August 15

Today is Victory over Japan Day

 VJ Day Crowd in  Times Squire, New York City.

1842  John C. Fremont raised the Stars and Stripes from the top of the Wind River Range, naming the location "Fremont's Peak."

1875  Frank Wolcott, of Johnson County Invasion fame, assumes the office of U.S. Marshall for Wyoming for the second time.

1891  A Laramie cycling club was organized.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1906  Lands ceded the prior year from the Wind River Reservation opened for settlement.

1909  An automobile racer died in a race in Cheyenne when his car struck a cow on the racetrack.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918 The news of August 15, 1918. UW to form training unit, Conscientious Objectors go to forced labor, and the reappearance of Pancho Villa on the front page.

The Laramie Boomerang was reporting on the war news, including the formation of what would be something basically the equivalent of ROTC.

Ulster, or Northern Ireland, was making a pitch, or rather its politicians were, to Woodrow Wilson as well. And the perennial hopes that the Communists were about to collapse in the Soviet Union made the front page again.

The war also greeted the readers of the Cheyenne State Leader, but with some more sensationalist news.

Were 21 Conscientious Objectors really going to have to go to forced labor on farms and donate their pay to the American Red Cross?  I hope not.

And had Pancho Villa reappeared on the front page.

1919  August 15, 1919. The Motor Transport Convoy reaches Ft. Bridger and tensions rise on the border.

The Motor Transport Convoy left Green River and made 63 miles to Ft. Bridger, opting to stay on the location of that former post. The post had been occupied intermittently since the 1840s, but had been last abandoned by the Army in 1890.

The entry that day was the longest to date because of the diarist interest in a significant engineering project the party undertook.

The trip made the local papers retrospectively.

At the same time, it looked like the tensions on the border with Mexico were about to erupt into war once again.  The Cheyenne, Casper and Laramie newspapers took note of the renewed tensions and didn't take note of the Motor Convoy at all.

Closer to that border, an item for today?

1920  Dedication of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Casper.

St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Casper Wyoming

This large Roman Catholic Church is located one block from St. Mark's Episcopal Church, the First Presbyterian Church, and the St. Anthony's Convent otherwise pictured on this blog. Built in the late teens and completed in 1920, funds to construct the church were raised from the parishioners.  The church was formally dedicated by Bishop McGovern on August 15, 1920.  The church rectory is next to it, and can be seen in the bottom photograph. To the far right, only partially visible in this photograph, is the Shepherd's Staff, the church offices.

This church served as the only Roman Catholic church in Casper Wyoming up until 1953, when Our Lady of Fatima was opened. The church also currently serves the St. Francis Mission in Midwest Wyoming.

St. Anthony's was recently updated (Spring 2014) to include a Ten Commandments monument.

My parents were married in this church in 1958 and I was baptized here.

The church has, within the entryway, a memorial to its parishioner's killed during World War Two.

I've noticed that this particular entry had tended to remain in the top three of the most observed entries on this blog, not that there's a lot of traffic on this blog. My theory is that people are hitting it looking for the Parish website. That being the case, you can find the parish website by hitting this link here.

 
Epilog:

St. Anthony's recently received a new set of steps. The old cement was decaying after a century of use.  So, as a result, the front of the church now has a slightly different appearance.

1922  Tuesday, August 15, 1922. Germany defaults.

Germany defaulted on its reparations payments.

Released this day with an absurd plot involving vying for the hand of a wealthy Mexican señorita, a virtuous lass back home threatened by the KKK, and a major issue to be determined by a jumping bean contest.

The Casper Daily Tribune ran a cartoon attacking Governor Carey on the front page.

Frankly, even now, I’m shocked.

As can be seen, Casper was expanding in 1922 and the stresses that involved were apparently getting to people.  

1940  Ft. Laramie publicly dedicated as a National Monument.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1942  The first landing at the Casper Air Base took place when Lt. Col. James A. Moore landed a Aeronca at the base.

1945    The Allies proclaimed V-J Day, one day after Japan agreed to surrender unconditionally.  Hirohito's surrender message is broadcast to the Japanese people.  Japanese aircraft raid TF 38, 12 hours after Hirohito's surrender order.  Soviet aircraft sink 860 ton frigate Kenju off Hokkaido; last Japanese warship lost during World War II.A two-day holiday is proclaimed for all federal employees. In New York, Mayor La Guardia pays tribute to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the deceased president, in a radio broadcast.  US Task Force 38 launches massive air strikes on the Tokyo area, encountering numerous Japanese fighters but the aircraft are recalled upon receipt of the surrender announcement. Vice-Admiral Ugaki, commanding Kamikaze operations, leads a final mission but the 7 dive-bombers are shot down off Tokyo before they can reach Okinawa. South Korea was liberated after nearly 40 years of Japanese colonial rule.  US gasoline rationing ends.

1949  Ground breaking for War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2001  Pony Express monument unveiled in Casper.