APRIL 7
1644 François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, Villeroi also spelled Villeroy, (born April 7, 1644, Lyon, Fr.âdied July 18, 1730, Paris), French courtier, a lifelong favourite of King Louis XIV, who became marshal of France in 1693. His ducal father, Nicolas de Neufville, had been governor (educational supervisor) of the infant Louis XIV and marshal of France from 1646.
1771 Fra Diavolo (lit. Brother Devil; 7 April 1771â11 November 1806), is the popular name given to Michele Pezza, a famous guerrilla leader who resisted the French occupation of Naples, proving an “inspirational practitioner of popular insurrection”. Pezza figures prominently in folk lore and fiction. He appears in several works of Alexandre Dumas, including The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-hermine in the Age of Napoleon, not published until 2007 and in Washington Irving’s short story “The Inn at Terracina”.
1822 Gershom Mott (April 7, 1822 â November 29, 1884) was a United States Army officer and a General in the Union Army, a commander in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. During the Second Battle of Bull Run, Mott was severely wounded in the arm and for his bravery was promoted to brigadier general on September 7, 1862. On December 1, 1865, he was promoted to major general, effective May 26, 1865.
1897 Erich Loewenhardt (7 April 1897 â 10 August 1918) was a German soldier and military aviator who fought in the First World War and became a fighter ace credited with 54 confirmed aerial victories. Originally enlisting in an infantry regiment even though he was only 17, he fought in the Battle of Tannenberg, winning a battlefield commission on 2 October 1914. He would serve in the Carpathians and on the Italian Front before being medically discharged in mid-1915. Following a five month recuperation, Loewenhardt joined the Imperial German Air Service in 1916. After serving as an aerial observer and reconnaissance pilot, he underwent advanced training to become a fighter pilot with Jagdstaffel 10 in March 1917. Between 24 March 1917 and 10 August 1918, Loewenhardt shot down 45 enemy airplanes, as well as destroying nine observation balloons. Shortly after his final victory, he was killed in a collision with another German pilot.
1928 JAMES GARNER joined the National Guard serving seven months in the United States. He then went to Korea for 14 months in the Regular Army, serving in the 5th Regimental Combat Team in the Korean War. He was wounded twice, first in the face and hand from shrapnel fire from a mortar round, and second on April 23, 1951 in the buttocks from friendly fire from U.S. fighter jets as he dived headfirst into a foxhole. Garner was awarded the Purple Heart in Korea for the first injury. For the second wound, he received a second Purple Heart (eligibility requirement: “As the result of friendly fire while actively engaging the enemy”), although Garner received the medal in 1983, 32 years after his injury.[10][13][14][15] Garner was a self-described “scrounger” for his company in Korea, a role he later played in The Great Escape[16] and The Americanization of Emily.
1929 Robert Denard (born Gilbert Bourgeaud 7 April 1929 â 13 October 2007) was a French soldier of fortune and mercenary. Sometimes known under the aliases Gilbert Bourgeaud and Saïd Mustapha Mhadjou, he was known for having performed various jobs in support of FrançafriqueâFrance’s sphere of influence in its former colonies in Africaâfor Jacques Foccart, co-ordinator of President Charles de Gaulle’s African policy. Having served with the French Navy in the Algerian War, the ardently anti-communist Denard took part in the Katanga secession effort in the 1960s and subsequently operated in many African countries including Congo, Angola, Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), and Gabon. Between 1975 and 1995, he participated in four coup attempts in the Comoro Islands. It is widely believed that his adventures had the implicit support of the French state, even after the 1981 election of the French Socialist Party candidate, François Mitterrand, despite moderate changes in France’s policy in Africa. Born a Roman Catholic, Denard converted first to Judaism, then to Islam, and finally back to Catholicism again. He was polygamously married seven times, and fathered eight children.
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