31st December 1919
Polish soldiers in front of the armoured train Śmiały (Polish for “Bold”)
Lt. Samuel Woodfill receives a Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions neutralizing 3 German machine gun emplacements while suffering under the effect of mustard gas and then leading his men back without casualties. Gen. Pershing called him the most outstanding soldier in WWI.
Recy Taylor is born. An American activist known for pursuing a case against the white men who sexually assaulted her in Alabama in 1944 that many credit for helping give birth to the civil rights movement, in Abbeville, Alabama.
