page_title: March 1968
section_title: March 18, 1968 (Monday)
hierarchical_section_title: March 1968 / March 18, 1968 (Monday)
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Marines and Japanese troops display their nations' colors during the Reunion of Honor ceremony at Iwo To, Japan, March 21, 2015. Iwo Jima veterans, families, Marines, Japanese troops and officials attended the ceremony commemorating the lives of those lost in one of the most iconic battles of World War II. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Gabriela Garcia/Released)
context_page_description: The following events occurred in March 1968:
context_section_description: The United States departed from the gold standard by eliminating the mandate that U.S. currency deposits be backed by the U.S. gold reserve at the rate of 25 cents per dollar, and eliminated the requirement for backing notes.
  The Philippine Army summarily executed 28 Moro Muslim soldiers who had mutinied after not being properly paid by the Army while training.  While there is a dispute as to the circumstances of the execution, including whether it actually happened, news of the event would be "an important factor giving rise to the founding of the Muslim Independence Movement" with the Muslim minority seeking autonomy or independence in the southern Philippine islands in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
  Two adults were killed, and 28 high school students from the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium were wounded when an Israeli school bus was blasted by a Palestinian fedayeen land mine that had been planted in the road near Israel's border with Jordan.  The bus had been making a field trip from Tel Aviv to the Negev Desert and struck the mine near Be'er Ora, 12 miles north of Eilat.  Israeli Defense Forces would retaliate with an attack on the Jordanian village of Karameh.
  The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare issued nationwide guidelines to prevent racial discrimination, "applying the racial rules for the first time to the entire nation rather than to the South alone".
  In a ceremony that was not reported until a week after it happened, the American flag was lowered at Japan's Iwo Jima after 23 years.  A group of about 50 American servicemen climbed to Mount Suribachi, where a U.S. flag had flown since February 23, 1945, during the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima, and "Suribachi was one of the few places in the world where the American flag flew 24 hours a day instead of from dawn to sunset".  The lowering came as the United States prepared to return Iwo Jima and the neighboring Bonin islands before year's end.  After the old flagpole was removed, a copper replica of the U.S. flage was placed at the Iwo Jima Memorial.
  Mel Brooks's classic satirical film, The Producers, premiered in the United States. The film would win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and would later be ranked eleventh on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list.
caption: Iwo Jima today
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "U.S. Marines and Japanese troops display their nations' colors during the Reunion of Honor ceremony at Iwo To, Japan, March 21, 2015. Iwo Jima veterans, families, Marines, Japanese troops and officials attended the ceremony commemorating the lives of those lost in one of the most iconic battles of World War II. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Gabriela Garcia/Released)", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Artist": "Sgt. Gabriela Garcia", "Image Copyright": "Public Domain", "Image ExifOffset": "18130", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "240", "Thumbnail YResolution": "240", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1282", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "16710", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "16", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "477741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "427/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "70", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5616000/1459", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1872000/479", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "3421602949", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 200, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM"}