A Navy PBY and a Japanese Navy G4M exchanged fire off of Attu. The unlikely exchange by two non fighter aircraft was the last combat action off of Alaska and the last off of any U.S. territory that would be part of the present fifty states.
Two gasoline tankers collided off of Palm Beach, Florida and exploded, killing 73 people on board one and 43 on board another, far more people than modern ships carry of the same type. There were 28 survivors.
The United Nations War Crimes Commission was established.
The U-378 was sunk by U.S. aircraft.
From Sarah Sundin's blog:
Today in World War II History—October 20, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 20, 1943: Germans arrest Polish social worker Irena Sendler for smuggling 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto.
As she notes, Polish resistance bribed camp guards to release her and mark her down as executed. She lived until 2008.
