The 13th of August 1962 will be an anniversary which marks the final cementation of the German division into two parts. It was on August 13, 1961, when the East German communists started to set up a wall between East and West Berlin, thus closing the last big escape hole in the iron curtain between East and West Germany. Since then the reds were busy in reinforcing this Berlin border replacing the first barbed wire-obstacles by brick walls, later setting building up a second wall, which mainly is made of big concrete blocks. While before August 13, 1961 thousands of refugees had fled into the free West via Berlin daily, now only a few dozen or less succeed in escaping across this border. Here, the Glienicker bridge, between West Berlin and East Germany on July 27, 1962. It is used largely by western military missions to the Soviets, because members of the missions live in West Berlin and have their offices in suburban Potsdam. This is where U-2 pilot Gary powers was exchanged for Soviet spy Col. Rudolf Abel. Name of bridge is “Bridge of Unity”. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch)

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 13, the 226th day of 2024. There are 140 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 13, 1961, on what would become known as Barbed Wire Sunday, East Germany sealed the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.

Also on this date:

In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured Tenochtitlan (teh-natch-teet-LAHN’), present-day Mexico City, from the Aztecs.

In 1792, French revolutionaries arrested and imprisoned King Louis XVI; he would be executed by guillotine the following January.

In 1889, William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut, received a patent for the first coin-operated telephone.

In 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to join the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1952, Big Mama Thornton first recorded the song “Hound Dog,” four years before Elvis Presley’s famous version was released.

In 1969, New York City held a ticket-tape parade for Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins.

In 1995, Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading liver cancer at age 63.

In 2011, seven people were killed when a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair during a powerful storm just before a concert was to begin.

In 2020, in an interview on Fox Business Network, President Donald Trump acknowledged that he was starving the U.S. Postal Service of money in order to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots.

Today’s Birthdays: Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is 91. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is 78. Opera singer Kathleen Battle is 76. High wire aerialist Philippe Petit is 75. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke is 75. Golf Hall of Famer Betsy King is 69. Movie director Paul Greengrass is 69. Actor Danny Bonaduce is 65. TV weatherman Sam Champion is 63. Actor Dawnn Lewis is 63. Actor John Slattery is 62. Actor Debi Mazar is 60. Figure skater Midori Ito is 55. Country singer Andy Griggs is 51. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is 50. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is 42. Actor Sebastian Stan is 42. Actor Lennon Stella is 25.