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February 1945 in Montana

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

January 1945 in Montana

March 1945 in Montana (coming soon)

Montana History Calendar 1942

Montana History Calendar 1941

Montana History Calendar 1930s

Montana's Home Front During World War II
Montana’s Home Front During World War II

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January 1944 in Montana

January 1944

• January 1 – Civil War veteran Gordon Tupper, aged 96, died in Missoula.

• January 6 – University and Army trainees in Missoula put on a musical entitled “Memories on Parade.”

• January 8 – The Montana Aviation Committee met in Missoula.

• January 9 – A fire in Helena destroyed the historic five-story Montana National Bank, built by C.A. Broadwater. Two elderly women who lived on the fourth floor were killed and 8 injured. A 10-year-old boy who tried to rescue the two women was critically burned but survived. He was hospitalized until April.

• January 18 – The Fourth War Loan drive began.

• January 19 – High winds spread 300 prairie fires across Blaine, Hill, and Cascade counties.

• January 21 – Four students at Missoula High were injured, two seriously, when their chemistry experiment exploded.

• January 22 – British and American troops landed at Anzio.

• January 24 – Three died in a house fire six miles from Glasgow. Two miners were killed by a dynamite blast at the Brittania Mine in Butte.

• January 27 – The Soviet Red Army broke the 900-day siege of Leningrad. Robert Alexan Der Thornburg of Hamilton celebrated his 96th birthday. He fought with General Lee at Gettysburg and was believed to be the last Civil War veteran in Montana. Cold Wind (age 100) a Crow Scout who had ridden with General Nelson Miles at the Canyon Creek Battle against the Nez Perce, was buried at the Custer Battlefield.

Montana History Calendar 1942

Montana History Calendar 1941

Montana History Calendar 1930s

December 1943 in Montana

February 1944 in Montana

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November 1943 in Montana

November 1943 in Montana

• November 1 – American Marines landed on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.

• November 5 – American carrier planes and heavy bombers attacked Japanese warships at Rabaul.

• November 7 – A natural gas explosion in Anaconda leveled a block–long federal housing project, injuring two.

• November 11 – Henry L. Myers, former U.S. Senator from Montana (1911-1923) and associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court (1927-1929), died in Billings.

• November 17 – Two Great Northern “speeder” cars carrying members of a track repair crew crashed 35 miles east of Libby, with three killed and 12 injured.

• November 20 – U.S. Marines landed on Tarawa Atoll and Makin Island.

• November 22 – President Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo.

Cairo Conference National Archives

•November 23 – A fire caused $11,000 in damages at the Albemarle Apartment building in Butte.

• November 25 – The Missoula Spartans defeated the Billings Broncs for the state football title.

• November 28 – Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met in Tehran and agreed on the planned invasion of Europe.

Montana History Calendar 1942

Montana History Calendar 1941

Montana History Calendar 1930s

October 1943 in Montana

December 1943 (coming soon)

Learn more about what was happening October 1943 in Montana and check out  Montana’s Home Front During World War II

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