A note about The Gad About Town web site: A very sad thing happened in my girlfriend’s family this week, and while she has been attending to matters related to this, I have been striving to attend to her. My intent with the “This Day in History” feature is for it to be just that, a feature, but I have not had the time to finish my backlog of posts. Thank you all for your notes of encouragement about this feature. And, look, here it is now:

Operation Detachment, more famously known as the Battle of Iwo Jima, began 71 years ago today. The battle for control of the island, whose value as either a resource or a staging area for future operations was questioned by civilian and military authorities alike even as the invasion commenced, raged for five weeks.

The island was heavily protected by the Japanese forces. Much of the island’s value lay in that fact. More than 100,000 U.S. Marines, with the support of Navy and Army Air Force troops, took on a force of 20,000+ Japanese Army and Navy forces. After five weeks, the U.S. had lost several thousand, but almost 75% of the Japanese forces had been killed in action. On paper, those numbers look like it was a rout, but the reality was that this was a daily, yard-by-yard, grind of a battle to take over an air field that might prove useful in future clashes on the Japanese mainland.

But one of the most unforgettable images from World War II came on the fifth day of the battle, when five Marines and one Navy man raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal’s photo for the Asociated Press of the flag-raising became the inspiration for the Marine Corps War Memorial next to Arlington National Cemetery. One of the Marines who led the charge up Mt. Suribachi, John Wells, died one week ago at the age of 94. He is not one of the Marines in the photo or depicted in the statue, as he was badly injured in the fight. There are fewer than 700,000 American World War II veterans alive today and several hundred of them die each day, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates. The youngest of the World War II veterans are in their late 80s.

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“The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of the Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted areas.“—Executive Order 9066, Franklin D. Roosevelt

Nowhere in Executive Order 9066 does the phrase “of Japanese ancestry” appear. But on this date in 1942, President Roosevelt signed the order that allowed our military commanders to create “military zones,” and on March 9, 1942, the intent behind the order was revealed: more than 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were ordered to relocate to military zones, internment camps, on the West Coast. More than 70%, it is estimated, were American citizens.

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Thomas Edison patented the gramophone, his record player, on this date in 1878.

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On this date in 1949, news came out that the first Bollingen Prize for Poetry would be awarded to Ezra Pound. Pound had been arrested in Italy for treason during World War II (he gave speeches on the radio against America and for fascism), held prisoner in outdoor cages for months, and was an inmate in a hospital prison, St. Elizabeth’s, when he was named the winner. As a person charged with treason, his selection was enormously controversial. Robert Frost wrote that the award was “an unendurable outrage” and that Pound was “possibly crazy but more likely criminal.” On this date in 1963, Robert Frost was named the winner of the prize. I have not found comments from Ezra Pound about this.

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After a decade in the courts, the case of “He’s So Fine” v. “My Sweet Lord” came to a sort-of conclusion 35 years ago today. George Harrison was found to have committed “subconscious plagiarism” in writing “My Sweet Lord,” as its melody is hummably similar to Ronnie Mack’s “He’s So Fine.” The proceedings grew ever-more complicated as the years passed, however, and at one point, the manager of the company that controlled the Beatles, ABKCO, bought the rights to the older song, putting its owner, Allen Klein, in the position of benefiting from any outcome. In part because of this, when Harrison was found guilty of plagiarism, he was required to pay less than he was being sued for and was awarded the rights to “He’s So Fine.” The stress of the litigation kept Harrison from writing, but he did compose one song about the matter: “This Song.”

This song has nothing tricky about it
This song ain’t black or white and as far as I know
Don’t infringe on anyone’s copyright, so . . .
 
This song we’ll let be
This song is in E
This song is for you and . . .

 
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Eddie Arcaro was born 100 years ago today. George Rose (“I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General”) was born on this date in 1920. Lee Marvin was born on this date in 1924. Falco was born on this date in 1957.

 

Smokey Robinson is 76 today (“The Tears of a Clown”). Amy Tan is 64. Jeff Daniels is 61 today. Seal is 53. Justine Bateman is 50 today. Benicio del Toro is 49. Gil Shaham is 45.

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