A hidden star catalog on an ancient manuscript attributed to Hipparchus
Credit: Early Manuscripts Electronic Library/Lazarus Project, University of Rochester

Scholars studying Biblical texts have made an almost unimaginable find—fragments of a lost star catalog compiled by the ancient astronomer Hipparchus. Hipparchus’s work represents the earliest known project to catalog the entire night sky. The find is an example of a palimpsest—a manuscript that has been written over with other writings. The discovery was announced in the fall of 2022. 

The lost fragments were discovered by researchers examining a text taken from the library of St. Catherine’s Monastery, a Greek Orthodox monastery on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt. That text was written during the Middle Ages, a period of history that lasted form about the 400’s through the 1400’s. 

The text was written not on paper, but on a specially prepared animal skin called parchment. However, parchment and other materials could be rare in the Middle Ages. For this reason, scribes sometimes scraped the surface of the parchment, clearing the page for a new manuscript. In many cases, the scraped away writing can still be detected, forming a type of hidden manuscript called a palimpsest. 

In 2012, a biblical scholar asked his college students to study the text beneath the manuscript, hoping to find earlier Christian writings. But one student spotted an astronomical passage often attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Eratosthenes. 

In 2017, researchers at the University of Rochester in New York analyzed the pages using multi-spectral imaging. They took 42 photos of each page at various wavelengths of light. A computer algorithm then combined the various images to search for hidden markings. The researchers discovered myths about the stars’ origins compiled by Eratosthenes, along with a poem about the constellations. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the house-bound scholar passed the time re-examining the images. He was surprised to find what appeared to be stellar coordinates, numbers that can be used to measure the position of a star in the night sky.  

Using radiocarbon dating, the coordinates were determined to be written in the 400’s or 500’s A.D. However, the way they were written suggested that they might have been copied from Hipparchus. Moreover, astronomers know that the stars appear to change position over time due to a wobble in Earth’s axis, an effect called precession. The coordinates were so detailed that scholars could thus determine that they were taken in 129 B.C., during Hipparchus’s life. 

The oldest surviving star catalog comes from a work called the Almagest by the astronomer Ptolemy, compiled in the 100’s A.D. Hipparchus’s earlier catalog is mentioned in ancient sources. But with no surviving evidence, it was thought to be lost forever or even never to have existed. 

The new discovery sheds an amazing light on Hipparchus’s work. Compiled nearly 2,000 years before the invention of the telescope, his catalog would have required countless hours of measurement with a sighting tube or a device called an armillary sphere. For now, only a few fragments remain, but scientists hope that they will help to identify other fragments of Hipparchus’s work in other manuscripts. 

Indigenous peoples of the Americas: cultural areas
Credit: World Book map

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the first people who lived in North America or South America, and their descendants. Indigenous means original or native. Indigenous people had been living in the Americas for thousands of years before any Europeans arrived. They formed hundreds of tribes with many different ways of life.

Scholars called anthropologists, who study human culture, classify the hundreds of North American Indigenous tribes into groups of tribes with strong similarities. These groups are called culture areas. The culture areas of Canada and the United States are (1) the Arctic; (2) the Subarctic; (3) the Northeast, often called the Eastern Woodlands; (4) the Southeast; (5) the Plains; (6) the Northwest Coast; (7) California; (8) the Great Basin; (9) the Plateau; and (10) the Southwest.

Arctic cultural area
Credit: World Book map

Most Arctic peoples lived in small bands along the seacoast, moving often in search of food. Seals were the primary food. Sealskin was widely used for making shelters and boats, clothes, tools, and other goods. Arctic peoples adapted to the modern world while preserving much of their traditional way of life.

Subarctic cultural area”
Credit: World Book map

The Subarctic was thinly populated. Tribes consisted of small bands, related through marriage. Food was often scarce, and the people moved about hunting and gathering wild plants, berries, and nuts. Most Subarctic peoples live in areas set aside for them, called reserves in Canada and reservations in the United States.

Northeast cultural area
Credit: World Book map

In the Northeast, the Iroquois and most Algonquian groups lived mostly by growing corn, beans, and squash. Some of the northernmost groups depended more on hunting, gathering, and fishing. Many tribes now live in Oklahoma and various Western states. Many Iroquois became leaders in the struggle for the rights of Indigenous people in Canada and the United States.

Southeast cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The adequate rainfall and long growing season enabled Southeastern peoples to grow large quantities of corn. They traveled either on foot or in wooden dugout canoes. Women had much power and influence among most Southeastern groups. Today, Southeast tribes try to maintain a balance between traditional and modern ways of life.

Plains cultural area
Credit: World Book map

When the Spaniards brought the horse to the Plains in the 1600’s, a new way of life appeared. On horseback, the Plains peoples could follow the great herds of buffalo. Nearby tribes, and those forced westward by the advancing white people, quickly adopted the Plains way of life. Communication across tribes led to the development of the Plains sign language.

Northwest Coast cultural area
Credit: World Book map

Among tribes of the Northwest Coast, a few families had great influence in each village because of their ancestry and wealth. Totem poles, carved from tree trunks, became more common with the iron tools brought by the white traders. Totem poles showed the social rank and ancestry of a family or individual.

California cultural area
Credit: World Book map

Tribes in the California area consisted of one or a few villages of extended families. Acorns were the most important food. Women gathered acorns, washed them, and pounded them into flour. The women then cooked the flour to make acorn mush or bread. The Pomo were famous for their basket making.

Great Basin cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The tribes of the Great Basin consisted of many small bands. Each band had a home territory near a lake or a stream that provided a reliable supply of water and fish. Pine nuts were the most important single source of food. Today, many Indigenous people of the Great Basin live as ranchers and farmers.

Plateau cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The tribes living in the Plateau consisted of bands of extended families. During the summer, bands traveled their territory in search of food. In the winter, they lived in villages. Plateau peoples mainly ate wild bulbs and roots, berries, and salmon and other fish. Today, many Plateau peoples live on reserves or reservations.

Southwest cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The early peoples of the Southwest included several tribes. The Pueblo tribes had one of the most highly developed civilizations in North America. They were excellent craftworkers. Most Pueblo lived in villages and farmed along rivers that provided water for irrigation. The Navajo, a hunting and gathering tribe, are today one of the largest Indigenous groups in the United States. The Navajo have become noted for weaving blankets and rugs and making silver jewelry.

Code talkers were Indigenous Americans who used their languages to help the United States military communicate in secret. This black-and-white photograph shows two Navajo code talkers operating a radio during World War II (1939-1945). The Navajo language was unknown to the Germans and Japanese and proved impossible for them to decipher.
Credit: NARA

On November 11, the anniversary of the end of World War I (1914-1918), the United States observes Veterans Day honoring men and women who have served in the United States armed services. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as Armistice Day to remember the tragedies of war and appreciate peace achieved by the armistice (truce). In 1938, Armistice Day was made a federal holiday. Congress renamed the day Veterans Day to honor all United States Veterans in 1954. Around the world, the anniversary of the end of World War I is a day to remember those who have died in war. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand observe Remembrance Day on November 11. The United Kingdom observes Remembrance Day on the Sunday closest to November 11.

November is also Native American Heritage Month, a time to observe the cultures, histories, and traditions of Indigenous Americans. Many Indigenous Americans have served in the United States armed forces, contributing to the United States’ success in World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). Most notably, Indigenous Americans called the Code Talkers developed and used codes that enabled the United States and its allies to communicate globally without enemy interference.

The Code Talkers were small groups of Indigenous Americans who served in the United States armed forces in World War I and World War II. Code Talkers developed and used codes in Indigenous American languages to send secret messages, helping the United States and its allies win both wars.

The engineer Philip Johnston suggested the United States Marine Corps use Navajo language as a code during World War II. He grew up on a Navajo reservation and knew that the Navajo language is unwritten, difficult to decipher (decode), and unknown to most people who are not Navajo. In 1942, the United States Marine Corps recruited 29 Navajo men to develop the code. The code talkers used familiar wards to represent U.S. military terms. For example, bombs were called eggs in Navajo. They also created a new phonetic alphabet with Navajo words.

Similarly, in World War I, 19 Choctaw men had served in the U.S. Army, sending and receiving messages based on the Choctaw language. During World War II, 17 Comanche men used their language for code in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

A woman carries the Pan-African flag, a symbol of black unity, at a Juneteenth parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Juneteenth celebrations commemorate the freeing of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
Credit: © Tippman98x/Shutterstock

Last year, Juneteenth became a federal holiday. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. This festival is held in many African American and other communities annually. The name of the festival refers to the date, June 19—the day the last enslaved people were freed in the southern state of Texas in 1865.

Juneteenth festivities often include family reunions, parades, prayer services, plays, and storytelling. Some communities hold longer Juneteenth festivals that span several days as a celebration of civil rights and freedom. Juneteenth is a federal holiday observed in the District of Columbia and by federal employees throughout the United States. In addition, all of the states have recognized Juneteenth in an official capacity.

The festival originated in Texas at the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for the enslaved people in the Confederate States in rebellion against the Union. However, many owners of enslaved people in Texas suppressed information about the emancipation even after the war ended in April 1865. On June 19, 1865, Gordon Granger, a Union general, entered Galveston, Texas, and ordered all enslaved people in the state to be freed. About 250,000 enslaved people, among the last remaining in the United States, were freed.

Juneteenth celebrations were held only in Texas and a few communities in other states in the South in the years following the war. Black Americans carried the celebration with them as they migrated to other regions. Today, Juneteenth festivals have become popular celebrations of freedom and Black American culture in many communities throughout the country. Texas became the first U.S. state to recognize Juneteenth officially, in 1980. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021. In some places, Juneteenth is called Black Independence Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, or Jubilee Day.

Ancient Chinese explorer Xuanzang
Credit: © Almazoff/Shutterstock

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. All month long, Behind the Headlines will celebrate the accomplishments and heritage of Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Zhang Qian, Gan Ying, and Xuanzang were Chinese explorers who made an impact on education, international relations, religion, and trade by traveling throughout Asia. Zhang Qian and Gan Ying set out as diplomats and Xuanzang traveled illegally to learn more about Buddhism. Both explorers left a lasting legacy felt throughout Asia.

Zhang Qian was an ancient Chinese explorer who traveled in the service of Emperor Wudi during the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty was a series of emperors of the same family that ruled China for over 400 years. Zhang’s journeys expanded Chinese knowledge of the world and laid the foundation for later trade between China and the West. Zhang was born sometime before 150 B.C. in Hanzhong, in central China. He worked in the royal palace in Chang’an (now Xi’an), the capital. During the 100’s B.C., the Chinese wanted to destroy large nomadic tribes called the Xiongnu, who demanded tribute and raided towns and villages in northern China. The Xiongnu already had conquered Chinese nomads called the Yuezhi. Emperor Wudi hoped the Yuezhi would form an alliance with him to defeat the Xiongnu.

Ancient Chinese explorer Zhang Qian
Credit: © beibaoke/Shutterstock

Zhang set out about 138 B.C. with some 100 men. The Xiongnu captured Zhang’s party and took them to their chanyu (emperor) who held Zhang captive. Zhang escaped after more than 10 years and continued on his journey to find the Yuezhi. By then, the Yuezhi had moved west to the fertile lands of Bactria, a former Greek colony in central Asia. Zhang passed through the Ferghana Valley in what is now Uzbekistan. In Bactria, Zhang saw goods purchased from India and learned about the kingdom of Parthia.

Zhang failed to convince the Yuezhi king to join the Chinese against the Xiongnu. He took a different route back to China to avoid the Xiongnu, traveling south of the Taklimakan Desert and north of Tibet. But the Xiongnu again captured Zhang. Zhang escaped the Xiongnu during a civil war, returning to China around 126 or 125 B.C. Zhang gave Wudi a detailed report on his voyage. His accounts of Bactria, India, Parthia, and many other regions were the first accurate descriptions that China had received of these places. Wudi was fascinated with the opportunities Zhang presented for diplomatic, economic, and military expansion in Central Asia. The emperor promoted Zhang and sent him on more diplomatic and military missions. These missions increased the empire’s power and helped open the network of trade routes later known as the Silk Road. Zhang died in 114 B.C.

Gan Ying was a Chinese diplomat and explorer in ancient times. In A.D. 97, he set out to reach Da Qin, the Chinese name for the Roman Empire. Gan Ying traveled farther west than any Chinese person before him. Before Gan Ying set out, the Han Empire already had conquered the Taklimakan Desert and surrounding regions. They called this territory the Western Regions. For the first time in history, trade caravans could travel safely through the Western Regions to the rest of China. However, Parthia, farther west in what is now eastern Iran, controlled trade through its territory. The Chinese general Ban Chao, who had conquered the Western Regions, sent Gan Ying on a diplomatic mission to the Roman Empire. He hoped Gan could establish direct contact and find a way to avoid the high surcharges of Parthian merchants.

Gan Ying traveled west from the Western Regions across what are now Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and into Parthia. He reached a large body of water that most historians think was the Persian Gulf. From there, Gan tried to charter a vessel to sail to the Roman Empire, but Persian sailors would not take him. Gan Ying turned back. However, he collected all the information that he could, probably from sailors and traders gathered in Parthia. When Gan returned to China, he accurately reported that the Romans controlled the largest empire west of China.

Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist monk and explorer. Xuanzang traveled by foot and horse from China to India to collect Buddhist scriptures and learn more about Buddhism from other scholars. Chen Hui was born around 602, near Luoyang in the province of Henan. He was raised in the Confucian tradition but converted to Buddhism as a child. Chen was ordained in 622 and was given the monastic name Xuanzang. As a young monk, Xuanzang was troubled by the limited selection and poor quality of Buddhist texts available in China. He resolved to travel to India to bring more such texts back to China.

Xuanzang set off some time between 627 and 629 from the Chinese capital of Chang’an (now Xi’an). The government of the new Tang dynasty had greatly restricted emigration (travel out of the country) at the time. Xuanzang was denied permission to leave China, but he did so anyway, traveling in secret and at night while he crossed the border.

Through his journeys Xuanzang traveled through the Gobi Desert, Taklimakan Desert, Kucha and Turfan, Tian Shan mountains and visited Samarqand and Tashkent in present-day Uzbekistan, what is now northern Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush mountains to arrive in Gandhara, in what is now Pakistan. He also continued to the Kashmir region and the foothills of the Himalaya mountains to Mathura, India, near Delhi. Xuanzang followed the Ganges River east, visiting holy places associated with the life of Buddha.

Xuanzang began his return journey to China in 643 with the help of the Indian emperor Harsha. He arrived back in Chang’an in 645, 16 years or more after leaving China.  Xuanzang was given a hero’s welcome, despite having left Tang China illegally. He returned with more than 650 Buddhist manuscripts, having traveled more than 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers). Xuanzang wrote a book about his journeys and spent the rest of his life translating the manuscripts he had collected from Sanskrit, an Indian language, into Chinese. Xuanzang died in 664.

The Endurance shipwreck was photographed at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula. The photo shows the stern (back) of the ship.
Credit: © Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Geographic

In a testament to its name, the legendary Endurance is in one piece after sinking off the coast of Antarctica 107 years ago. On March 5, 2022, a search expedition organized by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust discovered the shipwreck of the Endurance. It was at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Southern Ocean, about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from its last position as recorded by its captain. The ship’s hull (body) was largely intact. Under the international Antarctic Treaty, the ship was protected as a historic site and monument and left undisturbed.

The expedition which took off at the beginning of World War I (1914-1918) was led by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton. Shackleton was a British explorer who made four journeys to Antarctica. In 1909, he came within 97 nautical miles (about 110 miles or 180 kilometers) of the south geographic pole, sometimes called simply the South Pole. Shackleton measured in nautical miles, because he wanted to reach a point within 100 miles of the pole. It was the farthest point south any expedition had reached. Shackleton also is known for a heroic rescue mission that he undertook in 1915-1916.

Shackleton was born on Feb. 15, 1874, in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom. His family moved to London, England, when he was a child. Shackleton was educated at Dulwich College in London. He joined the British merchant marine when he was 16 years old and served for about 10 years.

From 1901 to 1903, Shackleton served on an Antarctic expedition led by the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Shackleton was part of a small party that trekked across the Ross Ice Shelf. The group reached a point about 530 miles (850 kilometers) from the south geographic pole. It was the farthest south that anyone had gone. After returning to the United Kingdom, Shackleton worked as a journalist and as secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society while raising funds for his own expedition. In 1906, he ran unsuccessfully for Parliament.

From 1907 to 1909, Shackleton led his British Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton and three of his men traveled overland from Ross Island toward the south geographic pole. On Jan. 9, 1909, they reached a latitude of 88 degrees 23 minutes, more than 400 miles (600 kilometers) closer to the pole than Scott’s expedition had gotten. Another small party traveled north from Ross Island and came close to reaching the south magnetic pole. Members of the expedition also made the first ascent of Mount Erebus, on Ross Island, in 1908, as well as the first motion pictures of Antarctica. Shackleton returned to England a hero and was knighted.

Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917 did not accomplish its goal of crossing the continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. However, it became one of history’s great stories of survival. Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, became trapped in ice in the Weddell Sea near the coast of Antarctica in January 1915. It drifted north for about 10 months before it finally was crushed by the ice and sank on Nov. 21, 1915. The crew had abandoned the ship in late October, and they camped on floating ice for several months. In April 1916, they traveled in small boats to desolate Elephant Island, off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Leaving 22 men on Elephant Island, Shackleton and five companions then made a daring open-boat journey of 800 miles (1,300 kilometers). They sailed northeast and reached the island of South Georgia in 17 days. Shackleton and two men trekked across the island’s snowy mountains for 36 hours to get help at a whaling station. It took until August 1916 to reach the 22 men stranded on Elephant Island, but the entire expedition of 28 men was rescued.

Shackleton served with British forces in Russia near the end of World War I. He set out once more for Antarctica in September 1921. However, he died of a heart attack on his ship in Grytviken Harbour, South Georgia, on Jan. 5, 1922. Shackleton wrote about his adventures in the books The Heart of the Antarctic (1909) and South (1919).

Cinco de Mayo, a holiday celebrated by Mexicans and Mexican Americans, commemorates the victory of a Mexican army over a French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Its name is Spanish for Fifth of May. These performers in Mexico City celebrate the holiday with a re-enactment of the battle. Credit: © Jorge Uzon, AFP/Getty Images

Today, May 5, is Cinco de Mayo, a holiday celebrated in Mexico and in many communities throughout the United States. Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for Fifth of May. Many people know that Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory of a Mexican army over a French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. But few people know much about the battle itself, which took place near Puebla, a city in central Mexico, during a French invasion of Mexico. Mexican forces won the Battle of Puebla, but their victory did not stop the French from taking control of Mexico. A French-supported government led by Emperor Maximilian ruled Mexico from 1864 until 1867, when Maximilian was killed and the Mexican republic was restored.

A statue of former Mexican President Benito Juárez stands in Pachuca, the capital of the state of Hidalgo, in central Mexico. The hills of Pachuca contain deposits of valuable metals such as gold and silver. Credit: © AA World Travel Library/Alamy Images

In April 1862, a force of some 6,000 French troops marched inland from the port city of Veracruz, intending to take Mexico City, the nation’s capital. Puebla lay along the route to the capital, and Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza assembled about 4,800 troops nearby to stop the French advance. On April 28, the French won an initial battle at Acultzingo Pass leading to Puebla. Zaragoza then withdrew to Puebla, which was protected by fortifications on two large hills—Guadalupe and Loreto—and other defenses.

On May 5, 1862, French artillery began bombarding Puebla’s defenses, and an infantry assault soon followed. The French attack failed under the concentrated fire from Puebla’s defenders. A second attack also failed, but the French refused to quit and launched a third attack. It too failed. Suffering heavy casualties (people killed and wounded), the French called off the assault. Mexican cavalry then attacked the French as they attempted to withdraw, inflicting still more casualties. With the battle lost, the French eventually retreated to Orizaba, a city midway between Puebla and Veracruz.

The French suffered nearly 500 casualties at Puebla, including more than 100 killed in action. Mexican losses were about 85 dead and more than 100 wounded. Despite the defeat, the French recovered quickly. After receiving about 30,000 reinforcements the following autumn, the French renewed their march toward Mexico City. The French won the second Battle of Puebla in May 1863 and then pushed on to take Mexico City. Mexican President Benito Juárez was forced into hiding, and the French installed Archduke Maximilian of Austria as emperor of Mexico in 1864.

Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph served as emperor of Mexico from 1864 to 1867. His reign helped lead to the modernization of Mexico. Credit: © Andrew Burgess, Library of Congress

After the bloody American Civil War ended in the spring of 1865, the United States threatened to intervene to remove the French from Mexico. The French then began withdrawing their forces in 1866. At the same time, a resistance movement led by Juárez increased attacks on the French and Mexican troops loyal to Maximilian.

In February 1867, Maximilian and his army withdrew north of Mexico City to the city of Querétaro, where Mexican rebels soon besieged them. In May, Maximilian was betrayed by one of his officers and captured by rebel troops. The emperor—who had ordered all Juárez supporters caught bearing arms to be shot—was himself executed by firing squad on June 19, 1867. The Mexican republic was then restored, and Juárez again became president.

Soldiers take part in a memorial service during an Anzac Day event. Anzac Day is a patriotic holiday in Australia and New Zealand that honors people who served in the armed forces.
Credit: © Kristian Dowling, Getty Images

Today, April 25, is Anzac Day, a patriotic holiday honoring current and former members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces. ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the name of the combined overseas force that fought in World War I (1914-1918). Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the Allied invasion of Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915.

In World War I, the Central Powers—Germany and Austria-Hungary—fought against the Allies—an alliance that included the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. As the war progressed, additional countries joined each alliance. Australia and New Zealand, former British colonies, entered the war as allies of the United Kingdom. Allied soldiers from the United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere fought troops of the Ottoman Empire, which was aligned with the Central Powers, at Gallipoli. The Ottoman Empire, centered in what is now Turkey, entered the war as a German ally in October 1914.

The ANZAC became known for the bravery and skill of its soldiers fighting against the Ottoman Empire during World War I (1914-1918). ANZAC forces landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in Turkey, in an area later called Anzac Cove, shown here. After many months of hard fighting, the troops were withdrawn, and the campaign at Gallipoli failed.
Credit: © Bettmann/Corbis

On April 25, 1915, some 75,000 soldiers from Australia, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom landed on Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. At that time, it was the largest military landing in history. The campaign was a costly failure for the Allies, who left Gallipoli after eight months of brutal and fruitless warfare. Some 127,000 people from all nations died there.

The campaign was particularly hard for ANZAC forces. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed in action during the Gallipoli campaign. More than 19,000 Australian soldiers were wounded. More than 2,700 New Zealanders were killed, and more than 4,700 were wounded. During the campaign in Gallipoli, the ANZAC forces gained a reputation for bravery and skill. In Australia and New Zealand, Anzac Day is observed each year on April 25 in honor of people who have served in the armed forces of the two countries.

On April 25, 1916, services in Australia and New Zealand marked the first Anzac Day to remember the fallen of Gallipoli. Today, Anzac Day services are held throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as at Gallipoli’s “Anzac Cove.” For the last two years, services and celebrations have been limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people stood out on their driveways to safely honor the armed forces. This year, traditional dawn services and marches will resume. In Sydney, the dawn service begins at 4:30 a.m. at the Cenotaph in Martin Place, where many young men enlisted to fight in World War I. Cenotaph means empty tomb. War memorial cenotaphs honor soldiers whose bodies lie elsewhere. The solemn service includes a reading of the “Ode of Remembrance,” part of the poem “For the Fallen” written by British poet Laurence Binyon soon after the outbreak of war in 1914:

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.”

The audience then responds: “We will remember them.”

Later in the day, veterans and current service members march from Martin Place towards Hyde Park, where the Anzac Memorial is located. National ceremonies begin a few hours later in Canberra and Wellington, the capital cities of Australia and New Zealand.

United States Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen ties parachutes onto candy bars to drop for German children as part of Operation Little Vittles during the Berlin Airlift.
Credit: U.S. Army

Gail Seymour Halvorsen was born on Oct. 10, 1920, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Halvorsen graduated from Bear River High School in 1939. After high school, he received a scholarship to a pilot-training program. He earned his pilot’s license in September 1941.

In May 1942, Halvorsen signed up for the Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. Halvorsen attended Utah State University before receiving a call for training in March 1943. He completed basic training in Wichita Falls, Texas. Halvorsen earned the opportunity to train with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in Miami, Oklahoma, and received his military pilot wings in 1944. Halvorsen flew supplies to countries in the South Atlantic, as well as England, Italy, and parts of North Africa, through the end of World War II (1939-1945). After the war, he returned to the United States and flew cargo planes.

In the summer of 1948, Halvorsen was assigned to Operation Vittles, the U.S. arm of the Berlin Airlift. Halvorsen’s schedule included three round-trip flights to Berlin daily. Once, at Tempelhof Air Base in West Berlin, he met children and gave them his gum rations. He was impressed with the children’s manners and promised to drop them more candy. When the children asked how they would know which plane was his, Halvorsen responded that he would waggle the wings of his plane, rocking them back and forth. This habit earned him the nickname Uncle Wiggly Wings.

Halvorsen began dropping candy, chocolate, and gum from his rations and convinced other pilots to donate their rations. He crafted parachutes using handkerchiefs, so the candy would drift safely to the ground. Halvorsen began receiving letters addressed to Uncle Wiggly Wings from the children of West Berlin. His superior officer noticed newspaper articles on the candy drops and thus became aware that Halvorsen was breaking Air Force rules by conducting unofficial drops. Halvorsen was allowed to continue after it became clear that the effort was helping the Allies to gain favor among the Germans and around the world. The United States Air Force named the mission “Operation Little Vittles.” People in the United States began donating supplies. American candy companies began donating candy, and students in the United States volunteered to tie handkerchief parachutes to the candy. Halvorsen and other pilots dropped more than 20 tons (18 metric tons) of candy and 250,000 parachutes from Sept. 22, 1948, to May 13, 1949.

Halvorsen returned to the United States in January 1949. The operation continued without him. The Air Force granted Halvorsen a permanent commission in the United States. He received the Cheney Award for humanitarian actions from the Air Force. Halvorsen studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Florida, graduating in 1951 and earning a master’s degree in engineering in 1952. He served as the project engineer for the Wright Air Development Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He also worked on the Titan III rocket in Inglewood, California. He returned to Germany to serve as commander of the Tempelhof Air Base until his retirement in 1974. He earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Wayne State University in 1973, while stationed in Germany. He logged more than 8,000 hours of flight time in his 31-year career.

After retiring from the Air Force, Halvorsen served as the assistant dean of student life at Brigham Young University from 1976 to 1986. He participated in a candy drop over Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1994. Halvorsen received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor granted by Congress, in 2014. Halvorsen wrote a memoir, The Berlin Candy Bomber (2017).

Sculptor Augusta Savage
Credit: National Archives

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas. 

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement in Black American literature and arts during the 1920’s and early 1930’s, when writers and artists tried to explore Black life in the United States in a fresh way. This artistic “renaissance,” which means rebirth, was set in Harlem, an area in New York City that was the center of Black American cultural life during the period. Writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston built on Black American folk culture and addressed such themes as politics, gender, and heritage. Jazz musicians Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington transformed music. One sculptor of the Harlem Renaissance who cast the reality of the Black experience into sculptures was Augusta Savage.

Augusta Savage was a Black American sculptor and influential art teacher. Savage typically worked in plaster, creating sculptures meant to be cast in bronze. However, Savage could not afford bronze. As a result, most of her sculptures went uncast, and the plaster originals have been destroyed or damaged. Savage’s talent has been recognized after her death, but most of her artwork remains missing.

Savage’s sculptures take their subjects from the Black American experience. Her most successful work was The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing), a tribute to the musical contributions of Black Americans. The Harp was a 16-foot (5-meter) tall painted plaster statue. Twelve singers stand in for the strings of the harp, with a man kneeling in front holding sheet music. The base of the harp, supporting the strings, was a large arm and hand. The sculpture was commissioned for and displayed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Augusta Christine Fells was born Feb. 29, 1892, in Green Cove Springs, Florida, near Jacksonville. Her father, a Methodist minister, disapproved of her early creativity in art. The principal at her high school, in West Palm Beach, recognized Savage’s talent and asked her to teach a clay modeling class. She married James Savage in 1915, but they soon divorced. After winning an award at the West Palm Beach County Fair in 1919, Savage moved to New York City.

Savage was accepted into many renowned art programs and schools, but her lifelong struggle with poverty kept her from many opportunities. She worked at a steam laundry, an industrial laundromat, to provide for her family. Savage received a scholarship to the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City and graduated from the four-year program in three years. She was accepted to the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in France. However, her acceptance was rescinded (taken back) when the committee found out she was Black.

Savage was commissioned by New York City’s Harlem Library to make busts of W. E. B. Du Bois, the American sociologist and civil rights activist, and other notable civil rights leaders. In 1929, Savage was given funds and awarded a fellowship to study in France. There, Savage exhibited her work at the Grand Palais. In 1934, Savage became the first Black American elected to the National Association of Woman Painters and Sculptors. She started her own studio, where she gave free art classes. Savage died of cancer on March 26, 1962.