Friday, January 15, 1943. Tragedies and the Pentagon dedication.

US B-24s bombed a Japanese convoy off the coast of Burma and sank the Nichimei Maru, which was, unbeknownst to them, carrying 1,000 Dutch and Australian POWs.  Most survived, but over 50 lost their lives.

Eric Knight, author of the Lassie books, died in a C-54 air crash in Dutch Guiana.  He was serving as a Major in the U.S. Army and assigned to Special Services at the time.

Knight had been born in 1897 in the United Kingdom.  His family moved to the US in 1912, but he'd only been an American citizen since 1942.

FBI agents Harold D. Haberfeld and Percy E. Foxworth were killed in an aviation accident in Suriname.  The were flying to North Africa at the request of Gen. Eisenhower in a role seconded to the military at the time.

Topographic map of Pentagon area in 1945.

The Pentagon was dedicated.  Construction had only commenced on September 11, 1941, which says something about. . . well something.

The British launch a new offensive against the Afrika Korps at Beurat, Libya.  Tunisia saw a lot of air action on this day, and Tripoli, Libya was bombed by US and RAF B-24s.

Andrée de Jongh

Belgian resistance worker and member of the nobility, Andrée de Jongh, organizer and leader of the Comet Line that assisted downed Allied aircrewmen to escape the Germans, was arrested in southern France.  She survived the war and went on to work in leper hospitals all over the world thereafter.  She was decorated by the United States and United Kingdom after the war, and made a Belgian Countess.

The XP-54 flew for the first time.

The airplane was a pusher, and performed below expectations and therefore did not enter service.

Sunday, November 4, 1941. Expanding operations.

Catalina's from Patrol Squadron 14 in November 1941.

U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 14 arrived in Oahu.

The United States Army occupied Dutch Guiana (Surinam), which is now Suriname.

Today the country is a South American republic we frankly hardly ever think of, which all in all may generally be a good thing.  At this point in history, however, it was a Dutch colony, which it had been since the 1600s.  During the war, the Dutch government reconsidered its status, and it obtained a type of dominion status in 1954, and full independence in 1975.

The US had been concerned about its bauxite deposits prior to this date, not wanting them to fall to the Axis, although exporting bauxite from northern South America to Germany would have been impossible. The occupation did secure them for the Allies, however.

This time is noted here:

Today in World War II History—November 23, 1941

Also noted there, trucks were now crossing Lake Lagoda, having followed a  horse-drawn mission of the day prior.

The British were thrown back at Sidi Rezegh in the desert.

A bomb went off outside the U.S. Consulate in occupied Saigon, although there were no injuries. Shades of things to come.

A large fire damaged parts of Seward Alaska.