January 6 » Second Boer War: Having already besieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
February 23 » Second Boer War: During the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the first British attempt to take Hart's Hill fails.
March 16 » Sir Arthur Evans purchased the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
March 24 » Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
July 9 » The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children.
September 17 » Philippine–American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham Jr. at Mabitac.
Day of death August 16, 1968
The temperature on August 16, 1968 was between 12.3 °C and 18.1 °C and averaged 15.3 °C. There was 1.0 mm of rain during 0.8 hours. There was 6.0 hours of sunshine (41%). The partly or heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the southwest. Source: KNMI
February 8 » American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley, leaves three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
February 16 » In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
July 20 » The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
September 6 » Swaziland becomes independent.
October 14 » Jim Hines becomes the first man ever to break the so-called "ten-second barrier" in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.95 seconds.
December 16 » Second Vatican Council: Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain.
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/I510607.php : accessed March 6, 2026), "Willem Pretorius (1900-1968)".
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