US #3533 was issued on Fermi’s 100th birthday.
On November 28, 1954, Nobel physicist Enrico Fermi died in Chicago, Illinois.
Born in Rome, Italy, on September 29, 1901, Enrico Fermi had a strong understanding and joy for mathematics and physics from an early age. By 1918, he earned a fellowship to the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. He graduated in 1922 with a doctor’s degree in physics.
US #2152 was based on a photo of US troops retreating from Chosin Reservoir.
On November 27, 1950, the Korean War Battle of Chosin Reservoir began – a fighting withdrawal in the bitter cold.
By November 1950, the United Nations forces had driven the North Korean army back into its own territory. The Yalu River, the northern border of the peninsula was within reach and many believed the war would be over by Christmas. American and UN commanders didn’t realize Chinese forces were massing along the border and would soon change the course of the war.
US #4252 – from the American Journalists issue
Journalist and author Arnold Eric Sevareid was born on November 26, 1912, in Velva, North Dakota.
Sevareid spent part of his childhood in Minot and Minneapolis, where he graduated from high school. After graduation, he and a friend went on a canoeing expedition sponsored by the Minneapolis Star. He later wrote about these adventures in Canoeing with the Cree (1935).
US #883 – from the Famous Americans Series
Composer Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin was born on November 25, 1862, in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania.
Nevin received most of his education from his father, who edited a Pittsburgh newspaper, and contributed articles to magazines. He even composed songs, including a number of campaign songs such as “Our Nominee” for James K. Polk. Nevin’s mother played piano – her grand piano was the first to be taken across the Allegheny Mountains.
US #4144 – a 2007 Priority Mail stamp picturing Air Force One
On November 24, 1954, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower christened the first plane to be designated Air Force One.
Decades earlier, Theodore Roosevelt became the first US president to fly in an airplane. The flight came after his time as president, on October 11, 1910. On that occasion, he rode in an airplane piloted by Arch Hoxsey at a county fair in St. Louis.
US #2911 was issued to pay the postage for the first-class, presort letter rate.
On November 23, 1889, the world’s first jukebox was displayed and used at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, California.
In the early and mid-1800s, coin-operated music boxes and player pianos grew increasingly popular. Requiring a coin payment, these music devices used paper rolls, metal disks, or metal cylinders to play music on one or more instruments inside the machine.
