On this day
December 9, 1941
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Headlines from December 9, 1941
TURN BACK TO SEA; Two Formations Neared City on Radio Beams, Then Went Astray
Roosevelt intervention asked
Philippines Pounded All Day As Raiders Strike at Troops; Air Base Near Capital Among Targets Hit by Japanese -- Landing on Lubang With Aid of Fifth Columnists Reported
Jap troops reptd to have landed with 5th-column aid, Lubang Is
MALAYA THWARTS PUSH BY JAPANESE; Thailand Capitulates and Is Seen Virtually in Axis -- Two Raids on Singapore MALAYA STEMS JAPANESE PUSH JAPANESE SEEK FOOTHOLD IN MALAYA
Brooke-Popham and Vice Adm Sir G Layton issue order of the day
PLANES GUARD CITY FROM AIR ATTACKS; Army Interceptors Join the Navy Patrols -- Anti-Aircraft Apparatus Set Up Here
Hurt by unidentified men, N Y C
Notable Births
1941Mehmet Ali Birand, Turkish journalist and author (died 2013)[†]
Mehmet Ali Birand was a Kurdish-Turkish journalist, political commentator and writer.
1941Beau Bridges, American actor, director, and producer[†]
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television. He is the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and the elder brother of fellow actor Jeff Bridges.
1941Dan Hicks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2016)[†]
Daniel Ivan Hicks was an American singer-songwriter and musician, and the leader of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. His idiosyncratic style combined elements of cowboy folk, jazz, country, swing, bluegrass, pop, and gypsy music. He is perhaps best known for the songs "I Scare Myself" and "Canned Music". His songs are frequently infused with humor, as evidenced by the title of his tune "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away?" His album Live at Davies (2013) capped over forty years of music.
Notable Deaths
1941Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Russian author, poet, and philosopher (born 1865)[†]
Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky was a Russian novelist, poet, religious thinker, and literary critic. A seminal figure of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, regarded as a co-founder of the Symbolist movement, Merezhkovsky – with his wife, the poet Zinaida Gippius – was twice forced into political exile. During his second exile (1918–1941) he continued publishing successful novels and gained recognition as a critic of the Soviet Union. Known both as a self-styled religious prophet with his own slant on apocalyptic Christianity, and as the author of philosophical historical novels which combined fervent idealism with literary innovation, Merezhkovsky became a nine-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he came closest to winning in 1933. However, due to contested claims that he expressed regard for Fascism as a lesser evil than Communism during the outbreak of war between Germany and the USSR shortly prior to his death, his work largely fell into neglect after World War II
Historical Events
1941World War II: China, Cuba, Guatemala, and the Philippine Commonwealth declare war on Germany and Japan.[†]
The Republic of China (ROC) began on 1 January 1912 as a sovereign state in mainland China following the 1911 Revolution, which overthrew the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and ended China's imperial history. From 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT) reunified the country and initially ruled it as a one-party state with Nanjing as the national capital. In 1949, the KMT-led government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War and lost control of the mainland to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP established the People's Republic of China (PRC) while the ROC was forced to retreat to Taiwan; the ROC retains control over the Taiwan Area, and its political status remains disputed. The ROC is recorded as a founding member of both the League of Nations and the United Nations, and previously held a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council until 1971, when the PRC took China's seat in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758. It was also a member of the Universal Postal Union and the International Olympic Committee. The ROC claimed 11.4 million km2 (4.4 million sq mi) of territory, and its population of 541 million in 1949 made it the most populous country in the world.
1941World War II: The American 19th Bombardment Group attacks Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon.[†]
The 19th Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 19th Airlift Wing, stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas.