Wendell D Pershall (1931 - 1994)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Wendell's lifetime.

In 1931, in the year that Wendell D Pershall was born, in March, “The Star Spangled Banner” officially became the national anthem by congressional resolution. Other songs had previously been used - among them, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", "God Bless America", and "America the Beautiful". There was fierce debate about making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem - Southerners and veterans organizations supported it, pacifists and educators opposed it.

In 1945, he was merely 14 years old when on January 9th, the (over 8 month long) Battle of Luzon began in the Philippines with the United States and Filipino forces attacking Japanese forces - with the intent to take back control of the Philippines. By March, the Allies had taken control of all of the strategically and economically important locations in the Philippines but pockets of resistance held out until the surrender of Japan in August.

In 1974, by the time he was 43 years old, on July 30th, the House Judiciary Committee adopted three articles of impeachment against President Nixon. He was charged with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and the refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee. In order to avoid impeachment, Richard M. Nixon announced that he would resign on August 8th, the first President to do so.

In 1984, he was 53 years old when due to outrage about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (it seemed too "dark" to many and it was rated PG), a new rating was devised - PG-13. The first film rated PG-13 was "Red Dawn".

In 1994, in the year of Wendell D Pershall's passing, on May 6th, the Channel Tunnel or "Chunnel" was officially opened. The Chunnel is a railway tunnel beneath the English Channel that connects Great Britain to mainland France. Original plans for such a tunnel were developed in 1802 and approved by Napoleon Bonaparte but the British rejected the plan fearing that Napoleon would use the railway to invade.