Local history

50 years ago: 1975

Col. Lloyd M. Morris, director of the Blair County-Altoona Civil Defense Council, was presented the CD’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Citation, in ceremonies at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on a special Blair County Day in which 47 Blair County residents traveled to the Pentagon by bus.

25 years ago: 2000

Eight people were trapped for about 40 minutes in the crossover elevator from the Station Mall to the downtown. They were rescued by Altoona firefighters, Dan Marrison assistant chief. A firm called Eastern Elevator was called to do the repairs.

10 years ago: 2015

John D’Andrea, 90, a WWII combat veteran who had what was called the first political program on Altoona cable called “We the People,” worked for the Department of Revenue and had his own bandstand nightclub in Altoona in 1959, died April 2. Rock and roll star and friend Chubby Checker personally returned a call to the Mirror to talk about D’Andrea.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Friday, April 11, the 101st day of 2025. There are 264 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight in history:

On April 11, 1945, during World War II, U.S. Army troops liberated the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp near Weimar, Germany.

On this date:

– In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba. (Napoleon later escaped from Elba and returned to power in March 1815, until his downfall in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.)

– In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which included the Indian Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act, one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

— The Associated Press