Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
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fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Could be an RAF repair depot or a lot of things.
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Once again I come to kneel at ‘The Font of Wisdom’ for some trivial ( but to me… vexing ) information, that has me stumped.
Milsurp section? Well, I suppose he might qualify as one... and I figured Picture of the Day might be just the place for some info!
This is my Great-Uncle and although he survived Vimy Ridge he wasn’t so lucky and was killed by an errant AA shell that just happened to fall and strike the trail of the 6” gun he and his crew were repositioning at Lievin. Interesting story how it all came to my attention…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch...great-uncle-dog-tags-100-years-vimy-1.4073051
But what I cannot decipher is where he was before ending up in the 2nd Siege Battery, Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery.
According to his Attestation, we see the notes that he had previous Militia service…
Question 1: I think Cookshire, QC was a bit small at the time to support a full Militia unit… so I think he may have travelled into Sherbrooke a couple of miles away to parade with the “7th Hussars” for 3 years.
However, the notation calls it “7 Hrs.G.M” … and I have no idea what the GM means. Any guesses at this? Certainly not “General Militia”… because we all know the “Reserves” back then were actually called the NPAM… “Non Permanent Active Militia” . A small detail, but I would love to know….
Question 2: He spent 3 months in what they seem to call the "Active Militia" … R.?.G. but then crossed that out and moved the note down to the other line…like it belonged with NPAM service. What was "Active Militia"... like Reservists today on Call-Out? So then it looks like 3 months in the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery… but WHERE in Quebec would this be?
I would like to reconstruct his movements from leaving the farm at Cookshire and into France… but that may be a bit ambitious.
Any help with that would be greatly appreciated. Also… whatever follows that is gibberish to me… “ to JGH Rem??? “ Any guesses at that acronym? And if we find out, where, pray tell, would they be located?
Ahhhh…questions, questions. Good to be retired and finally have the time to persue some of this family stuff. It gets pretty interesting once you get into it!
Thanks in advance for any light you might shed on all this.
Milsurp section? Well, I suppose he might qualify as one... and I figured Picture of the Day might be just the place for some info!
This is my Great-Uncle and although he survived Vimy Ridge he wasn’t so lucky and was killed by an errant AA shell that just happened to fall and strike the trail of the 6” gun he and his crew were repositioning at Lievin. Interesting story how it all came to my attention…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch...great-uncle-dog-tags-100-years-vimy-1.4073051
But what I cannot decipher is where he was before ending up in the 2nd Siege Battery, Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery.
According to his Attestation, we see the notes that he had previous Militia service…
Question 1: I think Cookshire, QC was a bit small at the time to support a full Militia unit… so I think he may have travelled into Sherbrooke a couple of miles away to parade with the “7th Hussars” for 3 years.
However, the notation calls it “7 Hrs.G.M” … and I have no idea what the GM means. Any guesses at this? Certainly not “General Militia”… because we all know the “Reserves” back then were actually called the NPAM… “Non Permanent Active Militia” . A small detail, but I would love to know….
Question 2: He spent 3 months in what they seem to call the "Active Militia" … R.?.G. but then crossed that out and moved the note down to the other line…like it belonged with NPAM service. What was "Active Militia"... like Reservists today on Call-Out? So then it looks like 3 months in the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery… but WHERE in Quebec would this be?
I would like to reconstruct his movements from leaving the farm at Cookshire and into France… but that may be a bit ambitious.
Any help with that would be greatly appreciated. Also… whatever follows that is gibberish to me… “ to JGH Rem??? “ Any guesses at that acronym? And if we find out, where, pray tell, would they be located?
Ahhhh…questions, questions. Good to be retired and finally have the time to persue some of this family stuff. It gets pretty interesting once you get into it!
Thanks in advance for any light you might shed on all this.
Attachments
Cool pic! Helllllooooo, Doggy!Not sure if this one has come up before, but thought it was pretty neat ....
A Marine on Iwo Jima, with the 7th War Dog Platoon, 25th Marine Regiment, takes a nap while Butch, his war dog, stands guard.
Reddit - Destruction#### - HMS Boxer (F92) after being hit with two Harpoon missiles during a SINKEX [834 x 1280]
I'm in the process of reading "Neptune's Inferno" about US naval operations in the seas around Guadalcanal in 1942/43. The US Navy went through a very steep learning curve in their surface engagements with the Japanese Navy where the Japanese proved to have initial superiority as a result of intensive training in night operations and superior torpedoes.
The US lost 3 heavy cruisers to Japanese gunnery in the initial one-sided engagement and suffered from shortcomings in the area of communications, poor intelligence, inferior tactical handling and damage control/fire fighting, plus the old mistake of underestimating one's enemy.
Cruisers were outfitted with several catapult launched spotter planes which were known to present a severe fire hazard due to volatility of on board gasoline, stored gasoline and lubricants and ready use ammo. Japanese SOP was to jettison both the aircraft and the volatiles before entering a surface engagement whereas US doctrine was to leave this to the discretion of the individual ship's captains.
As it turned out the Japanese enjoyed the element of surprise and initiated contact in the night cruiser battle of Savo Island. The American ships were caught with their aircraft and associated flammables on board which quickly lit them up and provided a beacon for the Japanese. In addition to assisting Japanese gunnery the fires daisy chained through the ships leading to the detonation of ammo and propellants contributing to the loss of 3 US cruisers one Australian cruiser and damage to other ships.
Donny Fenn1
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- East Kootenays
The US lost 3 heavy cruisers to Japanese gunnery in the initial one-sided engagement and suffered from shortcomings in the area of communications, poor intelligence, inferior tactical handling and damage control/fire fighting, plus the old mistake of underestimating one's enemy.
The more I read history the more I wonder how the US "wins" any wars.
The more I read history the more I wonder how the US "wins" any wars.
"Winning" has both a military and a political dimension. I don't think the US has won much politically since Korea, and that basically maintained the status quo ante bellum.
In a military sense US forces did well on the battlefield in all of WW1, WW2, and subsequent wars, although they suffered from initial unpreparedness in
WW1, WW2 and Korea and went through some steep and painful learning curves and tactical setbacks on the battlefield as they ramped up their forces and refined their operational concepts.
Numbers matter, and the US has always enjoyed the advantages of industrialized firepower and a large manpower reservoir. Given competent and determined political leadership these advantages have allowed them to prevail in all of their conflicts, even after suffering initial setbacks. Massed firepower and big numbers have been a feature of US military doctrine since the US Civil War. I wouldn't volunteer to be their enemy.
Try reading "Japanese Destroyer Captain", by Hara. It chronicles the experiences of a Japanese Naval Officer who survived the entirety of the hostilities in the Pacific War. In the early days he comments on the relative ease with which the Japanese surface forces had in defeating the Allied (almost always USN) navies, an excellent example being in the Battle of the Java Sea. As the war progresses, Hara notes how the USN develops not only overwhelming strength and superior technology, but also excellent tactics. He describes textbook attacks by Captains Burke and Moosburger that lured the Japanese forces into light American battle lines and smashed them. It is a very even-handed treatment of the small-ship Pacific Naval War from an authoritive source.
I liked "Neptune's Inferno"; it was about the USN and the Naval battles of the Gualdalcanal campaign, told primarily from an American perspective. Perhaps a slightly more scholarly, but very readable, account of the mid-period of the Pacific War is "The Conquering Tide" by Ian Toll. Toll also wrote "Pacifc Crucible" about the early Pacifc War. Both are highly, highly recommended for those interested in this part of WW2. I am eagerly anticipating a third book from Mr. Toll about the conclusion of the Pacific War.
No student of the Pacific War should go very far before reading "Shattered Sword" by Parshall and Tully, the definitive study of Midway from the Japanese perspective, or "The First Team" by Lundstrom, about the American Carrier Pilots who faced them in the early days when the US was reeling from Pearl Harbour.
As for how a navy can lose its fighting edge after decades of peace, and how there is no substitute for combat to learn how to fight effectively as a service, see "The Rules of the Game", by Gordon. This is an in-depth examination of the effect of the Pax Britannica of the 19th century on the Royal Navy as it moved away from Nelson and Trafalgar, and the consequences of the cultural changes in the RN that led to the events at Jutland.
All are available from Amazon, electronically or in print. I think they are available from KOBO for e-reader/tablet app as well.
Second one is the official initials of the officer, xJG Lt RCA and maybe 3 months RCxA
I agree with all of this, and perhaps would add that the ability of the US to incorporate ever-shortening cycles of improved doctrine in the way they fought the Pacific war stands in marked contrast to the IJN. The Japanese were overmatched comprehensively by the US. It's not difficult to look at the quantitative advantages the USN had as the war progressed, but the Japanese were left behind by far in technology, logistics, and tactics. Add to that the unrealistic war aims, leaden diplomacy, and almost childish refusal to appreciate the ability of their foe by Imperial Japan, and it is hard to find a better example of a great people falling into total ruin in less than four years.
The Japanese built their Navy, their strategy, and their doctrine to fight the Battle of Tsushima over again against the Americans. At the same time they developed the technology, tactics, and doctrine of massed carrier power. It worked brilliantly at Pearl Harbor, at Darwin, and during the Indian Ocean raid. But after Midway it certainly appears that they could not evolve their doctrine and never really had any coherent strategy to bring the naval war to any other conclusion than what actually happened.
Bubba Yugga
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Midwestern Ontario
Jet fuel can't melt steel beams. JET FUEL CAN'T MELT STEEL BEAMS! More people should have attended that class.
Winter diesel is a damn poor cutting fuel. Jet fuel sounds so much ###ier though
Huh? And the World Trade Center on 911 never happened...
I would think that the fuel doesn't melt the steel it is the heat of it and what ever else that ignites that takes the temper out of the steel which then cannot support the weight and it just collapses. thats how you bend steel heat and bend.
Indeed, the modern office has a greater fire loading of consumables then many suspect.
I use Bunker fuel everyday. Pressure it up to 110 psi on the top side and blow it through jets mixed with compressed air. It's got good thermal efficiency but you ain't cutting beams with it. Strangely a gasoline torch is supposedly every efficient at cutting heavy steel...but that is also mixed with pure O2, that likely helps
Thanks fraser... and that would make sense... initials of the Officer filling out the Attestation form, who would confirm that the candidate actually DID have the service that he claimed. As we all know, the Army just loves their interminable paperwork, don't they!? LOL! ( Seriously though... an admirable thing, since I now depend on their records keeping fetish!)
Also, my many thanks to those who have, by private PM, sent me many leads to various resources I can now investigate! Bravo Zulu!!
Also, my many thanks to those who have, by private PM, sent me many leads to various resources I can now investigate! Bravo Zulu!!
chofo
Interesting to say the least.
I downloaded his whole file and gave it a good read.
I think the GM that you are reading is actually CM (Canadian Militia) written with a bit of artistic flare.
It also looks like he just wrote it on the wrong line and moved it down one.
He may have not been in the active militia at the time, but still served that time.
When mistakes are made like this, corrections are always initialed off.
When you have time with his personal file, give it a real good read, then start all over from the beginning.
There is something you always miss.
By all means follow his footsteps right to the very end.
I have done this many times for myself and others, from Ontario to England, onto France and Belgium.
You can really get addicted to this, believe me, I have.
Interesting to say the least.
I downloaded his whole file and gave it a good read.
I think the GM that you are reading is actually CM (Canadian Militia) written with a bit of artistic flare.
It also looks like he just wrote it on the wrong line and moved it down one.
He may have not been in the active militia at the time, but still served that time.
When mistakes are made like this, corrections are always initialed off.
When you have time with his personal file, give it a real good read, then start all over from the beginning.
There is something you always miss.
By all means follow his footsteps right to the very end.
I have done this many times for myself and others, from Ontario to England, onto France and Belgium.
You can really get addicted to this, believe me, I have.
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