On this date in 1943, Australian World War II commando Leonard Siffleet was beheaded on Aitape Beach in Papua New Guinea, along with two Ambonese, H. Pattiwal and M. Reharing
A photograph of the Japanese soldier Yasuno Chikao an instant before he strikes off Siffleet’s head was taken from the body of a Japanese casualty later in the war. Published in Life magazine, it became one of the war’s most iconic photos.
On this day..
- 1949: Luka Javorina, trainwrecker
- 2006: Jeffrey Lundgren, cult killer
- 1944: Werner Seelenbinder, communist grappler
- 1946: Kurt Daluege, Nazi cop
- 1492: 27 Jews of Sternberg, for desecrating the Eucharist
- 1849: Zsigmond Perenyi, by the Hangman of Arad
- 1801: Periya and Chinna Marudhu
- 1690: An infanticide, a coiner, and a highwayman
- 1865: Paul Bogle
- 1922: Emil Schutte
- 1415: Bardolph, Hal's friend
- Daily Double: Agincourt
- 1945: Vidkun Quisling, who made his name as a traitor