TODAY IN HISTORY: The siege at the Alamo begins
In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas. Mexican troops under Gen. Santa Anna eventually wiped out the American garrison. Among those killed was frontiersman Davy Crockett.
In 1906, Ontario-born Tommy Burns (The Little Giant of Hanover) became Canada’s first world heavyweight boxing champion. He held the title for two years.
In 1918, the Bolsheviks formed the Soviet Red Army.
In 1945, during the Second World War, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag twice. (The second flag-raising was captured in the iconic photo taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal).
In 1953, Britain granted amnesty to more than 14,000 Second World War military deserters.
In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
In 1979, W.A.C. Bennett, premier of British Columbia from 1952-72, died in Kelowna at the age of 78.
In 1983, Toto won five Grammy Awards, including Single of the Year for Rosanna and Album of the Year for Toto IV. Men at Work won the Best New Artist category.
In 1994, Quebec’s Myriam Bedard became the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals at a single Winter Olympics. Bedard overcame a pair of mismatched skis to win the 7.5-km biathlon race in Lillehammer, Norway, by only 1.1 seconds. She also won the 15-km event five days before, plus the 15-km bronze medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Albertville, France.
In 1994, a two-year-old from Rouleau, Sask., survived six hours outside in bitterly cold weather. Doctors said Karlee Kosolofskis’s core body temperature when she was found was 14 degrees. She was the first person on record to survive such a low body temperature.
In 2009, David Ahenakew, a former senator with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, was found not guilty of wilfully promoting hatred in his second trial on the charge. Ahenakew was charged after making remarks about Jews during a public speech and subsequent interview with a newspaper reporter in 2002. After his first trial, Ahenakew was convicted of wilfully promoting hatred and fined, but in 2006 the Court of Queen’s Bench set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial.
In 2018, at the Pyeongchang Winter Games, Canada’s freestyle skiers Kelsey Serwa and Brittany Phelan took gold and silver, respectively, in the women’s skicross competition while Kaetlyn Osmond won the bronze in women’s figure skating.
In 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Emergencies Act was no longer needed now that demonstrations in Ottawa and at some border crossings had ended or slowed down.