That the latest WWII aircraft given up by Lake Michigan sank on Dec. 28, 1944? On December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, 2012, the FM-2 Wildcat used to train pilots for landing on aircraft carriers  was recovered  just northwest of Chicago.

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That Navy Pier, mentioned several times in Yesterday, is surrounded with approximately 200 WWII airplanes? They are beneath the water! Navy Pier was used during WWII to train pilots to land on a pitching aircraft carrier deck. One of those pilots would become President of the United States, George H. W. Bush.

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That the word ‘deadline’ refers to the perimeter line of the infamous civil war prison in Andersonville, Georgia? A prisoner would be shot to death for crossing the ‘deadline’.

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That by the time of the Confederate surrender in 1865, there were more black Americans in the Union army than there were soldiers in the Confederate army?

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That the popular song of the day during the American Civil War was called Aura Lee? The song was later recorded by Elvis Presley as Love Me Tender.

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That since the American Revolution of 1776, approximately 1, 300,000 Americans have died in wars? About 500,000 in WWI and WWII. Nearly 700,000 Americans killed each other during the American Civil War.

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That more men died in the American Civil War than any other American conflict? Nearly two-thirds of those who died perished from disease caused by their wounds.

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That for some Southern states, in the years following the Civil War, the biggest expense was for prosthetic limbs?

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That everything east of the “Magnificent Mile”, Michigan Avenue, is landfill from The Great Chicago Fire? Even today, The Great Chicago Fire reveals relics of Chicago’s past when this land is excavated for construction of a new building.

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That on October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, is the conflagration that caused the most deaths by fire in United States history, killing as many as 1,500 people? This tragedy occurred on the same day as the more infamous Great Chicago Fire, likely fueled by the same gale force winds.

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