Ham Radio Contact

Today I made a 20 meter SSB contact with an operator in Massachusetts. We discussed the usual boring things, what radios we had and the weather conditions, and then I commented that today was the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. (I had happened to read this earlier on the History.com website.) The other party said he wasn't aware of this, he didn't follow history. He lives some 30 miles from Lexington. Hopefully his comment was just about not knowing the date of the battles. I live about 25 miles as the crow flies from Coloma, and while I know that James Marshall discovered gold there in January 1848, I can never remember the exact day, the 24th. Living where I do means I should know about James Marshall and the mill site and most importantly the impact of the find. And someone from the Boston area should be familiar with the words Lexington and Concord. We Americans should have a basic understanding of our history.