What Happened in June 1917

Historical Events

  • Jun 1 Boston Braves first baseman Hank Gowdy is first active MLB player to enlist for service in World War I; only player to fight in both World War I & II

Event of Interest

Jun 2 Canadian ace Billy Bishop undertakes a solo mission behind enemy lines, shooting down three aircraft as they were about to take off and several more on the ground, for which he is awarded the Victoria Cross

  • Jun 4 American men begin registering for the draft
  • Jun 4 Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott awarded 1st Pulitzer Prize for Biography (Julia Ward Howe), the story of the authors. mother

Most Excellent Order

Jun 4 Most Excellent Order of British Empire inaugurated by King George V to recognise the efforts of his people in WWI

  • Jun 5 10 million US men begin registering for draft in WW I
  • Jun 7 Melvin Jones and a number of other Chicago businessmen found Lions Clubs International, now the largest service organization in the world
  • Jun 7 The British detonate mines beneath the German-held Messines Ridge, in the Ypres area
  • Jun 8 Walt Disney graduates from Benton High School
  • Jun 10 60,000 people of Petrograd Russia welcome Prince Kropotkin (banned 41 years) returning after February Russian Revolution
  • Jun 10 Limburg mine workers strike in the Netherlands

Alexander of Greece

Jun 11 King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father Constantine I abdicates under pressure by allied armies occupying Athens

  • Jun 12 US Secret Service extends protection of the President to include his family
  • Jun 13 World War I: the deadliest German air raid on London during World War I is carried out by Gotha G bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children with 432 injuries
  • Jun 14 1st German air attack on England, 100+ killed in East London
  • Jun 14 General Pershing and his HQ staff arrived in Paris during WW I
  • Jun 15 In order to calm troubled relations with Ireland, the British grant amnesty to the Prisoners taken during the Easter Rising of 1916
  • Jun 16 1st All Russian Congress of the Soviets convenes in Petrograd, Russia [OS Jun 3]
  • Jun 16 49th Belmont: James Butwell aboard Hourless wins in 2:17.8
  • Jun 19 The British Royal Family, which has had strong German ties since George I, renounces its German names and titles and adopts the name of Windsor
  • Jun 21 Hawaiian Red Cross forms
  • Jun 23 Ammunition factory in Boleweg Bohemia explodes, killing 1,000

Sports History

Jun 23 Ernie Shore enters game after Boston Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth is ejected for throwing punch at umpire; retires all 26 batters he faces to win 4-0 vs Washington Senators; ruled combined no-hitter

  • Jun 23 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Two-time defending champion Molla Bjurstedt beats Marion Vanderhoef 4-6, 6-0, 6-2
  • Jun 24 Russian Black Sea fleet mutinies at Sebastopol
  • Jun 26 1st US troops arrive in France during World War I

Event of Interest

Jun 27 Venizelos takes over as Prime Minister of Greece and severs relations with Central Powers, bringing Greece onside with the Allies in WWI

  • Jun 28 Potato entrepreneurs begins in Amsterdam
1917 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Jun 1 William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate, (d. 2012)
  • Jun 2 Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and filmmaker (d. 2006)
  • Jun 2 Max Showalter, American actor and composer (Kansas, Niagara, Stockard Channing Show in Caldwell), born in Caldwell, Kansas (d. 2000)
  • Jun 3 Leo Gorcey, American stage and screen comic actor, and malapropist (The Dead End Kids; The East Side Boys; The Bowery Boys), born in New York City (d. 1969)
  • Jun 4 Allen Greenwood, British aeronautical engineer and aerospace executive, born in 38 Court Yard, Eltham, London (d. 2009)
  • Jun 4 Charles Collingwood, American news commentator (CBS, Chronicles), born in Three Rivers, Michigan (d. 1985)
  • Jun 4 Howard Metzenbaum, American businessman and politician (U.S. Senator from Ohio), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2008)
  • Jun 4 Robert Merrill [Moishe Miller], American operatic baritone (NY Metropolitan Opera, 1945-76), and actor, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2004)
  • Jun 6 Kirk Kerkorian, American CEO and "father of the mega-resort" (MGM, UA), born in Fresno, California (d. 2015)
  • Jun 6 Prior Jones, West Indian cricket fast bowler (9 Tests, 25 wickets; Trinidad), born in Princes Town, Trinidad (d. 1991)

Dean Martin (1917-1995)

Jun 7 American singer ("That's Amore"; "Everybody Loves Somebody"; "Sway"), comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), born in Steubenville, Ohio

  • Jun 7 Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (Bean Eaters, Annie Allen, Pulitzer 1950), born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 2000)
  • Jun 8 Byron White, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1962-93), born in Fort Collins, Colorado (d. 2002)
  • Jun 9 Eric J. Hobsbawm, Marxist historian (The Age of Revolution; Capital; and Empire), born in Alexandria, Sultanate of Egypt, (d. 2012)
  • Jun 11 James Bostock, English wood engraver and artist, born in Hanley, Staffordshire, England (d. 2006)
  • Jun 11 Joseph B Wirthlin, American businessmen, religious leader, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), born in Salt Lake City, Utah (d. 2008)
  • Jun 12 Priscilla Lane, American actress (Arsenic & Old Lace), born in Indianola, Iowa (d. 1995)
  • Jun 13 Philip Bodner, American jazz clarinetist and studio musician (also played flute, oboe, saxophone, piccolo, and English horn), born in Waterbury, Connecticut (d. 2008)
  • Jun 13 Simon "Si" Zentner, American jazz, session, and pop trombonist and big-band bandleader, born in New York City (d. 2000)
  • Jun 14 Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (number theory), born in Langesund, Norway (d. 2007)
  • Jun 14 Katherine Rawls, American diver (Olympic silver 3m springboard 1932, 36) and swimmer (Olympic bronze 4×100m freestyle 1936), born in Nashville, Tennessee (d. 1982)
  • Jun 15 Alfred "Lash" LaRue, American actor (Lash of the West, Wyatt Earp), born in Gretna, Louisiana, United States (d. 1996)
  • Jun 15 Lillian Bassman, American photographer and painter (Harper's Bazaar), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2012)
  • Jun 15 Michalis Genitsaris, Greek rebetiko singer and composer, born in Agia Sofia, Piraeus, Greece (d. 2005)
  • Jun 16 Aurelio Lampredi, Italian automobile and aircraft engine designer (Ferrari), born in Livorno, Italy (d. 1989)
  • Jun 16 Irving Penn, American fashion and fine art photographer, born in Plainfield, New Jersey (d. 2009)

Katharine Graham (1917-2001)

Jun 16 American newspaper publisher (The Washington Post) who led the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, born in New York City

  • Jun 18 Akhmet Jevdet Ismail Hajiyev, Azerbaijani composer, born in Nukha, Azerbaijan (d. 2002)
  • Jun 18 Arthur Tremblay, Canadian politician (d. 1996)
  • Jun 18 Richard Boone, American actor (The Richard Boone Show, Have Gun Will Travel), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1981)
  • Jun 19 Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwean revolutionary (ZAPU), and Matabeleland politician (Vice-President of Zimbabwe, 1990-99), born in Matopos, Southern Rhodesia (d. 1999)
  • Jun 20 Ash Brownridge, American conservationist (National Wildlife Federation), creator of Ranger Rick, born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2015)
  • Jun 20 Igor Śmiałowski, Polish actor (Lalka, Znachor, Niedaleko Warszawy), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 2006)
  • Jun 22 Davey O'Brien, American College Football Hall of Fame quarterback (Heisman Trophy 1938, Texas Christian University; NFL: Philadelphia Eagles), born in Dallas, Texas (d. 1977)
  • Jun 23 Peter Knight, English musical arranger, conductor, and composer, born in Exmouth, Devon, England (d. 1985)
  • Jun 26 Wille Hamilton, British MP, born in Houghton-le-Spring, England (d. 2000)
  • Jun 27 K. M. Rangnekar, Indian cricketer (batted in 3 Tests India v Australia 1947-48), born in Bombay, India (d. 1984)
  • Jun 27 Ron Hayward, English politician, General Secretary of the Labour Party, born in Chipping Sodbury, Oxfordshire (d. 1996)
  • Jun 28 A. E. Hotchner, American editor, novelist and playwright, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2020) [1]
  • Jun 28 Willem "Wim" Sonneveld, Dutch singer considered one of the 'Great Three' of Dutch cabaret (My Fair Lady), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1974)
  • Jun 30 Lena Horne, American actress and Grammy Award-winning singer (Cabin in the Sky; Stormy Weather; The Wiz), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2010)
  • Jun 30 Robert Vandekerckhove, Belgian politician, born in Ingelmunster, Belgium (d. 1980)

Susan Hayward (1917-1975)

Jun 30 American actress (I Want to Live, Tulsa), born in Brooklyn, New York


Born in 1917

Famous Deaths

  • Jun 6 Iacob Mureșianu, Romanian composer, dies at 59
  • Jun 12 Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan classical pianist, soprano, composer, and conductor, dies at 63
  • Jun 15 Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and physicist (nominated 7 times for Nobel Prize), dies at 49
  • Jun 18 Eufemio Zapata, Mexican revolutionary and brother of Emiliano Zapata, killed at 44 by Sidronio Comancho after Zapata became drunk and beat and insulted his father
  • Jun 20 António Feijó, Portuguese poet and diplomat, dies at 58
  • Jun 20 James Mason Crafts, American chemist (Friedel-Crafts alkylation synthesis), dies at 78
  • Jun 27 Gustav von Schmoller, German economist (Lectern Socialism), dies at 79
  • Jun 27 Karl Allmenröder, German World War I flying Ace, dies at 21
  • Jun 29 Frans Schollaert, Belgian Catholic Party politician and 19th Prime Minister of Belgium (1908-11), dies at 65