Browsing: May 11

A Brief History On May 11, 2014, 69 countries and territories celebrate Mother’s Day, including the United States. Digging Deeper Anna Jarvis of West Virginia celebrated the first (modern version) Mother’s Day  in 1908 as a memorial to her mother. Thinking this idea was so brilliant, Jarvis began a campaign to create the Mother’s Day holiday. In 1914 her efforts became successful with the official establishment of the holiday, and many countries began to celebrate the holiday as well. Jarvis always claimed exclusive authorship of the holiday, ignoring previous somewhat similar celebrations in the 1800’s. Jarvis actually went to the…

A Brief History On May 11, 1945, the Essex Class U.S. aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill was struck by two Japanese Kamikaze (suicide) aircraft during the battle for Okinawa.  In spite of severe damage and 346 fatalities, the Bunker Hill was not lost as were none of the 24 Essex Class carriers built during World War II. Digging Deeper It became apparent early in the Pacific theater of the war that the battleship no longer reigned supreme, and it was the aircraft carrier that would take up the mantle as a navy’s capital ship.  Seeing an extreme need for many carrier groups, the United States went…