Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
What Time is It? It is flow of a sandstorm that will on each day compress somewhere into a structure – sandstone, selected and only remembered in the longue durée.
On Friday, 27 July 1945, WWII: Bombing of Aomori 1945. Two USAAF B-29s dropped a total of 60,000 leaflets on the city of Aomori, Japan, warning civilians of an air raid and urge them to leave immediately.
On Sunday, 27 July 1980, Lawrence Whitty wins the men’s national marathon title, clocking 2:19:00 in Adelaide.
On Sunday, 27 July 1980, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, deposed Shah of Iran, dies in Cairo.
On Friday, 27 July 1990, The parliament building and a government television house in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago are stormed by the Jamaat al Muslimeen in a coup d’état attempt which lasts five days. Approximately 26 to 30 people are killed and several are wounded (including the Prime Minister, A. N. R. Robinson, who is shot in the leg).
On Friday, 27 July 1990, Cold War: Belarus declares its sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the Soviet Union.
On Tuesday, 27 July 2010, died Alan Gilbert, 65, historian and education administrator.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch