Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Sept. 1. World War II began on this date in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. In response, Great Britain and France served an ultimatum on Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, but it was ignored. The United States would remain out the fray until Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Advertisement It was on this date in 1983 that a Korean Air Lines Flight 007, en route from New York City to Seoul, South Korea, strayed into Soviet air space -- flying over secret Soviet military installations in the process -- and was shot down by a Soviet interceptor jet. The jumbo jet crashed into the Sea of Japan, killing all 269 people aboard. One day later, the Soviets admitted they had shot down the plane but claimed it was spying. However, there's no evidence that KAL 007's wandering off-course was anything other than a mistake. After years of searching, scientists on this date in 1985 found the wreckage of the British luxury liner Titanic on the Atlantic Ocean floor, about 400 miles off Newfoundland. The supposedly unsinkable vessel had sunk within hours of striking an iceberg in April 1912, killing more than 1,500 people. Advertisement An earthquake, followed by a disastrous fire, struck Tokyo on this date in 1923. An estimated 74,000 people were killed in what's considered Japan's worst-ever quake. Aaron Burr, vice president under Thomas Jefferson, was acquitted of treason charges on this date in 1807. Burr had been accused in connection with a plot to establish an independent empire in the nation's south and west. And it was on this date in 1914 that the last known passenger pigeon died at the Cincinnati Zoo. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
