On This Day in History

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November 5th in music.

1988 - Beach Boys went to No. 1 on the US singles chart with 'Kokomo'. The track had been featured in the film Cocktail.

Birthdays:

1911 - Roy Rogers. Singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain. He and his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino, Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog, Bullet, were featured in more than 100 movies & The Roy Rogers Show. The show ran on radio for 9 years before moving to TV from 1951 - 1957. He scored 8 US Top 40 country hits. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rogers died on 7.6.1998.

1941 - Art Garfunkel. Singer, actor. With Paul Simon as Simon and Garfunkel they scored the No. 1 hits 'The Sound of Silence', 'Bridge over Troubled Water' and 'Mrs. Robinson'. Born in Queens, New York.

1943 - Pablo Gomez. From Spanish beat group Los Bravos who had the 1966 US No. 4 single 'Black Is Black'. They were the first Spanish rock band to have a UK & US hit single.

1947 - Peter Noone. Singer with English beat rock band, Herman's Hermits who scored the 1964 single 'I'm Into Something Good' and the 1965 US No. 1 single 'Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter'. Born in Davyhulme, Manchester, England.

1948 - Don McDougall. Guitarist for The Guess Who. Born in Canada.

1957 - David Moyse. Guitarist for the Australian soft rock band Air Supply who scored the 1980 single 'All Out Of Love' and the 1981 US No. 1 single 'The One That You Love'. Born in Adelaide, Australia.

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On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois.

Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and former Whig representative to Congress, first gained national stature during his campaign against Stephen Douglas of Illinois for a U.S. Senate seat in 1858. The senatorial campaign featured a remarkable series of public encounters on the slavery issue, known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery, while Douglas maintained that each territory should have the right to decide whether it would become free or slave. Lincoln lost the Senate race, but his campaign brought national attention to the young Republican Party. In 1860, Lincoln won the party’s presidential nomination.

In the November 1860 election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the Northern faction of a heavily divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell. The announcement of Lincoln’s victory signaled the secession of the Southern states, which since the beginning of the year had been publicly threatening secession if the Republicans gained the White House.

By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established, with Jefferson Davis as its elected president. One month later, the American Civil War began when Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina. In 1863, as the tide turned against the Confederacy, Lincoln emancipated the slaves and in 1864 won reelection. In April 1865, he was assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after the American Civil War effectively ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox.

For preserving the Union and bringing an end to slavery, and for his unique character and powerful oratory, Lincoln is hailed as one of the greatest American presidents.

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On November 6, 1861, Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America. He ran without opposition, and the election simply confirmed the decision that had been made by the Confederate Congress earlier in the year.

Like his Union counterpart, President Abraham Lincoln, Davis was a native of Kentucky, born in 1808. He attended West Point and graduated in 1828. After serving in the Black Hawk War of 1832, Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of General (and future U.S. president) Zachary Taylor, in 1835. However,Sarah contracted malaria and died within several months of their marriage. Davis married Varina Howells in 1845. He served in the Mexican War (1846-48), during which he was wounded. After the war, he was appointed to fill a vacant U.S. senate seat from Mississippi, and later served as secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce.

When the Southern states began seceding after the election of Abraham Lincoln in the winter of 1860 and 1861, Davis suspected that he might be the choice of his fellow Southerners for their interim president. When the newly seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, in February1861, they decided just that. Davis expressed great fear about what lay ahead. “Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.” On November 6, Davis was elected to a six-year term as established by the Confederate constitution. He remained president until May 5, 1865, when the Confederate government was officially dissolved.

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November 6th in music.

1976 - The Steve Miller Band's "Rock 'N' Me" hits No. 1 in the US, giving the group their second chart-topper, following "The Joker."

1976 - Blue Öyster Cult land their biggest hit as "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" peaks at No. 12 in the US. The song is not about suicide, but about reuniting with loved ones in the afterlife.

Birthdays:

1948 - Glenn Frey. After moving to Los Angeles, he forms the Eagles with Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. Born in Detroit, Michigan.

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On November 7, 1775, shortly after the conviction of Dr. Church, the Continental Congress added a mandate for the death penalty as punishment for acts of espionage to the “articles of war.”

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November 7th in music.

 

1969 - Pink Floyd release their third album, Ummagumma, in the UK. Tracks include "Astronomy Domine" and "Careful With That Axe, Eugene."

 

1974 - Ted Nugent won a National Squirrel-shooting contest after picking off a squirrel at 150 yards.

 

1975 - Elton John started a three week run at No. 1 on the US album chart with 'Rock Of The Westies', the singers tenth studio album and seventh US No. 1 contained the US No. 1 single, 'Island Girl', which was released prior to the album.

 

1981 - Hall and Oates started a two week run at No. 1 on the US singles chart with 'Private Eyes', the duo's third US No. 1.

 

1987 - Tiffany became the youngest act to score a US No. 1 with 'I Think we're Alone Now'. The song written by Ritchie Cordell was initially a 1967 hit for Tommy James & the Shondells.

 

Birthdays today:

 

1937 - Mary Travers. Singer-songwriter from American folk group Peter Paul and Mary, who had the 1969 US No. 1 single 'Leaving On A Jet Plane'. 'Blowin' in the Wind' was one of their biggest hit singles. She died 9.16.2009 age 72.

 

1951 - Kevin MacDonald. Guitarist, with English rock band Cutting Crew, who scored the 1987 US No. 1 single 'I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight'.

 

1960 - Tommy Thayer. Lead guitarist, took over from Ace Frehley in American hard rock band Kiss. Thayer became the lead guitarist for Kiss in 2002.

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On November 8, 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) becomes the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible. 

Röntgen's discovery occurred accidentally in his Wurzburg, Germany, lab, where he was testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass when he noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen. He dubbed the rays that caused this glow X-rays because of their unknown nature.

X-rays are electromagnetic energy waves that act similarly to light rays, but at wavelengths approximately 1,000 times shorter than those of light. Röntgen holed up in his lab and conducted a series of experiments to better understand his discovery. He learned that X-rays penetrate human flesh but not higher-density substances such as bone or lead and that they can be photographed.

Röntgen's discovery was labeled a medical miracle and X-rays soon became an important diagnostic tool in medicine, allowing doctors to see inside the human body for the first time without surgery. In 1897, X-rays were first used on a military battlefield, during the Balkan War, to find bullets and broken bones inside patients.

Scientists were quick to realize the benefits of X-rays, but slower to comprehend the harmful effects of radiation. Initially, it was believed X-rays passed through flesh as harmlessly as light. However, within several years, researchers began to report cases of burns and skin damage after exposure to X-rays, and in 1904, Thomas Edison’s assistant, Clarence Dally, who had worked extensively with X-rays, died of skin cancer. Dally’s death caused some scientists to begin taking the risks of radiation more seriously, but they still weren’t fully understood.

During the 1930s, 40s and 50s, in fact, many American shoe stores featured shoe-fitting fluoroscopes that used X-rays to enable customers to see the bones in their feet; it wasn’t until the 1950s that this practice was determined to be risky business. 

Wilhelm Röntgen received numerous accolades for his work, including the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901, yet he remained modest and never tried to patent his discovery. Today, X-ray technology is widely used in medicine, material analysis and devices such as airport security scanners.

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On November 8, 1900, Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind (1936), is born in Atlanta, Georgia.

Mitchell worked as a journalist for the Atlanta Journal for six years. She quit after an ankle injury limited her mobility, and she devoted herself to her novel about the South during and after the Civil War. Her tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the shallow Southern belle transformed into ruthless survivor during the war, became the biggest American publishing sensation of its day. The book sold 1 million copies in its first six months in print, 8 million by the time Mitchell died in 1949, and at least 25 million more to date.

The book was made into an Oscar-winning movie in 1939. In 1988, Warner Books purchased the rights to a Gone with the Wind sequel. The book, titled Scarlett, was written by Alexandra Ripley and published in 1991. Though not a critical success, the book became a bestseller and was made into a TV miniseries. The movie was criticized (by liberal wimps and sensitive bois) for its portrayals of enslaved characters, and for whitewashing the horrors of slavery.

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November 8th in music.

 

1971 - Led Zeppelin released their fourth album. With no title printed on the album, and generally referred to as Four Symbols, The Fourth Album or Led Zeppelin IV it has gone on to sell over 37 million copies worldwide. The 19th century rustic oil painting on the front of the album was purchased by Robert Plant from an antique shop in Reading, Berkshire, England. The 20th century urban tower block on the back of the full gatefold LP cover is Butterfield Court in Eves Hill, Dudley, England.

 

2008 - AC/DC started a two-week run at No. 1 on the US album chart with 'Black Ice' the bands fifteenth studio album and the second-best selling album of 2008. Black Ice went to No. 1 in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US.

 

Birthdays

 

1929 - Bert Berns. American songwriter and producer Bert Berns. He wrote many classic songs including 'Twist And Shout', 'Hang On Sloopy', ‘Here Comes the Night’, ‘I Want Candy’, ‘Under the Boardwalk’, ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love’ and 'Brown Eyed Girl'. Born in New York City. Died on 12.30.1967.

 

1942 - Gerald Alston. Vocals, The Manhattans, 1976 US No. 1 single 'Kiss And Say Goodbye'. Born in Henderson, N.C.

 

1945. Don Murray. Drummer for The Turtles. Born in Inglewood, California.

 

1946. Roy Wood. English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. The Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Born in Kitts Green, Birmingham, England.

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On November 9, 1938, in an event that would foreshadow the Holocaust, German Nazis launch a campaign of terror against Jewish people and their homes and businesses in Germany and Austria. The violence, which continued through November 10 and was later dubbed “Kristallnacht,” or “Night of Broken Glass,” after the countless smashed windows of Jewish-owned establishments, left approximately 100 Jews dead, 7,500 Jewish businesses damaged and hundreds of synagogues, homes, schools and graveyards vandalized. An estimated 30,000 Jewish men were arrested, many of whom were then sent to concentration camps for several months; they were released when they promised to leave Germany. Kristallnacht represented a dramatic escalation of the campaign started by Adolf Hitler in 1933 when he became chancellor to purge Germany of its Jewish population.

The Nazis used the murder of a low-level German diplomat in Paris by a 17-year-old Polish Jew as an excuse to carry out the Kristallnacht attacks. On November 7, 1938, Ernst vom Rath was shot outside the German embassy by Herschel Grynszpan, who wanted revenge for his parents’ sudden deportation from Germany to Poland, along with tens of thousands of other Polish Jews. Following vom Rath’s death, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ordered German storm troopers to carry out violent riots disguised as “spontaneous demonstrations” against Jewish citizens. Local police and fire departments were told not to interfere. In the face of all the devastation, some Jews, including entire families, committed suicide.

In the aftermath of Kristallnacht, the Nazis blamed the Jews and fined them 1 billion marks (or $400 million in 1938 dollars) for vom Rath’s death. As repayment, the government seized Jewish property and kept insurance money owed to Jewish people. In its quest to create a master Aryan race, the Nazi government enacted further discriminatory policies that essentially excluded Jews from all aspects of public life.

Over 100,000 Jews fled Germany for other countries after Kristallnacht. The international community was outraged by the violent events of November 9 and 10. Some countries broke off diplomatic relations in protest, but the Nazis suffered no serious consequences, leading them to believe they could get away with the mass murder that was the Holocaust, in which an estimated 6 million European Jews died.

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On November 9, 1989, East German officials today opened the Berlin Wall, allowing travel from East to West Berlin. The following day, celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down. 

One of the ugliest and most infamous symbols of the Cold War was soon reduced to rubble that was quickly snatched up by souvenir hunters. The East German action followed a decision by Hungarian officials a few weeks earlier to open the border between Hungary and Austria. This effectively ended the purpose of the Berlin Wall, since East German citizens could now circumvent it by going through Hungary, into Austria, and thence into West Germany. 

 The decision to open the wall was also a reflection of the immense political changes taking place in East Germany, where the old communist leadership was rapidly losing power and the populace was demanding free elections and movement toward a free market system.The action also had an impact on President George Bush and his advisors. After watching television coverage of the delirious German crowds demolishing the wall, many in the Bush administration became more convinced than ever that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s statements about desiring a new relationship with the West must be taken more seriously. Unlike 1956 and 1968, when Soviet forces ruthlessly crushed protests in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, respectively, Gorbachev actually encouraged the East German action. As such, the destruction of the Berlin Wall was one of the most significant actions leading to the end of the Cold War.

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November 9th in music.

 

1962 - The Miracles release "You've Really Got A Hold On Me."

 

1974 - Bachman Turner Overdrive went to No. 1 on the US singles chart with 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet'. Randy Bachman stuttered through the lyrics of the demo recording as a private joke about his brother Gary, who had a speech impediment. The record company liked that take better than the non-stammering version and released it.

 

Birthdays:

 

1941 - Tom Fogerty. American musician Tom Fogerty, best known as the rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival who scored the 1969 US No. 2 single 'Bad Moon Rising', and the 1970 US No. 1 album Cosmo's Factory. The band has sold 26 million albums in the United States alone. Born in Berkeley, California. Fogerty died on 9.6.1990.

 

1943 - Lee Graziano. Drummer and trumpet player for American Breed who scored the 1967 US No. 5 single 'Bend Me, Shape Me'. Born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1948 - Alan Gratzer. From American rock band REO Speedwagon, who had the 1981 US No. 1's 'Keep On Loving You' and 'Can't Fight This Feeling'. They named the band REO Speedwagon, from the REO Speed Wagon, a flatbed truck. Born in Syracuse, New York.

 

1948 - Joe Bouchard. Bassist from American hard rock band Blue Oyster Cult who scored the 1976 US No. 12 single '(Don't Fear) The Reaper'. Blue Oyster Cult have sold over 24 million records worldwide. Born in Watertown, New York.

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On November 10, 1775, during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passes a resolution stating that “two Battalions of Marines be raised” for service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy. The resolution, drafted by future U.S. president John Adams and adopted in Philadelphia, created the Continental Marines and is now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps.

Serving on land and at sea, the original U.S. Marines distinguished themselves in a number of important operations during the Revolutionary War. The first Marine landing on a hostile shore occurred when a force of Marines under Captain Samuel Nicholas captured New Providence Island in the Bahamas from the British in March 1776. Nicholas was the first commissioned officer in the Continental Marines and is celebrated as the first Marine commandant. After American independence was achieved in 1783, the Continental Navy was demobilized and its Marines disbanded.

In the next decade, however, increasing conflict at sea with Revolutionary France led the U.S. Congress to establish formally the U.S. Navy in May 1798. Two months later, on July 11, President John Adams signed the bill establishing the U.S. Marine Corps as a permanent military force under the jurisdiction of the Department of Navy. U.S. Marines saw action in the so-called Quasi-War with France and then fought against the Barbary pirates of North Africa during the first years of the 19th century. Since then, Marines have participated in all the wars of the United States and in most cases were the first soldiers to fight. In all, Marines have executed more than 300 landings on foreign shores.

Today, there are more than 200,000 active-duty and reserve Marines, divided into four divisions stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Camp Pendleton, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Okinawa, Japan. Each division has one or more expeditionary units, ready to launch major operations anywhere in the world on two weeks’ notice. Marines expeditionary units are self-sufficient, with their own tanks, artillery, and air forces. The motto of the service is Semper Fidelis, meaning “Always Faithful” in Latin.

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On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members on board. It was the worst single accident in Lake Superior’s history.

The ship weighed more than 13,000 tons and was 730 feet long. It was launched in 1958 as the biggest carrier in the Great Lakes and became the first ship to carry more than a million tons of iron ore through the Soo Locks.

On November 9, the Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, with 26,000 tons of ore heading for Detroit, Michigan. The following afternoon, Ernest McSorely, the captain of the Fitzgerald and a 44-year veteran, contacted the Avafor, another ship traveling on Lake Superior and reported that his ship had encountered “one of the worst seas he had ever been in.” The Fitzgerald had lost its radar equipment and was listing badly to one side.

A couple of hours later, another ship made contact and was told that the Fitzgerald was holding its own. However, minutes afterward, the Fitzgerald disappeared from radar screens. A subsequent investigation showed that the sinking of the Fitzgerald occurred very suddenly; no distress signal was sent and the condition of the lifeboats suggested that little or no attempt was made to abandon the ship.

One possible reason for the wreck is that the Fitzgerald was carrying too much cargo. This made the ship sit low in the water and made it more vulnerable to being overwhelmed by a sudden large wave. The official report also cited the possibility that the hatches to the cargo area may have been faulty, leading to a sudden shift of the cargo that capsized the boat.

The Fitzgerald was eventually found 530 feet below the surface, 17 miles from Whitefish Bay, at the northeastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The ship had broken into two parts that were found approximately 150 feet apart. As there were no survivors among the 29 crewmembers, there will likely never be a definitive explanation of the Fitzgerald‘s sinking.

The Fitzgerald‘s sinking was the worst wreck in the Great Lakes since November 29, 1966, when 28 people died in the sinking of the Daniel J. Morrell in Lake Huron.

The disaster was immortalized in song the following year in Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

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November 10th in music.

 

1938 - On her radio show, Kate Smith sings the Irving Berlin song "God Bless America" for the first time, introducing it to the country. Berlin composed the song for a 1918 musical he wrote, but decided not to use it.

 

1973 - Elton John's album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road hits No. 1 in America, where it stays for eight weeks.

 

1975 - The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks suddenly in Lake Superior during a storm, killing all 29 men aboard and inspiring Canadian folkie Gordon Lightfoot to write a song about the tragedy, "Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald."

 

1979 - The Eagles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Heartache Tonight', the group's 5th and final US No. 1.

 

Birthdays:

 

1947 - Glenn Buxton. Guitarist with the Alice Cooper Band, who had the 1972 US No. 7 single 'School's Out', the 1972 hit 'Elected' and the 1973 US No. 1 album Billion Dollar Babies. Born in Akron, Ohio. Died on 10.19.1997.

 

1950 - Ronnie Hammond. Former frontman for Atlanta Rhythm Section. Born in Macon, Georgia.

 

1954 - Mario Cipollina. Bassist for Huey Lewis and the News. Born in San Rafael, California.

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On November 11, 1918, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure.

On June 28, 1914, in an event that is widely regarded as sparking the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was shot to death with his wife by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Ferdinand had been inspecting his uncle’s imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the threat of Serbian nationalists who wanted these Austro-Hungarian possessions to join newly independent Serbia. Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism once and for all. However, as Russia supported Serbia, an Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention.

On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed. On July 29, Austro-Hungarian forces began to shell the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and Russia, Serbia’s ally, ordered a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary. France, allied with Russia, began to mobilize on August 1. France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3. After crossing through neutral Luxembourg, the German army invaded Belgium on the night of August 3-4, prompting Great Britain, Belgium’s ally, to declare war against Germany.

For the most part, the people of Europe greeted the outbreak of war with jubilation. Most patriotically assumed that their country would be victorious within months. Of the initial belligerents, Germany was most prepared for the outbreak of hostilities, and its military leaders had formatted a sophisticated military strategy known as the “Schlieffen Plan,” which envisioned the conquest of France through a great arcing offensive through Belgium and into northern France. Russia, slow to mobilize, was to be kept occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces while Germany attacked France.

The Schlieffen Plan was nearly successful, but in early September the French rallied and halted the German advance at the bloody Battle of the Marne near Paris. By the end of 1914, well over a million soldiers of various nationalities had been killed on the battlefields of Europe, and neither for the Allies nor the Central Powers was a final victory in sight. On the western front, the battle line that stretched across northern France and Belgium, the combatants settled down in the trenches for a terrible war of attrition.

In 1915, the Allies attempted to break the stalemate with an amphibious invasion of Turkey, which had joined the Central Powers in October 1914, but after heavy bloodshed the Allies were forced to retreat in early 1916. The year 1916 saw great offensives by Germany and Britain along the western front, but neither side accomplished a decisive victory. In the east, Germany was more successful, and the disorganized Russian army suffered terrible losses, spurring the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917. By the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia and immediately set about negotiating peace with Germany. In 1918, the infusion of American troops and resources into the western front finally tipped the scale in the Allies’ favor. Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies on November 11, 1918.

World War I was known as the “war to end all wars” because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused. Unfortunately, the peace treaty that officially ended the conflict, the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, forced punitive terms on Germany that destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for World War II.

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On November 11, 1921, exactly three years after the end of World War I, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia during an Armistice Day ceremony presided over by President Warren G. Harding.

Two days before, an unknown American soldier, who had fallen somewhere on a World War I battlefield, arrived at the nation’s capital from a military cemetery in France. On Armistice Day, in the presence of President Harding and other government, military, and international dignitaries, the unknown soldier was buried with highest honors beside the Memorial Amphitheater. As the soldier was lowered to his final resting place, a two-inch layer of soil brought from France was placed below his coffin so that he might rest forever atop the earth on which he died.

The Tomb of the Unknown Solider is considered the most hallowed grave at Arlington Cemetery, America’s most sacred military cemetery. The tombstone itself, designed by sculptor Thomas Hudson Jones, was not completed until 1932, when it was unveiled bearing the description “Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God.” The World War I unknown was later joined by the unidentified remains of soldiers from America’s other major 20th century wars and the tomb was put under permanent guard by special military sentinels.

In 1998, a Vietnam War unknown, who was buried at the tomb for 14 years, was disinterred from the Tomb after DNA testing indicated his identity. Air Force Lieutenant Michael Blassie was returned to his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and was buried with military honors, including an F-15 jet “missing man” flyover and a lone bugler sounding taps.

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On November 11, 1942, Congress approves lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to age 37.

In September 1940, Congress, by wide margins in both houses, passed the Burke-Wadsworth Act, and the first peacetime draft was imposed in the history of the United States. The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later. There were some 20 million eligible young men, 50 percent were rejected the very first year, either for health reasons or because 20 percent of those who registered were illiterate.

But by November 1942, with the United States now a participant in the war, and not merely a neutral bystander, the draft ages had to be expanded; men 18 to 37 were now eligible.

By war’s end, approximately 34 million men had registered; 10 million had been inducted into the military.

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November 11th in music.

 

1954 - Bill Haley scored his first US Top ten single with 'Shake Rattle And Roll'. ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ was originally made popular by Big Joe Turner.

 

1958 - Hank Ballard and the Midnighters record "The Twist," which later becomes a huge hit for Chubby Checker.

 

Birthdays:

 

1946 - Chris Dreja. English guitarist with The Yardbirds who had the 1965 US No. 6 single 'For Your Love'. The Yardbirds spawned such noteworthy musicians as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Born in Surbiton, England.

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On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts it doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892. Today, tens of millions of Americans can trace their roots through Ellis Island, located in New York Harbor off the New Jersey coast and named for merchant Samuel Ellis, who owned the land in the 1770s.

On January 2, 1892, 15-year-old Annie Moore, from Ireland, became the first person to pass through the newly opened Ellis Island, which President Benjamin Harrison designated as America’s first federal immigration center in 1890. Before that time, the processing of immigrants had been handled by individual states.

Not all immigrants who sailed into New York had to go through Ellis Island. First- and second-class passengers submitted to a brief shipboard inspection and then disembarked at the piers in New York or New Jersey, where they passed through customs. People in third class, though, were transported to Ellis Island, where they underwent medical and legal inspections to ensure they didn’t have a contagious disease or some condition that would make them a burden to the government. Only two percent of all immigrants were denied entrance into the U.S.

Immigration to Ellis Island peaked between 1892 and 1924, during which time the 3.3-acre island was enlarged with landfill (by the 1930s it reached its current 27.5-acre size) and additional buildings were constructed to handle the massive influx of immigrants. During the busiest year of operation, 1907, over 1 million people were processed at Ellis Island.

With America’s entrance into World War I, immigration declined and Ellis Island was used as a detention center for suspected enemies. Following the war, Congress passed quota laws and the Immigration Act of 1924, which sharply reduced the number of newcomers allowed into the country and also enabled immigrants to be processed at U.S. consulates abroad. After 1924, Ellis Island switched from a processing center to serving other purposes, such as a detention and deportation center, a hospital for wounded soldiers during World War II and a Coast Guard training center. In November 1954, the last detainee, a Norwegian merchant seaman, was released and Ellis Island officially closed.

Beginning in 1984, Ellis Island underwent a $160 million renovation, the largest historic restoration project in U.S. history. In September 1990, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum opened to the public and today is visited by almost 2 million people each year.

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November 12th in music.

Birthdays:

1943 - Brian Hyland. US singer, 1960 US No. 1 single 'Itsy Bitsy Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'. Born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York.

1945 - Neil Young. Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist who as a member of Buffalo Springfield had the 1967 US No. 17 single 'For What It's Worth'. Joined Crosby, Stills Nash & Young who had the 1970 US No. 1 album DejVu. As a solo artist Young scored the 1972 US No. 1 single Heart Of Gold. In 2008 a newly discovered trapdoor spider Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi was named after the singer.

1947 - Buck Dharma. From American hard rock band Blue Oyster Cult who scored the 1976 US No. 12 single '(Don't Fear) The Reaper'. Blue Oyster Cult have sold over 24 million records worldwide. Born in Long Island, New York

1948 - Errol Brown. Singer, Hot Chocolate, who had the 1975 US No. 3 single 'You Sexy Thing' and over 25 other Top 40 hits. Hot Chocolate started their recording career making a reggae version of John Lennon's 'Give Peace a Chance', and was contacted by Apple Records, saying that Lennon liked this version, and the group was subsequently signed to Apple Records. Born in Kingston, Jamaica. Brown died on 5.6.2015.

1952 - Laurence Juber. British guitarist, most famous for playing lead guitar with Paul McCartney in Wings.

1955 - Les McKeown. Scottish singer of the 1970s pop group, Bay City Rollers who had the 1975 UK No. 1 single 'Bye Bye Baby' plus 11 other UK Top 20 singles' and the 1976 US No. 1 single 'Saturday Night'. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

[Schmidt Meister]

On November 13, 1982, near the end of a weeklong national salute to Americans who served in the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of veterans of the conflict. The long-awaited memorial was a simple V-shaped black granite wall inscribed with the names of the 57,939 Americans who died in the conflict, arranged in order of death, not rank, as was common in other memorials.

The designer of the memorial was Maya Lin, a Yale University architecture student who entered a nationwide competition to create a design for the monument. Lin, born in Ohio in 1959, was the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Many veterans’ groups were opposed to Lin’s winning design, which lacked a standard memorial’s heroic statues and stirring words. However, a remarkable shift in public opinion occurred in the months after the memorial’s dedication. Veterans and families of the dead walked the black reflective wall, seeking the names of their loved ones killed in the conflict. Once the name was located, visitors often made an etching or left a private offering, from notes and flowers to dog tags and cans of beer.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial soon became one of the most visited memorials in the nation’s capital. A Smithsonian Institution director called it “a community of feelings, almost a sacred precinct,” and a veteran declared that “it’s the parade we never got.” “The Wall” drew together both those who fought and those who marched against the war and served to promote national healing a decade after the divisive conflict’s end.

[Schmidt Meister]

November 13th in music.

 

1968 - Hugo Montenegro was at No. 1 in the UK singles chart with 'The Good The Bad And The Ugly', the soundtrack from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western film. The first instrumental No. 1 since 1963.

 

1971 - Three Dog Night releases "An Old Fashioned Love Song."

 

1976 - Led Zeppelin released the film soundtrack double album The Song Remains The Same, peaking at No. 2 on the US chart. The tracks were recorded at Madison Square Garden, New York City in 1973.

 

1976 - Rod Stewart started an 8 week run at No. 1 on the US singles chart with 'Tonight's The Night'. It was Rod's second US No. 1. (It made No. 5 in the UK after being banned by many radio stations due to song being about the seduction of a virgin.) The song features whispers from actress Britt Ekland who was Stewart's girlfriend at the time.

 

Birthdays:

 

1947 - Toy Caldwell. Lead guitarist and main songwriter of the 1970s Southern Rock group The Marshall Tucker Band. Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Caldwell died on 2.25.1993 age 45.

 

1951 - Bill Gibson. From Huey Lewis and the News who had the 1985 US No. 1 single 'The Power Of Love'. Their third, and best-selling, album was the 1983 Sports, and they contributed to the soundtrack of the 1985 feature film Back to the Future. Born in Sacramento, California.

[Schmidt Meister]

On November 14, 1969, Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of the moon, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr.; Richard F. Gordon, Jr.; and Alan L. Bean aboard. President Richard Nixon viewed the liftoff from Pad A at Cape Canaveral. He was the first president to attend the liftoff of a manned space flight.

Thirty-six seconds after takeoff, lightning struck the ascending Saturn 5 launch rocket, which tripped the circuit breakers in the command module and caused a power failure. Fortunately, the launching rocket continued up normally, and within a few minutes power was restored in the spacecraft.

On November 19, the landing module Intrepid made a precision landing on the northwest rim of the moon’s Ocean of Storms. About five hours later, astronauts Conrad and Bean became the third and fourth humans to walk on the surface of the moon. During the next 32 hours, the two astronauts made two lunar walks, where they collected lunar samples and investigated the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, an unmanned U.S. probe that soft-landed on the moon in 1967. On November 24, Apollo 12 successfully returned to Earth, splashing down only three miles from one of its retrieval ships, the USS Hornet.

[Schmidt Meister]

November 14th in music.

 

1960 - Ray Charles went to No. 1 on the US singles chart with 'Georgia On My Mind'. His cover of Hoagy Carmichael's 1930 standard, became the first of three No. 1 hits for the singer.

 

1969 - 'Sugar Sugar' by The Archies was at No. 1 on the UK singles chart. It was the first No. 1 performed by cartoon characters.

 

2006 - Led Zeppelin were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame by Roger Taylor of Queen. Jimmy Page personally accepted the award in front of a 3,000 strong audience during the 3rd annual induction ceremony which was held at the famed Alexandra Palace in London.

 

Birthdays:

 

1949 - James Young. Guitar, Styx, 1979 US No. 1 single 'Babe'. Born in Western Springs, Illinois.