Tag Archives: Second World War

History

Detroit-area plant where Rosie the Riveter worked facing demolition

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By hnn

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MICH.—The Detroit-area factory where Rosie the Riveter showed that a woman could do a “man’s work” by building Second World War-era bombers, making her an enduring symbol of American female empowerment, will be demolished if money can’t be found to save it.

The Willow Run Bomber Plant, a 135-hectare former Ford Motor Co. factory west of Detroit that churned out nearly 9,000 B-24 Liberator bombers during the Second World War, is slated to be torn down unless a group can raise $3.5 million by Thursday to convert at least some of the structure into a new, expanded home for the nearby Yankee Air Museum.

“The younger generation needs to know what people went through and be able to go and see what they did and how they did it for our country,” Larry Doe, a 70-year-old Ypsilanti Township resident who has given to the cause, said recently before joining other donors for a trip on a B-17….

Source:
Indianapolis Star

Source URL:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/07/29/donors_trying_to_save_portion_of_historic_detroitarea_plant_where_rosie_the_riveter_worked.html

Date:
7-29-13

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University

History

Alan Turing to be pardoned for gay conviction

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By hnn

Alan Turing, the World War Two code breaker who later killed himself after receiving a criminal conviction for his homosexuality, looks set to be pardoned.

The Government said it would not stand in the way of legislation to offer a full Parliamentary pardon for Turing, who helped Britain to win the Second World War as a skilled code-breaker.

Until now, the Government has resisted using the Royal Prerogative to pardon Turing for his conviction for gross indecency in 1952 because he was a homosexual.

Ministers had argued that because Turing was convicted of what was at the time a criminal offence, it is not possible to hand him a full posthumous pardon….

Source:
Telegraph (UK)

Source URL:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10191547/World-War-Two-code-breaker-Alan-Turing-set-to-be-pardoned-for-his-gay-conviction.html

Date:
7-19-13

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University

History

Sinking of HMS Dasher still a mystery after 70 years

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By hnn

It’s the barely-known disaster which claimed the lives of four Birmingham seamen at the height of the Second World War.

But the sinking of HMS Dasher is still at the centre of mystery and intrigue, 70 years later.

A total of 379 lives were lost when the aircraft carrier went down in just eight minutes off the coast of Scotland on March 27, 1943.

The tragedy was put down to an explosion caused by petrol fumes igniting….

Source:
Birmingham Mail (UK)

Source URL:
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/historian-investigates-mystery-hms-dasher-1945328

Date:
3-25-13

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University

History

Russia revives Stalingrad city name

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By hnn

The Volgograd city council voted to use the name Stalingrad at city events on six commemorative days including February 2, the day Nazi forces fully surrendered to Soviet troops and May 9, Victory Day, Russian news agencies reported.

The decision was made “based on the many requests of Second World War participants,” said Sergei Zabednov, quoted by the city parliament’s press service.

“Deputies have taken a decision to establish the name ‘hero-city Stalingrad’ as a symbol of Volgograd. We will be able to use this symbol officially in our speeches and reports and at mass events,” Zabednov said….

Source:
Telegraph (UK)

Source URL:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/9839666/Russia-revives-Stalingrad-city-name.html

Date:
1-31-13

Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University