On this day in history.

[J. A.]

May 29, 1914:
Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer, was born. He didn't know the exact date of his birth, so he decided to celebrate it at the day they reached the summit of Mount Everest.

Tenzing Norgay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[giradman]

Memorial Day on May 30

Memorial Day is a United States holiday and is celebrated on the last Monday of May, so the exact date changes - beginning description below from the Wiki article given in the link. There are many military cemeteries in this country but the most famous is Arlington National Cemetery, described in the second quote - I've visited probably three times over many decades - Arlington House can be toured - Mary Custis (a Martha Washington relative) home and after her marriage to Robert E. Lee, their family home. A few pics below - Dave

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May, originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois, established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the Union war dead with flowers. By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia is a military cemetery in the United States, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington. The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. and near The Pentagon. It is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system.

More than 300,000 people are buried in an area of 624 acres (2.53 km2). Veterans and military casualties from every one of the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, from the American Revolution through the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900. There are many unknown burials as well.

Arlington shares with Mill Springs National Cemetery, the only other open cemetery in the system, the distinction of being the oldest military burial ground in the United States.

The first soldier to be buried in Arlington was Private William Henry Christman of Pennsylvania on May 13, 1864.

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[giradman]

Lee G. Theros - Naval Officer, Multi-linguist, Radiologist, & Teacher

As a follow-up to my previous post about Memorial Day, I wanted just to mention one of the most remarkable people I once knew - he was slightly younger that my father-in-law (also a naval officer in the Pacific during WW II) - Lee was a friend and eventual colleague in Radiology (Chest & Bone his sub-specialty) at the Wake Forest Medical Center, where his daughter went to medical school. He was considered one of the most outstanding radiology teachers in the country while he was active.

He could speak 6 or 7 languages fluently, including Japanese (he was the interpreter during the Japanese surrender) - he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery - both sides of his gravestone are engraved w/ just a few of his many accomplishments. All miss him and hard to believe he's been gone since 1994. Dave

P.S. pics of his gravestone, plus the Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, September 1945.

P.S.S. before medicine, he studied opera in Italy and could have been a professional singer, so easy to imagine his lecture skills!
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[J. A.]

May 30, 1640:
Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens died.

Peter Paul Rubens - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[scifan57]

May 30, 1431;

Joan of Arc is burned at the stake for heresy in Rouen, Normandy which was then under English control.

Joan of Arc - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[giradman]

First Indianapolis 500 Race Held in 1911

The first Indianapolis 500 was held on this day in 1911 - below a pic of the 1911 winning car, a Marmon Wasp - the average speed for that racing auto on that day was 75 mph (see quote below); current speed records are shown in the charts for both overall average, around 180+ mph and lap records (about 230 mph) - times have certainly changed!

Our son lives in Indianapolis and we have visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum; we also took a bus tour around the 2.5 mile oval track - now we are not racing car fans at all, but worth a visit if in the area. Dave

On this day in 1911, Ray Harroun drives his single-seater Marmon Wasp to victory in the inaugural Indianapolis 500, now one of the world’s most famous motor racing competitions.

On May 30, 1911, 40 cars lined up at the starting line for the first Indy 500. A multi-car accident occurred 13 laps into the race, and the ensuing chaos temporarily disrupted scoring, throwing the finish into dispute when the eventual runner-up, Ralph Mulford, argued that he was the rightful winner. It was Ray Harroun, however, who took home the $14,250 purse, clocking an average speed of 74.59 mph and a total time of 6 hours and 42 minutes. The Wasp was the first car with a rear-view mirror, which Harroun had installed in order to compensate for not having a mechanic in the seat next to him to warn of other cars passing (Source).

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[scifan57]

May 30, 1971;

The Mariner 9 is launched on it's journey to Mars, where it entered orbit on November 13, 1971 and spent almost a year orbiting the planet twice a day taking thousands of pictures. Mariner 9 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[scifan57]

May 31, 1859;

Big Ben first goes into operation. Big Ben - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[giradman]

Many varied events on May 31 - a short list of just some that piqued my interest (Source):

Battle of Jutland - 1916 - greatest naval battle of WW I.
Mecklenburg Resolutions - 1775 - North Carolina - adopted in Charlotte Town, North Carolina.
Boer War Ends - 1902 - Brutal South African war between the British & Dutch Boers.
Walt Whitman is Born - 1819 - American writer & author of Leaves of Grass.
Clint Eastwood is Born - 1930 - American actor & director - 11 Oscar nominations w/ 2 wins.

Quotes below from the link give above and are in order:

1916 - Battle of Jutland - Just before four o’clock on the afternoon of May 31, 1916, a British naval force commanded by Vice Admiral David Beatty confronts a squadron of German ships, led by Admiral Franz von Hipper, some 75 miles off the Danish coast. The two squadrons opened fire on each other simultaneously, beginning the opening phase of the greatest naval battle of World War I, the Battle of Jutland.

1775 - Mecklenburg Resolutions Reject Power of the British in North Carolina - On this day in 1775, the committeemen of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, meet and respond to news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolution, with a series of 20 patriotic resolutions.

1902 - Boer War Ends - Minor fighting with Britain began in the 1890s and in 1899 full-scale war ensued. By mid-June of 1900, British forces had captured most major Boer cities and formally annexed their territories, but the Boers launched a guerrilla war that frustrated the British occupiers. Beginning in 1901, the British began a strategy of systematically searching out and destroying these guerrilla units, while herding the families of the Boer soldiers into concentration camps. By 1902, the British had crushed the Boer resistance, and on May 31 of that year, the Peace of Vereeniging was signed, ending hostilities.

1819 - Walt Whitman is born - Although Whitman loved music and books, he left school at the age of 14 to become a journeyman printer. Later, he worked as a teacher, journalist, editor, carpenter, and held various other jobs to support his writing. In 1855, he self-published a slim volume of poems called Leaves of Grass, which carried his picture but not his name. With this book, Whitman hoped to become a truly American poet, as envisioned in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “The Poet” (1843).

1930 - Clint Eastwood is born - With his father, Eastwood wandered the West Coast as a boy during the Depression. Then, after four years in the Army Special Services, Eastwood went to Hollywood, where he got his start in a string of B-movies. For eight years, Eastwood played Rowdy Yates in the popular TV Western series Rawhide, before emerging as a leading man in a string of low-budget “spaghetti” Westerns directed by Sergio Leone: Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). All three were successful, but Eastwood made his real breakthrough with 1971’s smash hit Dirty Harry, directed by Don Siegel. Though he was not the first choice to play the film’s title role–Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman all reportedly declined the part–Eastwood made it his own, turning the blunt, cynical Dirty Harry into an iconic figure in American film.

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[scifan57]

Clint Eastwood's first movie role was as a lab assistant in the movie Revenge of the Creature.

 

[giradman]

Clint Eastwood's first movie role was as a lab assistant in the movie Revenge of the Creature.

Yes, I've seen that film - use to own the Creature From the Black Lagoon trilogy on DVD - the 'Revenge......' was the second movie in that series - I did not really like either of the sequels to the original, so sold the set and bought just the first film on blu-ray (shown below along w/ Julia Adams, one of the best reasons the film deserves repeated viewing, at least for me - ) - Dave

P.S. have no idea what the '3D' version looks like on a home theater system not having the equipment - the '2D' restoration is quite satisfactory.
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[brixtonboy]

Our Jamacia


Gregory Isaacs r.i.p.

 

[giradman]

Our Jamacia

Gregory Isaacs r.i.p.

OK - I'll 'take the bait' - Issacs birth & death dates (quote below) are July 15 & October 25, respectively, i.e. not close to May 31 (the name of the thread is 'On this day in history') - SO, was there a special event today related to this reggae vocalist? Just curious - Dave

BTW - welcome to the forum and hope that you enjoy!

Gregory Anthony Isaacs (15 July 1951 – 25 October 2010) was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in The New York Times, described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae". His honorific nickname was the Cool Ruler (Source).

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[brixtonboy]

Sorry man l posted it in the wrong place.


Gregory Isaacs r.i.p.

 

[brixtonboy]

Nice picture though isn't it?


Gregory Isaacs r.i.p.