A Brief History On November 25, 1851, the first YMCA located in North America was organized in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The organization, originally titled Young Men’s Christian Association, though better known by its initials, was founded in London, England, back in 1844. Digging Deeper The Montreal chapter was soon followed by the first American chapter, located in Boston, Massachusetts on December 29, 1851. The organization made famous by the disco era song with the eponymous name, “Y.M.C.A.,” brought a lot of attention to the organization, but with about 10,000 US branches of various types, we believe “The Y” has plenty…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On November 23, 2022, American audiences will have the opportunity to see a new motion picture we got to pre-screen the other day, a Korean War era historical/biographical film about the first African American Naval aviator, a man named Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors), touching on the struggles with racism in the recently integrated US military as well as his loving family and devoted White friend, fellow pilot Tom Hudner. Digging Deeper Devotion features thrilling flight scenes of US Navy fighter aircraft in peacetime and in combat, which for me was portrayed in brilliant cinematic fashion, though not…
A Brief History On November 7, 921, the Treaty of Bonn was signed by two Frankish kings, Charles the Simple and Henry the Fowler. Once more, as we have noted in other articles, kings and other leaders have had some pretty goofy names. Digging Deeper Henry got his moniker, “The Fowler,” because of his affinity for hunting birds, and was said to be fixing his bird catching nets when a messenger found him to tell him he had become King of East Francia. The other party to this Germanic treaty was King Charles III of West Francia, known better as Charles…
A Brief History On November 6, 963, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I called a council in Rome to depose the current Pope, John XII, on charges of leading an armed rebellion against Otto, as well as conducting his secular affairs in a corrupt and immoral manner. Digging Deeper Pope John XII was born in Rome to a rich and powerful family, and in what would seem strange today, became Pope when he was either in his late teens or early twenties! In a time when the Pope was expected to rule as a secular leader as well as providing spiritual…
A Brief History On November 5, 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to his third term as US President, and would win yet another presidential election in 1944, ending up serving a record 12+ years as US President. Some other nations have had much longer serving heads of state or government of various titles, and here we list a few that exceeded our own FDR in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Digging Deeper Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, 1952-2022 Hirohito of Japan, 1926-1989 Fidel Castro of Cuba, 1959-2008 Malietoa Tanumafili II of Samoa, 1962-2007 Josef Stalin of the USSR,…