January 1 » Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.
January 22 » Edward VII is proclaimed King after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
May 3 » The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
July 4 » William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines.
September 2 » Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
September 17 » Second Boer War: Boers capture a squadron of the 17th Lancers at the Battle of Elands River.
Day of death March 23, 1961
The temperature on March 23, 1961 was between 6.7 °C and 11.4 °C and averaged 8.2 °C. There was 1.6 hours of sunshine (13%). The heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west. Source: KNMI
January 27 » The Soviet submarine S-80 sinks when its snorkel malfunctions, flooding the boat.
January 31 » Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
February 3 » The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.
July 21 » Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
August 10 » Vietnam War: The U.S. Army begins Operation Ranch Hand, spraying an estimated 20million US gallons (76,000m) of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover.
September 17 » The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I21230.php : accessed January 28, 2026), "Richard Gerald Dreyer (Richard Gerald Dreyer ) Steyn (1901-1961)".
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