September

100 years ago this month, the Meuse-Argonne Campaign got underway. It was the largest battle in American military history and the costliest. In less than seven weeks, half as many Americans would die as who died in the Vietnam War.

Also 100 years ago, the second wave of the Spanish Flu gathered steam. Worldwide, the pandemic killed far more people than did the First World War.

80 years ago, the Great New England Hurricane struck Long Island and New England. Much of the woodlands of southern New England were, at the time, white pine. The hurricane blew most of them down. Federally-funded logging salvaged the timber. The hardwood trees, which survived, repopulated the forests. The fall foliage tourism would not have happened absent the Great Hurricane of 1938.

74 years ago, the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest began. It's considered the longest single battle in U.S. Army history and was widely considered at the time to be a meatgrinder. Historians have come to regard the battle as a defeat for the Army. On the other hand, the success of the Germans may have emboldened Hitler to order the Battle of the Ardennes, which didn't end so well for them (and which ended the Luftwaffe as an effective force).

40 years ago, "September" was released by Earth, Wind and Fire: