Brooklyn Boro

September 6: ON THIS DAY in 1946, ship strikers exempt food

September 6, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Every civilian today has the opportunity of participating in the national defense program as the result of an appeal by Mayor [Fiorello] LaGuardia for the organization of Civilian Defense Volunteer Officers in all communities in the United States. The mayor, calling upon local civic and government leaders throughout the country to organize these offices immediately, explained that persons volunteering their services would not be called upon to serve as air raid wardens or fire wardens. They would be assigned to initiating and carrying forward programs dealing with health, family security, recreation, social protection, child welfare, athletics and education. The program, the mayor said, is not only vital to the success of the national defense effort, but is of such magnitude that ‘there is a place in it for everybody.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “San Diego, Cal., Sept. 7 (U.P.) — Vice Adm. John S. McCain, who died less than 24 hours after returning to this country from surrender ceremonies in the Pacific, was worn out from the strain of the final battle against Japan, a navy physician said today. Adm. McCain, 61-year-old commander of famed Task Force 38, died suddenly of a heart attack last night at his home in Coronado. He was a veteran of 41 years in the navy. The admiral was exhausted from his activities in the last four months in the final effort to batter Japan to her knees, the navy doctor said. The slight, wiry admiral, one of the Navy’s strongest advocates of air power, was suffering from a slight cold but generally considered in good health when he arrived here Wednesday from Pearl Harbor.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “Removal of 56 bodies of army dead which arrived at the Brooklyn Army Base on the transport Wilson Victory was delayed today by the maritime strike. The vessel arrived at Pier 3 of the base at 7:55 a.m. today and at 1 p.m. base officials were still awaiting word from the union as to the removal of the coffins. Maj. Gen. Ewert G. Plank, base commander, said that the bodies would be removed later today by army men if the union does not reach a decision to do so. The caskets would ordinarily be removed by members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, General Plank stated in observing that this union was honoring picket lines established by the Seafarers International Union and other unions in the maritime stoppage. A line of four pickets of the International Seafarers Union and the Seamen’s Union of the Pacific was parading outside the Army Base at 1st Ave. and 58th St. They carried signs saying ‘On Strike!’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “The toll of accidental deaths over the Labor Day weekend, with reports still coming in, today reached a total of 479. Traffic accidents over the nation accounted for 365 deaths, also a record. A survey also shows 47 drownings, 19 deaths in air crashes and 48 in miscellaneous mishaps. An official of the National Safety Council, which had predicted 280 highway traffic deaths, commented grimly: ‘This is barbaric.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “London  (U.P.) — Wernher Von Braun, German rocket expert, outlined a plan today to land 50 explorers on Mars for a 13-month visit. His proposal was the latest scheme for interplanetary travel laid before the International Congress on Astronautics. Von Braun, designer of the mighty V-2 rocket bomb that plastered London late in 1944, submitted a paper to the conference detailing his proposal. He is in the United States. Fifty men could reach Mars, he suggested, by traveling on spaceships and rockets. They would stop over for refueling at artificial moons fixed in space between the earth and Mars. The journey to Mars, Von Braun said, would take 260 days. Ten spaceships with 70 men aboard would take off from earth and stop at the first artificial moon for supplies. They would then travel to another man-made orbit closer to Mars. From there, he said, 50 men would be selected to land on Mars in three 200-ton rockets. Von Braun said the trip would be possible as soon as the artificial moons are built.”

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