Today in History

Peacoat · Dec 7, 2019

Although today is "[A] date which will live in infamy," it is now mostly un-noted and unremarked upon. Heard nothing about it on NPR this morning, and there is no story on it in our local paper. Time erases memories and heals most wounds.

LizzieMaine · Dec 7, 2019

Years ago I found a diary that had belonged to a young woman in one of the rural towns around here -- she was in her early twenties, as near as I could figure, and she had the habit of making a note in that diary each day. Her entire entry for December 7, 1941 was "Went to Gert's to visit. Stayed in at night."

Fading Fast · Dec 7, 2019

LizzieMaine said:
Years ago I found a diary that had belonged to a young woman in one of the rural towns around here -- she was in her early twenties, as near as I could figure, and she had the habit of making a note in that diary each day. Her entire entry for December 7, 1941 was "Went to Gert's to visit. Stayed in at night."

Did she also note that the wireless was out?

LizzieMaine · Dec 7, 2019

No, but the next day she "went over to Gert's and listened to the President." So apparently she didn't have a radio at home. A lot of rural families here didn't.

AbbaDatDeHat · Dec 7, 2019

Peacoat said:
Although today is "[A] date which will live in infamy," it is now mostly un-noted and unremarked upon. Heard nothing about it on NPR this morning, and there is no story on it in our local paper. Time erases memories and heals most wounds.

Sadly true. Really pisses me off too!!
Sometimes i believe the wounds healed are only buried to be festered until later.

Woodtroll · Dec 7, 2019

AbbaDatDeHat said:
Sadly true. Really pisses me off too!!

Yes, indeed.

Fading Fast · Dec 8, 2019

My family is a great example of why. My grandmother was ~46 and my dad was 17 when it happened - and, to them, December 7th meant a lot and was talked about in our family on its anniversary every year. My girlfriend's dad was 12 and her mom was 9 and they, too, talk about it, but since they were still kids when it happened, it seems one-notch down from how my grandmother and dad felt about it - my guess, it's because they both knew, at that exact moment, that my dad was going off to war.

My grandmother and dad are dead and my girlfriend's parents are very old and, honestly, most of their friends are dead and, let's not kid ourselves, they are all but invisible to our culture with only close family caring about them. I still think about it on December 7th, but in truth, I think about my grandmother and dad thinking about it at least as much as the event itself as, obviously, I didn't live through it.

As are almost all of us here, I'm a big fan of history and want our country to remember, but time forces events to recede from being viscerally felt to becoming history as those who lived through the event pass away.

Peacoat · Dec 9, 2019

And what about today in 1980? It was the second time the music died. The first was February 3, 1959.

Have we already forgotten John Lennon? Has he faded so far in the past that we don't think of him on the day he died?

EngProf · Dec 9, 2019

LizzieMaine said:
No, but the next day she "went over to Gert's and listened to the President." So apparently she didn't have a radio at home. A lot of rural families here didn't.

Key point is "rural". My parents, aunts, uncles, etc. were poor and lived out in the country (Tennessee) and had no radios. (Or maybe they didn't have any radios that they did have turned on.)
My dad told about how he just happened to go to the local general store and heard about it on the radio there. If he hadn't done that the folks would likely not have known about it for at least a day or so.

crawlinkingsnake · Dec 9, 2019

AbbaDatDeHat said:
Sadly true. Really pisses me off too!!
Sometimes i believe the wounds healed are only buried to be festered until later.

Happy to report a local high school here held an assembly on front campus with ROTC, school band, choir and speakers.

AbbaDatDeHat · Dec 9, 2019

crawlinkingsnake said:
Happy to report a local high school here held an assembly on front campus with ROTC, school band, choir and speakers.

Good to hear.
At least we West Virginians are like minded.
Go Eer’s.
B

MissMittens · Dec 11, 2019

Today in 1931, the United Kingdom ratified the Statute of Westminster, giving legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Newfoundland.

And on this day in 1936, King Edward VII, the Nazi sympathizing King of England, was forced to abdicate the throne in order to marry American, Wallis Simpson

Peacoat · Dec 16, 2019

Today in 1944 the Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxembourg. The Allies prevailed and were eventually able to turn the Germans back with a resulting loss of life on both sides of over 36,000. Many more were wounded, captured or missing. The Battle lasted until January 25, 1945.

scotrace · Dec 16, 2019

My father was in the infantry throughout. Slept in foxholes in the snow, got a field promotion when his CO was shot dead a foot away from him.

Fading Fast · Dec 16, 2019

scotrace said:
My father was in the infantry throughout. Slept in foxholes in the snow, got a field promotion when his CO was shot dead a foot away from him.

Very impressive.

Juanito · Dec 17, 2019

While I missed the December 7th and 16th (yesterday) "what happened on this day", in early December, I think of two servicemen from my little town of 150 that were killed in WWII on those two days. Claude Gowey was on the Oklahoma on December 7th. I just ran across an article that his remains were identified about a year ago.

The second one is SSGT Tiney H. Roten of the 60th Armored batallion who with his platoon were assigned a defensive position near Beaufort, Luxembourg on December 10th, then bore the full force of the German Army's advance on the morning of December 16th, the start of the Battle of the Bulge. Roten's platoon was completely surrounded and wiped out that by the afternoon. He, along with140 other men of the company were initially reported as missing, but later confirmed killed on the first day of the Bulge.

MissMittens · Jan 9, 2020

Today in 1839 at the French Academy of Science, the Daguerreotype process was announced, ushering in the age of the visual image keepsake most of us now use our mobile phones for, the photograph.

On this day in 1947, Elizabeth Short was last seen alive. She became known for eternity as the Black Dahlia.

scotrace · Jan 11, 2020

I once read, and this may be too interesting to be true, that the first thing Daguerre photographed was the Paris street view outside his window. After determining that his camera worked, the second thing he photographed was a nude prostitute.

Lean'n'mean · Jan 12, 2020

scotrace said:
I once read, and this may be too interesting to be true, that the first thing Daguerre photographed was the Paris street view outside his window. After determining that his camera worked, the second thing he photographed was a nude prostitute.

Voila! the first photo taken by Daguerre ( next to the great man himself) & if you want ot see the second photo taken by him, it'll cost you a hundred bucks.

Nobert · Jan 12, 2020

Lean'n'mean said:
Voila! the first photo taken by Daguerre ( next to the great man himself) & if you want ot see the second photo taken by him, it'll cost you a hundred bucks.

The thing I remember hearing about this picture is that it's the first photograph ever with a human being in it. The fellow in the sidewalk at lower left was tying his shoe or something, and stayed in the same place long enough to be immortalized by the leisurely, 19th century exposure times.

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