This Weekend In History…

World War II – Japan Signs Surrender Terms

September 2, 1945

After announcing their surrender two weeks earlier, Japan signs the formal surrender terms aboard the battleship USS Missouri.

300 mph Land Speed Record Set

September 3, 1935

Sir Malcolm Campbell drives his 2,227 cu. in. 2,500-hp V-12 engine “Bluebird” for two runs over a one-mile course averaging 301.129 mph (484.955 km/h). The record was set at the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.

Crocodile Hunter Killed by Stingray

September 4, 2006

Steve Irwin, the Australian naturalist and wildlife expert, known as “The Crocodile Hunter,” dies after being fatally pierced in the heart by a stingray barb off Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. He was filming a shallow-water segment for the documentary Ocean’s Deadliest.

Hurricane Katrina – “this is working very well for them”

September 5, 2005

“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this, (laughing) this is working very well for them.” – Former first lady Barbara Bush commenting on the Katrina evacuees staying in the Houston Astrodome.