“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News, The Morning News, the Every Evening and the Evening Journal.
Nov. 14, 1982, Sunday News Journal
Vietnam memorial dedicated
Thousands of Vietnam veterans marched away a decade of indifference Saturday and paraded proudly past the White House to a memorial that inadvertently reflects the divisiveness of their unpopular war.
It was a moving scene as disabled veterans hobbled along with canes, gamely responding to cadence counts; paraplegics wheeled themselves or were pushed; blind veterans listened to reports of what was happening from their friends; and an army of marchers and walkers, dressed in everything from baggy fatigues to camouflage suits to full-dress uniforms or sport jackets, moved slowly along Constitution Avenue, waving tiny American flags and raising their fists in triumph.
But it was not the heroes’ welcome that many veterans openly long for. Vast sections of the viewing stand were half empty.
The five-day “National Salute to Vietnam Veterans,” which culminated in Saturday’s march by an estimated 15,000 people to the new memorial, was designed, according to chief organizer Jan C. Scruggs, “to stimulate the long overdue national recognition that has largely been denied to those of us who served in our nation’s longest war.”
But on this raw, blustery morning, there was little indication that any vast segment of the public has rallied to their cause….
The memorial itself remains controversial. Supporters of the war say its V shape is reminiscent of the peace symbol flashed by antiwar protesters. The controversy was partly resolved by a decision to add a sculpture of three servicemen and a flagstaff next year.
More:Huey pilots, crews honored for saving thousands in Vietnam
Nov. 15, 1969, The Morning News
Three in Apollo 12 speed toward moon
The Apollo 12 astronauts rocketed unerringly toward the moon last night, confident that their storm-buffeted takeoff caused no damage that would keep them from making a second U.S. lunar landing Wednesday.
Remembering the harrowing ride through black clouds over Cape Kennedy – and the spacecraft power loss it caused – flight commander Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. told ground controllers “the best is to forget it.”
The launch of Conrad, Richard F. Gordon Jr. and Alan L. Bean was one of the most nerve-wracking in nine years of U.S. manned space flight. The astronauts made two unplanned trips into the lunar landing craft – the first to check its systems for any possible damage caused by the power failure, and the second about three hours later to turn off a sticky switch that failed to shut off a light when the hatch was closed….
Conrad, 39, first blamed the problem on a bolt of lightning. But later the crew and officials on the ground agreed it more likely was caused by a gigantic burst of static electricity generated as the 363-foot Saturn 5 rocket sped upward through the clouds.
Among the half-million spectators who braved rainy weather at Cape Kennedy to watch the launch were President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew….
Catch up on history:The News Journal archives, week of Jan. 2
Nov. 18, 1907, The Evening Journal
Dry Saturday down the state; reports from Kent towns declare no drunkenness
Reports from down the state are that the first Saturday night in “dry” Kent and Sussex counties was devoid of any disorder and that the merchants in the principal towns did a thriving business….
Saturday night is the great night in the down-state towns. Persons flock in from the surrounding country to do their shopping, and many come to get their liquor, part of which they drink and part of which they take away with them…
But the liquor was missing Saturday night, and none of the incidents that stirred down-state residents in their crusade against the license were seen on the streets.
Residents of Smyrna are highly pleased with their first Saturday night under prohibition. Not a drunken man was seen on the streets, which is unusual for Smyrna on Saturday nights. The town was crowded as usual and all the merchants report having done a big business….
In Dover, if Saturday night under the “dry” regime is to be taken as criterion, it will be difficult to get them to vote “wet” should the license question ever be resubmitted. The usual Saturday night crowd came to town, but there was no drunkenness or disorder.
Milford got another sample of a “dry” Saturday night, and the town is satisfied with the result. The big crowds flocked in from the country as usual…and the merchants report that their business was as good as ever while there was an utter absence of intoxicated persons on the streets….
Distillery moving to lower county?
Residents of Smyrna and of the lower part of New Castle County are stirred by reports that Levy’s distillery is to be removed from Dover to a point in the lower part of Blackbird Hundred….
Levy’s distillery was the largest in Delaware….
Now that Kent County has gone “dry” the distillery had to close along with the hotel bars in the county, and Mr. Levy has been left with a big stock of liquors and a plant on his hands….
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
