On This Day . . . .

June 6: National Day of Sweden; Queen’s Official Birthday (New Zealand, 2011); Foundation Day (Western Australia, 2011); Queensland Day in the Australian state of Queensland; Duanwu/Dragon Boat Festival (2011)

• 1882 – The Shewa kingdom made big strides towards gaining supremacy over the Ethiopian Empire by defeating the Gojjam and gaining control of territories south of the Gibe River.
• 1892 – The ‘L’ train of Chicago, the second longest rapid transit system in total track mileage in the United States, began operations.
• 1944 – World War II: The Invasion of Normandy, the largest amphibious military operation in history, began with Allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy in France (pictured).
• 1984 – Tetris, one of the best-selling video games of all time, was released.
• 2004 – During a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament, President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam announced that Tamil was to be made the first legally recognised classical language of India.