August 15: ON THIS DAY IN 1945, Japs ordered to cease fire

August 15, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Guam, Aug. 15 (U.P.) — Two tremendous torpedo explosions sank the heavy cruiser Indianapolis July 30 and caused 1,196 casualties — every man aboard the ship — while she was bound for Guam to Leyte, survivors reported today. The navy announced that 880 of the casualties were killed or missing in one of the worst U.S. naval disasters of war or peacetime history. The other 316 casualties were wounded. The 9,950-ton cruiser was sunk shortly after delivering essential atomic bomb material to Guam. Survivors said they watched some 200 of their shipmates perish after five days of helplessness threshing in the sea. Many of the men went mad from drinking sea water before the group was sighted by search planes 280 miles north of Peleliu.” On Aug. 19, 2017, a group led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discovered the wreckage of the Indianapolis in the Philippine Sea.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “’Space Ships on Parade’ will be the theme of the weekly fireworks show at Coney Island Tuesday evening starting at 9 o’clock. Flaming rockets will flash through Coney Island skies in multiple streaks, while red and green fleets of space ships will spread out in great aerial convoys. A storm in space, which a deluge of meteorites cutting swaths of gold in the path of the ships, will light up the Coney skies in a spectacular bombardment. Thunderous volleys of green and blue fire will ricochet into outer space.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1867, the Eagle reported, “Although the pre-announced grand meteoric display was postponed, there was still observed an unusual number of these eccentric members of the celestial system. At Central Park there were seen, from 9 p.m. of the 11th until 4 a.m. of the 12th, 198 meteors, some very brilliant.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, the Eagle reported, “The death of Florence Nightingale, at the age of ninety, renews emphasis upon one of the great heroisms of history. During the half century since Miss Nightingale concluded her work for the British soldiers in the Crimea, she has been one of the world’s loved and honored figures, her fame growing through her life of retirement until three years ago King Edward had a statute changed so that she might be invested with the Order of Merit, and a year later the freedom of the City of London was formally conferred upon her, although she was too feeble to attend the ceremony … The success of Miss Nightingale and her 34 women nurses in the Crimea is known the world over; it is one of those stories which our love for heroism will not let die. But the consequences of that work in after years have been of even greater value.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1914, the Eagle reported, “The Canal Zone celebrated today the opening of the Panama Canal. The festivities, however, were but local and suggested little of the international significance of the event. With the official Panama celebration set for next spring, even the United States was not officially represented today except by the men who have long been in the Canal Zone. The steamship Ancon, owned by the United States War Department and leased to the Panama Railroad for service in the New York-Colon trade, was chosen as the first big vessel to be put through signalizing the opening of the canal to all ships up to 10,000 tons register.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1928, the Eagle reported, “Commander Richard E. Byrd’s South Polar exploration vessel, the City of New York, her hull freshly painted white and masts and yards orange, pointed her nose out of the Tebo Yacht Basin, at the foot of 23rd Street, this afternoon, for the first leg of her long and adventurous voyage. This leg, however, was only to take her to Hoboken, where she will take aboard food, clothing and final supplies for her two-year Antarctic stay … Among the stores to be loaded in Hoboken, it was learned, are specially prepared carbon arc lamps to furnish ‘electric sunlight’ during the four months of the Antarctic ‘night.’ … Commander Byrd is taking great care to have everything he needs for his two years in the frozen regions … A hundred dogs have been purchased for $3,500 and the cost of their food, a special biscuit containing fish, will cost about $8,000.”

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THE TRANSCONTINENTAL U.S. RAILWAY WAS COMPLETED ON THIS DAY IN 1870. Diaries of engineers working at the site established “the completion of a transcontinental track at a point 928 feet east of today’s milepost 602, or 3,812 feet east of the present Union Pacific depot building at Strasburg, [Colorado].” The final link was made at 2:53 p.m.

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WOODSTOCK BEGAN ON THIS DAY IN 1969. The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened on this day in an alfalfa field on or near Yasgur’s Farm at Bethel, N.Y. The three-day rock concert featured 24 bands and drew a crowd of more than 400,000 people.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.