Moments in Time

The History Channel

*On April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York won the first Boston Marathon with a time of 2:55:10. Fifteen runners started the race but only 10 made it to the finish line. The marathon’s distance was changed in 1908 in accordance with Olympic standards to its current length of 26 miles, 385 yards.

* On April 21, 1918, in the skies over France, Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as “The Red Baron,” is killed by Allied fire when an Australian gunner shoots him through his chest. He was 25 years old. Von Richthofen had downed 80 enemy aircraft....