1982: A draft of an official Air Force history — Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961-1971 — reported that the U.S. secretly sprayed herbicides on Laos during the Vietnam War. For related reading, take a look at a review of the 2012 book, "Agent Orange: History, Science and the Politics of Uncertainty" on HistoryNet.com.



Also today in history:

1900: The Boers besieging Ladysmith inflicted a bloody defeat on a relief force led by British General Sir Charles Warren at Spioenkop, South Africa, during the Boer War. Read a first-hand account of fighting during the Boer War on HistoryNet.com.

1968: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg against North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces around Long Binh and Bien Hoa.

1972: Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi was found in a Guam jungle, where he had been hiding out since 1944.