August 27 in A.A. History

1862: Gardner Fayette Griffith [below] (Bill W.’s maternal grandfather) enlisted at age 21 in Danby, Vermont, for nine months in Company B of Vermont’s 14th Regiment, which was mustered into the Union Army. In return, he received a $100 bounty [~$3,300 in 2026] from the town of Danby [Main Street, Danby, VT, c. 1890] .

Today in A.A. History—August 27–30

1992:The 35th International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA) was held at the Marriott Society Center Hotel^* [left: recent] in Cleveland, Ohio, under the theme “Back to Basics” [below right: souvenir tee shirt].

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^*Later renamed the Marriott at Key Center, likely in 1994, shortly after the Society Center itself was renamed Key Center.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1961: Ernest “Ernie” K. [left] was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and assigned as parish priest of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Rochester, New York’s 19th Ward, a neighborhood that would soon become racially diverse.

1962: The message of Alcoholics Anonymous first reached Belize [near right: map showing its location] from neighboring Central American countries. The first A.A. group in Belize was founded at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church [far right, now a cathedral] on North Front St. in Belize City. The group later relocated to its own site on Barrack Rd., where it remained for many years.

1962: Alcoholics Anonymous meetings were established in Hamburg (with help from Mr. Abel of England), Düsseldorf (with help from Robert of Chicago, Illinois), and at the South Side Chapel on Ramstein Air Base—all in Germany [far left: all locations in Germany: near left aerial view of Landstuhl (later Ramstein) Air Base, April 1953].

1963:The first known German-speaking group in Switzerland was founded in Lucerne [right: aerial view, with Old Town in foreground].

1963: WNBC in New York City launched a radio program titled “Ask an Alcoholic.” The program aired for 22 weeks, gained widespread popularity, and led to a 33% increase in traffic at the New York Intergroup Office. At least as late as 1966, the Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Office (GSO) in New York City was still receiving requests for copies of the outline—script and instructions—for this program [left: such a request published in Aug/Sep 1966 issue of Box 4-5-9].

1963: The Internationalist Meeting bulletin had grown to five or six single-sided pages, mimeographed on blue paper. It was a bi-monthly confidential bulletin produced by Alcoholics Anonymous’s General Service Office, connecting members who were unable attend regular meetings—seafarers and those living abroad (Internationalists), and members confined to home or institutions (Homers). In 1976, it would be merged with a similar bulletin for those isolated by geography (Loners) to create the Loners-Internationists Meeting (LIM) bulletin.