Interesting Facts and Stories

Henry Goslin, (born in Willington on 9 November 1909) was an English footballer who played for Bolton Wanderers for the whole of his professional career. He played in defence.- In total he played 306 games for the club, scoring 23 times.-

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On 8 April 1939, with war seemingly inevitable, Goslin stood in front of a microphone in the middle of Burnden Park and told the assembled crowd that after the game the Bolton team would make their way to the local Territorial Army hall to sign up.

Goslin was promoted to sergeant and served an important role during troop withdrawal at Dunkirk.

In the summer of 1942 the regiment set sail for Egypt and took part in the defence of Alam el Halfa. With victory in the campaign, the regiment were sent to Kirkurk and then Kifri, where various members of the Bolton team, including Goslin, played for the British Army against the Polish Army in a 4–2 victory.

The 53rd Regiment then joined in the invasion of Italy, making their way from Taranto to Foggia without much trouble. They then took part in the battle to take control of the River Sangro crossing. Fighting took place for over a month and a number of Goslin's fellow Bolton players were removed.

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Sergeant Harry Goslin (right) on duty in 1941.

On 14 December 1943, a mortar bomb exploded in the tree under which Goslin had made his observation point. He was hit in the back by shrapnel and wood and mortally wounded although he fought for life for a few more days.

Goslin was the only member of the Bolton team to die during the war and is buried at the Sangro River War Cemetery.-
 
Sergeant Stubby (1916 or 1917 – March 16, 1926), was the most decorated war dog of World War I and the only dog to be promoted to sergeant through combat.-Stubby was found on the Yale campus in 1917 by Private John Robert Conroy. He was of unknown breed. Conroy was a member of the 102nd Infantry, 26th Yankee Division. Stubby marched with Conroy and even learned an approximate salute. When Conroy's unit shipped out to France, Stubby was smuggled aboard the transport SS Minnesota.-

Stubby served with the 102nd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division in the trenches in France for 18 months and participated in four offensives and 17 battles. He entered combat on February 5, 1918 at Chemin des Dames, north of Soissons, and was under constant fire, day and night for over a month. In April 1918, during a raid to take Schieprey, Stubby was wounded in the foreleg by the retreating Germans throwing hand grenades. He was sent to the rear for convalescence, and as he had done on the front was able to improve morale. When he recovered from his wounds, Stubby returned to the trenches.

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After being gassed himself, Stubby learned to warn his unit of poison gas attacks, located wounded soldiers in no man's land, and — since he could hear the whine of incoming artillery shells before humans could — became very adept at letting his unit know when to duck for cover. He was solely responsible for capturing a German spy in the Argonne. Following the retaking of Château-Thierry by the US, the thankful women of the town made Stubby a chamois coat on which were pinned his many medals. There is also a legend that while in Paris with Corporal Conroy, Stubby saved a young girl from being hit by a car. At the end of the war, Conroy smuggled Stubby home.

Stubby was made a life member of the American Legion, the Red Cross, and the YMCA. In 1921, the Humane Education Society awarded him a special gold medal for service to his country.-

n 1926, Stubby died in Conroy's arms. His remains are featured in The Price of Freedom: Americans at War exhibit at the Smithsonian. Stubby was honored with a brick in the Walk of Honor at the United States World War I monument, Liberty Memorial, in Kansas City at a ceremony held on Armistice Day, November 11, 2006.-

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Tomorrow, 4-18, marks the 70th anniversary of the Dolittle Raid over Tokyo.
Here is a war story, told by the remaining 5 survivors of those aircrews.
~SALUTE~

[video]http://www.washingtontimes.com/doolittle/#prettyPhoto[/video]
 
German POW in England

In 1946 there were 400,000 German prisoners of war in Britain.- With Britain and much of Europe still in the grip of food rationing they were needed to harvest crops. At this time one in five farm workers in Britain were German POWs.

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German POWs in England

Although the conditions they lived in were much better than those in other parts of Europe and luxury compared to the dreadful Soviet labour camps, they faced harsh restrictions.

For the Olympics Games in 1948, Germany was not invited to compete even though the labour of dozens of its captive nationals had been used to help build the infrastructure.

Under what was called the Fraternization ban they were initially forbidden to mix with local people.- Warning notices went up all over Britain: "German prisoners of war are being employed in this neighbourhood. These men are forbidden to fraternise with members of the public, except in so far as may be strictly necessary for the efficient performance of their work."

But public concern at the POW's continued detention led to the rules being relaxed gradually: By 1947 they were able to go to pubs and dances and some were even invited to British families' homes for Christmas dinner.

The last German prisoners were sent home in 1948 but 15,000 decided to settle in Britain.-

bbc.co.uk & ww2incolor.com
 
Guards' Captain (later Major-General) Kirill Alekseyevich Yevstigneyev (17 February 1917 – 29 August 1996) was a Soviet fighter pilot and one of the top Soviet aces of World War II.-

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Yevstigneyev gained his first pair of victories not two weeks after his arrival at the front. On the 28th of March, 1943, near the village of Urazovo in the Belgorod province, southwest of Moscow near the border with the Ukraine, he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109, followed by his first Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. On the 12th of April, he brought down a Messerschmitt Bf 110, and became an ace three weeks later, on the 6th of May, when he shot down a Junkers Ju 88 and another Bf 110. In the huge aerial engagements during the Battle of Kursk in July, 1943, Yevstigneev scored six more victories. On the 7th of July, he brought down the leader of a ten-strong bomber formation. The following day, July 8, he engaged a formation of 9 Stukas, and again brought down the leader. The remaining Stukas turned and fled. Yevstigneev pursued and scored a manoeuvre kill when the Stuka he engaged struck the ground. A subsequent sortie the same day saw him bring down one more Stuka. On the 9th, he scored his second Bf 109 kill, followed by two more on the 13th and the 16th of July.-

On the 5th of August, flying a close-air-support sortie on the approach to Belgorod, Yestigneev's eight-aircraft formation engaged opposing German fighters. In the ensuing dog fight, Yestigneev was badly wounded in both feet, and had to be sent to a field hospital.- There, he had to repeatedly dissuade surgeons from amputating at least one of his feet. He ended up escaping after nine days and crossing the 35 km to the nearest airfield - on crutches. He found his way back to his assigned airfield and finished his recovery there. A month after being wounded, and still on crutches, he flew his next combat sortie.

Between March and November, 1943, the then-Senior Lieutenant Yevstigneyev is recorded as having completed 144 combat sorties, with 23 enemy aircraft shot down, with a share in another 3.

On the 2 August 1944, Yevstigneyev was awarded the Title Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and medal "Gold star" (â„– 2284).

Yevstigneyev continued to serve until October 1944, and completed 83 additional combat mission, claiming 20 aircraft shot down.-

On 23 February 1945, the squadron commander of 178th Guard Fighter Air Regiment (14th Guard Fighter Air Division, 3rd Guard Fighter Air Corps, 5th Air Army, 2nd Ukrainian Front) guards captain Kirill A. Yevstigneyev was awarded second Title Hero of the Soviet Union with the medal "Gold star" (â„–4039).- Yevstigneyev finished World War II as the commander of 178th Guard Fighter Air Regiment.-
 
At the start of the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks assassinated the entire Russian Royal family - so they believed. Rumors quickly started that the youngest daughter, Anastasia Romanov, was not killed.

This rumor led to a number of women claiming to be the lost Russian princess. One claim, made by a woman named Anna Anderson, was thought particularly credible for some time.

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Anastasia & Anna

She was believed by some to be Anastasia because there was a vague physical resemblance, because she seemed to have particular knowledge of Romanov family life and the court, and because a few relatives and acquaintances of Anastasia believed her story. Most people who had known the real Anastasia, however, did not believe Anderson, and when she filed legal suit to claim royal family inheritance, she lost her case. However, she never stopped claiming to be Anastasia, even up to her death in 1984.

In 1927, a private investigation, identified Anderson as Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness.

In 2009, experts finally confirmed the remains of the entire Russian royal family. There were no survivors.
 
When the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, Baker 3rd Class Dale Augerson had just put a batch of apple pies in the oven aboard the battleship USS West Virginia. The battleship was moored at “Battleship Row,” together with most of the fleet’s other capital ships.-

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“I was in the kitchen baking apple pies when the Japanese arrived,” said Augerson, “The chocolate cakes were already done for the weekend. The announcement came over the PA system: ‘Fire and Rescue report to Ford Island.’ That’s where the Japanese first hit.

“Then came the second announcement: ‘General Quarters!’ Machine gun bullets were ricocheting off the decks of the West Virginia from the enemy fighters flying overhead.

“My battle station was five decks below the main deck. I handled the 5-inch shells and put them on the hoist for the main amidships guns.”

As Augerson tried to reach his battle station, he was stopped. The West Virginia had already been hit by a torpedo or two and was listing by 30 degrees. It was impossible for Augerson to reach his battle station, so he, along with hundreds of other sailors, were ordered to the far side of the battleship to help offset the ship’s list.-

Before the battle was over, the West Virginia took five torpedoes in her port side and two hits from armor-piercing bombs, which caused extensive damage to the battleship.

During the heat of battle, Capt. Mervyn Bennion, skipper of the West Virginia, was badly injured by shrapnel from bomb fragments while on the bridge. He died from his wounds a short time later.-

Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris Miller was standing beside the captain when he went down. He helped move the wounded officer to a safer place. The mess attendant then got behind a .50-caliber machine gun and did his best to hold off the attacking enemy planes.-

Miller was awarded the Navy Cross by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz aboard the USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor on May 27, 1942. Later in the war, Miller died at sea when the carrier he was transferred to, USS Lissome Bay, was torpedoed and sank.-

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Doris Miller

Augerson didn’t know Miller well, but he recalled “he was one of the mess boys aboard ship.”

Continued Augerson, “I was moving below trying to reach the ship’s undamaged side when the West Virginia was hit by a 1,500-pound bomb. A buddy of mine was above in the Issue Room, where we keep the flour and sugar, when the bomb hit. He was disintegrated.-

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USS West Virginia BB-48 (foreground) and USS Tennessee BB-43 just after the Japanese attack.

“I was about 12 feet below him on a lower deck and approximately 30 feet away from him. The concussion from the bomb knocked me out for 12 hours,” he said. “When I woke up I was on Red Hill in the hospital.

Augerson spent 10 days in the hospital recovering before he reported to the Receiving Barracks at Pearl Harbor, where he found his chief, his immediate superior aboard the West Virginia.

“By then the chief and his crew were serving 25,000 people a day at the Receiving Barracks. I became one of the bakers at the barracks,” he said.- Months later, Augerson went back to sea aboard the USS Windham Bay.- Late in the war, Augerson was transferred to a troop transport, the Gen. N.B. Stewart.-

maritimequest.com
donmooreswartales.com
hawaiireporter.com
 
I read somewhere that Canada is not using a Canadian company to supply it with the polymer for it's bills. :(
 
Flight Sergeant Nicholas S. Alkemade (1923–1987) was a tail gunner for a Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster bomber during World War II who survived a fall of 18,000 feet (5500 m) without a parachute after his plane was shot down over Germany.-

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On the night of March 24, 1944, 21-year-old Alkemade was a member of No. 115 Squadron RAF and his Lancaster II, "S for Sugar", was flying to the east of Schmallenberg, Germany on its return from a 300-bomber raid on Berlin, when it was attacked by a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 night-fighter, caught fire and began to spiral out of control. Because his parachute was destroyed by the fire, Alkemade opted to jump from the aircraft without one, preferring to die by impact rather than fire. He fell 18,000 feet (5500 m) to the ground below.

His fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground. He was able to move his arms and legs and suffered only a sprained leg. The Lancaster crashed in flames.-

Alkemade was subsequently captured and interviewed by the Gestapo, who were initially suspicious of his claim to have fallen without a parachute until the wreckage of the aircraft was examined. He was then a celebrated POW before being repatriated in May 1945. (Reportedly, the orderly Germans were so impressed that Alkemade had bailed out without a parachute and lived that they gave him a certificate testifying to the fact.)

He worked in the chemical industry after the war and died on June 22, 1987.-
 
The chastity belt.

A chastity belt is a belt or pants made of iron, lockable, allegedly forced to use some women in the Middle Ages to avoid infidelity or sexual lapses.

The subject became popular in England in the nineteenth century thanks to a book whose content is described as "one of the most extraordinary things that have made male jealousy. "

The book describes how the object was used to ensure the fidelity of the ladies who were alone at home while husbands were brave to fight in the Crusades.

This is the most common view, but wrong.

The chastity belt can be used not only for a few hours at most a couple of days.
Otherwise, the woman victim to take him die of infections, abrasions and lacerations caused by contact with metal.

In fact, the chastity belt was used by women as a defense against rape, in times of quartering of soldiers during travel and overnight stays in inns.

The chastity belt is a much later invention of the Middle Ages, probably in the Renaissance.

Cripes, well I better take mine off then ...

john
 
I read somewhere that Canada is not using a Canadian company to supply it with the polymer for it's bills. :(

yep - they are an Australian invention so I expect the Aussies have the contract .. hooray for us
 
They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Peas Porridge is exactly that, a porridge made of peas - it would not go off and peas were one of the easiest things to grow - so you got it all day and night ..

Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth.

Trenchers were pieces of bread that were a few days, or longer, old . They were not made from wood. After finishing your meal, you gave the trencher to the poor ..

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust".
 
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