William Durley (1914 - 1945)

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

In 1914, in the year that William Durley was born, in June, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Yugoslavian national. Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to Serbia. Other major powers took sides - and World War I began: Austria declared war on Serbia; Germany on Russia and France; Britain on Germany . . . and on it went until most of the world was embroiled in the war.

In 1920, when he was just 6 years old, on November 2, radio station KDKA began broadcasting in Pittsburgh, PA. This was the first commercial radio broadcast in the United States. Westinghouse, a leading manufacturer of radios and the backer of the station, chose the date because of the Presidential election. People liked it because they could hear about the results of the election between Harding and Cox before the morning papers arrived. Four years later, there were 600 commercial stations broadcasting in the U.S.

In 1922, when he was merely 8 years old, on James Joyce's 40th birthday, his book Ulysses was published in France. The book covers the experiences of an Irishman in Dublin on an ordinary day, 16 June 1904. Now considered a classic, it was controversial at the time. Due to some sexual content, the book was banned in the U.S. during the 1920's and the U.S. Post Office destroyed 500 copies of the novel.

In 1935, he was 21 years old when on September 8th, Louisiana Senator Huey Long was shot by Dr. Carl Weiss. Weiss was shot and killed immediately by Long's bodyguards - Long died two days later from his injuries. Long had received many death threats previously, as well as threats against his family. He was a powerful and controversial figure in Louisiana politics (and probably gained power through multiple criminal acts). His opponents became frustrated with their attempts to oust him and Dr. Weiss was the son-in-law of one of those opponents. His funeral was attended by 200,000 mourners.

In 1945, in the year of William Durley's passing, on June 22nd, the Battle of Okinawa ended. A joint Army and Marine campaign, supported by the Navy, the Battle of Okinawa went on for 82 days. The last Japanese resistance on Okinawa was defeated. 4,907 Navy, 4,675 Army, and 2,938 Marine Corps personnel were killed in the battle on the US side. It is estimated that 110,071 on the Japanese side were killed - the estimate includes Okinawan citizens who were pressed into service and includes children. With the win of Okinawa, the United States gained an important base of operations in the Pacific.