Be Grateful for what One has…

By Derek Andrews

Imagine this scenario.

There are thirty-three of you. All miners, probably all male. And you are trapped after a tunnel collapse in your copper-mine. Your mine in the South American country of Chile.

Normally, and sadly, you would not survive despite frantic attempts by hundreds of people to rescue you, with many millions more praying and holding you in their thoughts.

This is different.

After 18 days rescuers have been able to make contact with you and seen some of your faces on their camera-probe. Those images are shown around the world.There is huge relief that you are all alive and in reasonably good shape. You have air supply from existing air ducts plus some food and fluids. You are in a shelter area the size of a small apartment.

You have been able to pass scribbled notes via the miniature camera-probe, back to the surface. Everyone is cheering and your President is almost in tears. There is no sense of panic and arrangements are being made to pass re-hydration gel tablets, food and basic medicines to you.

But, engineers say that it may take four months to reach you to extricate you and re-unite you with your families.

That's right. FOUR MONTHS. Hopefully you will be out for Christmas.

The moral of this story ?

Be grateful for what you have in life and please keep these brave and probably frightened miners in your thoughts and prayers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1305350/Chilean-miners-alive-trapped-rescue-months.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

 

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B-17 Bomber's Last Resting Place

Derek Andrews

Back in the early 1980's whilst living with a young family in the English county of Kent, we were driving around the countryside one Sunday afternoon when we came across a small group of  men in a nearby field.

They seemed to be digging and examining something so we stopped and investigated. Kent is known as the Garden of England for its beautiful countryside dotted with farms, small villages, orchards and hop-fields. It has a coast-line that looks out over the English Channel to La Belle France just twenty or so miles away.

During World War Two, the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over Kent as the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots based at the now iconic airfields such as Biggin Hill, Kenley and Hawkinge, duelled with their oppsoite numbers in their Messerschmitts.

USAAF aircrew at Snetterton Heath Airfield

What we had stumbled across were a group of enthusiasts who had Ministry of Defence permission to dig for the remains of a downed Spitfire. Usually there is a written record often backed up with the memories of locals who were there, of the approximate location.

At the time of the crash the vast bulk of the wreckage would have been salvaged for its undamaged parts and the very valuable aluminium of its fuselage. If the pilot had bailed out and parachuted to safety he would have been back in the air the next day if he was uninjured. Such was the shortage of trained pilots. If his body was with the wrekage it would of course have been reverently removed.

These aero-archaeologists had found some artefacts from the 'plane buried deep in the earth and we shared their thrill at their success. The bits and pieces they found were not that many but they very generously gave my ten year old son a carburettor which amazingly still smelled strongly of aviation fuel. It was covered in mud and his parents imagined that he would enjoy cleaning the mud off before displaying it in his bedroom. He preferred to keep it "as found" however !

Which is a very long introduction to a similar story which was reported in the Northampton Chronicle & Echo just a few days ago.

A similar group of researchers led by two enthusiasts who run the Sywell Aviation Museum near Northampton, and a chap who was 5 at the time, were trying to locate any remains of a B-17 USAAF Bomber which had crashed near Towcester in October 1944.

In fact it was a triple tragedy as three B-17's had taken off from their base in Norfolk, about 90 miles NE of Northampton on a mock-bombing/navigational exercise to Rugby, Warwickshire, another 25 miles NW. In heavy cloud the three planes had collided with each other. I believe all three crashed with no survivors but the article didn't make it clear.  It is clear, however, that 11 crew from the three planes were confirmed to have been killed.

However these 21st century "treasure" seekers had found a few bullets, a piece of the windshield, a wheel, a pedal, some boots and most importantly an I.D. bracelet with the name of the pilot,

Lieutenant Nicholas Jorgensen engraved on it. I know that when anything personal is found in this way there would be a big effort made to locate the family and return it to them, so just out of interest I Googled the name. Really it was just to see if there were any other articles about the find.

I was quite surprised when I immediately found a military aviation forum where a Philip Jorgensen had, in 2005, asked for any information about his uncle, Nicholas Jorgensen. Several forum posters had sent him basic info on where, when and how his uncle had died but there was no mention of this latest development.

As he had provided his email address, I emailed him and sent a link to the article. Got a reply two days later and he had been contacted by quite a few people, not just me ! The power of the internet ! He didn't make it clear whether he had been contacted by the Museum regarding the bracelet so I told him I would contact them and see what was happpening. At this point I thought his uncle might be buried in Northamptonshire so I offered to photograph the grave after tidying it up if necessary.

He told me that the body had been buried in England but after the war ended it was returned to his family in the U.S. Philip told me that they only had the flag that had draped his casket; no personal mementoes. The family were also sad that as it was not a combat accident, no Purple Hearts were awarded.

The next day I spoke to people at the Museum who confirmed that they were in touch with family members in order to return the bracelet. They also hope to erect a small marker-memorial at the site of the crash. As they are not awash with cash, they do not know when this will be but definitely by October 2014 which will be the 70th anniversary.

The Chronicle & Echo had a follow-up story the next day, without much new information, though there was a photoof Lieutenant Jorgensen in his uniform.

The following links are to the two articles and also another that tells of a cache of Prisoner of War items found by someone in their back garden. Several dog-tags of Italian and German POW's were amongst them.

*********************************************************************

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Pilot39s-bracelet-found-66-years.6501201.jp

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Tragic-story-of-pilot-Nicholas.6508864.jp

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309440/WW2-prisoner-war-camp-unearthed-garden.html

http://www.sywellaerodrome.co.uk/museum.php

*********************************************************************

Technorati Tags: Battle of Britain,WWII,Military History,B-17

Admiral Lord Nelson's Nurse:

Derek Andrews

Most countries with a varied and often turbulent history have people who are revered as heroes or heroines or icons and are remembered for their deeds and achievements to this day. If they're lucky they get featured on postage stamps and the back of a Pound note, a Euro, Rouble or Lira and Deutschmark. I believe the U.S. has a rather good image of Nicholas Cage on its Dollar Bills.

Trying not to go off topic too quickly but "Heroes and Heroines" is a great favorite of mine sung by the incomparable Mary Chapin Carpenter. I can't find a You Tube video of it but have given a link to the words.

Anyhow, America has any number, George Washington, Meriwether Lewis, President Lincoln to name just three. Italy has Garibaldi, France has Napoleon, Germany has Bach, Handel, Wagner ( and that's just the Bayern Munchen F.C. midfield !!).

Plenty too from England. Wellington, Queen Victoria, William Wilberforce and many more including Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson. He's the guy who stands proud on his towering column in London's Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar of course being the sea-battle he is best known for.

Much loved by his men and fellow officers, he fought many a battle. After The American War of Independence, he fought in the French Revolutionary Wars in the Mediterranean, then was wounded, losing an arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. By then he had already lost one eye.

He commanded the fleet when Britain secured arguably its greatest ever naval victory (the Armada of Phillip II of Spain being decimated by the Royal Navy and Mother Nature in 1588 was also a vital naval victoory, of course.) , when on October 21st 1805 he defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet from his flagship "Victory". Prior to the battle he had sent his signal "England expects every man to do his duty". Defeat of the enemy was soured by his death.

A musket bullet fired from the mizzentop of the French ship "Redoutable" struck Nelson in the left shoulder, passed through his spine at the sixth and seventh thoracic vertebrae, and lodged two inches below his right scapula in the muscles of his back. Nelson exclaimed, "They finally succeeded, I am dead." He was carried below decks.

He knew he was done for but as they carried him gently to his cabin, he was still passing on advice and orders, also covering his face with a handkerchief so his men would not see the pain he was suffering.

The loss of Nelson was a blow to two generations of Royal Navy Officers, cutting them to the quick as well as inspiring them for another century and a half, and in no small way helping to ensure that “Britannia Ruled the Waves” over that time.  It was, and is, a source of tremendous national pride that Lord Nelson went to his grave in the manner of his own signal to the fleet as combat was joined at Trafalgar.  He did his duty, and damn the cost.

His body was immersed in a vat of brandy for preservation and when the ship docked at Gibraltar, it was placed in a proper coffin and brought back to England where he was accorded a State Funeral.

These days "Victory" is in dry-dock at Portsmouth, England's major naval port and is a huge tourist attraction. A brass plaque on the deck marks where he fell just over 200 years ago.

 

(America was 29 years old at the time !)

Recently the diaries of a nurse Elizabeth Wynne who attended Lord Nelson many times throughout his career have been discovered and a grant has been given to a historian at Bath Spa University to  enable a biography of her to be written.

She sounds an absolutely fascinating character as you can see from this linked article and I shall look forward to reading of her life. Damned sight more interesting than some politicians memoirs!!

Article links:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/diaries-tell-forgotten-story-of-nelsons-nurse-2066146.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Nelson

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Heroes-And-Heroines-lyrics-Mary-Chapin-Carpenter/5878A7C3EEB2AAA6482569380013EDE5

 

Technorati Tags: Heroes,Lord Nelson,Naval Battles,Trafalgar,Elizabeth Wynne,Royal Navy

An American who flew for Britain in WW11

Derek Andrews

"Under the Wire" is an excellent wartime memoir of a Spitfire pilot, legendary escaper and "cooler king" before Steve McQueen earned the sobriquet in the film "The Great Escape".

William Ash from Dallas TX was one of a relatively rare breed, an American who fought in World War Two before the United States became involved following the day that would live in infamy.

But here's the thing. Later there would be many Americans who flew for the Royal Air Force in their Eagle Squadron and a special arrangement was made with the U.S. government that their U.S. Citizenship would not be revoked because of their unusual entry-mode to the conflict.

But pre December 7th 1941, an American needed to go to Canada to "sign up" with us Brits and in "taking the King's shilling" his U.S. Citizenship would be taken from him, effectively making him a stateless person !

William Ash was shot down over France in 1942, survived, evaded capture for months thanks to the help of ordinary French men and women who would have been shot by the Nazis if they were caught. (Note to Americans who were critical of France and its lack of enthusiasm for a Middle-Eastern conflict and banned the French Fry. Never forget the enormous sacrifice their citizens made to help downed American and other Allied airmen during those years. There are instances far too numerous to list).

Eventually betrayed to the Gestapo, tortured and sentenced to death as a spy, he was saved from the firing-squad by the Luftwaffe and sent to Stalag Luft 111, the POW camp from where the real Great Escape took place.

He spent the next three years attempting to escape until ultimately being freed from his camp by the advancing American forces.

Stateless, he settled in England, studied at Oxford University, having been awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire), worked for the BBC's External Service in many foreign lands.

Sacked from the BBC because his extreme political leanings (which must have been very extreme as he was banned from the Communist Party of Great Britain!). Undaunted he founded the  Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and as far as I know, is still, at age 93, a Communist at heart.

Whatever his political persuasion, our thanks for his stance at an early stage of the war and his bravery and service during it.

The one thing I would like to know, and if anyone reading this can help I'd appreciate it, is whether people such as William Ash ever had their U.S. Citizenship re-instated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ash_(pilot)

 

Technorati Tags: WWII,World War II,Royal Air Force,American RAF Pilots,William Ash

Dangerous Occupations as defined by The U.S.Department of Labor

Derek Andrews

*************************************************

According to the Dept of Labor you are most likely to die or sustain serious injury if you work in the Timber and Logging industries.

Followed by those jolly people on their fishing boats in the Bering Sea and elsewhere. (Don't bother guys, I HATE fish). 

The remaining members of this exclusive Top Ten Band of Brothers are listed below. Visions of Roofers sliding down a steep roof into a toxic cess-pit or a Farmer jogging home with the refrain "Honey, I just chopped off both arms in the threshing machine" come hauntingly to mind.

• Pilots and navigators
• Structural metal workers
• Drivers-sales workers
• Roofers
• Electrical power installers
• Farm occupations
• Construction laborers
• Truck drivers

Perhaps at #11 ought to be occupants of English Victorian terraced houses with basements, considering that the writer fell down his basement steps a year ago.

However, the nicely laid out figures and graphs of insurance actuaries in Italy have taken a battering recently and they are now having to accept that GATHERING MUSHROOMS can be seriously detrimental to ones health, as the accompanying linked article shows.

At least 18 people have died in just 10 days as fungaioli, as this intrepid bunch are known (were known?) get up pre-dawn, camouflage themselves and trek off into wild countryside with a lamp secured to their head. Strangely they often forget to wear appropriate footwear for the tough terrain. This can cause problems. Trust me and cross-reference with writers mishap outlined earlier.

In trying to be first to get back to the markets and restaurant kitchens, where anxious owners and traders wait with zillions of Lira bills to swap for the prized specimens, they often fall down cliffs, get impaled on goat horns (well no, I made that last bit up but you get the idea) or just disappear. Failing to keep an optical prescription up to date may well be a contributing factor according to Herr Dirk Andrusz, a world expert on the subject.

So the moral is this mio amici italiani, stick to pasta, or just pop down to McDonalds for a mushroom burger and let someone else risk their life out there in the wild flora and fauna looking for the elusive fungi.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/29/italian-mountain-mushrooms-claim-lives

 

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Honour the Few

By Derek Andrews

Seventy years ago in the skies above Britain, some 2,900 young men repulsed a planned invasion by Hitler which would have seen the nation crushed into submission by the Nazi war machine.

The life expectancy of fighter pilots during the four months of the Battle of Britain, fought in the skies over southern England, was measured in mere days.

Yet the courage of these young men, average age just 21, prevailed.

As Winston Churchill so memorably said of them, "Never in the field of human conflict, has so much been owed, by so many, to so few".

To this day those brave men are known as the Few.

Thwarted, Hitler commenced the Blitz, constant bombing, most often at night, of London and many major cities.

"London can take it" and "More open than usual" (in a shop window despite the damage sustained to it) showed the stoicism of the British people.

Without the heroism and sacrifice of the Few, and the attitude of the Many, those who perished and those who made it through, the freedoms that we today take for granted would simply not exist.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307165/Battle-Britain-veterans-pride-commemorative-flight-marks-70th-anniversary.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307321/The-hell-beneath-inferno-As-bombs-fell-families-fled-underground-But-life-beneath-streets-squalid-nightmare-wasnt-safe.html

 

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Weird Words in English

by Derek Andrews

This is knowledge of the type I can virtually guarantee neither you, I or any of our countrymen and women will EVER need. But it is informative !!!

Q: What is a Rumbelow ?

A: Well Donald Rumbelow is a British Crime Historian who is a Jack the Ripper expert, having written books about him and

     who also leads walking tours of the Ripper haunts in Whitechapel.

But perhaps even he doesn't realise that rumbelow is also a meaningless combination of syllables serving as a song or refrain sung by sailors while rowing a boat eg: Heave Ho or Hey-Ho. (14th century).

Having whetted your appetite for learning potential Scrabble point-scorers, have a go at this lot of never to be heard of again English words.

And no cheating !!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/quiz/2010/aug/17/weird-words-quiz-english

 

Technorati Tags: English words,Guardian,Oddities,Weird Words

Be Grateful for what One has…

By Derek Andrews

Imagine this scenario.

There are thirty-three of you. All miners, probably all male. And you are trapped after a tunnel collapse in your copper-mine. Your mine in the South American country of Chile.

Normally, and sadly, you would not survive despite frantic attempts by hundreds of people to rescue you, with many millions more praying and holding you in their thoughts.

This is different.

After 18 days rescuers have been able to make contact with you and seen some of your faces on their camera-probe. Those images are shown around the world.There is huge relief that you are all alive and in reasonably good shape. You have air supply from existing air ducts plus some food and fluids. You are in a shelter area the size of a small apartment.

You have been able to pass scribbled notes via the miniature camera-probe, back to the surface. Everyone is cheering and your President is almost in tears. There is no sense of panic and arrangements are being made to pass re-hydration gel tablets, food and basic medicines to you.

But, engineers say that it may take four months to reach you to extricate you and re-unite you with your families.

That's right. FOUR MONTHS. Hopefully you will be out for Christmas.

The moral of this story ?

Be grateful for what you have in life and please keep these brave and probably frightened miners in your thoughts and prayers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1305350/Chilean-miners-alive-trapped-rescue-months.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

 

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Northampton, England:My Kinda Town:

 

By Derek Andrews

And by the by, its Old England not New England we're talking about here !

Northampton has been around since the Iron Ages when it was just a few dwellings. Fast forward to the 11th century and it was a thriving town with a castle, market square and a Multi-Plex. No, I made that last bit up to check you're paying attention. The market square with its market every day except Sunday still thrives today and is one of the largest and oldest in the country. Way back in the early 12th century, Thomas Beckett (of whom  The Young King Henry in exasperation plead "Will no-one free me of this turbulent priest ?") was briefly imprisoned at the castle but escaped to London and then to the continent. Cue famous English joke based on truth about "Fog in Channel. Continent cut off". Brits an insular race? Heaven forbid.Later he was assassinated by several Knights in Canterbury Cathedral. Becketts Park is one of several noble parks in the town. The castle sadly has long gone. Strange that many castles in the UK are still standing proud but some have disappeared. I guess you got rogue builders even then.

In the middle-ages Northampton became a major centre for the shoe-making industry and at its hey-day supplied boots to the Kings army. I believe the King got his especially from Nieman Marcus though. The shoe trade has to all intents also collapsed though the Doc Marten factory is still here and several specialist shops such as Churchs. There is another small factory close to where I live that attracts even Italians, who know a thing or two about footwear. Recently Roberto Mancini, the manager of Premier League soccer club Manchester City (known as the noisy neighbours by supporters such as myself who worship at the Theatre of Dreams aka Old Trafford, home of Manchester United)was seen visiting there. My own street (well I don't actually own it, but you know what I mean) consists of terraced houses all of which were built in the 19th century for the out-workers of the shoe-trade. The local soccer team is affectionately known as the Cobblers. My house was built in 1888, the very year Jack the Ripper was doing his thing in Whitechapel. Kinda creepy association.

There was a Battle of Northampton in  1264 when King Henry 111 finished as the winner and the runners up mainly killed. A second Battle of Northampton was fought in 1460 at Delapre Abbey and King Henry V1 was captured. I expect he wished for some V1 rockets to aid him. The Civil War was fought in the mid 1600's between the army of King Charles 1 and the forces of  Oliver Cromwell. The defining battle of the conflict was at Naseby, just 12 miles from Northampton. The end of the end so to speak for the King came after being tried by Parliament and beheaded at the Banqueting House in London's Whitehall. Oh well, they say you can't take it with you.

Equidistant from the town are the grounds of Althorp House, the family home of the Spencers and where the late, much-missed Princess Diana is buried on an island in a lake. The day of her funeral brought the country to a halt, not least in Northampton where the market traders unanimously decided not to open their stalls on that emotional Saturday. For them to pay their respects in such a way, on their busiest day and for the first time in over 800 years, says much about Diana's place in the public psyche. Truly the Peoples Princess.

During the 1960's many of Britain's older  buildings were pulled down  and replaced with hideous concrete slabbed buildings. A decade when Britain gave so much to the world (well OK the Beatles and Carnaby Street) but destroyed a lot of its heritage. Sad and it will surely not happen again.

More recently the town is proud to be the home-town of Francis Crick, one of the two scientists who discovered the double-helix, leading to the realisation by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys of the properties and potential of DNA. Leicester University, where he worked is also very close to Northampton.

Major large companies who are headquartered in Northampton include Barclaycard, Carlsberg Brewery, Avon Products, Coca-Cola and Texas Instruments.

The population is about 200,000 but growing fast. In fact it will increase by two next May when my American wife and our cat arrive as permanent residents. My wife and I married at Northamptons Victorian Guildhall in November 2008.I think she will be the second most famous American to be associated with the town as Judy Carne has is permanently back in the UK and living here in Northampton, her home town.

.NOTE BY Mike Burt:

Northampton also has some personal meanings for me:  I have some direct ancestors from the mid-second millennium who also hailed from Northampton in the UK, and when my wife and I honeymooned in NEW England, we spent a couple days at Northampton, Mass.  While strolling about, we encountered a memorial to the last man to be killed by Indians in the valley wherein Northampton, Mass, rests.  His name was Bartlett, and as it happens he was descended from the UK Northampton family.  At the time, I didn’t know this – it wasn’t for another ten years that I would learn that the man memorialized was a great (x9) grandfather on my father’s side of the family.  I hope one day to spend some meaningful time in old Northampton!  - MB

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A Blog Guest Author with a UK perspective

I’ve often thought it might be fun to have the occasional guest blogger here, and the first person I thought of is Derek Andrews.  I am so pleased that he has done me the honor of writing a few pieces for the Bully Pulpit.

Over the past couple of years I have come to really enjoy reading the posts online of a good friend I’ve come to know through the internet alone.  Since I enjoy his writing style, very eclectic and often similar topical interests to my own, I asked him to write some items for the Bully Pulpit.  He submitted several, which you can easily find by clicking on his name in the Quick Links column.  Here is the bio Derek offers as a brief introduction, along with several blog posts I’ll be adding today, to give us a quick introduction to Derek Andrews:

• Born December 1945 in England.

• Married to an American

• Lives in Northampton UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northampton)

• Lived and worked in the U.S. for five years. (Based in Kansas City, MO but visited every Lower 48 state, except Maine.)

• Has been lucky enough to have travelled extensively worldwide.

• Son and daughter from first marriage (39 and 41)

• Occupation: Retired

• Working life: (UK) Insurance Industry  (25 years)

                     (UK) Driving Instructor    (11 years)

                     (USA) Professional Delivery Driver (5 years)

• Interests: Travel,Current Affairs,Photography, most sports (particularly Soccer, Motor Sport and Tennis), Writing, Military History, True Crime,Carpentry and much more.

• Manchester United supporter since age 11.

• Part-owner of a cat called Moongazer.                  

Derek has become a good friend over the past couple of years, though we’ve never met in person.  I do hope someday to meet him personally – either in Northampton or somewhere in the US.   I thank him for his interesting submissions! 

 

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