Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 March 31

Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi (1911–1943) was a surgeon in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. A devout Seventh-day Adventist, Tatsuguchi studied medicine and was licensed as a physician in the United States. He returned to Japan to practice medicine at the Tokyo Adventist Sanitarium. In 1941, he was conscripted as an acting medical officer, and was later sent to Attu Island, Alaska, which had been occupied by Japanese forces in October 1942. The U.S. Army landed on the island in May 1943, and throughout the resulting battle, Tatsuguchi kept a diary recording the events of the battle and his struggle to care for the wounded in his field hospital. He was killed on the battle's final day. His diary was recovered and translated, and copies were widely disseminated in the US after the battle. The American public was intrigued by a Christian, American-trained doctor serving with Japanese forces and by his apparent participation in assisting with the deaths of wounded Japanese soldiers. Excerpts from the diary have been widely quoted in Western historical accounts of the battle, especially his final entry in which he recorded a farewell message to his family. (Full article...)

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• At least 70 people are killed in an ebola outbreak in West Africa.
• The North Atlantic Council appoints Jens Stoltenberg (pictured) as the next Secretary General of NATO.
• Iwao Hakamada, the world's longest-serving death row inmate, is freed and granted a retrial after 48 years in prison.
• The World Health Organization announces the eradication of poliomyelitis in the South-East Asia Region, comprising eleven countries.
• In sumo, Mongolian wrestler Kakuryū Rikisaburō is promoted to yokozuna, becoming the 71st person to earn the title.
• Japanese architect Shigeru Ban wins the Pritzker Prize.

March 31: King Nangklao Memorial Day in Thailand; Cesar Chavez Day in various U.S. states

• 627 – Muslim–Quraish Wars: A confederation of tribes began an ultimately unsuccessful siege of Yathrib (now Medina) against Muhammad and his army.
• 1854 – U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry (Japanese depiction pictured) and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
• 1910 – Six English towns amalgamated to form a single county borough called Stoke-on-Trent, the first union of its type.
• 1931 – TWA Flight 599 crashed in Chase County, Kansas, US, and killed eight people, including football coach Knute Rockne, stimulating advances in aircraft design and development.
• 1964 – Brazilian Armed Forces led an overthrow of Brazilian President João Goulart and established a military government that would last for 21 years.

More anniversaries: March 30 – March 31 – April 1

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The Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) is a European damselfly often found among fast-flowing waters. This female was found on the bank of a small brook near Bussy-Saint-Martin, France.

Photo: Nicolas Sanchez