Today is the 54th day of 2023 and the 65th day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1778, Baron von Steuben joined the U.S. encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to help train the Continental Army.

In 1942, a Japanese submarine fired artillery shells at coastal targets near Santa Barbara, California.

In 1945, American Marines raised the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima.

In 1954, the first mass vaccination of children against polio began in Pittsburgh.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush announced the beginning of an allied ground offensive in Iraq.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), sociologist/activist; Victor Fleming (1889-1949), filmmaker; Tom Osborne (1937- ), football coach; Peter Fonda (1940-2019), actor; Fred Biletnikoff (1943- ), football player; Michael Dell (1965- ), businessman; Kelly Macdonald (1976- ), actress; Josh Gad (1981- ), actor; Aziz Ansari (1983- ), actor/comedian; Emily Blunt (1983- ), actress; Skylar Grey (1986- ), singersongwriter; Dakota Fanning (1994- ), actress.

TODAY’S FACT: Von Steuben Day is celebrated in mid-September with parades in many U.S. cities. Chicago’s Von Steuben Day parade was featured in the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1968, Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBA player to score 25,000 career points.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?” -- W.E.B. Du Bois, “Black Reconstruction in America” TODAY’S NUMBER: 6,825 -- American soldiers who died taking Iwo Jima in 1945.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 20) and first quarter moon (Feb. 27).