On this day: the death of a soldier

Trooper William Harry Rankin

From the collection of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

The Australian Imperial Force, the Australian Army’s expeditionary force in the First World War, was formed in August of 1914. The mounted Australian Light Horse made up part of this force.

This photograph was taken in November, 1914. The troops – both lighthorsemen – would soon leave Australia to fight.

Trooper William Harry Rankin is pictured on the right. He would go on to fight at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire, where he was killed on the 15th of May, 1915.

Rankin, from the New South Wales town of Mudgee, was thirty-nine at the time of his death.

On this day: the release of Bombardier

The American film Bombardier was released on the 14th of May, 1943. Concerning the training of United States Army Air Forces’ bombardiers, the movie was unpopular with critics, but a success with viewers.

The film was actually conceived in 1940, more than a year before the United States entered the Second World War. The storyline evolved after America was drawn into the conflict at the halfway point, and the script was changed to include Japanese bombing scenes after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On this day: the bombing of Nagoya Castle

Nagoya Castle in Japan was destroyed by Allied bombing on the 14th of May, 1945. The city had been under attack from air raids since April of 1942, and the castle was targeted as it was being used as a Japanese military command post as well as the administrative headquarters for the local prisoner of war camp.

The castle was considered a national treasure. Reconstruction began in the 1950s.

On this day: a Queen and a future Queen

Source

The 12th of May, 1937 marked the coronation of King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth. This photograph was taken on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards.

The new Queen’s daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth II, stands with her. She had turned eleven a couple of weeks before the coronation.

On this day: a Coronation in London

Source

This photograph, taken from the rooftop of Buckingham Palace in London, shows the coronation procession of the new king, George VI and his queen Elizabeth on the 12th of May, 1937. The Royal Coach is seen leaving for Westminster Abbey, where the coronation was to happen.

George would be king until his death in 1952. His daughter Elizabeth inherited the throne in February of that year.

On this day: an Air Display in London

The British Empire Exhibition ran at Wembley Park in London over 1924 and 1925, showcasing Britain’s might to any world leaders who thought to overpower them.

One of the displays was an air display simulating battle-like conditions, and featuring No. 32 Squadron in a show titled “London Defended”. The display was first shown on the 9th of May, 1925 and continued until the 1st of June. Part of the show involved blank ammunition being fired into the arena.

This display was a precursor to today’s Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force’s aerial display team that was founded in the 1960s and today still performs.

Labour Day in 1911

Today is Labour Day in the Australian state of Queensland, though the holiday falls on different dates in other parts of country. The image below, from Queensland’s State Library’s collection, is of a Labour Day parade in 1911.

Labour Day in 1914

This is an image of the Labour Day festivities in Canungra in Queensland, Australia in 1914. Around a hundred people gathered on an overgrown cricket field for the event. The holiday fell on the 4th of May that year.

Today, Canungra still has a population under a thousand.

On this day: American Ballet Theatre

Gelsey Kirkland, star of American Ballet Theatre, is seen here as Kitri in Don Quixote on the cover of TIME Magazine on the 1st of May, 1978. Kirkland, whose professional career began with New York City Ballet at only fifteen, moved to ABT in 1974, where she found fame dancing with Soviet ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov.

May Day in 1953

This image is of the “Labour Day” float in the May Day parade in Queensland, Australia in 1953.

Source