Trivia 09 Apr 2012

Apr 9, 1778:
Jeremiah Wadsworth named commissary general

On this day in 1778, Jeremiah Wadsworth is named commissary general of
purchases for the Continental Army at the insistence of General George
Washington.

Apr 9, 1917
Canada comes of age

Vimy France - Arthur William Currie 1875-1933 leads all four divisions
of the Canadian Corps. fighting as a unit for the first time, with one
British brigade under Lt.-Gen. Julian Byng, to Easter Monday victory at
Vimy Ridge. Using 1,000 guns and a masterful artillery barrage technique
developed by Currie and his gunners, they take the German stronghold
where the French and British had earlier failed with over 130,000 dead.

It has often been said that Canada’s sons left their home as young
colonials but returned as Canadians. Vimy is indeed the birthplace of
“Canadian Nationhood”. The price was heavy: 10,500 casualties, including
3,598 dead.

Apr 9, 1939:
Marian Anderson sings at Lincoln Memorial

On Easter Sunday in 1939, more than 75,000 people come to the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, D.C., to hear famed African-American contralto
Marian Anderson give a free open-air concert.

Anderson had been scheduled to sing at Washington's Contitution Hall,
but the Daughters of the American Revolution, a political organization
that helped manage the concert hall, denied her the right to perform
because of her race. The first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned her
membership from the organization in protest, and Anderson's alternate
performance at the Lincoln Memorial served greatly to raise awareness of
the problem of racial discrimination in America.

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Thought of the Day

We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 - 1973)

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Question of the Day

Which leader did Churchill say was like a "female llama surprised in her
bath?"

Yesterdays Question

Who was the first Prime Minister of independent South Africa?

Answer

Louis Botha