January 12
1944: Future world champion boxer Joe Frazier is born to Dolly Alston-Frazier and Rubin Frazier in Beaufort. He is the couple’s 12th child.
January 14
1944: A battalion of Women Reserves, including 21 officers and 55 enlisted women, are activated at Parris Island, serving as lifeguards, musicians, truck drivers, and garrison troops for Page Field.
January 15
2008: A report is released ending the investigation by the Navy into the April 21, 2007, crash of the No. 6 U.S. Navy Blue Angels McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet during the final minutes of the air show at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. The lone fatality was the pilot, Lt. Commander Kevin “Kojak” Davis. Eight nearby residents were injured, and millions of dollars worth of private property damage were caused by the crash. The report states that when LCDR Davis pulled back into a 6.8-G pull, he lost control of the aircraft due to G-force-induced Loss Of Consciousness (G-LOC).
January 17
1711: The Lords Proprietors charter the “building of a town to be called Beaufort Town” in honor of the new Proprietor, Henry Somerset, the Duke of Beaufort. The town is “to be located on the Port Royal River on Port Royal Island.” The Port Royal River was later renamed the Beaufort River.
– Compiled by Mike McCombs
