TODAY IN HISTORY
February 24, 1942
On the night of February 24, 1942 unidentified objects caused a succession of alerts in southern California. A warning issued by naval intelligence indicated that an attack could be expected within the next ten hours. That evening a large number of flares and blinking lights were reported from the vicinity of defense plants. Air raid sirens sounded throughout Los Angeles County. At 3:16 am the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade began firing .50 caliber machine guns and 12.8-pound anti-aircraft shells into the air at reported aircraft; over 1,400 shells would eventually be fired. The artillery fire continued sporadically until 4:14 am. The "all clear" was sounded and the blackout order lifted at 7:21 am. Several buildings and vehicles were damaged by shell fragments, and five civilians died as an indirect result of the anti-aircraft fire: three killed in car accidents in the ensuing chaos and two of heart attacks attributed to the stress of the hour-long action.
The incident, now referred to as the Battle of L.A., occurred less than three months after the Pearl Harbor attack and two days after a Japanese submarine shelled an oil facility near Santa Barbara. At the end of the war, the Japanese stated that they did not send planes over the area at the time of this alert. Balloons known to have been released over Los Angeles may have caused the initial alarm. After the firing started, careful observation was difficult because of drifting smoke from shell bursts. Reporter Ernie Pyle witnessed the shooting and wrote that he was never able to make out an airplane. There are many stories in newspapers of the time with witnesses stating seeing airplanes, balloons, lights, and large unknown objects floating in the sky. The entire country was on edge at the time and within hours of the end of the air raid, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox held a press conference, saying the entire incident was a false alarm due to anxiety and "war nerves."
What do you think? UFO Government cover-up or war hysteria?
UFO over Los Angeles 1942 - The Witnesses
Battle Of Los Angeles Original Radio Broadcast February 26, 1942
ALSO ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces New Style (Gregorian) calendar
1597 - Vincent Voiture, born in Amiens, France, poet (d. 1648)
1815 - Robert Fulton, steamboat pioneer, dies at 49
1821 - Mexico gains independence from Spain
1857 - 1st perforated US postage stamps delivered to government
1786 - Wilhelm Karl Grimm, born in Hanau Germany, story teller (Grimm's Fairy Tales)
1836 - Winslow Homer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, painter
1863 - Arizona Territory created
1863 - Forrest's raid on Brentwood, Tennessee
1864 - Battle of Tunnel Hill, GA (Buzzard's Roost)
1868 - 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile Alabama)
1868 - House of Reps vote 126 to 47, to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1874 - Honus Wagner, born in Chartiers, Pennsylvana, shortstop (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-17)
1875 - The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.
1876 - Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" premieres in Oslo
1876 - Victor Moore, born in Hammonton, NJ, actor (Ziegfeld Follies, 7 Year Itch)
1881 - De Lesseps' Company begins work on Panama Canal
1881 - China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
1885 - Bert Lytell, actor born in NYC, New York
1885 - Chester Nimitz, born in Fredericksburg, Texas US admiral
1895 - Cuban war for independence begins
1909 - The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded.
1917 - German plan to get Mexican help in WW I exposed (Zimmerman telegram)
1921 - Abe Vigoda, actor (Barney Miller, Fish), born in NYC, New York
1922 - Steven Hill, actor born in Seattle, Washington
1923 - Mass arrests in US of mafia
1924 - Mahatma Gandhi released from jail
1925 - Thermite explosive 1st used to break up ice jam, Waddington, NY
1928 - Al Lettieri, actor, born in NYC, New York
1929 - Richard B Shull, born in Evanston, Ill, actor
1930 - Barbara Lawrence, born in Carnegie, Oklahoma, actress
(Oklahoma!, A Letter to Three Wives), (d. 2013)
1932 - John Vernon, born in Canada, actor
1934 - Linda Cristal, born in Buenos Aires, Arg. actress (Victoria-High Chapparal)
1944 - Nicky Hopkins, rock pianist (Stones-Ruby Tuesday, Quicksilver)
1944 - Argentina coup by minister of war Juan Peron
1945 - Egypt & Syria declare war on nazi-Germany
1945 - Manila freed from Japanese
1945 - Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
1946 - Juan Peron elected President of Argentina
1948 - Communist Party seizes complete control of Czechoslovakia
1949 - Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement
1955 - Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple born in San Francisco, California
1977 - Pres Carter announces US foreign aid will consider human rights
1983 - A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
1984 - Iraq resumes air attack on Iran
1986 - Voyager 2, 1st Uranus flyby
1989 - Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1M-$3M bounty on
Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"
1990 - Johnnie Ray, singer (Cry), dies of liver failure at 61
1990 - Malcolm Forbes, CEO (Forbes Publishing), dies of a heart attack at 70
1991 - George Gobel, comedian (The George Gobel Show (1954) ), dies at 71
1991 - Jean Rogers, actress (Flash Gordon, Hot Cargo), dies at 74
1994 - Dinah Shore, singer (Buttons And Bows ), dies of cancer at 76
1998 - Henny Youngman, comedian (Take my wife please), dies at 92
2002 - Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player dies
2006 - Don Knotts, American actor dies
2006 - Dennis Weaver, American actor dies
2007 - Bruce Bennett, American actor (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
dies from complications of a broken hip at 100
2007 - Leroy Jenkins, American composer and violinist dies
2008 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.
2014 - Harold Ramis, American actor & director, dies from vasculitis at 69
HISTORY MARCHES ON
If you know of a special event on this day in history not listed please submit to:Records20Century@hotmail.com
If you know of a special event on this day in history not listed please submit to:Records20Century@hotmail.com
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