March 12, 1939

Today Dad would have been 74.  I looked up the events of the day in the newspaper of record, the Syracuse Herald, as he was born in Syracuse, New York.  Fascinating reading.  Some things never change, just the names.  Notice the sub-head to the article "U.S. Marines in clash with Nippon [Japanese] police" is Hunting Terrorists.  A pope is crowned; the House republicans were a problem :); blizzards and dust storms and war and medical relief flights were all going on.

I find I am actually missing Dad more this year than last, which seems a bit strange, but that's the way it is.  With the help of Wiki, I've been looking at what happened each year he was alive.

On his first birthday, Finland signed the Moscow Peace Tready, ending the Winter War.

On his eighth birthday, President Harry Truman announced the Truman Doctrine.

On his 29th birthday, Mauritius gained its independence; on his 53rd birthday it became a republic within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

On his 54th birthday, the Storm of the Century began.  Janet Reno was also sworn in as the first female Attorney General of the United States.

On his 70th birthday, Bernard Madoff pled guilty to scamming 18 million dollars.  That made his whole day.

On his last birthday, the Fukushima disaster took place.

He shared his birth day with Julia Lennon, the mother of John; Jack Kerouac; Wally Schirra; Edward Albee; Liza Minnelli; Mitt Romney; James Taylor; Darryl Strawberry; and the Girl Scouts.