Historical Events
Malone's 44 Goal Season
Mar 2 Joe Malone goes scoreless in Montreal Canadiens' 5-3 season-ending loss to Toronto Arenas; finishes the first NHL season with 44 goals, a record that stands until 1944-45
The 1918 Flu Pandemic
Mar 4 US Army mess cook Private Albert Gitchell of Fort Riley, Kansas becomes the first documented military case of Spanish flu; start of worldwide pandemic killing 50-100 million [some sources cite date as March 11]
Distinguished Service Medal
Mar 7 President Woodrow Wilson authorizes US Army's Distinguished Service Medal
- Mar 7 World War I: Finland forms an alliance with Germany
- Mar 9 Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
- Mar 9 Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda
- Mar 9 Wageningen Agricultural College Netherlands opens
- Mar 11 Conservationists John Merriam, Madison Grant, and Henry Fairfield Osborn found "Save the Redwoods League" - a non-profit forest conservation land trust in San Francisco, California founded
Moscow Soviet Capital
Mar 12 Fearing foreign invasion Vladimir Lenin shifts revolutionary Russia's capital from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to Moscow
- Mar 13 1st NHL championship: Toronto Arenas beat Montreal Canadiens, outscoring them 10-7 in a 2 game set
- Mar 13 American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms
Trotsky Controls Army
Mar 13 Leon Trotsky gains control of the Red Army
Niles US Champion
Mar 17 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Nathaniel Niles
- Mar 18 Soccer team SON OF Meerssen forms
- Mar 18 Socialist Youth AJC organizes in Amsterdam
- Mar 19 S Potter becomes 1st US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane
- Mar 19 US adopts Standard Time Act of 1918, also known as the Calder Act, a federal law implementing standard time (and daylight saving time) and defining five time zones for the United States
- Mar 21 World War I: Germany launches Somme offensive
- Mar 23 Alick Wickham dives 200' into Australia's Yarra River
- Mar 23 German forces advance 14 miles to the Somme River (WW1)
- Mar 23 Germany begins using long-range gun, the 'Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz' ('Emperor William Gun'), aka 'Paris Gun' to shell Paris from Crépy-en-Laonnais, 75 miles away; over several days, 303 rounds kill 256 and wound over 600
- Mar 23 Lithuania proclaims independence
- Mar 25 Belarusian People's Republic is established
- Mar 27 Moldova and Bessarabia join Romania
- Mar 30 Stanley Cup, Mutual Street Arena, Toronto, ON: Toronto Arenas (NHL) beat Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA), 2-1 for a 3-2 series victory; first series contested by the new NHL
- Mar 31 1st daylight savings time in US goes into effect
Famous Birthdays
- Mar 1 Duncan White, Ceylonese athlete (first Olympic medallist from Ceylon, silver 400m hurdles 1948), born in Lathpandura, Sri Lanka (d. 1998)
- Mar 1 Gladys Noon Spellman, American politician (d. 1988)
- Mar 1 Hank Wyse, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1945; Chicago Cubs), born in Lunsford, Arkansas (d. 2000)
- Mar 1 Roger Delgado, English actor (Doctor Who, Agent 8 3/4, Hot Enough for June), born in London, England (d. 1973)
- Mar 3 Arnold Newman, American photographer (Faces USA), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2006)
- Mar 3 Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist (1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of DNA polymerase), born in New York City (d. 2007)
- Mar 3 Frank Wigglesworth, American composer (The Willowdale Handcar), born in Boston Massachusetts (d. 1996)
- Mar 3 Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian (d. 2000)
- Mar 3 Peter O'Sullevan, British horse racing commentator 'the voice of racing', born in Kenmare, Ireland (d. 2015)
- Mar 3 San Yu, Burmese General and the 5th President of Burma (1981-88), born in Thegon, Pegu Province, British Burma, British India (d. 1996)
- Mar 4 Alfred Judson Force Moody, US Army Brigadier General, WWII and Vietnam veteran, born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1967)
- Mar 4 Margaret Osborne DuPont, American tennis player (6-time Grand Slam singles winner), born in Joseph, Oregon (d. 2012)
- Mar 5 Halsey S. Colchester, British SAS officer, spy (MI6) and priest (d. 1995)
- Mar 5 James Tobin, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2002)
- Mar 5 Milt Schmidt, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame center (Stanley Cup 1939, 41; Boston Bruins) and coach/GM (Stanley Cup 1970, 72; Boston Bruins), born in Kitchener, Ontario (d. 2017)
- Mar 5 Paul Christman, American College Football Hall of Fame quarterback (University of Missouri; All-Pro 1946, 47; Chicago Cardinals, Green Bay Packers), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1970)
- Mar 5 Ranga Sohoni, Indian cricket all-rounder (4 Tests, top score 29 no, 2 wickets), born in Nimbahera, Rajasthan, India (d. 1993)
- Mar 5 Red Storey, Canadian football player and ice hockey referee (d. 2006)
- Mar 6 Howard McGhee, American be-bop jazz trumpeter, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (d. 1987)
- Mar 7 June Wayne, American artist, lithographer and teacher (Tamarind Lithography Workshop), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2011)
- Mar 8 Poon Lim, Chinese sailor who survived 133 days adrift at sea, born in Hainan, China (d. 1991)
- Mar 9 Marguerite Chapman, American actress (The Seven Year Itch, Spy Smasher, Flight to Mars), born in Chatham, New York (d. 1999)
- Mar 9 Mickey Spillane [Frank Morrison Spillane], American mystery writer (I the Jury), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2006)
- Mar 10 Günther Rall, German ace fighter pilot, born in Gaggenau, Germany (d. 2009)
- Mar 10 Heywood Hale Broun, American TV commentator and sports correspondent, born in New York City (d. 2001)
- Mar 12 Elaine de Kooning, American artist, born in Brooklyn, New York City (d. 1989)
- Mar 12 Frank Overton, American actor (Fail Safe; 12 O'Clock High (TV series, not film)), born in Babylon, New York (d. 1967)
- Mar 13 George McAfee, American College-Pro Football HOF utility (Duke University; NFL C'ship 1940, 41, 46; First-team All-Pro & NFL All-Star 1941; Chicago Bears), born in Corbin, Kentucky (d. 2009)
- Mar 14 Dennis Patrick, American actor (Dear Dead Delilah, Dallas, Rituals), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2002)
- Mar 15 Janet Leach, potter, born in Grand Saline, Texas (d. 1997)
- Mar 15 Punch Imlach, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame coach and general manager (Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1987)
- Mar 15 Richard Ellmann, American literary scholar and biographer (Oscar Wilde), born in Highland Park, Michigan (d. 1987)
- Mar 16 Aldo van Eyck, Dutch architect (City Hall), born in Driebergen, Netherlands (d. 1999)
- Mar 16 Howard Boatwright, American composer and violinist, born in Newport News, Virginia (d. 1999)
- Mar 17 Józef Franczak, Polish soldier and anti-communist resistance fighter who was the last cursed soldiers, born in Kozice Górne, Kingdom of Poland (d. 1963)
- Mar 18 Bob Broeg, American sportswriter (St. Louis Cardinals for St. Louis Post-Dispatch; National Sportscasters and Sportswriters HOF), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2005)
- Mar 18 Yevgeny Pepelyaev, Bodaybo, Irkutsk, Soviet Union, fighter pilot, (d. 2013)
- Mar 20 Bernd-Alois Zimmermann, German composer (The Soldiers; Requiem), born in Bliesheim, Germany (d. 1970)
- Mar 20 Donald Featherstone, British writer and wargamer, born in London, England (d. 2013)
- Mar 20 Jack Barry, American game show emcee (Joker's Wild), born in Lindenhurst, New York (d. 1984)
- Mar 20 Marian McPartland, British jazz pianist and radio broadcaster (Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz), born in Slough, England (d. 2013)
- Mar 21 Joe Carveth, Canadian ice hockey right wing (NHL All Star 1950; Stanley Cup 1943, 50 Detroit Red Wings; Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens), born in Regina, Saskatchewan (d. 1985)
- Mar 22 Cheddi Jagan, Guyanese politician, Guyanese Premier (1953, 1957-64) 'Father of the Nation', born in Port Mourant, Guiana (d. 1997)
- Mar 22 Tauno Pylkkanen, Finnish opera composer, born in Helsinki, Finland (d. 1980)
- Mar 23 (Granville) "Stick" McGhee, American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter ("Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee"), born in Knoxville, Tennessee (d. 1961)
- Mar 24 Englebert van Anderlecht, Belgian abstract painter, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1961)
- Mar 25 Howard Cosell, American sports journalist (Monday Night Football), born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (d. 1995)
- Mar 28 Rudolf Alberth, German conductor, and composer, born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (d. 1992)
- Mar 28 Youly Algaroff, Russian-French ballet dancer, born in Simferopol, Crimea (d. 1995)
- Mar 29 John Read, British businessman, CEO (TSB Group), born in Brighton (d. 2015)
- Mar 29 Pearl Bailey, American Tony and Emmy Award-winning stage and screen actress, singer and dancer (Hello, Dolly!), born in Newport News, Virginia (d. 1990)
Sam Walton (1918-1992)
Mar 29 American businessman (founder and CEO of Walmart and Sam's Club), born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma
- Mar 30 Joseph Allen Jr, American actor (The Night Before the Divorce, Motor Madness), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1962)
- Mar 31 Helen Kemp (née Hubbert), American choral conductor, composer, and voice teacher, born in Perkasie, Pennsylvania (d. 2015)
- Mar 31 Marv Grissom, American baseball pitcher, coach (MLB All Star 1954, NY, SF Giants), born in Los Molinos, CA (d. 2005)
- Mar 31 Ted Post, American television and film director (Gunsmoke; Beneath the Planet of the Apes; Magnum Force), born in Brooklyn, NYC (d. 2013)
Famous Weddings
Louis Armstrong
Mar 19 American jazz musician Louis Armstrong (17) weds Daisy Parker (21); divorce in 1923
Famous Deaths
Frank Wedekind (1864-1918)
Mar 9 German actor and playwright (The "Lulu" plays), dies at 53
- Mar 10 Jim McCormick, Scottish-born American baseball pitcher and manager (first Scot in MLB; NL wins leader 1880, 82; NL ERA leader 1883), dies at 61
- Mar 13 Karel Stecker, Czech organist, pedagogue, and composer of organ and sacred music dies at 57
- Mar 14 Lucretia Garfield, First Lady of the United States as the wife of James A. Garfield (1881), dies at 85
- Mar 15 George Alexander [Samson], British actor, theatre producer and manager, dies at 59
- Mar 15 Jose White Lafitte, Cuban-French violinist and composer, dies at 82
- Mar 15 Lili [Marie-Juliette Olga] Boulanger, French composer (first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize), dies at 24
- Mar 18 Willem Coenen, Dutch pianist and composer, dies at 81
- Mar 19 Willem H. de Beaufort, Dutch historian and liberal politician, dies at 73
- Mar 20 Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War General (b. 1828)
- Mar 23 César Cortinas, Uruguayan composer, dies of tuberculosis at 27
- Mar 24 Théophile "Théo" Ysaÿe, Belgian composer and pianist, dies at 53
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Mar 25 French composer (Nocturnes, La Mer), dies of cancer at 55
