The Douglas DC-8 of United Airlines Flight 173 was en route from Denver to Portland 
International Airport on Wednesday, December 28, 1978. A landing gear malfunction forced the plane to circle the Portland area while the problem was investigated by the crew. The big jet ran out fuel within an hour and crash landed in a sparsely populated area near 157th and East Burnside, killing 10 and seriously injuring 24 of the 189 passengers who were aboard the aircraft.

President  Roosevelt signing the declaration of war on Japan, Dec. 8, 1941.

 
U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

The Rohna was a seventeen year old British liner/troopship carrying 2,193
passengers including 1,988 U.S. troops and a crew of 198. It was part of a
convoy travelling east from Oran to the Far East via the Suez Canal. when
the convoy was attacked by about 30 German Heinkel 177 bombers. The
Rohna was hit by a HS 293 ‘glider bomb’ considered to be the world’s first
guided missile. The ship sank in less than 30 minutes taking 1,015 U.S.
troops and 102 crew members to a watery death.

The attack was the largest loss of U.S. troops at sea in a single incident. For 
reasons of national security, details of the tragedy were kept secret for many  
years and were not fully released until 1967 as a result of the Freedom of
Information Act.

 
A Henschel HS 293 glide bomb

    

                        Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr.

                     (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959)

Richardson was a disc jockey, singer, and songwriter known best for his 1958
recording of “Chantilly Lace”. On Feb. 3, 1959, known as “the day the music died”, Richardson died at age 28 in the crash of a small plane in a field near Clear Lake,
Iowa, that also killed 1950s rock stars Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

          Buddy Holly                 The Big Bopper                  Ritchie Valens