May
8 & 9
Time
of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those
Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World
War
By
resolution 59/26 of 22 November 2004, the
UN General Assembly declared 8–9 May as a
time of remembrance and reconciliation and,
while recognizing that Member States may have
individual days of victory, liberation and
commemoration, invited all Member States,
organizations of the United Nations system,
non-governmental organizations and individuals
to observe annually either one or both of
these days in an appropriate manner to pay
tribute to all victims of the Second World
War.
The
Assembly stressed that this historic event
established the conditions for the creation
of the United Nations, designed to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war, and called
upon the Member States of the United Nations
to unite their efforts in dealing with new
challenges and threats, with the United Nations
playing a central role, and to make every
effort to settle all disputes by peaceful
means in conformity with the Charter of the
United Nations and in such a manner that international
peace and security are not endangered.
On
2 March 2010, by resolution 64/257, the General
Assembly invited all Member States, organizations
of the United Nations system, non-governmental
organizations and individuals to observe these
days in an appropriate manner to pay tribute
to all victims of the Second World War. A
special solemn meeting of the General Assembly
in commemoration of all victims of the war
was held in the second week of May 2010, marking
the sixty-fifth anniversary of the end of
the Second World War.
Events
413
– Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing
tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia,
Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania
and Calabria, who are plundered by the Visigoths.
589 – Reccared summons the Third Council of
Toledo.
1450 – Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt
against King Henry VI.
1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi
River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.
1788 – The French Parlement is suspended to
be replaced by the creation of forty-seven
new courts.
1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign
of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist
Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector
with the Ferme Générale, is tried, convicted,
and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks
defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia.
1846 – Mexican-American War: The Battle of
Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican
force north of the Rio Grande in the first
major battle of the war.
1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia
is named the capital of the Confederate States
of America.
1877 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City,
the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
opens.
1886 – Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton first
sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola"
as a patent medicine.
1898 – The first games of the Italian football
league system are played.
1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin
opens.
1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts,
destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing
over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents
survive the blast.
1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
1919 – Edward George Honey first proposes
the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate
The Armistice of World War I, which later
results in the creation of Remembrance Day.
In the United States it was called Armistice
Day and is now Veterans Day.
1924 – The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally
incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory)
into Lithuania.
1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop
transatlantic flight from Paris to New York,
French war heroes Charles Nungesser and Francois
Coli disappeared after taking off aboard The
White Bird biplane.
1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast
in protest against the British rule in India.
1941 – The German Luftwaffe launch a bombing
raid on Nottingham and Derby
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral
Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial
Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and
sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier
USS Lexington. The battle marks the first
time in the naval history that two enemy fleets
fight without visual contact between warring
ships.
1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon
Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in
the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands
Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three
of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth
soldiers to be executed for mutiny during
the Second World War.
1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are
killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif
massacre.
1945 – World War II: V-E Day, combat ends
in Europe. German forces agree in Rheims,
France, to an unconditional surrender.
1945 – The Halifax Riot started when thousands
of civilians and servicemen went on a rampage
through Halifax.
1945 – End of the Prague uprising, today celebrated
as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
1946 – Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and
Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial
which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier
in Tallinn.
1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic
President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists
defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist
flag on Vesak, killing nine.
1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is
split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del
Sur, and Davao Oriental.
1970 – The Hard Hat riot occurs in the Wall
Street area of New York City as blue-collar
construction workers clash with demonstrators
protesting the Vietnam War.
1972 – Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard
M. Nixon announces his order to place mines
in major North Vietnamese ports in order to
stem the flow of weapons and other goods to
that nation.
1972 – Four Black September terrorists hijack
Sabena Flight 571. Israeli Sayeret Matkal
commandos recapture the plane the following
day.
1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities
and the American Indian Movement members occupying
the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee,
South Dakota ends with the surrender of the
militants.
1976 – The rollercoaster Revolution, the first
steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens
at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
1978 – First ascent of Mount Everest without
supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and
Peter Habeler.
1980 – The eradication of smallpox is endorsed
by the World Health Organization.
1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it
will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los
Angeles, California.
1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec
National Assembly and opens fire, killing
three and wounding 13. René Jalbert, sergeant-at-arms
of the assembly, succeeds in calming him,
for which he will later receive the Cross
of Valour.
1984 – Thames Barrier officially opened.
1987 – The Loughgall Ambush: The SAS kills
eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers
and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall,
Northern Ireland.
1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale
Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS
network outage once considered the 'worst
telecommunications disaster in US telephone
industry history' and still the worst to occur
on Mother's Day.
1997 – A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737
crashes on approach into Bao'an International
Airport, killing 35 people.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Agathius
Apparition of Saint Michael
Arsenius the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Desideratus
Catherine de Saint-Augustin
Julian of Norwich (Anglican, Lutheran)
Peter of Tarentaise
May 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Mother's Day can fall,
while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on
the second Sunday of May. (United States and
others)
Earliest day on which State Flag and State
Emblem Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest;
celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Belarus)
Earliest day on which World Fair Trade Day
can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated
on the second Sunday of May. (International)
Miguel Hidalgo's birthday (Mexico)
Parents' Day (South Korea)
Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for
Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second
World War, continues to May 9 (International)
Truman Day (Missouri)
Victory in Europe Day (Europe)
White Lotus Day (Theosophy)
World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (International)
For details, contact Datacentre
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