8 MAY

1897 - A few days after he seemed to have sealed his power grab from Philippine revolutionary leader and founder Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo in his new capacity as "President" orders "presidentes of the towns" to collect funds for the purchase of arms during the Revolution against Spain; Aguinaldo had days earlier ordered his men to capture the Bonifacio brothers and subject them to a Kangaroo Court trial  where Andres Bonifacio's lawyer, Placido Martinez, attacked, instead of defended, the Supremo.

1902 - Mount Pelee in the Caribbean commune of St. Pierre, Martinique islands, blows apart in an explosive eruption that rips the volcano's side, hurling it to the sea accompanied by a wave of fire sounded by what seemed like a thousand cannons, and subsequently flooding the the city with a cloud of superheated gas that carbonized many objects; only two men out of a population of 30,000 survived the horrific destruction made worse by the failure of the local government to evacuate residents.

1945 - Victory in Europe Day is celebrated as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces the end of war with Germany during a message broadcast about the signing of the ceasefire signed yesterday at the American advance headquarters in Rheims; the act of surrender by Germany will again be signed in Berlin the next day, with the Russian High Command, Allied Expeditionary Force, United States Air Force and French First Army officials/representatives.

1984 - Moscow pulls out the Soviet team in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in a boycott that would later by joined by 14 countries from most of the Eastern Bloc and by Cuba 12 weeks before the 1984 Olympics begin; the USSR has complained of the commercialization of the LA games and has accused the United States of "stirring up anti-Soviet propaganda," using the games for "political purposes," and donning a "cavalier attitude" to the Soviet athletes' security.