This Day in History November 18, 1999

By Texas A&M University.Zscout370 at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

I remember this tragic story, and I was living in Texas when this happened.  It was on this date in 1999 that a terrible tragedy occurred at Texas A&M University.  There had been a long-standing tradition of a bonfire on this campus, and it all came to a horrible end on this date.  At 2:42 A.M., the bonfire that consisted of 5000 logs and stood about 40 feet high collapsed.  Twelve were killed, and 27 were injured.  This ended the tradition officially at the university.

For more information, please check out:
http://bonfire.tamu.edu/
http://www.myspace.com/umat88/blog/449862741#!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggie_Bonfire

This Day in History February 3, 1959

When I saw what happened on this day, I knew I had to cover this.  I have not been doing my Music Monday posts this year--I plan to get back into that--but this is a story that touches me.  I always told this story with a great deal of sadness in my music classes.






These three men featured in these videos--the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly were tragically killed in an airplane crash on this date in 1959.  They were on tour, and these three got the honor of flying on the airplane.  The bus tour had been very uncomfortable, and the chartered plan was supposed to be better.

Although the weather was not the greatest, it was not a blizzard when they took off early that fateful morning. The plane crashed shortly after take-off.  It was mainly pilot error since the pilot was not even a certified pilot as of yet.  Of course, the pilot died as well.  It was death on impact.

Indeed it was a tragedy, and I am only using this site as my resource since I have taught about this story several times.  It has just been a few years since I have, so I am trying to refresh my memory.

I will end with a song that immortalized "The Day the Music Died."