■ On Oct. 21, 1944, during World War II, U.S. troops captured the German city of Aachen. ■ In 1797, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as “Old Ironsides,” was christened in Boston’s harbor. ■ In 1805, a British fleet commanded by Adm. Horatio Nelson defeated a French-Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar; Nelson, however, was killed. ■ In 1879, Thomas Edison perfected a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. read more