Day 215
Today is September 6th, 2012 and this day in history …
The first tank prototype, Little Willie, rolled off the assembly line in England in 1915. Not exactly a smashing success … it weighed in at 14 tons, got stuck in trenches and crawled over terrain at 2 mph!
In 1901 President William McKinley was shot while greeting a crowd at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He was shot twice at close range and survived a week before dying of a gangrene infection.
Around the world in … well, just about 3 years. In 1522 one of Ferdinand Magellan’s ships, the Vittoria, sailed into the harbor in Spain marking the first circumnavigation of the world. (Magellan, however, did not survive the trip. He died of a poison arrow wound 4 months prior to the trip’s completion.)
In 1997, 2.5 billion TV viewers watched Princess Diana’s funeral. The Princess of Wales and the mother of the heirs to England’s throne … she died in a car crash a week earlier at the age of 36.
In 1844, the western explorer, John C. Fremont arrived at the shores of the Great Salt Lake. His mappings of the western frontier were especially helpful to the thousands of overland immigrants heading westward.
In 1995, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. played his 2131st consecutive game breaking Lou Gehrig’s record. He went on to play in 2632 consecutive games before voluntarily removing himself from a game in 1998.
And this day in history, back in 1928 … some 30,684 days ago … my dad was born. And today – he put most of us to shame by getting out and riding his bike! Not bad for an 84 year old!
Happy birthday, Dad!