Sunday, April 16, 2023

Friday, April 16, 1943. Mercader starts his wait.

Photo of a B-18 that had done a gear up landing, April 16, 1943.

The Battle of Cigno Convoy occurred off of Sicily, in which a Royal Navy attempt to interdict an Italian convoy resulted in the loss of the British destroyer Pakenham. The Italians lost a torpedo boat.

U.S. submarines under construction.

Swiss biochemist Albert Hofmann accidentally ingested LSD, making him the first human to do so.  He'd repeat the experiment and endure a "bad trip" two days later.

Hofmann was an advocate for the drug, hoping it would find some use, which it never did.

Ramón Mercader, a.k.a. Jacques Monard, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Mexican authorities for murdering Leon Trotsky.  Mercader would serve out his term and ultimately move to the Soviet Union, where he was employed by the USSR and regarded as a hero. Before his death in 1978 he noted;  "I hear it always. I hear the scream. I know he's waiting for me on the other side."

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