January 4 » Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.
February 23 » Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
July 20 » The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.
July 23 » The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
October 1 » Baseball: The Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series.
October 13 » The Boston Red Sox win the first modern World Series, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth game.
Day of death August 5, 1954
The temperature on August 5, 1954 was between 13.3 °C and 23.1 °C and averaged 18.3 °C. There was 7.4 hours of sunshine (48%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the east-southeast. Source: KNMI
February 23 » The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
April 8 » A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
July 7 » Elvis Presley makes his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, "That's All Right".
July 20 » Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
August 24 » Getúlio Vargas, president of Brazil, commits suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.
September 14 » In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: J Eijsermans, "Eijsermans family tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-eijsermans/I207590.php : accessed January 17, 2026), "Johannes Marie Arthur Gillis (1903-1954)".
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