100 Years Ago: 1918

(Two ads in the Journal, re: the Spanish Flu): On account of Influenza, the Field Day of the New Lake Auburn Boat Club is postponed. The Topsham Fair is canceled for this season.

50 Years Ago: 1968

More than 1,000 U.S. Infantrymen and scores of warplanes attacked a Viet Cong base camp in the marshlands southwest of Saigon and killed at least 159 enemy soldiers while suffering one American dead, a military spokesman said today. A company of infantrymen from the 9th Division apparently caught the enemy troops by surprise in the sparsely populated marshes and canals 68 miles southwest of the capital Friday. Another 1,000 U.S. troops were rushed to the area by helicopters and threw a cordon around the camp. Three American helicopters were hit by enemy fire but managed to land on their own power.

25 Years Ago: 1993

The 143rd annual Fryeburg Fair opened Sunday under gray morning skies, but before noon the sun shone brightly on the grounds here for firemen, horse riders, pig scramblers, tractor pullers and sheepdogs. Fred Lee of Bridgton was glad to see the sun. “The sun is a blessing. I like to see a lot of people coming to the fair enjoying themselves,” said Lee. Lee had arrived early, about 6:30 a.m., and worked in the rain for several hours, guiding people to the parking places in the lot off Swan Falls Road. A little past noon and still a little damp, Leo was taking his lunch break, eating a baloney sandwich while seated on the tailgate of his station wagon. “People come from all over,” he said. “License plates from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and of course Maine and New Hampshire. I was talking with some folk from Belgrade, who arrived last night said they had to go through North Conway clear to Route 16A to find a motel room.”

The material used in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspelling and errors may be corrected.