September 2 Happy Labor Day

31 BC - Battle of Actium: Decisive naval battle that effectively ends the Roman Republic. Octavian's forces defeat those under Marc Antony and Cleopatra off the western coast of Greece.

1192 - Sultan Saladin and King Richard the Lionheart of England over Jerusalem, ending the Third Crusade in a compromise that neither are happy with. It leaves Jerusalem in Islamic control, Christian pilgrimage rights and restores the Kingdom and of Jerusalem.


1666 - Great Fire of London begins in Pudding Lane. 80% of London is destroyed.


1864 - American Civil War: Union General William T. Sherman captures and occupies Atlanta, Georgia ending the Atlanta Campaign.


1807 - The Royal Navyv bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering it's fleet to Napoleon.

1901 - Theodore Rooadvises to " talk softly and carry a big stick" to the Minnesota State Fair.

1986 - Cathy Evelyn Smith sentenced to three years for the drug related death of John Belushi.

2005 - Bob "Gilligan" Denver passes away.


1946 - Billy Preston was born.

 

On this day in history, September 2, 1944, George H.W. Bush is shot down during World War II
Future president was only survivor after aircraft shot down by enemy fire


George H.W. Bush was captain of the championship Yale baseball team, while completing college in 2-1/2 years after war service, Phi Beta Kappa, Economics, in 1948.

While off the Japanese island of Chichijima on this day in history on Sept. 2, 1944, then-future President George H.W. Bush was the only survivor after his aircraft was shot down by enemy fire, according to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.

At the time, Lt. Junior Grade George Bush was a pilot with Torpedo Squadron Fifty-One (VT-51) aboard the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), a light carrier that was deployed in the North Pacific, according to U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.

Bush’s squadron was conducting a bombing mission when it encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire, according to records from the U.S. Navy.

"The engine on Bush’s plane was set ablaze, yet Bush managed to release his bombs and head back toward the aircraft carrier San Jacinto before bailing out over the water," said History.com.

Bush parachuted safely into the water.

Once in the water, he unleashed his inflatable yellow lifeboat, crawled in and paddled quickly out to sea, recounted the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.

Two other crew members perished in the attack, said the same source.

As a 20-year-old naval aviator, Bush survived for hours in the ocean until he was rescued by an American submarine, according the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

 

1935: The most powerful hurricane in US history makes landfall
Birthed near the Bahamas as a weak tropical depression, a monstrous hurricane packing sustained high winds of 185 mph makes landfall over the upper Florida Keys, where a storm surge 20 feet high swamps the low-lying islands. Upwards of 600 people will perish in the Labor Day hurricane.

 

2 Sep 1939
Germany annexed the Free City of Danzig. Adolf Hitler advised the United Kingdom and France that he would withdraw from Poland if allowed to keep Danzig and the Polish corridor.

Benito Mussolini continued to urge peace between Germany, United Kingdom, and France, without any success.

During the day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier issued a joint ultimatum to Germany, demanding the withdraw of troops from Poland within 12 hours. During the late hours of the night, Chamberlain attempted to convince Dalalier to carry out the threat from the earlier ultimatum by declaring war on Germany early in the next morning.

The Times Literary Supplement reported that the copy of the Magna Carta owned by the Lincoln Cathedral of England, currently on display at the 1939 New York World's Fair, would remain in the United States under the care of the Library of Congress for the duration of the war. It would be stored at Fort Knox until its return to Lincoln in 1944.

The National Service (Armed Forces) Act was passed in Great Britain. It would be enacted on the following day upon Britain's official entry into the European War.

2 Sep 1944
German troops began evacuating the Aegean Islands. Canadian troops crossed into Belgium. The British 51st Highland Division entered Saint-Valery-en-Caux, France, where most of the original division had been taken prisoner in Jun 1940.

2 Sep 1945
Japan signed the surrender document aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan. Later on the same day, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters issued General Order No. 1 written by US Joint Chiefs of Staff, which instructed Japanese forces on matters of surrender.

 

September 3

301 - San Marino, one of the smallest nations and the first republic in the world, is founded by Saint Marinus.


1650 - Battle of Dunbar: Oliver Cromwell's English New Model Army defeats Scotland in a sneak attack.


1783 - Treaty of Paris is signed in Paris, ending the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States of America.


1944 - Holocaust diaries Anne Frank is sent to Auschwitz concentration camp.


1966 - Donovan's hits number one with Sunshine Superman.


1928 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb hits his 4,189th and final career hit as a pinch hitter for the Philadelphia A's in a 6-1 loss to the Washington Senators.


1928 - Whitey Bolger is born.


1970 - Vince Lombardi passes away.

 

On September 3, 1777' the first version of the American Flag, the 'stars and stripes' - which was barely 3 months old, made its debut on the battlefield.

During the Revolutionary War skirmish at Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware. Patriot General William Maxwell ordered the stars and stripes banner raised as a detachment of his infantry and cavalry met an advance guard of British and Hessian troops. The rebels were defeated and forced to retreat to General George Washington’s main force near Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania.

On June 14 of that year, the Continental Congress had adopted a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

It has never been verified by historians that Betsy Ross sewed the first flag, but she continues to receive that recognition.



Over the centuries since, patriotic Americans have died in battle to preserve the flag and the ideals it represents - ironically protecting the free speech rights of those who woud disrespect and burn it.

 

Coronation of Richard the Lionheart

1189 Richard the Lionheart is crowned in Westminster. 30 Jews are massacred after the coronation - Richard ordered the perpetrators be executed.



King Richard the Lionheart

Full Name: Richard I
Profession: King of England

Biography: Richard the Lionheart reigned as King of England from 1189, when he inherited the throne from his father Henry II of England, until his death in 1199. He was given the title Richard Cœur de Lion, or Richard the Lionheart, as a result of his reputation as a warrior and military leader.

Richard attained to military command very early, leading his first army at age 16 to put down a rebellion against his father. He went on to be the key Christian commander during the Third Crusade, in which he achieved several major victories against Saladin.

While Richard seemed to have little interest in ruling his lands, he used their wealth to military ends which earned him much renown among the people. He was seen as a hero for his defense of the realm and fighting in the Holy Land.

Born: September 8, 1157
Birthplace: Oxford, England
Star Sign: Virgo

Died: April 6, 1199 (aged 41)
Cause of Death: Infection after being wounded by a crossbow

 

1838: Douglass escapes slavery, heads north to freedom
Born into slavery in Maryland, future statesman and abolitionist Frederick Douglass makes his third attempt to escape his bonds and head north. Dressed as a sailor and carrying false identification papers, he boards a train in Baltimore and in 24 hours will arrive at a safe house in New York City.

 

1976 - Viking 2's Mars Landing
After a nearly yearlong journey, NASA's robotic spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars this day in 1976 and began relaying information about the planet's atmosphere and soil as well as color photographs of the rocky surface.

 

3 Sep 1939
At 0900 hours, British Ambassador in Germany Nevile Henderson delivered the British declaration of war to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, effective at 1100 hours; British Commonwealth nations of New Zealand and Australia followed suit. France would also declare war later on this day, effective at 1700 hours. In the afternoon, Adolf Hitler issued an order to his generals, again stressing that German troops must not attack British and French positions. Finally, Hitler also sent a message to the Soviet Union, asking the Soviets to jointly invade Poland.

At 1115 hours, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced over radio that because Germany had failed to withdraw troops from Poland by 1100 hours, a state of war now existed between the United Kingdom and Germany.

The National Service (Armed Forces) Act, which had passed the British Parliament the day before, was officially enacted upon the British declaration of war on German. The Act contained a provision that if a man required to register under the Act objected to being placed on the Military Service Register and thus be eligible for call-up, he should apply for his name to be placed on the Register of Conscientious Objectors instead. He would then be called before a local tribunal to explain why he should be exempt from a service his fellow men were compelled to undertake.

British Member of Parliament Winston Churchill became the First Lord of the Admiralty, a post he had held during the Great War (WWI).

German submarine U-30 torpedoed British passenger liner Athenia in the Atlantic Ocean.

3 Sep 1944
In Belgium, British Second Army captured Brussels and US First Army captured Tournai.

US and French troops reached Lyon, France.

Feldmarschal von Rundstedt took command of German forces in the West.

 

September 4

476 - Romolus Augustus, the last Western Roman Emporor, abdicates after forces led by Odacer invade Rome. Traditional end of the Western Roman Empire.

1609 - Navigator Henry Hudson is first European to discover the island of Manhattan (possibly September 11)



1862 - General Robert E. Lee begins the Maryland Campaign invading the North with 50,000 troops.


1936 RKO Radio Pictures releaseses "Swing Time" starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger's.



1918 - Paul Harvey was born. Now you know the rest of the story.

 

1969 - Radio Hanoi announced the death of Ho Chi Minh.

 

On September 4, 1781, a group of settlers consisting of 14 families numbering 44 individuals of Native American, African and European heritage journeyed more than one-thousand miles across the desert from present-day northern Mexico and established a farming community in the area naming it "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula" which in English translated to "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula".

Over time this community would grow under the flags of Spain, Mexico and eventually the United States to become one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world, the City of Los Angeles.

Today, the original pueblo is commemorated as a Los Angeles Historical Monument:


L.A., after the invention of the camera:

^^^
THAT is now this:

 

On this day in history, September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa is canonized: 'Generous dispenser of divine mercy'
The canonization occurred a day before the 19th anniversary of her death


Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa on Sept. 4, 2016, giving her the new title of Saint Teresa of Calcutta. The Albanian nun died almost exactly 19 years before her canonization.

Mother Teresa was canonized, or officially recognized as a saint, on this day in history, Sept. 4, 2016.

She was given the title "Saint Teresa of Calcutta."

"Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded," said Pope Francis during her canonization Mass.

Mother Teresa "was committed to defending life," said Pope Francis, and "bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity."

"For Mother Teresa, mercy was the ‘salt’ which gave flavor to her work, it was the ‘light’ which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering," he said.

The canonization Mass occurred on the day before the 19th anniversary of her death on Sept. 5, 1997, at age 87.

Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in what is now known as Skjope, North Macedonia, Mother Teresa was of Albanian heritage, according to the website for the Nobel Peace Prize.

First feeling the call to religious life during her adolescence, she left home in September 1928 at age 18 and moved to Ireland, joining the Sisters of Loreto.

With the Sisters of Loreto, the teenage Agnes was given the religious name "Sister Mary Teresa," in honor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Vatican's website says.

A little over a year after her arrival in Ireland, she was sent to one of the Sisters of Loreto's missions in India, a country that would become her adopted homeland.

She made her first profession of vows in May 1931, and was assigned to the Sisters of Loreto's community in Calcutta, said the Vatican's website.

She professed her final vows with the Sisters of Loreto in 1937 and became known as "Mother Teresa."

 

1972: Spitz rules the pool at Munich's Olympic games
Swimming phenom Mark Spitz, 22, caps off 16 years of medal-winning competition with the biggest amateur athletics prize of all, Olympic gold. The famously mustachioed US swimmer takes a total of seven gold medals at the Munich Games, a record that will stand for 36 years.

 

During the early morning hours of September 5, 1972, a group of Palestinian terrorists stormed the Olympic Village apartment of the Israeli athletes in Munich, killed two and took nine others hostage.

The terrorists were part of a group known as Black September and demanded that Israel release over 230 Arab prisoners being held in Israeli jails and two German terrorists in return for the release of the hostages. In an ensuing shootout at the Munich airport, the nine Israeli hostages were killed along with five terrorists and one West German policeman. Olympic competition was suspended for 24 hours to hold memorial services for the slain athletes.

The Israeli Mossad launched 'Operation Wrath of God', a covert operation to assassinate individuals they accused of being involved in the Munich massacre. The targets were members of the Palestinian armed militant group Black September and operatives of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

While Mossad killed several prominent Palestinians during the operation, they never managed to kill the mastermind behind Munich, namely Abu Daoud, who would die of kidney failure on July 3, 2010.

The operation was depicted in the television film Sword of Gideon (1986) and Steven Spielberg's film Munich (2005).







On a personal note, my hitchiking partner and I saw the local headline the next morning as we were trying to thumb a ride North out of Santa Cruz, CA.

 

1793: Reign of terror begins in France
In France, a Committee of Public Safety is set up to deal with government enemies in the wake of the monarchy's overthrow. But safety will not be maintained as in-fighting reaches epic proportions, leaving tens of thousands dead, many by the "National Razor" (guillotine), during the 11-month Reign of Terror.

 

On this day in history, September 5, 1774, First Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia
Colonists joined in solidarity with Massachusetts in wake of Boston Tea Party, set stage for open armed rebellion


Boston Tea Party, Dec. 26, 1773. Inhabitants of Boston, Mass., dressed as American Indians, throwing tea from vessels in the harbor into the water as a protest against British taxation; "no taxation without representation." Late 19th century wood engraving.

The First Continental Congress, a brazen show of both defiance and union by the American colonies on the road to revolution, met on this day in history, Sept. 5, 1774.

It was the first time many of the transformative figures in human history known as the Founding Fathers would meet.

John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Jay and George Washington all attended the convention at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia.

The gathering of colonial leaders was sparked by the increasingly dire battle — a pressure cooker of punishments and protests — that was brewing between Parliament and the city of Boston.

"Across North America, colonists rose in solidarity with the people of Massachusetts," notes the library of George Washington's Mount Vernon on the origins about the Continental Congress.

The convention came in the wake of the Boston Tea Party of December 1773. Colonists responded to a new round of parliamentary taxes by dumping shipments of British tea into Boston Harbor.

Parliament doubled down with the Intolerable Acts of May 1774.

They closed the port of Boston to trade, revoked the Massachusetts charter and severely restricted meetings of local government, among other affronts to a colony that had grown used to self-rule over the previous 150-plus years.

Colonial leaders were stunned by the Intolerable Acts. They realized that Britain's unchecked power to financially and politically punish Massachusetts, which had no representation in Parliament, could soon strike them.

They demanded a unified colonial response.


Carpenters' Hall, built in 1774-76 and the site of the First Continental Congress. The photo is from December 2015.

"Goods arrived in Massachusetts from as far south as Georgia, and by late spring 1774, nine of the colonies called for a continental congress. Virginia’s Committee of Correspondence is largely credited with originating the invitation," states Mount Vernon.

The convention was seen across New England, and in Massachusetts especially, as a rousing assertion of American autonomy in the face of growing animosity with Great Britain.

"There had been a rousing send-off in Boston, on August 10, 1774, and in full view of British troops," the late David McCullough wrote of the Massachusetts delegation's departure for the convention in his 2001 "John Adams" biography.

"It had been a triumphal, leisurely journey of nearly three weeks, with welcoming parties riding out to greet them at town after town. They were feted and toasted, prayers were said, church bells rang," MuCullough also wrote.

"At New Haven, ‘every bell was clanging,' people were crowded in doors and windows 'as if to see a coronation.'"

The First Continental Congress consisted of 56 delegates from 12 of the 13 original colonies — Georgia did not participate. It lasted through October 26.

 

5 Sep 1944
British forces reached Ghent, Belgium.

Resupplied with fuel, the US Third Army crossed the Meuse River in what become known as the Lorraine Campaign. Having advanced rapidly across France to this point in a month from the Normandy beaches, the Lorraine Campaign would be slow and difficult and last though most of November, 1944.