Robert "Red" Robinson OBC (born March 30, 1937)

(CANADIAN PRESS) – VANCOUVER — The family of Vancouver
radio personality Red Robinson says he has died after a brief
illness.

In a statement posted online, Robinson’s family says he passed
away on Saturday, April 1st, shortly after 8 a.m.

Robinson began his radio career in 1954 at Vancouver’s CJOR,
and his website credits him as the first DJ in Canada to play
rock ’n’ roll music on a regular basis.

It says Red jumped to Vancouver CKWX station in 1957, where
he met American singer Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley.

His website says he was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1994, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1997
and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2000, retiring from radio
in 2007.

In 1959, Robinson took a job with KGW Radio in Portland, OR,
on the condition that he also host a TV show. He got his wish,
hosting Portland Bandstand on KGW TV. However, because
of American draft laws, he was also required to do a six-month
stint in the US Army at Fort Ord in California.

Red in 1955

Red with Buddy Holly

Red Robinson with Elvis Presley in 1957.

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress
to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I.

Four days later, Congress obliged and declared war on
Germany.

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

Peter Iredale in Seattle, around 1900.

Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel Braque sailing vessel that
ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast en route to
Portland, Oregon with 1,000 tons of ballast and a crew of 27,
including two stowaways. She was abandoned on Clatsop Spit
near Fort Stevens in Warrenton about four miles south of the
Columbia River channel.

The ship was named after Peter Iredale, who not only owned the
vessel as part of his shipping fleet, but was also a well-known
figure in Liverpool, England, where his business was located.

Wreckage the Peter Iredale is still visible, making it a popular
tourist attraction as one of the most accessible shipwrecks of
the Graveyard of the Pacific.

    
Peter Iredale

The United States launched a massive invasion of the Japanese
home island of Okinawa, with an initial landing of 60,000 soldiers
and marines, on this day in history, April 1, 1945.

The Battle of Okinawa proved the last major engagement of World
War II and the largest battle of the entire war in the Pacific Theater. 

Okinawa has been a critical strategic location for the United States Armed Forces since the Battle of Okinawa and the end of World
War II. The island was under American administration until 1972,
and today hosts around 26,000 US military personnel, about half
of the total complement of the United States Forces Japan,
spread among 32 bases and 48 training sites.

Naha, Okinawa, Japan today.

On April 1, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed a
measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and
television, to take effect after Jan. 1, 1971.

Nixon, who was an avid pipe smoker, indulging in as
many as eight bowls a day, supported the legislation
at the increasing insistence of public health advocates.