James W. Downing
James Willis Downing (August 22, 1913 – February 13, 2018) was a lieutenant in the United States Navy. He retired in 1956 after 24 years of service, which included being commanding officer of the . At the time of his death, he was the second-oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, about which he authored a book. Background Downing was born in Oak Grove, Missouri. At the time of his high school graduation, America was in the Great Depression. Jobs were scarce, so Downing enlisted in the Navy in September 1932. He began serving at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, California, the port for most of the Pacific naval fleet. He became a gunner's mate and postmaster aboard the . Pearl Harbor On the morning of December 7, 1941, Downing and his new wife Morena were staying with his shipmates in Honolulu. The radio announced an attack on the Naval Station Pearl Harbor, and the sailors rushed to the port. By the time Downing arrived at the ''West Virginia'', Japanese bombers had t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oak Grove, Jackson County, Missouri
Oak Grove is a city in Jackson and Lafayette counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 7,795 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. History A post office called Oak Grove has been in operation since 1840, however the town was originally called Lickskillet. The city was not platted until 1878. It was named for a grove of oak trees near the original town site. 2017 tornado On March 6, 2017, just before 9:00 pm CDT (03:00 UTC), a tornado touched down near the western edge of Oak Grove and tracked eastward across the city. 483 houses and 12 businesses were damaged, particularly between 25th and Broadway Streets across the southern part of the city. A total of fifteen people suffered injuries, but remarkably there were no fatalities. Communications were lost and power was knocked out to many areas. The National Weather Service rated the tornado EF3. Missouri Governor Eric Greitens declared a state of emergency for the area, and travel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dog Tag
Dog tag is an informal but common term for a specific type of identification tag worn by military personnel. The tags' primary use is for the identification of casualties; they have information about the individual written on them, including identification and essential basic medical information such as blood type and history of inoculations. They often indicate religious preference as well. Dog tags are usually fabricated from a corrosion-resistant metal. They commonly contain two copies of the information, either in the form of a single tag that can be broken in half, or as two identical tags on the same chain. This purposeful duplication allows one tag, or half-tag, to be collected from an individual’s dead body for notification, while the duplicate remains with the corpse if the conditions of battle prevent it from being immediately recovered. The term arose and became popular because of the tags' resemblance to animal registration tags. History The earliest men ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Annie Elizabeth Delany
Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany (3 September 1891 – 25 September 1995) was an American civil rights pioneer who was the subject, along with her elder sister Sarah "Sadie" Delany, of ''The New York Times'' bestselling oral history, '' Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years'', written by journalist Amy Hill Hearth. Delany earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from Columbia University in 1923. She was the second black woman licensed to practice dentistry in New York State, and became famous, with the publication of the book, when she was aged 101. Biography Delany was the third of ten children born to the Rt. Rev. Henry Beard Delany (1858–1928), the first black person elected Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, and Nanny Logan Delany (1861–1956), an educator. H.B. Delany was born into slavery in St. Mary's, Georgia. Nanny Logan Delany was born in a community then known as Yak, Virginia, seven miles from Danville. Bessie Delany was born ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sarah Louise Delany
Sarah Louise "Sadie" Delany (September 19, 1889 – January 25, 1999) was an American educator and civil rights pioneer who was the subject, along with her younger sister, Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany, of the ''New York Times'' bestselling oral history biography, '' Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years'', by journalist Amy Hill Hearth. Sadie was the first African-American permitted to teach domestic science at the high-school level in the New York public schools, and became famous, with the publication of the book, at the age of 103. Biography Delany was the second-eldest of ten children born to the Rev. Henry Beard Delany (1858–1928), the first black person elected Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, and Nanny Logan Delany (1861–1956), an educator. Rev. Delany was born into slavery in St. Mary's, Georgia. Nanny Logan Delany was born in a community then known as Yak, Virginia, seven miles from Danville. Sadie Delany was born in what was then ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, the book was co-founded by twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter in Fleet Street, London, in August 1955. The first edition topped the best-seller list in the United Kingdom by Christmas 1955. The following year the book was launched internationally, and as of the 2022 edition, it is now in its 67th year of publication, published in 100 countries and 23 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database. The international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. The popularity of the franchise has resulted in ''Guinness World Records'' becoming the primary international authority ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biola University
Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. The university hosts the annual Missions Conference, the largest annual missions conference and the second largest missions conference in the world. It has also played a significant role in the development of intelligent design. History Biola University was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles by Lyman Stewart, President of the Union Oil Company of California (subsequently known as Unocal and later purchased by the Chevron Corporation); Thomas C. Horton, a Presbyterian minister and Christian author; and Augustus B. Prichard, also a Presbyterian minister.William Jeynes and David W. Robinson (2012), ''International Handbook of Protestant Education'', Springer, p. 127./ref> In 1912, the i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage language, a Dhegiha Siouan language, and referred to their relatives, the Quapaw people. The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta. Arkansas is the 29th largest by area and the 34th most populous state, with a population of just over 3 million at the 2020 census. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, in the central part of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, including the Fayetteville–Springdaleâ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Glen Eyrie
Glen Eyrie is an English Tudor-style castle built in 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs. There are 17 guest rooms (12 Deluxe guest rooms and 5 premier guest rooms) in the castle, as well as 7 meeting rooms including the Castle Great Hall (2200-square-foot room that can hold up to 240 people) and 2 dining rooms (the Castle King James Hall has seating for 180 people and the Castle Music & Library rooms for seating for up to 58 people). This house was his and his wife's dream home, and is near Colorado Springs in the northwest foothills just north of the Garden of the Gods rock formations (now a city park). After building a large carriage house where the family lived for a time, Palmer and his wife Mary "Queen" Mellen built a 22-room frame house on the estate. This house was remodeled in 1881 to include a tower and additional rooms, and made to resemble a stone castle in 1903, reminiscent of those native to England. Queen Palmer, at age 21, ope ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dawson Trotman
Dawson Earle Trotman (March 25, 1906 – June 18, 1956) was an Evangelism, evangelist and founder of The Navigators (organization), the Navigators. Biography Trotman was born on March 25, 1906, in Bisbee, Arizona, US. Ministry Trotman founded the Navigators in 1933. He lost his life on June 18, 1956, while rescuing a girl, Allene Beck, from drowning during water-skiing in Schroon Lake (New York lake), Schroon Lake, New York. Trotman worked with many other evangelicals of his day, including Henrietta Mears, Jim Rayburn, Charles E. Fuller (Baptist minister), Charles E. Fuller, Bill Bright, Billy Graham, and Dick Hillis. Lorne Sanny (1920–2005) succeeded him as president of the Navigators after Trotman's wife Lila was its short-term interim president. Personal life Trotman married Lila Mae Clayton on July 3, 1932. Lila, who was born on December 12, 1913 in Buffalo Valley, Tennessee, died on October 27, 2004 at the age of 90. The couple had five children. Bibliography * * * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nuclear Testing At Bikini Atoll
Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll consisted of the detonation of 23 nuclear weapons by the United States between 1946 and 1958 on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Tests occurred at 7 test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air, and underwater. The test weapons produced a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt of TNT in explosive power. The United States and its allies were engaged in a Cold War nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union to build more advanced bombs from 1947 until 1991. The first series of tests over Bikini Atoll in July 1946 was codenamed Operation Crossroads. ''Able'' was dropped from an aircraft and detonated above the target fleet. The second, ''Baker'', was suspended under a barge. It produced a large Wilson cloud and contaminated all of the target ships. Chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, the longest-serving chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, called the second test "the world's first nuclear disaster." The second series of tests in 1954 was code ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of ''Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful nuclear device detonated by the United States and its first lithium deuteride fueled thermonuclear weapon. Castle Bravo's yield was , 2.5 times the predicted , due to unforeseen additional reactions involving lithium-7, which led to the unexpected radioactive contamination of areas to the east of Bikini Atoll. At the time, it was the most powerful artificial explosion in history. Fallout, the heaviest of which was in the form of pulverized surface coral from the detonation, fell on residents of Rongelap and Utirik atolls, while the more particulate and gaseous fallout spread around the world. The inhabitants of the islands were not evacuated until three days later and suffered radiation sickness. Twenty-three crew members of the Japanes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |