9 March 2013
rialto
[ree-al-toh; for 1, 2 also Italian ree-ahl-taw]
noun
Today’s aphorism
The test of a democracy is not the magnificence of buildings or the speed of automobiles or the efficiency of air transportation, but rather the care given to the welfare of all the people.
– Helen Keller
On this day
9 – 10 March 1945 – A new U.S. offensive against Japan is launched in which more than 2,000 bombs were dropped on Tokyo over a 2 day period, killing around 80,000 people and destroying 40km2. The attack was known as ‘Operation Meetinghouse’ and is considered the single worst bombing in history. It is also believed the official death toll was greatly understated by both Japan and America for their own reasons. Operation Meetinghouse was only one of a number of fire (incendiary) bombings of Japan between 17 November 1944 and 15 August 1945. The fire-bombings demolished every Japanese city, except for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were reserved for the atomic bomb attacks of 6 and 9 August 1945. The incendiary and atomic bombings killed at least 2 million Japanese civilians.
9 March 1934 – birth of Yuri Gagarin, Soviet astronaut. On 12 April 1961, he became the first man into space and to orbit Earth while aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.