Milestones

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, ELIZABETH L. BLAND, Carolina A. Miranda, Susan M. Reed

Retiring. Lance Armstrong, 33, six-time Tour de France winner; after this year's Tour ends in July. Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer in the late 1990s, told reporters covering the Tour de Georgia, probably his last U.S. event, that he missed his three children and his younger, fitter body. "It's not an old man's race," he said.

Pleaded guilty. Zacarias Moussaoui, 36, self-described al-Qaeda conspirator and the only person in the U.S. charged in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks; after a judge declared him fit to stand trial, the culmination of more than three years of legal maneuvering that included a 2002 attempt by Moussaoui to plead guilty, which he later retracted; in Alexandria, Va. Moussaoui, who faces the death penalty, vowed to fight execution.

Convicted. Hasan Akbar, 34, U.S. Army sergeant; of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two military officers and wounded 14 other men in Kuwait in March 2003, as his division was preparing to move into Iraq; by a military jury in Fort Bragg, N.C. Prosecutors say Akbar, who faces the death penalty, told investigators his middle-of-the-night attack was motivated by his fears that U.S. soldiers would kill his fellow Muslims in Iraq.

Died. Sam Mills, 45, diminutive but determined former NFL linebacker who, at 5 ft. 9 in., went on to coach outsize linebackers for the Carolina Panthers and helped guide the little regarded team to a surprise Super Bowl berth in 2004; after a nearly two-year battle with intestinal cancer; at his home in Charlotte, N.C.

Died. W.B. Lipes, 84, lieut. commander for the U.S. Navy and pharmacist's mate whose emergency appendectomy on a shipmate--the first ever on a submarine--became one of the most famous lifesaving feats of World War II; of pancreatic cancer; in New Bern, N.C. When Seaman Darrell Rector fell ill on Sept. 11, 1942, aboard the Seadragon--which had no doctor on board and was a week away from the nearest port--Lipes, who had observed the procedure as a lab technician, was ordered to lead the surgical team. Using ground sulfa pills as an antiseptic and a gauze-covered tea strainer as an ether mask, he removed the appendix in 21/2 hours, sending Rector back to work within two weeks.

Died. Jose Melis, 85, Havana-born bandleader for The Tonight Show whose affectionate bantering with host Jack Paar, an old Army buddy, set the model for Doc Severinsen, Paul Shaffer and other late-night musician sidekicks who followed; in Sun City, Ariz.

Died. Sir John Mills, 97, versatile, much loved British actor; in Denham, Britain. While touring Asia with a traveling theater company, the young Mills was spotted by Noel Coward, who helped him find good parts in London, some in plays (Cavalcade) and films (In Which We Serve) by Coward. Mills won an Oscar for his supporting role as a mute in David Lean's 1970 film Ryan's Daughter. Lean also directed him in Great Expectations and Hobson's Choice. The nimble, enduring Mills, who appeared in more than 100 movies, made four with his daughter Hayley, including Tiger Bay and The Chalk Garden.

Died. Ruth Hussey, 93, onetime model best known for her Oscar-nominated role as the wisecracking photographer sent with reporter Jimmy Stewart to cover the high-society wedding of Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story; in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Hired by MGM in 1937, reportedly as a threat to keep stars Myrna Loy and Norma Shearer in line, she appeared in more than 40 films, including Northwest Passage, opposite Spencer Tracy, and as athlete Jordan Baker in the 1949 remake of The Great Gatsby.