Today is Wednesday, August 17, the 229th day of 2011. There are 136 days left in the year.
1933 ― Lou Gehrig breaks record by playing in his 1,308th straight game
1938 ― Henry Armstrong won his third concurrent boxing championship
1939 ― ``Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in N.Y.
1942 ― U.S. bombers staged first independent raid on Europe attack Rouen, France
1950 ― Indonesia gains independence from the Netherlands
1958 ― World's first Moon probe, U.S.'s Thor-Able, explodes in seconds
1962 ― Beatles replaces Pete Best with Ringo Starr
1962 ― East German border guards shot and kill Peter Fechter, 18, attempting to cross Berlin Wall into western sector
1985 ― Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India
1987 ― Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,700 for first time (2,700.57)