Tag Archives: World War II

December 1943 in Montana

December 1943

• December 3 – Start of statewide paper salvage drive. Duck season closed.

• December 5 – Montana actor George Montgomery married Dinah Shore.

• December 6 – A student with the 317th Training Detachment died from exposure at the base of a cliff in Pattee Canyon near Missoula.

• December 7 – More than 1,100 civilian employees of the 34th Subdepot at Great Falls Army Air Base were honored with an “emblem of civilian service.” Twenty-three new WACs were sworn in at Butte.

• December 9 – Deaconess Hospital in Great Falls recorded the birth of the 12,000th baby born in the hospital.

• December 16 – A bomber recently based in Great Falls crashed at Kearney, Nebraska, killing one crewman.

• December 17 – Eighty-six student nurses completed training at Montana State College.

• December 20 – The Butte Safeway warehouse burned, causing “tremendous” loss.

• December 24 – Two men were arrested after a dynamite explosion at the Silver City nightclub in Butte injured 15 people.

• December 27 – The U.S. Army took control of the nation’s railroads to avert a threatened walkout.

• December 29 – A fire in Stevensville destroyed the Gavin Theater and damaged nearby buildings.

• December 30 – Havre schools reopened after a scarlet fever outbreak.

Montana History Calendar 1942

Montana History Calendar 1941

Montana History Calendar 1930s

November 1943 in Montana

January 1944 in Montana

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October 1943 in Montana

October 1943

• October 1 – Start of a statewide scrap drive. Nine men were killed when their B-17 bomber crashed east of Big Sandy.

• October 7 – A pilot was killed when his fighter plane crashed east of Stockett.

• October 9 – Antelope season ended after 657 antelope were harvested statewide.

• October 11 – Three Gore Field fliers were killed in a B-24 crash at Colorado Springs.

• October 13 – Italy declared war on Germany.

• October 14 – One passenger died, and 58 were injured when the Milwaukee Road Olympian train derailed near Miles City after the tracks washed out. Most of the victims were servicemen and WACs.

• October 16 – A fire in Billings caused $170,000 damage to the Stockman’s Bar, the Elks Club, and the Midland Bank Building.

• October 20 – Two dead, two injured in a Billings house fire.

• October 23 – A fighter pilot was killed in a crash near Lewistown. A hit-and-run driver killed a Billings woman.

• October 28 – Havre hosted 400 Farm Union delegates.

Montana History Calendar 1942

Montana History Calendar 1941

Montana History Calendar 1930s

September 1943 in Montana

November 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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September 1943 in Montana

• September 2 – Ten men from the 612th Bomb Squadron stationed at Great Falls were killed in a B-17 crash five miles east of Ft. Benton during a training exercise.

• September 3 – British forces invaded southern Italy. Thousands viewed the pet and doll parade in Great Falls.

• September 8 – The surrender of Italy was announced.

• September 9 – The U.S. Fifth Army landed at Salerno, Italy and the Third War Bond drive began.

• September 10 – Convicted murderer Philip Coleman was executed at the Missoula County Jail. Two aviation instructors and two students were killed in a collision of their planes near the Missoula airport.

• September 12 – Australian troops and the 163rd Infantry captured Salamaua, New Guinea. The Italian dictator Mussolini was freed from captivity by Nazi commandos.

• September 13 – Gen. Chiang Kai-shek was declared president of China.

• September 16 – Australian troops on New Guinea captured Lae.

• September 24 – A 7th Ferrying Group pilot was killed in an air crash at Great Falls. The Germans evacuated Smolensk. A welder started a fire that resulted in $60,000 damages to the American Crystal Sugar Co. in Missoula.

• September 25 – Duck season opened.

• September 26 – O.F. Goddard, former chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court, died in Billings at age 90.

• September 27 – Residents of Naples revolted against German occupiers upon the approach of British troops.

• September 30 – Silk recycling was halted because it had been so successful.

Montana History Calendar 1942

Montana History Calendar 1941

Montana History Calendar 1930s

August 1943 in Montana

October 1943 (coming soon)

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

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