June 22: This Day in History - G.I. Bill, Civil War and Guadeloupe Disaster

On this day in history, a few events took place in the U.S. that are worth review. Here are the events we chose to highlight.

FDR Signs G.I. Bill

On this day in 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill, which is an unprecedented act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of the armed services. These men were known as G.I.s because of their efforts in World War II.

As the last of the sweeping New Deal reforms, Roosevelt’s administration created the G.I Bill, officially known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. FDR signed this act in hopes of avoiding a relapse into the Great Depression after the war ended.

“The American Legion, a veteran’s organization, successfully fought for many of the provisions included in the bill, which gave returning servicemen access to unemployment compensation, low-interest home and business loans, and most importantly, funding for education,” said history.com.

The G.I. Bill transformed American education, because before, college had been an option for only 10-15 percent of young Americans.

So by 1947, vets made up half of the nation’s college enrollment; three years later, nearly 500,000 Americans graduated from college, compared to 160,000 in 1939. 

Civil War: Lee Strikes Back at Petersburg

On this day in 1864, Union forces attempted to capture a railroad that had been supplying Petersburg, Virginia from the south, and extend their lines to the Appomattox River.

The Confederate soldiers thwarted the attempt, and both sides settled into trenches for a nine-month siege.

The struggle for Petersburg began on June 15. Union General Ulysses S. Grant had spent six weeks fighting his way around Richmond, Virginia. After Grant ordered an attack that ended with a loss of 7,000 men, he went south to capture the rail center of Petersburg.

When troops arrived, the Confederates were already digging trenches, and for four days, Grant tried to break through the line. After pausing to reconsider his tactics, Grant decided to refrain from further frontal assaults.

Instead, Grant extended his flank on June 21 to cut off the Weldon Railroad, which was a supplier for Petersburg from the South.

“Part of the Union Second and Sixth Corps moved past the Jerusalem Plank Road, where they ran into Ambrose Powell Hill’s Confederates. Hill’s troops rolled up the Union flank, inflicting nearly 3,000 casualties and capturing 1,700 prisoners,” noted history.com. “Hill provided breathing room for Lee’s army, and the armies settled in for a long siege.”

Disaster-Mysterious Boeing 707 Crash in Guadeloupe

On this day in 1962, an Air France Boeing 707 crashed on the island of Guadeloupe. The impact killed all 113 passengers and crew members aboard.

This particular crash was only one of five major accidents involving Boeing 707s during 1962. Overall, the five crashed killed 457 people.

“The Boeing 707 was built as a modification of the KC-135 military tanker and bomber. The design was altered so that it could carry passengers, and it proved to be very popular with the exploding commercial-aviation industry,” according to History.com. “Although it burned more fuel, the 707s were faster than other commercial jets of the time.”

Part of the French West Indies, Guadeloupe is a small island in the Caribbean. The airport is located in a valley ringed by mountains, and pilots generally dislike a steep decent, which was required for landing in this airport.

On June 22, the Air France flight failed to descend correctly and crashed into a peak called Dos D’Ane, or the Donkey’s Back. The plane exploded in a fireball and there were no survivors.

The flight occurred before the advent of the black box flight recorder, and there was no reason for the crash ever found. It was the third deadly crash involving a Boeing 707 in a month.