Template:On this day/May 8
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- 1973 – Gen. Alexander Archer Vandegrift, the first active-duty Marine four-star general died (aged 86) and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was born in Charlottesville on March 13, 1887, the only grandchild of Robert Carson Vandegrift (1832-1921); member of the Monticello Guard, survivor of Pickett's Charge, later transferred and promoted to sergeant in the Army of Northern Virginia, in which capacity he served until the surrender at Appomattox where he was in attendance with General Robert E. Lee.