British World War I POWs honored in Poland

From Grand Island Independent: http://www.theindependent.com/news/world/british-world-war-i-pows-honored-in-poland/article_12402436-da53-5c32-929d-ec7467f92bab.html


LIDZBARK WARMINSKI, Poland (AP) — Nearly a century after they died in Germany captivity during World War I, relatives and officials honored 39 British servicemen in a solemn ceremony Friday at their burial site in Poland.

The servicemen died in late 1918, toward the end of the war, from disease and ill treatment at the East Prussian prisoner camp in Heilsberg. Aged between 19 and 37, they were buried in a common grave in the town, which is now part of Poland and called Lidzbark Warminski.

Recent efforts by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission led to the ceremony at Lidzbark cemetery, where 39 white headstones were dedicated to the servicemen buried there.

British Ambassador Robin Barnett and local governor Artur Jankowski led the ceremony, and 39 schoolchildren held grave lanterns lit by candles at each of the headstones.
 

More warfare and the resulting redrawing of borders, followed by decades of political divisions in Europe, complicated efforts made by the families and British remembrance groups to honor them properly at the burial site. Instead, their names were put on a memorial plaque in Malbork, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) away.

Information about the dead was collected by the Western Front Association, a British non-governmental organization that preserves the memory of World War I soldiers, and by Pauline Page-Jones, an amateur historian from the Welsh village of Llanfyllin, where one of the men came from.

Pvt. William Gordon Jones, 19, of The Durham Light Infantry, died of pneumonia at Heilsberg camp hospital on Oct.30, 1918, less than a year after joining the army.

Jones' two nephews, John Gordon Jones, 68, and Owen Wyn Jones, 63, came from Llanfyllin, where the family still lives, with a poppy wreath. They were the first family members to be able to visit his burial site.

"It was very emotional and, my brother and I, we are very touched by it all," John Gordon Jones told The Associated Press. "We were able to pay respect to our uncle in this very much delayed ceremony. We are very grateful for this.

"The fallen should be remembered because they gave their lives for the rest of us, didn't they."

Once again, final post

Only 2 Kindle subscribers - I appreciate you guys very much but I no longer have the time to blog for just two people.

This blog will be removed from the Kindle tomorrow.

The voyage to building North America’s first concrete ship in Montreal in 1917

From the Daily Commercial News: The voyage to building North America’s first concrete ship in Montreal in 1917
North America’s first self-powered vessel made of concrete sailed through waters in the early 1900s.

In his book Captains of Concrete, Ottawa author Sonny Moran takes readers through memorable moments of the Canadian Government Ship (CGS) Concretia’s experiences as a government marine and fisheries ship and then refit as a recreational vessel.

“I believe the Concretia marked an important part of Canadian history because it demonstrated Canada’s innovative capacity during a time of world war,” explained Moran, whose great-uncle served as captain of the vessel.

“The Concretia was an example of the Government of Canada successfully partnering with the research community, in this case McGill University, and a private sector construction company to break new ground in shipbuilding design and durability in North America.”

Concrete ships had been built for use in Europe, but Canada was the first country to bring this form of shipbuilding to North America. The United States soon followed by building a fleet of concrete merchant marine vessels during WWI.

Concretia was completed in 1917 in Montreal. It was built out of concrete, technically known as ferrocement, as a World War One experimental vessel due to a shortage of wood and steel in Canada. The vessel passed all of its sea trials in 1917 and its existence was officially announced in 1918.

The hull was 18 inches thick on the sides and 24 inches thick at the keel. It was 132 feet long and typically employed a crew of 14.

“Many readers of my book have expressed surprise to me when they learned concrete can float,” said Moran.

Moran described the vessel as a “huge success” as it served as a Department of Marine and Fisheries lighthouse and navigation buoy maintenance ship from 1920 to 1931. It maintained the lighthouses and navigation buoys critical to ensure safe shipping lanes through the Thousands Islands Region in the St. Lawrence River and into Lake Ontario. The CGS Concretia was stationed in Prescott, Ont., which is now the location of a Canadian Coast Guard Base.

When it was refit in the late 1970s/early 1980s and renamed the Onaygorah, it was believed to be the largest Canadian pleasure craft registered with Transport Canada, said Moran.

In today’s pleasure craft industry, there are more than 500 boats registered with Transport Canada as having concrete construction, said Moran.

“When steel and wood became plentiful again after the conclusion of World War One the shipbuilding industry did not continue to use ferrocement for use in the construction of commercial merchant ships,” he explained.

“Their heavy hulls became too expensive to operate because they needed too much fuel to push them through the water. As well, concrete merchant vessels have little or no salvage value.”

Moran said writing the book gave him a better understanding of the concrete shipbuilding sector in North America and Europe, “and Canada’s significant role in the industry, that I never knew existed.”

His book has drawn international interest from libraries and maritime museums.

For more information, visit http://captainsofconcrete.web.officelive.com/

World War I Dog Tag Returned To Chase County

From Kake.com: World War I Dog Tag Returned To Chase County
Thanks to the work of a couple of French citizens searching for World War I artifacts, a Kanas family is now in possession of a loved one's World War I dog tag.

Ninety-four years after it was lost in the trenches of France, the dog tag has been returned to Cottonwood Falls in Chase County.

From the trenches of France to the Flint Hills of Kansas comes the dog tag of a Cottonwood Falls soldier who lost it in World War I.

Kent Potter, a Chase County farm boy, joined the army in 1917 to fight in World War I. He went to france and was a mule cart driver, hauling war supplies. World War I was known for its extreme carnage, up-close fighting in trenches and for chemical warfare with mustard gas, which could have contributed to Private Potter getting separated from his dog tag.

"As a soldier, it's your only identification, basically," said Col. (Ret.) Charles Rayl. "It's called dog tags."

But Potter returned from the war to Kanas without his dog tag, got married and raised a family in Butler County. His 75-year-old son Dale Potter of El Dorado never heard his dad talk much about the war or his missing dog tag.

"We didn't even know it was lost," Dale said.

But recently, two French men, Michael Toussaint and Jean Claude Fonderflick found the tag and got it returned to the U.S. There's an old Cavalry saying that a good soldier takes care of his horse or mule before he takes care of himself.

"We think there's a possibility he put the has mask on the mule before he put it on himself," Potter said.

And it's believed he lost the tag during a mustard gas attack. It's not certain that's the case. Dale Potter is just happy to receive the dog tag after all these years.

"But I hope that this dog tag will remind each of us and the items in this museum and other museums of the sacrifice so many gave over the many years," he said.

For now, the tag is on loan to the Chase County Historical Museum to be on display. Dale Potter's thanks goes out ot those French men for their efforts to get it returned.

Dale vows that the dog tag will not get lost again and plans on keeping it as a family heirloom.

Kevin Myers: Executions of 1916 still form toxic staple of brainwashing that passes for education in schools

An opinion piece From Independent IE: Kevin Myers: Executions of 1916 still form toxic staple of brainwashing that passes for education in schools

Some Dublin friends had builders in last May, for a job to be completed in July. So, of course, they spent the third week of December desperately trying to get the builders to finish by Christmas. And the really serious problem with this story is the effortless ease with which Irish readers know it is possible. Moreover, Irish builders -- not being parachuted down from Mars -- are probably a fair representation of the standards in much of Irish life.

Lying to ourselves is like concealing tumours from a doctor, yet it is what we repeatedly do. This year we begin a decade of anniversaries of largely calamitous events, the choicest of which will be officially suffused with a roseate glow of approval. But if you canonise historical tragedy, you should not be surprised if others then seek sainthood by repeating the bloody blunders of the past.

All of Europe has reason to remember the catastrophic events of a century ago; but only in Ireland will they be commemorated with pride. In part, this is because people have been lied to by their school textbooks, and their political masters.

Nationalists still do not know that Home Rule had been legally established in 1914. They do not know that there were no British regiments in Ireland in 1916, and that the 1916 Rising was directed solely at Irishmen, who for the most part didn't join the army to defend the UK, but to fight for Belgium and Home Rule.

They do not know that all the violence between 1916-l923 finally resulted in largely the kind of parliamentary democracy that Home Rule would have produced anyway: whatever the differences were, they were not worth a single life, never mind the thousands of dead and the economic ruination resulting from the abominable civil wars of 1916-23.

The executions of 1916 still form the toxic staple of the brainwashing that passes for education in our secondary schools. Were you taught about the other executions, of the 77 helpless anti-Treaty prisoners taken from their cells, and shot in batches, as a means of ending the Civil War? Were you taught about the thousands of protestants chased from their homes in the 26 counties between 1919-23?

Did you learn about how the IRA evicted around 100 children from the two protestant orphanages in Clifden in 1922, and burnt the buildings down, while the Royal Navy had to send in a warship to save the homeless waifs? Did you learn about the protestants abducted in Cork City, murdered and secretly buried in the farm of an IRA leader who was to be a Fianna Fail TD for over 40 years?

Yes, we all know about the Black and Tans, and the Auxiliaries. They are part of the educational staple, are they not? And no civilised person can today celebrate the burning of Cork or the Croke Park butchery. Yet just over a year ago, we had the minister for defence officially endorsing fancy-dress re-enactments of the ambushes in which Irish RIC-men were slain by Irishmen. This is barbaric.

No one else in Europe will actually be CELEBRATING the dreadful events of a century ago. That melancholy distinction falls to the Irish; so is it surprising that we are endlessly reliving different versions of the same story of bloody failure? Those annual gatherings at Bodenstown and Beal na mBlath and the GPO are nothing more than the semi-religious and wholly pagan sanctification of homicide.

And where do the builders come in this story? Why, because they are the living embodiment of the culture of moral imprecision that officially allows us to ignore the Ten Commandments of our choice. Some revere paramilitarism; or semi-states bosses who fiddle their expenses, and bank regulators on whose watch the State was destroyed, are allowed to retire early on full pension; or in the HSE, sick-leave = Monday hangovers.

Yes, I go on about this culture, and yes, I do so, ad nauseam. Why? Because it guarantees a return to failure, that familiar pit of sloth and dirges, where an addictive commemorationalism unfailingly provides the blueprint for Plan B.

Freed from the shackles of this perverse and dysfunctional domestic ethos, the Irish are probably the most successful ethnic group in the US. Yet 20th Century independent Ireland has historically been the least successful state in Western Europe. All other countries, including the North, increased their populations by 40pc between 1920 and 2000: ours, though boosted by an atypical decade of the Celtic Tiger, increased by just 20pc. But demographic growth up to 1980 was actually half that.

Revelling in bad history makes for a terrible future. And I can see it unfolding over the coming months; an orgy of self-pitying and ahistorical hubris over events of a century ago. Just about everywhere in Europe passed through a Golgotha between 1912 and 1923, and many countries experienced terrible civil wars. But only one country will actually, albeit selectively, rejoice in the deeds of that time: the one where even in an economic meltdown, builders promise to leave by July, and are still there in December.

DNA key to World War I mystery

The Warmabool Standard (Australia): DNA key to World War I mystery
STAN Turner grew up knowing little about his uncle who was killed in World War I — but 95 years later, the former VicRoads worker may now hold the key.

Today DNA from Mr Turner will be taken to England as part of a search by the Australian and British governments to identify hundreds of soldiers found in the German-dug mass graves at Fromelles.

Last year 75 of the 250 were identified from the battle in Northern France on July 19, 1916.

Mr Turner, named after his uncle Stanley Turner, said that to have confirmation that his uncle was killed at Fromelles would provide peace of mind and an end to the mystery.

“All that we really knew was that he was lost in action,” he said.

“I don’t know much. He was in his 20s when he was killed.

“He went to Gallipoli and was wounded in his thigh but survived which was a rarity.

“My dad was in France waiting to go to Gallipoli when his brother was wounded.

“The only record we have is that he didn’t come back.”

Mr Turner, from Dennington, said if the DNA matched and his uncle was buried at Fromelles, he and his family would head to the site to pay their respects.

“I’m nervous waiting for the results but I’m still absolutely rapt,” he said.

“Dad was in World War I and World War II. He never really talked about his brother.

“He once told a story how he was in the trenches in France and his mate was buried up to his waist. He stopped to help him but the man just said ‘leave me, my legs are gone’.

“After I agreed to do the test I thought, hold on, maybe you should do my brother, but I was the one they selected from the family tree.”

Mr Turner’s DNA will be picked up by UK company LGC Forensics services in England.

He said he expected to hear back from the company in the new year.

Charles Evans Hughes Focus of "The Contenders"

Go to the link to view the video.

From C-Span: Charles Evans Hughes Focus of "The Contenders"
Washington, DC
Friday, December 23, 2011

This reair of "The Contenders" looks at the election of 1916 and explore the life, times, legacy, and relevancy today of Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican Party nominee in 1916, who served two terms on the Supreme Court, the second time as Chief Justice, two terms as Republican Governor of New York, and Secretary of State in the Harding and Coolidge administrations.

Helping us to understand Hughes, the 1916 election, his career in politics and his crucial time as Chief Justice during the New Deal years are: former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, David Pietrusza, author of “1920: The Year of Six Presidents” and Bernadette Meyler, Cornell Law School Professor.

We’ll also see and listen to Hughes, and hear from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on the legacy of Hughes as Chief Justice.

For more information on the series and our Contenders, go to www.c-span.org/thecontenders - where you’ll find videos, biographical information, election results, helpful links, and more on each of the 14 featured in the series.

23 December 1917

From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle: 23 December 1917 - Bozeman boy on ship San Diego
"Oscar Reiss, a former student at the Montana State College, has returned to the United States on the American battleship San Diego. Reiss has a very interesting story to tell of his experiences on the Atlantic Ocean. He has crossed the ocean twice and tells of thrilling adventures with submarines.

"Reiss was on the battleship San Diego and Nov. 24 it was off the French shore accompanied by six torpedo boats. They ran into a submarine zone and almost immediately encountered a submarine. They saw a torpedo coming directly at them and were forced to change the course of the boat in order to miss it. The torpedo went past them and missed them by about 15 yards. The next day out they caught the submarine and sunk it, making prisoners of its crew.

"Reiss is enthusiastic over the navy and likes the work very much. The work in the submarine zone is very thrilling and the men have many experiences; many of which the people at home do not hear until the men are on leave to relate their experience. The battleship San Diego is one of the lighter cruiser type used in transport work."

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Regular blog postings begin on DECEMBER 26, Monday.

'The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War:' A book review

From New Jersey.com: 'The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War:' A book review
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War
Peter Englund
Alfred A. Knopf, 512 pp., $35

Reviewed by Jonathan E. Lazarus

The Great War … the War to End All Wars. How hollow the characterizations rang for both the survivors and the millions of dead, diminished or disfigured.

What began in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and ended with an armistice on Nov. 11, 1918 — the famous 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month — served as a prelude for the larger conflagration 21 years later. But to those who lived through it, World War I was beyond a baptism of fire. It was the passing of the old order; the coarsening of manners and restraint; the end of battlefield chivalry in the age of the tank and machine gun; a loss of respect for national and military leaders, and a disillusionment with the governing theologies of the day.

In the hands of Swedish historian and war correspondent Peter Englund, the microworlds of 20 of those profoundly affected by the conflict emerge in sharp focus through the clever, compelling format of profiling their stories in the present tense, interlayering them by date and allowing the unfolding chronology to show the progression of war weariness from year to year.

Englund has chosen his dramatis personae wisely, if not in politically correct fashion. They include men and women from all the combatant nations, serving in every far-flung theater. Most survive; one as an amputee, several as emaciated POWs. Only a very few find the fighting exhilarating. Just two Americans are represented, the famous neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing and a New Yorker who volunteers for the Italian army. A British aid worker and a German seaman stand out as the only overtly racist entries. Rafael de Nogales, a Venezuelan cavalryman serving in the Ottoman army, seems the most quixotic. And Andrei Lobanov-Rostovsky, a Russian officer, faces down mutineers.

But for all of them, the sensations are similar. Their war worlds expand and contract at the same time. And all admit being demeaned by their powerlessness to influence the events and circumstances thrust on them. Englund’s substantial contribution to the World War I canon is keeping the generals and politicians substantially sidelined in “The Beauty and the Sorrow” and letting those literally in the trenches tell their stories.

Marconi Station exhibit open at Sippican Historical Society

Sippicane, Maryland

From Sippican Vilage Soup: Marconi Station exhibit open at Sippican Historical Society
Marion — The Sippican Historical Society's new exhibit, "The Marion Marconi Station," is now open.

Marion was once home to the world's largest and most powerful wireless telegraph station, built in 1914 by the pioneering Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company. The Marion installation boasted fourteen towers, each standing more than 400 feet tall. The station was designed to handle all transatlantic radio traffic, communicating directly with another high-powered wireless plant in Norway.

So impressive was the station at the time of its installation, it was referred to as "one of the wonders of the twentieth century.”

The Marion station made several historically notable radio contacts—twice with Admiral Richard Byrd during his Arctic expeditions, with Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and his wife on flights over the Atlantic and Europe, and routinely with the Graf Zeppelin en route between Berlin and South America.

Marion was the sending station for long-wave transmissions of weather information; Chatham on Cape Cod was the receiving station. At 300 kilowatts output, the Marion station's power plant was the most powerful of its day.

During World War II, U.S. armed forces - including the Army, Navy, and Air Force - used the station. All that remains of the elaborate antenna array today is a fragment of one of the three 300-foot short-wave towers that were erected in the station's later years; the others were dismantled in 1960.

The exhibit can be viewed during the Sippican Historical Society Museum’s normal business hours, which are Wednesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Admission to the Museum is free.

For more information, call (508)748-1116 or email info@sippicanhistoricalsociety.org.

Canada: NBers in Wartime exhibit opens

From the New Brunswick Times & Telegraph: NBers in Wartime exhibit opens
The stories of New Brunswickers during the First and Second World Wars are told in a travelling exhibit now on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

New Brunswickers in Wartime, 1914-1946 features the personal stories of individuals who served in uniform or in wartime industries, and those who supported the war from home.

It also examines the people's readjustment to civilian life at war's end. Organized and first presented by the New Brunswick Museum, the exhibition was adapted by the War Museum for its presentation in Ottawa.

"We are very pleased to work in partnership with the New Brunswick Museum to bring this important exhibition to Canada's capital," said Mark O'Neill, president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, which operates the Canadian War Museum.

"The unique experiences of citizens of New Brunswick also shed light on the experiences of all Canadians in wartime."

The exhibit tells the stories of New Brunswickers like five Carty brothers, who all served in the air force; Medric Leblanc of Rogersville, a member of the First Special Service Force; Margaret Pictou Labillois from Eel River Bar First Nation; and Alice Murdoch, who entertained troops during the Second World War. These captivating stories - heroic, amusing, brave, sad, celebratory and moving - will bring to life ordinary people and these extraordinary times.

"We are proud to share the stories of the citizens of New Brunswick," said Minister Trevor Holder, New Brunswick Minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport and Tourism and Parks.

"We hope that it will be as appreciated by visitors to the Canadian War Museum as it was by all those who viewed it in New Brunswick," said Jane Fullerton, CEO of the New Brunswick Museum.

New Brunswickers in Wartime, 1914-1946 features more than 300 artifacts and archival items from 45 lenders. Adaptations by the War Museum include the addition of original works of art from the War Museum's Beaverbrook War Art Collection and a closer look at some of the personal stories highlighted in the exhibition.

The New Brunswick Museum originally organized the exhibition in 2005 to commemorate the Year of the Veteran and the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. It has been well received by museum audiences in Saint John, Moncton and Edmundston. This will be its first presentation outside New Brunswick. The exhibition will run in Ottawa until April 9, 2012, Vimy Ridge Day.

How fast a submarine sinks in 600 feet of water

From Sign On San Diego: How fast a submarine sinks in 600 feet of water
Dec. 17: In 1917, Submarine F-1 sank off the coast of Point Loma after colliding with another submarine during maneuvers by three U.S. subs that were training on the surface as fog set in. Death was supposed to be a continent away during World War I, but 19 sailors perished that day. The commander and four others on the bridge escaped, but the sub plummeted to the bottom of the sea in 10 seconds. No effort was ever made to raise the submarine because it sank to a depth of 600 feet. The submarine was found and filmed by a U.S. Navy oceanographic research ship looking for a plane that crashed in 1972.

Concert sings of peace on Earth during World War I Christmas truce

From Dec 7 (In-Forum, Fargo-Moorehead): Concert sings of peace on Earth during World War I Christmas truce
MOORHEAD – When the vocal group Cantus steps on stage tonight at the Hansen Theatre at Minnesota State University Moorhead, it will deliver a history lesson as much as a concert.

The Minneapolis-based group, with members of Theatre Latté Da, present “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.” As the title indicates, the piece of musical theater tells of a holiday cease-fire between British, French and German troops during the first year of World War I.

The historical event is often overlooked and seemed to be out of public consciousness until depicted in the French movie, “Joyeux Noël” in 2005. And now it might be in vogue; in November the Minnesota Opera premiered its own re-telling, “Silent Night.”

“I think it is great this story is being told in as many ways as it is,” says Cantus baritone Matthew Tintes. “I wasn’t aware of this story until I joined Cantus (in 2009).”

News of the truce was kept from the media due to national leaders fearing the public would cool on the war effort if they saw opposing forces being friendly.

But accounts in soldiers’ journals and letters home give the script much of its narrative and dialogue.

As stories go, troopers in trenches along the Western Front started singing holiday tunes on Christmas Eve. The other side responded from opposing trenches with their own song and relations warmed to the point of an unofficial truce called until the end of Christmas Day. In some parts along the battle line, the cease-fire lasted a week.

“The story of the truce is almost unbelievable that it could’ve happened, that the power of song could bring together opposing armies to call a truce for the holiday,” says Tintes, who graduated from West Fargo High School in 1998.

The members of Cantus play English, French and German soldiers in their production, singing in the different languages. The show opens with troops marching off to war singing their national anthems. As the war drags on longer than expected, the tone shifts down until the Christmas events supply a ray of hope.

“What makes the production so powerful are the voices of the men of Cantus, their harmonies laden with layers of complex and conflicted tones, expressing combinations of fear and joy, relief and sadness,” a St. Paul Pioneer Press review of the show said. “The bawdy drinking songs of the English are interrupted by the Germans’ soft and lovely ‘O Tannenbaum,’ and, in the drama’s turning point, the solo rendition of ‘Stille Nacht’ that proves an act of radical compassion.”

Tintes says there might be more interest in the story of the Christmas truce since America has been at war now for a decade. He says veterans from the wars in Korea to Afghanistan approach him after productions to express how moving the show is.

“To know that at least in some point in our recent history, even the soldiers on the ground were able to put aside their differences and have a merry Christmas, that gives people hope that maybe one of these days we won’t be hearing about war as much anymore,” he says.

What's it Worth? Harrison Fisher's women

From Mercury News: What's it Worth? Harrison Fisher's women
Q: I inherited a number of pictures signed "Harrison Fisher," and I'm trying to determine the value of them. The larger one carries a plea from Woodrow Wilson -- "I summon you to Comradeship in the Red Cross" -- and measures 30 by 39 inches. The second reads, "Have you answered the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call?" and is 20 by 27 inches. Each has a copyright date of 1918.

A: Harrison Fisher, sometimes referred to as "The Father of a Thousand Girls," was a hugely prolific illustrator. Fisher, son of landscape artist Hugo Anton Fisher, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1877. The family moved to Alameda in 1887 where, in addition to being instructed by his father, Fisher and his brother studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art in San Francisco.

Fisher's goal in life was to become an illustrator and commercial painter, rather than striving to be a portraitist. At 17, he made his first sale, a drawing of an Indian maiden, to a playing card company; a year later his political cartoon, "Japan-Made America," appeared in the humor magazine Judge.

At age 18, Fisher began work as a staff illustrator for San Francisco's Morning Call while continuing to produce freelance magazine work. William Randolph Hearst, who later contracted Fisher to do a portrait of his mistress, Marion Davies, hired Fisher away from the Call and brought him to the Examiner as an illustrator of society functions and sporting events.

Hearst then sent Fisher to New
Advertisement
York to illustrate for his newly acquired New York Journal. Hearst encouraged his illustrator to pursue freelance work, as the more Fisher was published the greater was his value in the Hearst empire.

Fisher painted women as beauties, as athletes, as teases, as scholars, as brides and as mothers. In 1908, he published his first of nine books illustrating idealized women. He even featured a section about college women playing sports.

He did cover illustrations for Puck, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal and American Magazine, and over an uninterrupted period of 22 years he produced 293 cover illustrations for Cosmopolitan. His work was so popular in his day that his images were reproduced on postcards, calendars, candy tins, sheet music, novelty mirrors and tape measures.

Fisher's women were depicted as healthy, intelligent, independent and hardworking. Your 1918 color lithograph posters for the Red Cross show Fisher women as Red Cross nurses imploring women, who out of necessity had taken on many masculine roles during the war, and men to heed the call of patriotism and sacrifice.

At his request, most of Fisher's original work was destroyed after his death. Still, hundreds have come on the market with prices ranging from $1,000 to $30,000.

Period lithographic poster like yours, depicting a poignant and important period in world history, can bring in the low to mid hundreds, depending on the condition. These two iconic images as well as scores of other Fisher women are still being reproduced today.

In the spirit of the season please heed these posters and contribute blood, time or money to this worthy cause.

Time Keeps On Slipping Into the Future

Sorry for the dearth of posts recently...I've been working on a project, wanted to devote all my time to it, and kept telling myself...it'll be done today so I can get back to blogging here tomorrow.

The next day it was... okay, it's definitely going to get done today....

Well, today it is done... so back to posting here on a daily basis tomorrow. (With the first post appearing tomorrow afternoon while I'm watching football!)

Thanks for your patience.

Man Utd youngsters remember Christmas truce match

From BBC News Manchester: Man Utd youngsters remember Christmas truce match
A team of Manchester United youngsters will recall the famous 1914 Christmas truce of the World War I in Ypres, Belgium this weekend.

United's under-12 team will play teams from Germany, France and Belgium at an event organised by the Premier League.

It will recall the day when the fighting stopped and soldiers played football against each other.

The boys will take part in the last post ceremony at the Menin Gate memorial.

Teams from Racing Genk, RC Lens and Borussia Dortmund will provide the opposition for the Christmas Truce International Youth Tournament.

Brian McClair, the former United striker who is now director of its youth academy, said: "I think it's important to understand that football has a wonderful power to build bridges.

"Certainly the visit to the Menin Gate will be very thought-provoking for them and will be a point in their life where they will be able to look back and say, 'I'm glad I did that'.

"They are going to be given the time to pause and reflect what happens when others go and fight for a bigger cause.

"And it's also going to be interesting for them to see how football transcended all of that for a short while."

The Football League was suspended during the war but clubs still played in regional leagues

ELLIOT JAGER: ON NOVEMBER 2, 1917 THE ARABS SAID “NO”

From Ruthfully Yours: ELLIOT JAGER: ON NOVEMBER 2, 1917 THE ARABS SAID “NO”

By Ruth King on November 28th, 2011

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2011/11/21/main-feature/1/in-november-the-arabs-said-no

There are no uneventful months in the tortured history of the Arab-Israel conflict. November is no exception. It was on November 2, 1917 that British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent Lord Rothschild, titular head of the British Jewish community, a letter—the Balfour Declaration—expressing the backing of the British government for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” And, as if to bookend the month, November 29th will mark the 64th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the 1947 Partition Plan, the two-state solution that was recklessly spurned by the Arabs in a rebuff that presaged the Arabs’ rejection of a Jewish homeland ever since.

Between these two November dates—specifically, on November 9—the Israel, Britain, and the Commonwealth Association held a gala anniversary dinner in Tel Aviv to mark Balfour’s pronouncement. Guests included Britain’s ambassador to Israel, the head of the European Union delegation, and ambassadors from several commonwealth countries (including those that reflexively vote against Jerusalem at the UN). In general, the Israeli government does not make too much of the occasion, though Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon addressed the Tel Aviv banquet. But Hamas makes it a point to issue an annual denunciation of the declaration, accompanied this year by a montage featuring photos of Israel’s leaders splattered with blood and a picture of Balfour wearing a devil’s horns and vampire’s fangs. Al-Hayat Al-Jadida,the official daily newspaper of the Palestinian Authority, routinely condemns the Balfour Declaration’s grant of rights to “those who had no connection” to the land—meaning the Jewish people.

This November also marks the 59th yahrzeit and the 137th anniversary of the birth of Chaim Weizmann, the distinguished chemist who was instrumental in fashioning the Zionist-British alliance that produced the Balfour Declaration. As Jonathan Schneer, not a Zionist sympathizer, notes in his book The Balfour Declaration, Weizmann’s achievement was never preordained. He had to overcome the influence of important assimilationist Jews like Edwin Montagu, who strenuously urged their government not to cooperate with the Zionists, and Grand Sharif Hussein of Mecca and his sons, the Emirs Abdullah and Faisal, who lobbied through British proxies. The Palestinian Arabs had scarcely any unique identity at the time, but Arab intellectuals in Syria argued against Zionism on grounds that Palestine was an integral part of Syria and could not be excluded from the magnanimous territorial bequest that Britain had made to the Arabs.

At the end of the day, Britain promised a sliver of the Middle East to the Jews and everything else to the Arabs. After World War I, the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the San Remo Conference in 1920 ratified Britain’s plans for Arab and Jewish self-determination in Palestine. Balfour expected that the Arabs would be willing to share a small sliver of the vast Mideast landscape with the Jews, and in 1919 Faisal wrote encouragingly to Zionist leader Felix Frankfurter, “We Arabs, especially the educated among us look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement.”

Tragically, pragmatists like Faisal did not carry the day. Instead, anti-Zionist Arab riots, instigated by the fanatical Husseini clan, were launched in 1920. London immediately went wobbly and embarked on a series of moves that first backtracked and then reversed its Balfour Declaration commitments. To assuage Arab demands, Britain brought Abdullah from Arabia (where the family ultimately lost control to the Saudis) to Eastern Palestine in November, 1920. By 1921, this immense area—today’s Jordan, 80 percent of Palestine as defined by the League of Nations and promised to the Jews by Balfour—had been ceded to the Arabs, leaving the Jews only the area between the Jordan River and Mediterranean.

In 1937, in response to intensified Arab violence, Britain’s Peel Commission called for further splitting even the 20 percent of Palestine still left to the Jews so as to create an additional Arab state within what was originally supposed to be Jewish Palestine. The Zionists reluctantly acquiesced, but the Arabs said no. By 1939, with the Nazi killing machine getting into lethal gear, Neville Chamberlain had completely reneged on the Balfour Declaration and blocked Jewish immigration to Palestine.

None of this can be blamed on Balfour, who deserves to be remembered as a friend of the Jews. True, statesmen do not act purely out of altruism; Balfour, like other British politicians, was partly motivated by an exaggerated sense of Zionist influence in the international arena, which the British hoped to exploit for the war effort. But Balfour also believed that Christian anti-Semitism had been a “disgrace” and, according to his biographer R.J.Q. Adams, hoped to make amends by providing the Jews with a “small notch” of territory. In 1925 he helped dedicate the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Like Theodor Herzl, Balfour may have assumed that British Jews would either thoroughly assimilate or choose to live in the Jewish homeland.

Ninety-four years after Balfour’s declaration, the right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national homeland is still rejected even by Palestinian Arab “moderates.” The unremitting threat of renewed violence remains the Arabs’ default position. Sparked by the Gilad Shalit deal, Arab violence in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza has seen an upswing. Cairo’s renewed efforts to bring Hamas leader Khaled Mashal and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas together this week will likely entail more militancy from Fatah, not greater flexibility from Hamas. In the words of Mahmoud Zahhar, the notion that Hamas will ever make peace with Israel is “insane.”

Sixty-four years after Palestinian Arabs rejected the partition plan, Abbas claims to be having second thoughts. Yet instead of negotiating with the Jewish state, he is forging ahead at the UN for unilateral statehood without making peace with Israel. Sadly, Abba Eban’s 1973 quip that the Arabs “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity” holds stubbornly true. To be fair, time does not stand completely still: Abbas-like moderates are operating only 64 years behind real time. For the “militants” of Hamas, though, it is perpetually 1917.

Popular First Ladies Exhibit Returns to the Smithsonian

From Cheap Air Travel Blog: Popular First Ladies Exhibit Returns to the Smithsonian
A wildly popular exhibition has returned to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. “The First Ladies” returned to the museum Saturday, showcasing dresses and personal effects that trace more than 100 years of the unofficial office of the first lady.

Over the years, “First Ladies” has attracted thousands of visitors arriving on flights to Washington D.C.

The first exhibition dedicated to the nation’s most influential women opened at the Smithsonian back in 1914. Since then, more than 10 versions have enjoyed successful runs in the nation’s capital.

According to a report in USA Today, every first lady since Helen Taft has followed the tradition of donating her inaugural gown to the museum’s collection. The exhibition is currently anchored by a stunning white dress worn by Michelle Obama.

Sir Winston Churchill: Colourful colossus world figure

Sri Lanka Daily News: Sir Winston Churchill: Colourful colossus world figure
The 137th birth anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the colossus world figure, British statesman, Prime Minister, falls tomorrow (November 30). He was born on November 30, 1874 at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. He was the War Prime Minister from 1940-1945, then, again in 1951-1955. Undoubtedly, he was one of the leading figures in the 20th century. He changed the entire course of history of the world by motivating the British. He was mainly responsible in defeating the most ruthless Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945).

This colourful personality Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a man of many parts. He was a Warrior, crafty strategist, shrewd politician, a great orator and debater, strict disciplinarian, an administrator, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature (1953), wittiest politician and painter. He was a great national leader and patriot, who was mainly responsible and instrumental in saving the British civilization. He was a towering figure in the world political firmament. He was able to get to the heart of a problem quickly.

Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, to Marlborough family, home in Oxfordshire. Winston’s father was Lord Randolp Henry Spencer Churchill (1849-1895) a British statesman, Secretary of State of India (1885-1886), Chancellor of Exchequer (1886), a gifted speaker and a loyal member of the Conservative Party.

Winston’s parents selected a nanny - Elizabeth Everest, to look after little Winston. She became the confidante of Winston Churchill for 18 years. Once, Winston remarked.

“My mother shone like an Evening Star. I loved her immensely, but kept her at a distance.”

Winston Churchill studied at one of the prestigious public schools in England - Harrow. He was an average student. As a kid, he played with toy soldiers. His father admitted him to the leading military school - Sandhurst. He passed out 20th out of a batch of 120 cadets.

Serving the Army, his first assignment was in South Africa. He served in two wars between Afrikaners (Boers) and the Britishers in South Africa. Churchill played a role as a War Reporter in the second South African War in 1899. He was imprisoned in Pretoria, but after few months he escaped.

In 1900, he took upto politics and was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament. Winston Churchill was a man of principles. He crossed the floor and joined the Liberal Party in 1904. The Liberal Party of British grew out of the early 19th century. “The Liberal’s greatest leader was William Gladstone.

The predominant interest of the Liberal Party were free trade, religious and individual liberty, financial retrenchment, constitutional reforms etc.

As the first Lord of Admiralty under Herbert Asquith (1852-1928), Churchill expanded Britain’s Navy in preparation for World War I (1914-1918). World War I was due to an attack and an assassination of Austrian Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand by Serbs in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Austria declared war against Serbia from July 29, 1914. Germany declared war on Russia August 18, 1914 and France on August 3, 1914 and then Britain declared war on Germany.

In Llloyd George’s (1863-1945) Cabinet, Churchill served as the Secretary of State for war (1918-1921), and as the Colonial Secretary (1921-1922). He oversaw the creation of the Irish Free State. Then, he returned to power as the Chancellor of Exchequer (1923-1929) and served under Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947) - Conservative Prime Minister (1923/24, 1924/29, 1935/37). From 1929 to 1939, Churchill was out of office. It should be mentioned here during this period he spoke against the rising threat of Nazi Germany.

On the outbreak of World War II - 1939 to 1945, Wisnton Churchill, once again became the First Lord of Admiralty. The World War II, began as an International conflict arising from disputes provoked by the Expansion of policies of Germany in Europe and Japan and in the Far East. An important highlight was Hitler’s Nazi Germany invaded Poland, whereupon Britian and France declared war on September 3, 1940.
The top three

In 1940, Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) as War Prime Minister. Churchill was at his best. He proved to be an inspiring war leader. He cultivated a close relationship with the Great American President - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) - four times President. Churchill was the chief architect of the grand alliance - USA and USSR. On February, 1945, Chief Allied Leaders of the World War II, took place at Yalta in Cremia, Ukraine with victory over Germany, Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin met to discuss the final campaign of war and post war settlement.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were three men who shaped modern Europe and the post war structure of international politics.

The extraordinary personal relationship evolved between the leaders of the greatest combination of Military Power in history - the grand Alliance of the second world war, popularly known as the “Big Three”, was the Force behind to defeat the Nazi Dictator Hitler of Germany. They met to plan the strategy in Teheran (1943) and Yalta (1945).

Witty, humerous and world leader

Wisnton Churchill was one of the wittiest politicians cum statesman the world has seen.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were staying in a hotel in Yalta. Roosevelt, a polio victim, going on his wheel chair, kicked and opened the door of Churchill. He (Churchill) was caught with his pants down. Roosevelt said “Winston, so sorry.”

Churchill smiled broadly and uttered:-

“Come in. PM of England, United Kingdom, has nothing to hide from United States of America.”

Once a Labour Woman Parliamentarian growled in the House vehemently criticising Conservative Prime Minister Churchill. She said “Hon Speaker, if this man is my husband, I will add some “arsenic to his morning cup of coffee.” Cool as a cucumber, Churchill got up and replied “Hon Speaker, I will be too glad to drink the cup of coffee, rather than living with the Honourable Member.”

Good relationship with a “Comi is” like wooing a crocodile

On another occasion, Churchill described a Communist in this manner - “Trying to maintain good relationship with a Communist is like wooing a crocodile.

You do not know, whether to tickle it, under the chin or beat it over the head. When a crocodile opens its mouth, you cannot tell, whether he is trying to smile or preparing to eat you up.”
Meeting the Maker

He was very popular with mediamen. One day, a journalist questioned Churchill whether, he was ready to meet “His Maker.”

Churchill replied “Young Man, I am ever ready to meet my Maker, but whether my Maker is prepared for the Great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

Fountain of epigrams

Sir Winston Churchill was a real fountain of epigrams. One of his famous words; I quote

In war, resolution

In defeat, defiance

In victory, magnanimity

In peace, goodwill

Once Churchill said, “There are lot of lies going around the world and the worst of it is that half of them are true.”

On another occasion, Churchill uttered “never trust a man, who has not a single redeeming vice”

Politics a funny game

In 1945, Churchill was succeeded by Clement Atlee (1883-1969) as Labour Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951. He granted Independence to India, Sri Lanka and Burma. In the 1946 Parliamentary Elections, the man who saved Great Britain from Adolf Hitler, lost his Parliamentary seat. Politics is a funny and an unpredictable game.
Noble prize winner

Winston Churchill loved literature, history, art and painting. Among those books he wrote, the first book was The Story of the Malakand Field Force, History of the World War II, and History of the English Speaking People (1956-1958). He received the Noble Prize in 1953.

Churchill was in Parliament for nearly half a century. He was the Leader of the Opposition for six years, Prime Minister for 3 ½ years from October 1951. He resigned at the age of 80.

Silver tongued orator

Without any doubt, Winston Churchill was one of the best speakers, orators the world have witnessed. The effect of his words were electric.

The beauty was that Churchill mobilised the English language and sent it to battle. He deployed his power of oratory in their simplicity, majesty and eloquence. Gladstone, Lloyd George were orators. But, Churchill was in the forefront. Churchill addressed the hearts more than the brain.

On May 19, 1940, in his first broadcast as war Prime Minister - Winston Churchill stated; “I have formed an administration of men and women of every party and of almost every point of view. We have differed and quarreled in the past. Now, one bond, unites as all - to wage war until victory is won, never to surrender ourselves whatever the cost may be.”

Once in the Parliament, Churchill mentioned about his policy:

“It is to wage war by sea, land and air with all our might and with all, our strength that God give us and wage war against the monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the lamentable catalogue of human crime”.

“What is our aim?”

“It is victory, victory at all costs come then, let us go forward together with our united effort,”

In some of his speeches, he motivated the feelings of patriotism and the importance of unity.

“We had to think of the future and not the past. If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”

Once a Home Guard guarding the beach asked Churchill - “Sir what to do if Germans landed?”

“Hit them on the head with broken bottles. It is all we have bloody got”, Churchill replied.

In one of the Churchill’s powerful speeches, he mentioned, “We shall do our best to be worthy of high honour. We shall fight on unconquerable, until the curse of Hitler is lifted from the brims of mankind. We are sure in the end all will come right.

On June 4, 1940 Churchill made this famous brilliant speech, which is quoted by many.

“We shall not flag or fail. We shall fight in France. We shall fight in the seas and oceans. We shall fight with the growing confidence and growing strength in the Air. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.

From some of Churchill’s speeches:

The finest hour - House of Commons - 18/6/1940

“Upon the battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and Europe”.

“The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows he will have to break us in this island or lose the war”.

“If we can stand up to him (Hitler), all Europe may be freed and, the life of the world may move forward into the broad and sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including USA and all that we have known and cared for will sink into the abyss of a New Dark Era, made more sinister and perhaps more prolonged by the lights of perverted science.

Churchill was a Great Motivator. He addressed the nation “The battle of Britain is about two begin. The whole fury and the might, soon be turned on us. Let us therefore embrace ourselves, that if the British Empire and the Commonwealth lasts for thousand yeas, men will say - this is their finest hour.

In July 1899, Winston Churchill contested to enter Parliament. He was unsuccessful. In July 1900, he contested Oldham Seat and was elected. In 1904, he crossed the floor of the House and joined the Liberals, but in 1924, he resigned from the Liberal Party and joined the Conservative Party again.

Winston Churchill married Clementine Hozier, on September 12, 1908. She was a tower of inspiration to him and was the wind behind his sails.

For the great services he rendered to Great Britain, United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, honoured him with a knighthood.

The historians compare the magnificence of Sir Winston Churchill only with that of the Great Duke of Wellington, hundred years ago.

This great man, who saved Great Britain and its civilization, as well as the commonwealth countries, was laid to rest, at Bladon in Oxfordshire, less than a mile, from where he was born on November 30, 1874. He died on January 24, 1965.

Sir Winston Churchill was one of the greatest men of the 20th century.