845 - Englishman Stephen Perry patents the rubber band.
1860 - Second Maori War breaks out in New Zealand.
1861 - Italy declares independence.
1888 - Britain establishes protectorate over Sarawak in Borneo.
1899 - Windsor luxury hotel in New York City catches fire, 92 die
1921 - Poland’s constitution is established.
1942 - General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia to become Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific during the Second World War.
1957 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines, is killed in a plane crash.
1959 - Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India.
1961 - South Africa leaves British Commonwealth.
1963 - Mount Agung erupts in Bali, killing over 1,000 people.
1969 - Golda Meir becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
1991 - Millions of people vote for the first and only national referendum in Soviet Union.
1994 - Serbs and Muslims sign agreement to ease stranglehold on Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.
2000 - At least 230 members of a Ugandan Doomsday cult set themselves ablaze.
2003 - Shaikh Ahmad Bin Hasher Al Maktoum wins gold in the World Cup double trap event in India.
2004 - At least 28 people are killed when a powerful car bomb strikes Baghdad hotel.
2007 - President Mahmoud Abbas swears in new Palestinian coalition government.
2013 - Shams 1, the world’s largest solar power plant, is inaugurated at Madinat Zayed, Abu Dhabi.
2014 - Crimea votes to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.