Thomas Woodrow Wilson  (Official presidential portrait)
(December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924)

Wilson was the 28th president of the United States, serving from
1913 to 1921. He was the only Democrat to serve as president
during the Progressive Era when Republicans dominated the
presidency and legislative branches.

Wilson’s health declined markedly after leaving office in 1921. He
died on February 3, 1924, at the age of 67. 

President Wilson was interred in Washington National Cathedral,
being the only president whose final resting place lies within the
nation’s capital. 
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Washington National Cathedral.

A 1934 $100,000 gold certificate depicting Wilson.

Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P.
“The Big Bopper” Richardson, along with pilot Roger Peterson, 
were killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane
crashed in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on
a flight headed for Moorhead, Minnesota.      

Investigators blamed the crash on bad weather and pilot error.

After mechanical difficulties with the tour bus, Holly had chartered
a plane for his band to fly between stops on the Winter Dance
Party Tour. However, Richardson, who had the flu, convinced
Holly’s band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat, and
Ritchie Valens won a coin toss for another seat on the plane.

Singer Don McLean (above) memorialized Holly, Valens and
Richardson in the 1972 No. 1 hit “American Pie,” which
refers to February 3, 1959 as “the day the music died.”

Holly’s headstone in the City of Lubbock Cemetery.

CARLATA BRADLEY

 
1952

Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996)

Gene Kelly starred in, choreographed, and, with Stanley Donen,
co-directed some of the most well-regarded musical films of the
1940s and 1950s.

Kelly’s health declined steadily in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In July 1994, he suffered a stroke and stayed in Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center hospital for seven weeks. In early 1995, he
had another stroke which made him severely disabled. Kelly died
on February 2, 1996.

1949

     
CARLATA BRADLEY

Pvt. Eddie Slovik became the first American soldier since
the Civil War to be court-martialed and executed by firing
squad for desertion—and the only one who suffered such
a fate during World War II.

Pvt. Eddie Slovik was a draftee. Originally classified 4-F
because of a prison record (grand theft auto), he was
reclassified 1-A when draft standards were lowered to
meet growing personnel needs.

In January 1944, he was trained to be a rifleman, which
was not to his liking, as he hated guns.

In August of the same year, Slovik was shipped to France
to fight with the 28th Infantry Division.

Eddie and Antoinette Slovik.

1974