Browsing: Society

A Brief History On March 16, 1945, the battle for the island of Iwo Jima supposedly was won by the US, although fighting would continue for another two weeks.  Famous as a heroic battle won by US Marines, Iwo Jima has history often overlooked. Digging Deeper While 22 Marines earned the Medal of Honor, another five US Navy sailors also earned this highest honor.  Of the Navy Corpsmen that landed on Iwo Jima, 332 were killed and 659 wounded.  The aircraft carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk, killing 318 of her crew, the last US carrier sunk in World War…

A Brief History On an unknown day c. November 275, Roman Emperor Aurelian was murdered by members of the Praetorian Guard, only to be subsequently deified by the Roman Senate. Digging Deeper Written some unknown time later, towards the end of the biography of Aurelian in the Historia Augusta, the ancient biographer lists Aurelian among the twelve best Roman emperors as a contrast to the more numerous number of “evil” emperors.  The biographer then ponders the following: “The question, indeed, is often asked what it is that makes emperors evil; first of all, my friend, it is freedom from restraint,…

A Brief History On March 15, 1986, the Hotel New World in Singapore arguably became the worst hotel in the world in moments when the six story building suddenly collapsed, burying 50 people under the rubble.  Fortunately, 17 of those people were saved, but the other 33 died. Digging Deeper Hotel New World, originally called the New Serangoon Hotel, was built in 1971 and had a name change in 1984.  The ground floor was a bank, the second floor was a nightclub, and the top four floors were the hotel.  A parking garage was in the basement. Perhaps an omen…

A Brief History On an unknown date in 267, Odaenathus, King of Palmyra, was assassinated along with his son and co-king. Digging Deeper Odaenathus’s biographer in the Historia Augusta laments the king’s assassination in the following passage: “Some god, I believe, was angry with the commonwealth, who, after Valerian’s death, was unwilling to preserve Odaenathus alive.  For of a surety he, with his wife Zenobia, would have restored not only the East, which he had already brought back to its ancient condition, but also all parts of the whole world everywhere, since he was fierce in warfare and, as most writers…

A Brief History On March 14, 1964, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby was convicted of killing the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald.  Ruby was sentenced to death for the murder, which had been broadcast live on national TV, but on appeal a new trial was ordered that did not happen when Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism in 1967. Digging Deeper Born Jacob Leon Rubenstein in Chicago to parents of Polish/Jewish heritage, Ruby got in trouble as a juvenile but later served in the US Army during World War II.  Moving to Dallas, Ruby was…