THIS DAY IN OUR PAST

The following events took place on January 24 in the years identified:

1947: Major General H. A. Harmon, commanding officer of the Caribbean Area Command in the US Army Air Force, who has been in the island since January 22 on official business, leaves for Panama by special plane. He is accompanied by Joseph Ladd and his aide, Don O’Neill. Before his departure, he tells a Gleaner reporter at the Palisadoes Airport that he had a very pleasant stay and hopes to come back. Also leaving for Puerto Rico is George Steele, commanding the 24th Composite Wing of the United States Army Air Force in the Caribbean Area, with headquarters at Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico, who has been in the island for the past few days on an inspection tour.

1955: Three American missionaries from Phoenix, Arizona, arrive from Miami on a three-week visit. They are Jay Fuller, John Adkins and Robert Messinger. They are in the island to conduct an evangelistic campaign and will first hold meetings at the Kingston Race Course, beginning on January 30 and lasting until February 10. They will also visit churches of the New Testament Assembly and the Glad Tiding Mission in Jamaica, and hope to visit churches in the rural parishes.

1979: The Standing Committee of CARICOM Foreign Ministers begin a two-day meeting to discuss several issues, including foreign policy, trade, economic affairs and the possibility of a joint mission in Brussels to deal with the European Economic Community. The agenda, which is accepted at the start of the session, also includes a common approach to the regulation, exploitation and conservation of marine resources, with special emphasis on the proposed Law of the Sea. During the two-day meeting, the ministers will try to work out a coordinated foreign affairs policy in relation to the Middle East, Southern Africa and Latin America, as well as to discuss a common approach to the discussions on the New International Economic Order.