February 1945
• February 4 – A waste paper drive in Missoula yielded 50,000 pounds.
• February 11 – President Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta and signed an agreement splitting Europe into occupation zones.
• February 12 – Four children, aged 6 months, 3, 4, and 13 died in a fire on the Fort Belknap Reservation. The mother and other children survived.
• February 13 – Budapest was occupied by the Soviets.
• February 16 – U.S. carrier planes attacked Iwo Jima with napalm. American paratroopers landed on Corregidor.
• February 18 – The Third Army breached the Siegfried line.
• February 19 – U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima. Fred T. Daylis was appointed the acting principal of Billings Senior High.
• February 21 – A B-24 from the Spokane Air Base crashed 35 miles southwest of Philipsburg en route to Great Falls. The pilot and copilot died but one crew member parachuted to safety. Donald Ruhl threw himself on a grenade on Iwo Jima, saving 2 other men. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
• February 23 – U.S. Marine Louis Charlo helped raise the first American flag on top of Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima.
• February 25 – A house fire killed a man in Great Falls.
Read more about February 1945 in Montana
March 1945 in Montana (coming soon)
Montana History Calendar 1930s
