February 1955

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The following events occurred in February 1955:

February 4, 1955 (Friday)

• The Pact of Mutual Cooperation ("Baghdad Pact") is signed.
• British Navy W-class destroyer HMS Wrangler runs aground at Villefranche sur Mer, France. Refloated on 6 February by Marine Nationale and Marina Militare tugs.^[1]

ran aground at Villefranche sur Mer, France. Refloated on 6 February by Marine Nationale and Marina Militare tugs.^[2]

February 5, 1955 (Saturday)

• Lichen Island, a small island lying north of the Bølingen Islands and 5 kilometres (2.5 nmi) north-west of Cleft Island in southern Prydz Bay, Antarctica, is visited by an Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions party led by Phillip Law, who names it for the rich growth of lichens found there.^[3]

February 9, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Apartheid in South Africa: 60,000 non-white residents of the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg are forcibly evicted.
• Twenty nautical miles (37 km) southeast of the Tachen Islands, the People's Republic of China shoots down a U.S. Navy AD Skyraider attack aircraft covering the evacuation of Nationalist Chinese forces from the islands.^[4]
• In Italy, the Rome Metro opens to passengers.^[5]

February 10, 1955 (Thursday)

• The United States Seventh Fleet helps the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
• Born:Chris Adams, English wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)

February 11, 1955 (Friday)

• Died:Ona Munson, American actress (b. 1903)

February 12, 1955 (Saturday)

• U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
• Died:
  • Thomas J. Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1883)
  • S. Z. Sakall, Hungarian actor (b. 1883)

February 13, 1955 (Sunday)

Died: Marcella Mariani, 19, Italian actress and model, one of 29 people killed when a Sabena Douglas DC-6 crashes on Mount Terminillo, near Rieti, Italy.

February 14, 1955 (Monday)

• The West German cargo ship Hoheweg collides with Sunny Prince and sinks in the English Channel off Dungeness, Kent. All fifteen crew rescued by Sunny Prince and landed at Dover.^[6]

February 16, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.

February 18, 1955 (Friday)

• The Cambodian Red Cross is established.^[7]

February 19, 1955 (Saturday)

• The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is established at a meeting in Bangkok.^[8]

February 20, 1955 (Sunday)

• Died: Oswald Avery, 77, US physician and medical researcher

February 22, 1955 (Tuesday)

• In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, by 364,839 votes to 264,77.

February 23, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Died: Paul Claudel, 86, French poet, dramatist, and diplomat

February 24, 1955 (Thursday)

• Born: Steve Jobs, US businessman and founder of Apple Inc, in San Francisco, California (died 2011)

February 25, 1955 (Friday)

• Pope Pius XII creates the Roman Catholic Diocese of Penang and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kuala Lumpur.
• New Zealand philanthropist Edith Winstone Blackwell is awarded the MBE by Governor General Sir Willoughby Norrie.

February 26, 1955 (Saturday)

• George F. Smith becomes the first person to survive a supersonic ejection, from a North American F-100 Super Sabre travelling at Mach 1.05.

February 27, 1955 (Sunday)

• Died: Trixie Friganza, 84, US actress

February 28, 1955 (Monday)

• The Maltese general election ends in another victory for the Malta Labour Party, which wins 23 of the 40 seats.^[9]

References

1. "Telgrams in Brief". The Times (53159). London. 7 February 1955. col C-D, p. 6.
2. "Telgrams in Brief". The Times (53159). London. 7 February 1955. col C-D, p. 6.
3. "Lichen Island". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
4. Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, p. 614.
5. "Roma". UrbanRail.Net. 2004. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
6. "Sinking Ship's Crew Of 15 Saved". The Times (53166). London. 15 February 1955. col C, p. 8.
7. Brief History of Cambodian Red Cross
8. Leifer, Michael (2005). Chin Kin Wah, Leo Suryadinata, ed. Michael Leifer: Selected Works on Southeast Asia. ISBN 978-981-230-270-0.
9. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1302 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7