Important Events From This day in History February 15th

 

1942 World War II Singapore Surrenders

1942 : The Japanese experienced a major victory in the Pacific as Singapore Surrenders. Japanese had captured Singapore troops and caused them to surrender. In the process, over 60,000 British, Australian, and Indian soldiers were taken captive, along with 70,000 other soldiers fighting on the site of the Allied troops during World War II. This took place a little a year after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. The day after the Pearl Harbor bombing, the Japanese had already been striving for another victory. They moved in on Malay, which was controlled by the British at this time. At this time the Allied Forces of World War II (including Americans) had retreated in the opposite direction, as they were outnumbered. By January of this year (1942) the Allied troops were grossly outnumbered and only held control of the lower half of the Peninsula. The British had dynamited the bridge in this area, but were unable to destroy it in its entirety. As mentioned earlier, Allied troops, were then forces to surrender-including the Singapore troops controlled by the British.

15 Feb, 1927 It Released Starring Clara Bow

1927 : The Silent Movie "It" is released starring Clara Bow, the movie was a success with critics and the public turning the very young Clara Bow from a Movie Star into a legend and known from then on as the "It girl". The Movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

1933 U.S.A. Chicago Mayor Shot

1933 : The Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak had been shot. He was shot by Giuseppe Zangara, who was attempting to assassin President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at the time. Cermak was seriously injured and had died on March 6th. Zangara was arrested shortly after and then charged of murder. He was sent to the electric chair on March 20, which was about two weeks after Cermak died.

1937 U.S.A. Strike Ends

1937 : Both Union and non-union workers of Guide Lamp and Deco-Remy factories had returned to work on this day. This decision was made in complete peace after a short period of violent protest that had caused military troops and law enforcement to be sent to this area (Anderson, Indiana).

1971 England Introduces Decimal Currency

1971 : The UK banks will reopen today as the British Government launches the changeover to the new decimal currency system across the country.

The familiar pound (£), shilling (s) and pence (d) coins are to be phased out over the next 18 months. The new currency has been in circulation since 1968 but prices have still been marked in shillings and pence.

1938 Japan Invades China

1938 : An attempt to conquer China was made by the Japanese was started on this day when a total of 60,000 soldiers entered Northern China by way of planes and tanks. They were attempting to complete the same type of conquest that was lead by Kubia Kahn, the Mongol emperor. The Japanese had threatened to bottle up 400,000 Chinese people on China's central front. The location of this attack covered approximately 20 miles, from the Yellow River to the Henan Capital provincial (Kaifeng).

1941 U.S.A. Take the A Train

1941 : Duke Ellington and is orchestra record the song "Take the A Train." This was the first of several times that they record this big band favorite.

1950 Soviet Union China Treaty

1950 : The Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) had signed a treaty on this day, which pertained to mutual defense and assistance. This treaty was signed possible after the completion of negotiations between PRC leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou En-Lai, along with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky. Terms of this treaty included the mandatory provision of $300 million credit to the PRC and the return of a major railroad to the Chinese. Furthermore, Port Arthur and Dairen (Dalian) in Manchuria were to be returned, as they were seized by the Russians towards the end of World War II.

1952 England King George VI Buried

1952 : More than a million people gathered in London today to mourn the death of George VI, he was buried in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

1961 Belgium Plane Crash

1961 : At least 73 people are killed including The U.S. figure skating team dies in a plane crash on a Sabena Belgian Airlines jet.

1965 Canada Maple Leaf Adopted

1965 : It was proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II of England that the Maple leaf would become Canada's new national flag symbol. This new Canadian national flag had been raised on this day above Parliament Hill in Ottawa, which is the Capital of Canada.

1967 U.S.A. J. Frank Duryea

1967 : J. Frank Duryea had died on this day at the age of 97. He had established the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, which had created a total of 13 Duryea Wagons to this date. The founding of this company was the information introduction to the auto production line in the United States-which happened 74 years before the death of Duryea.

1974 England Trawler Lost

1974 : The air and sea search for survivors from the British Fishing trawler Gaul has now been called off with no hope of finding any of the 36 crew alive.

1982 Scotland The Ocean Ranger

1982 : The world's largest oil rig ( The Ocean Ranger ) sank in the storm-tossed north Atlantic with the loss of 84 crew members.

1986 England Wapping Strikes

1986 : Following the move of News International to Wapping where print unions would not be able to wield the power over the newspaper industry, they strike and picket the Wapping plant and 58 people arrested in the worst outbreak of violence yet outside the News International printing plant in Wapping, east London.

15 Feb, 1989 Afghanistan Soviet Withdrawal

1989 : Soviet troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan, nine years after they went into the country to support the struggling communist government.

1996 Wales Sea Empress

1996 : The supertanker, the Sea Empress, runs aground on the welsh coast, spilling 70,000 tons of crude oil causing widespread environmental damage including severe effects to several local bird sanctuaries.

1996 England Arms To Iraq

1996 : The long-awaited report into the sale of arms to Iraq in the 1980s is published criticizing the ministers involved.

2002 US Nuclear Waste Disposal

2002 : President George W. Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the site for long-term disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste.

2005 U.S.A. Priest Sentenced

2005 : Defrocked priest Paul Shanley was sentenced in Boston to 12 to 15 years in prison when he was found guilty of the statutory rape of a male minor.

2006 New Abu Ghraib Images

2006 : Australian television has broadcast previously unshown images of abuse of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail. It's possible that S.B.S. TV's images were from the same source as those that caused the earlier outcry of the prisoners' treatment, and led to several U.S. troops being jailed. S.B.S. have said that the new 2003 images show 'homicide, torture and sexual humiliation.'

2008 U.S.A. Economy Worsens

2008 : The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said the economy is continuing to deteriate and has told congress the Fed will keep on lowering interest rates to help the economy go through this difficult patch.

2010 Belgium Halle Train Collision

2010 : Two trains in Buizingen carrying 250–300 people collide during the morning rush hour resulting in the first two carriages of one train being forced upwards into the air over the first carriage of the second train leaving 18 dead and 160 casualties.

2011 US Anti-Immigration Leader Guilty of Murder

2011 : Shawna Forde, the leader of the Minutemen American Defense, an anti-immigration group, was found guilty of the murder of Raul Flores and his nine-year-old daughter. Forde and two accomplices had forced their way into the Flores' home to steal money when they encountered the family, shooting Raul Flores, his daughter, and his wife who survived.

2012 Singer and Composer Dory Previn Dies

2012 : Oscar-nominated singer and composer Dory Previn died at the age of 86 in Massachusetts. Previn had worked on songs with her former husband composer Andre Previn and had found solo success after releasing several albums of her own. She had also written songs for famous singers like Doris Day and won an Emmy award for co-writing the theme song for television show Two Of A Kind.

2013 Meteor Crashes in Russia

2013 : A meteor that crashed in Russia's Ural mountains injured over nine-hundred people. The crashing of the meteor caused an explosion that damaged property and injured many.

2014 Lebanon Government Forms Cabinet

2014 : After ten months of negotiations and talks between parties in Lebanon, a coalition cabinet government was formed. There was a strong political divide in the country and some resulting violent clashes upset the political balance. The coalition cabinet was formed to share equal power between the two conflicting sides.

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