Harukichi Hyakutake

The Battle for Henderson Field (23–26 October 1942) on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands was the third of three land offensives conducted by the Japanese during the Guadalcanal campaign of World War II. U.S. Army and Marine forces under Major General Alexander Vandegrift defended Henderson Field against attacks by the Japanese 17th Army under Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake (pictured). Hyakutake's mission was to recapture the airfield from the Allies and drive them off the island. Numerous assaults over three days were repulsed with heavy Japanese losses, and Allied aircraft operating from the airfield successfully defended U.S. positions from attacks by Japanese naval air and sea forces. After a failed attempt to deliver reinforcements in November, Japan conceded the island and successfully evacuated many of its remaining forces in February. (Full article...)

Part of the Guadalcanal Campaign series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

Mary and Henry Pitman

• ... that Mary Pitman Ailau and her brother Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman (pictured) were educated at a Hilo school with other biracial students of Hawaiian descent?
• ... that in 2004, the Israel Antitrust Authority declared that a copyright collective for authors and musicians was essentially a monopoly?
• ... that OSS agent Roderick Stephen Hall was betrayed and captured during a one-man mission in northern Italy in January 1945, and murdered by the SS?
• ... that most red porgies change sex from female to male at some point during their lives?
• ... that top NBA draft prospect Sekou Doumbouya signed his first professional basketball contract at age 15?
• ... that Julia Yates, head of the New Zealand fashion label Trilby Yates, was once spat at in the street for wearing trousers?
• ... that in 2018, police raided the house of former Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and confiscated a letter written by the 19th-century national hero José de San Martín?
• ... that Reverend James Abercrombie once admonished President George Washington during his sermon for not setting an example in church by receiving communion?

BepiColombo spacecraft

• A passenger train derails in Yilan County, Taiwan, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 170 others.
• The European and Japanese Space Agencies launch BepiColombo, two probes (artist's rendering shown) intended to study the planet Mercury.
• An estimated 700,000 people attend a People's Vote march in London, calling for a public vote on the final Brexit deal.
• Saudi Arabia admits that Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

October 23: Mole Day

Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis

• 1641 – Irish Catholic gentry in Ulster tried to seize control of Dublin Castle, the seat of English rule in Ireland, to force concessions to Catholics.
• 1850 – The first National Women's Rights Convention, presided over by Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis (pictured), began in Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
• 1934 – Jeannette Piccard piloted a hot-air balloon flight that reached 57,579 feet (17,550 m), and became the first woman to fly in the stratosphere.
• 1983 – Lebanese Civil War: Suicide bombers destroyed two barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers of the international peacekeeping force, and 6 civilians.
• 2002 – Chechen separatists seized a crowded theater in Moscow, taking approximately 700 patrons and performers hostage, at least 130 of whom were later killed.

Sweyn III of Denmark (d. 1157) · Ludwig Leichhardt (b. 1813) · Soong Mei-ling (d. 2003)