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.
On 25, Thursday July 1844, Thomas Eakins, American painter, sculptor, born (d. 1916)
On 25, Wednesday July 1894, Walter Brennan, American actor, born (d. 1974)
On 25, Friday July 1919, Nat Gould, died (born 1857), British novelist
On 25, Friday July 1919, Samuel McCaughey, died (born 1835), pastoralist
On 25, Tuesday July 1944, WWII: Operation Spring: One of the bloodiest days for Canadian forces during the war results in 1,550 casualties, including 450 killed, during the Normandy Campaign.
On 25, Tuesday July 1944, WWII: Beginning of the Battle of Tannenberg Line or the “Battle of the Blue Hills” in Northeastern Estonia, where the Red Army will result in a Pyrrhic victory by 10 August.
On 25, Tuesday July 1944, Lesley J. McNair, American general, died (b. 1883)
On 25, Tuesday July 1944, Jakob von Uexküll, Baltic German biologist, died (b. 1864)
On 25, Saturday July 1959, The SR.N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours, on the 50th anniversary of Louis Blériot’s first crossing by heavier-than-air craft.
On 25, Saturday July 1959, Anatoly Onoprienko, Ukrainian serial killer, born (d. 2013)
On 25, Saturday July 1959, Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager, born (d. 2014)
On 25, Saturday July 1959, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Chief Rabbi of Ireland, and later of Israel, died (b. 1888)
On 25, Saturday July 1959, Naim Moghabghab, Lebanese political leader, died (b. 1911)
On 25, Saturday July 1959, King Mutara III of Rwanda, died (b. 1912)
On 25, Friday July 1969, Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This starts the “Vietnamization” of the war.
On 25, Friday July 1969, Jason Harris Katz, American voice actor and television host, born
On 25, Friday July 1969, Otto Dix, German painter, died (b. 1891)
On 25, Wednesday July 1979, Allister Carter, English snooker player, born
On 25, Wednesday July 1979, Erich Pohlmann, Austrian character actor, died (b. 1913)
On 25, Tuesday July 1989, Andrew Caldwell, American actor, born
On 25, Tuesday July 1989, Noel Callahan, Canadian actor, born
On 25, Monday July 1994, Telephone numbers in Australia begin transitioning to eight digits. Mona Vale in Sydney is the first suburb to change to the new numbers.
On 25, Monday July 1994, Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration as a preliminary to signature on October 25 of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948.
On 25, Sunday July 1999, Raul Manglapus, Filipino politician, died (b. 1919)
On 25, Saturday July 2009, 108-year-old Perth man Claude Choules, who moved to Australia from Britain in 1926, becomes his birth nation’s last known surviving World War I veteran on the death of 111-year-old Harry Patch in Somerset, England. Mr Choules, who was born in Worcestershire, England, joined the Royal Navy as a seaman in 1916.
On 25, Friday July 2014, Richard Larter, 85, pop artist, died
On 25, Friday July 2014, Carlo Bergonzi, Italian tenor and actor, died (b. 1924)
Other On This Day days in history
Neville Buch
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