FEBRUARY 16 — 1945 Back to Bataan, McArthur keeps his word; 1786 Happy Anniversary James and Elizabeth Monroe; 1928 James Markham patents dwarfed peach tree; MUSIC: 1974 Emerson, Lake and Palmer band gets arrested for skinny dipping, 1898 Explosion of Maine hit fake new headlines, leading to war with Spain
FEBRUARY 16
1945—Back to Bataan, and McArthur keeps his word.
It had been nearly 3 years since the ugly Bataan Death March, where the American and Filipino forces surrendered to Japan. In 1942, General McCarthuer was not getting the job done and President FDR removed hij from duty, almost by force
. McCarthur would be sent to Australia but before he left he promised the Filipinos that he would return. The Allied troops were suffering from malnutrition, malaria and other diseases. They were forced to walk 55 miles from San Fernando to prison camps. Those who were too weak to make the journey were beaten and stabbed with bayonets. In October 1944, as the tide had turned in the Pacific to the favor of the Allies, Americans were able to invade Leyte Island, and McCarther returned. The US Navy had conquered the Japanese navy in that area, and the US army was able to retake the island.
On January 9 in 1945, took Bataan and by February 16th, the US had retaken Bataan, and then later the rest of the Philippines.
1786 – Happy anniversary James Monroe and Elizabeth Kortright.
She was 17, he was 26. The had three kids, two girls and a boy. He was named ambassador to France around the French revolution. This was an interesting time to be in France since higher members of the aristocracy, who were friends of the Monroes, were getting their heads lopped off in guillotines by French rebels. Elizabeth was instrumental in arranging the release of Marquis de Lafayette’s wife. Lafayette was a personal friend of George Washington and served during the American Revolution. When Monroe was elected President several years later, Elizabeth’s attitude towards the White House was much different from her predecessor, Dolly Madison. Elizabeth appreciated the modern casualness of America but at the same time respected European culture. She made sure social events at the white house were kept to a minimum, but this sdidn’t work in her favor as many saw her as a snob. That really wasn’t the look she was going for, she simply didn’t want to live an extravagant life. After all, she did acknowledge what happened to Marie Antoinette, who was beheaded by French rebels for living a lavish life while French citizens suffered in poverty. At any rate, Elizabeth’s health began declining, and soon after Moneroe’s presidency ended, she died in their home state of Virginia, whre she wis buried. Legend has it, James was so distraught he burned all their correpspondeces. He predicted he wouldn’t live long after that, and sure enough died ten months later.
1928 – James Markham gets a patent for a peach tree. This scientific experiment found a nomal sized peach with a dwarfed seed. The Markham peach supposedly is the result of a long process of serum treatment, pollination, and grafting. It ripens two weeks after your standard Hale peach. I guess.
1974 – Members of Emerson, Lake and Palmer are arrested at a Salt Lake City hotel during a tour for swimming naked in the hotel pool. Yeah, this isn’t England, folks. Speaking of England, 1985, Bruce Springsteen’s BORN in the USA becomes #1. In England! Further proof that the world just needs America. 2005, Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens was awarded substantial damages from The Sunday Times and The Sun, after they had printed articles alleging he was involved in terrorism. Both newspapers apologized to the 56 year old musician for the “false and highly defamatory allegations.” The papers also paid his legal bills and pledged not to repeat the allegations. The money awarded was given to Tsunami relief projects. Now that’s funny.