On this day · archive
A medal arrives after the Marine is gone
James Anderson Jr. posthumously received the Medal of Honor on August 21, 1968. The award was the first given to an African American U.S. Marine.
8
events in todayish file
1968
James Anderson Jr. becomes the first African American U.S. Marine awarded the Medal of Honor.
The recognition marked a historic first, but its posthumous presentation kept the cost of the honor plainly in view.
A first can announce progress while revealing how long recognition was withheld. James Anderson Jr.’s Medal of Honor entered Marine Corps history as the first awarded to an African American Marine.
The honor was posthumous. That fact changes the temperature of the milestone: the institution could record courage, but the Marine whose name changed the record was not present to receive it.
August 21 holds the achievement without smoothing away its cost. The medal widened the public record and preserved a name within it, while the empty place at the ceremony remained part of the meaning.
The full record
8 entries from the day’s archive, filed year by year with a note on what each one leaves behind.
Chemical attacks in Syria’s Ghouta region kill hundreds of people.
The attacks became one of the Syrian war’s defining atrocities and prompted international investigations.
Conflict
Tiger Woods wins the PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since 1953 to win three majors in one calendar year.
The victory completed a rare three-major season and deepened a record-setting run.
Sports
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 crashes in Georgia after an engine failure, killing nine of the 29 people aboard.
The attempted diversion ended in a fatal crash near Carrollton.
Disaster
Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 crashes near Douar Izounine, Morocco, killing all 44 people aboard.
The loss brought mourning to families in Morocco and beyond.
Disaster
James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
The award marked a first while honoring a Marine who did not return to receive it.
Military
William Seward Burroughs receives a U.S. patent for the first successful adding machine.
The machine helped move routine arithmetic from handwritten calculation toward office automation.
Invention
The American Bar Association is founded in Saratoga Springs, New York.
The new national association organized lawyers around professional standards and legal institutions.
Law
Vienna’s Stadtpark opens as the city’s first public park.
The opening gave urban residents a landscaped civic space intended for shared use.
Civic