5. Christmas 1941: Deadly Christmas
The Battle of Hong Kong ended on Christmas Day, resulting in the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong – the Royal Rifles of Canada (a regiment from Quebec) and the Winnipeg Grenadiers. Of the two regiments, 290 were killed and 493 wounded, and the survivors all got to spend the rest of the war in Japanese POW Camps. I’m thinking the soldiers felt rather like the Hessians did back in 1776.
4. Christmas 1953: A Volcanic Eruption
Not all bad Christmases had man to blame. In 1953, activity of the Ruapehu volcano caused the worst rail disaster in New Zealand’s history, with 151 people killed. A barrier of volcanic debris and ice collapsed, sending boulders, sand and other debris into the Whangaehu River, along with 1.6 million cubic meters of water from a lake. The subsequent flood lashed the piers of a rail bridge as a Wellington-Auckland
passenger train was crossing. The force was too much and the piers buckled, sending the engine and six passenger carriages to plunge off the bridge. The accident happened on the night of Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. For the families of those lost in the disaster, this surely was a horrible Christmas.
3. Christmas 1974: Tracy Visits and Leave a Mess
Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Australia on Christmas Eve and Day. Almost the whole city was destroyed – more than 70 percent of the city’s buildings, including 80 percent of the housing. This left more than 20,000 people homeless; 71 people died. Damage was in the hundreds of millions of (Australian) dollars. People didn’t have much of a chance to mourn the loss of their Christmas gifts; they were too busy mourning the loss of the family, friends, homes and livelihoods. One might imagine the memory of this cyclone cast a pall on quite a few subsequent Christmases.
2. Christmas 1989: A Firing Squad for Christmas
After 15 years as president of Romania, Nicolai Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed at the end of a televised “trial.” The two-hour trial followed a military coup, but it is apparent that he was either in complete denial of the dire situation his nation faced or he didn’t care. Romanians stood in bread lines for food and Ceausescu would show up on TV talking about the high standard of living his citizens had achieved. People who believed their leader simply was unaware would send and hand him written appeals, but it became dangerous to do so, as those people soon found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Though he technically was kicked out of office through a military coup, that was merely the capper to days worth of rebellions that had spread throughout the entire nation like wildfire – through word of mouth. The members of the firing squad were so eager to do their jobs, they didn’t even wait for the couple to be tied up and blindfolded before they began shooting. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Romanian today who mourns the loss of the Ceausescus.
1. Christmas 1990: The Third Time Was Not a Charm
Christmas Day was becoming, at this point, the biggest movie day of the year. Studios saved blockbuster releases for premieres on Christmas Day each year and many looked forward to seeing what just might be the best movie of the year six days before said year came to a close. And what movie could be expected to be more of a blockbuster than “Godfather III”? The final movie in the brilliant saga, still starring Al Pacino and with a young Andy Garcia in what promised to be a breakthrough performance. Then people saw the film. It consistently crops up on “worst movies in the history of mankind” lists. It’s a good bet that the three hour crap-fest ruined more than one person’s Christmas Day.
source
0 comments:
Post a Comment