May 8 is
Iris Day The flower is a symbol for creativity, great power and good news to come.
No Socks Day
World Red Cross Day / World Red Crescent Day
National Coconut Cream Pie Day
According to: Urban Dictionary.com May 8th is traditionally known as National Outdoor Intercourse Day! Also may be shortened to “NOID” Most frequently celebrated on college campuses across the USA during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
In 1541, Hernando de Soto stopped near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and saw the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, (The River of the Holy Spirit), the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519)
Birthday of Jean Henri Dunant (May 8, 1828), Swiss philanthropist and founder of the Red Cross Society.
Birthday of Oscar Hammerstein (May 8, 1846), German-American opera impresario, playwright, and inventor who established the Manhattan Opera House for the presentation of popular musical events. Grandfather of Oscar Hammerstein II of Rogers and Hammerstein fame. Hammerstein was born in Prussia. According to Wikipedia, he and his father had strong disagreements about Oscar’s future – the father encouraging academic studies and Oscar devoted to music. Oscar sold his violin to finance his flight from his home to the U.S., arriving in 1864. He found work in a cigar factory where he eventually patented over 80 inventions to improve the manufacture of cigars. He became wealthy industrializing cigar manufacturing, and his tobacco fortune provided the money he used to pursue his theater interests.
On May 8, 1846, shortly before the United States formally declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) defeated a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto. The battle took place north of the Rio Grande River near present-day Brownsville, Texas. Taylor’s victory, along with a series of subsequent victories against the Mexicans, made him a war hero. In 1848, Zachary Taylor was elected America’s 12th president.
Birthday of Harry S Truman (May 8, 1884), thirty-third president of the United States. (The “s” did not stand for anything. It was chosen to honor both grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.)
May 8, 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sold a carbonated beverage named “Coca-Cola” as a patent medicine.
Mount Pelee on Martinique erupted in 1902, killing 30,000 people.
In 1919 Edward George Honey first proposed the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of Remembrance Day. In the United States it was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
V-E (Victory in Europe) Day commemorating the end of World War II in Europe with the signing of the unconditional surrender by the Germans in 1945. Also called Armistice Day in France.