^{An operation performed at the 8029th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War.}

Today in History

• The silver dollar becomes official US currency (1974)
• Prohibition ends in the US (1933)
• World War II: American forces land on Corregidor, Philippines (1945)
• Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba (1959)
• The USS Triton begins the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe (1960)
• The first 911 emergency telephone system goes into service in Haleyville, Alabama (1968)
• The first computer bulletin board system (BBS) goes into operation (1978)
• Hezbollah is founded (1985)
• The trial of accused Nazi concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk begins (1987)
• The last mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) unit is decommissioned (2006)

Birthdays

• Nichiren, founder of Nicheren Buddhism (1222)
• Octave Mirbeau, writer (1848 — died February 16, 1917)
• Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist (1903)
• Hugh Beaumont, actor (1909)
• Vera-Ellen, actress, singer, and dancer (1921)
• Margot Frank, Holocaust victim, sister of Anne Frank (1926)
• Sonny Bono, musician and politician (1935)
• Kim Jong-Il, North Korean supreme leader (1941)
• Margaux Hemingway, model and actress (1954)
• LeVar Burton, actor (1957)
• Ice-T, rapper and actor (1958)
• John McEnroe, tennis player (1959)
• Sarah Clarke, actress (1972)

Deaths

• Octave Mirbeau, writer (1917 — born February 16, 1848)
• Keith Haring, painter (1990)
• Angela Carter, writer (1992)
• William Masters, sexologist, part of Masters and Johnson (2001)
• Lasse Brown, filmmaker (2015)
• Lesley Gore, singer-songwriter (2015)
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali, UN Secretary-General

Holidays and Celebrations

• Day of the Shining Star (North Korea)
• National Almond Day (US)
• Restoration of Lithuania’s Statehood Day (Lithuania)

February 16 is the 47th day of the year. There are 318 days (319 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.