But no one could forget this week anyway. The anniversaries of Columbine, Oklahoma City and Waco all fall within a week of Virginia Tech. What is it about April? Spring is in full bloom. Students are celebrating Spring Break. And the world goes mad.
Using April 15 as the center point, take a look at what has happened the week prior and the week after. Not everything is tainted with evil, however the magnitude of the events can't be forgotten. Thanks to several sources including the oft maligned Wikipedia for some of this information.
April 9 (one week before VT)
The infamous Bataan Death March began in the Philippines. Following defeat at the hands of the Japanese, thousands of Filipino and American soldiers were forced to march up to 30 miles with many suffering from battle injuries and malaria. Of the 75,000 prisoners, nearly 11,000 died during the march.
April 10 (6 days before VT)
In 1963, the USS Thresher, a nuclear powered attack submarine, sank during a test dive off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. All 129 aboard were lost.
April 11 (5 days before VT)
While attempting to become the youngest pilot to fly across the United States, 7 year old Jessica Dubroff was killed when her plane crashed in Wyoming. Her 1996 journey gained worldwide attention as the nation watched her progress.
April 12 (4 days before VT)
Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina in 1861 beginning the American Civil War.
April 13 (3 days before VT)
Few have heard of the Colfax Massacre. This 1873 conflict between a large group of white men including members of the KKK and a mostly black militia in Louisiana over a contested election ended up with up to 300 dead.
April 14 (2 days before VT)
While watching the play, "Our American Cousin" at the Ford's Theater in Washington in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by actor and Confederate spy John Wilkes Booth. He died the next day
April 15 (1 day before VT)
A deadly day in history.
1865-Abraham Lincoln dies from a gunshot wound to the head.
1912-Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic with a loss of about 1500.1943-An Allied bomber attack misses its target and hits the Belgian town of Morsel killing more than 900 civilians.
1989-England's Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield is the site of a human stampede. 96 die.
1997-Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making their Hajj pilgrimage. 343 dead.
2002-An Air China 767 crashes in South Korean killing 128.
April 16
Thirty-two innocent students and faculty shot and killed by a lone crazed gunmen at Virginia Tech. The massacre makes it the deadliest mass shooting in US History.
April 17 (1 day after VT)
In 1989, members of a cult led by Jeffrey Lundgren killed a family of five in Ohio. Lundgren was later executed.
April 18 (2 days after VT)
More than 3000 people died and the city of San Francisco was crippled for years following the earthquake of 1906.
April 19 (3 days after VT)
In 1993, FBI agents stormed the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas after a 51 day stand-off. 79 cult members died.
Two years later, Timothy McVeigh brought terrorism home to Americans with the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. 168 people were killed. McVeigh was later executed.
April 20 (4 days after VT)
Two high school misfits entered their school firing at students and teachers. Twelve students and a teacher died before Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took their own lives. The 1999 shooting marked a grim end to the 21st century.
April 21 (5 days after VT)
A jailhouse fire in Columbus, Ohio, killed 320 people in 1930.
April 22 (6 days after VT)
The city of Guadalajara, Mexico literally blew up in 1992 killing more than 200 people and leaving thousands homeless. Gasoline in underground pipes fueled the explosion.
April 23 (one week after VT)
Finally, 1987 saw the worst disaster in Connecticut's history when the L'Ambiance Plaza collapsed while under construction. 28 workers were killed.
There is definitely something about April.
