Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Tassel reportedly symbolizes Christ's tear on the cross, pon-pons on Tsarouhia were supposedly used to water proof the tip and during wartime operations hid a small spike used for hand to hand combat. Each one of those suckers weighs 8 pounds mostly due to the 80 or so nails driven in the sole. Oldtimer told me a story from when he was stationed at the Greece-Turkey border in the 60's. Easter day and the border guards were dressed in evzone khakis. A Turkish guard starting mocking them and a scuffle ensued, a Greek evzone smashed the Turks face with his Tsarouhi, four teeth were promptly knocked out...
Here they are wearing the campaign khakis and yeah...they do look a little "frilly"... Especially with the Balkan war pon-pons.
Armed with Steyr-made Gras rifles in 11X59R.
Switched to combat boots by 1922 and the Asia Minor campaign, dainty little Steyr MS in 6.5X54MS.
Holy chit! Is that guy seriously using a Chauchaut as a squad weapon???
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Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart (VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO)
Boer War:
Shot in stomach and groin.
WWI
Somaliland Campaign: Shot twice in the face, losing an eye and part of his ear. Recovered, returned to service.
Somme: shot through the skull and ankle
Passchendaele: shot through the hip,
Cambrai: shot through the leg
Arras: Shot through the ear (again)
Various shrapnel wounds, including severe damage to his left hand - which he amputated himself when a doctor refused to.
After the war, he commented: "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war...."
WWII
Recalled to a special appointment in the army in the autumn of 1939 (he was 59 at the time - but had spent the interwar years shooting and hunting "every day" to keep fit).
Was a Major General in the (ill conceived, ill equipped, undermanned, and ultimately futile) Nowegian campaign. Somehow managed to escape unscathed, in spite of having the aircraft he was in shot down while en-route. His cool-headedness is credited for allowing the majority of the force to hold together long enough to be evacuated.
After serving as an envoy to Yugoslavia to negotiate British aide to that country, his aircraft lost power and crashed in the Mediterranean. He swam a mile to shore where he was captured by the Italians.
After 5 escape attempts, he was chosen by the Italians as an envoy to England to negotiate a separate peace in August 1943.
Served as a special envoy to China from 1943-47.
Passed in his sleep in 1963 at the age of 83.
Boer War:
Shot in stomach and groin.
WWI
Somaliland Campaign: Shot twice in the face, losing an eye and part of his ear. Recovered, returned to service.
Somme: shot through the skull and ankle
Passchendaele: shot through the hip,
Cambrai: shot through the leg
Arras: Shot through the ear (again)
Various shrapnel wounds, including severe damage to his left hand - which he amputated himself when a doctor refused to.
After the war, he commented: "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war...."
WWII
Recalled to a special appointment in the army in the autumn of 1939 (he was 59 at the time - but had spent the interwar years shooting and hunting "every day" to keep fit).
Was a Major General in the (ill conceived, ill equipped, undermanned, and ultimately futile) Nowegian campaign. Somehow managed to escape unscathed, in spite of having the aircraft he was in shot down while en-route. His cool-headedness is credited for allowing the majority of the force to hold together long enough to be evacuated.
After serving as an envoy to Yugoslavia to negotiate British aide to that country, his aircraft lost power and crashed in the Mediterranean. He swam a mile to shore where he was captured by the Italians.
After 5 escape attempts, he was chosen by the Italians as an envoy to England to negotiate a separate peace in August 1943.
Served as a special envoy to China from 1943-47.
Passed in his sleep in 1963 at the age of 83.
Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart (VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO)
Boer War:
Shot in stomach and groin.
WWI
Somaliland Campaign: Shot twice in the face, losing an eye and part of his ear. Recovered, returned to service.
Somme: shot through the skull and ankle
Passchendaele: shot through the hip,
Cambrai: shot through the leg
Arras: Shot through the ear (again)
Various shrapnel wounds, including severe damage to his left hand - which he amputated himself when a doctor refused to.
After the war, he commented: "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war...."
WWII
Recalled to a special appointment in the army in the autumn of 1939 (he was 59 at the time - but had spent the interwar years shooting and hunting "every day" to keep fit).
Was a Major General in the (ill conceived, ill equipped, undermanned, and ultimately futile) Nowegian campaign. Somehow managed to escape unscathed, in spite of having the aircraft he was in shot down while en-route. His cool-headedness is credited for allowing the majority of the force to hold together long enough to be evacuated.
After serving as an envoy to Yugoslavia to negotiate British aide to that country, his aircraft lost power and crashed in the Mediterranean. He swam a mile to shore where he was captured by the Italians.
After 5 escape attempts, he was chosen by the Italians as an envoy to England to negotiate a separate peace in August 1943.
Served as a special envoy to China from 1943-47.
Passed in his sleep in 1963 at the age of 83.
Hard as 10 year old Christmas candy, he is. Sweet Jesus, what a warrior.
Still alive
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Rainy mosquito infested part of BC
Holy ####! Was he Chuck Norris's father?
He seems to have been fairly immune from PTSD. I often wonder why the high incidence of PTSD in today's troops. Perhaps its because they come from a society which has been so conditioned to place the comfort and rights of the individual above everything else and that, as a result, any threat or risk to the individual is such a profound psychological shock?
Say what you want about those Greek ceremonial uniforms, but at least they don't have pom poms on their Garands. Even in the their distressed financial circumstances the Greeks manage to operate Apache helicopters these days and they do have their defence spending above the agreed NATO level of 2 percent of GDP. We look pretty miserable in comparison with our 1 percent.
They don't have to, by themselves, slit the throat of their next meal.
There are certain triggers that affect anyone with PTSD, depending what scenario caused their trauma in the first place.
Blood, smell of burning flesh, smoke, flashes, loud sound, dead children, the list is endless.
There are certain triggers that affect anyone with PTSD, depending what scenario caused their trauma in the first place.
Blood, smell of burning flesh, smoke, flashes, loud sound, dead children, the list is endless.
No doubt that's part of it, but it doesn't explain why such a large number of people who were tucked in safely behind the wire on the Kandahar Airfield for their entire tour have emerged to claim PTSD. I think it speaks to how and where our society has evolved where the interests of the individual have been elevated above everything else and people feel entitled to an uninterrupted life of ease and personal fulfillment.
People experienced PTSD under other labels as a result of participation in earlier wars and a lot of it was masked by things like alcoholism, family strife, mental illness and an inability to cope. I think its very fertile ground for the psychologists to examine. I doubt that more "primitive" societies experience the same levels of psychological damage in their troops. It calls up images of ancient Greece becoming soft and decadent to the point where they were overrun by a horde of Roman farm boys.
Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart (VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO)
Boer War:
Shot in stomach and groin.
WWI
Somaliland Campaign: Shot twice in the face, losing an eye and part of his ear. Recovered, returned to service.
Somme: shot through the skull and ankle
Passchendaele: shot through the hip,
Cambrai: shot through the leg
Arras: Shot through the ear (again)
Various shrapnel wounds, including severe damage to his left hand - which he amputated himself when a doctor refused to.
After the war, he commented: "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war...."
WWII
Recalled to a special appointment in the army in the autumn of 1939 (he was 59 at the time - but had spent the interwar years shooting and hunting "every day" to keep fit).
Was a Major General in the (ill conceived, ill equipped, undermanned, and ultimately futile) Nowegian campaign. Somehow managed to escape unscathed, in spite of having the aircraft he was in shot down while en-route. His cool-headedness is credited for allowing the majority of the force to hold together long enough to be evacuated.
After serving as an envoy to Yugoslavia to negotiate British aide to that country, his aircraft lost power and crashed in the Mediterranean. He swam a mile to shore where he was captured by the Italians.
After 5 escape attempts, he was chosen by the Italians as an envoy to England to negotiate a separate peace in August 1943.
Served as a special envoy to China from 1943-47.
Passed in his sleep in 1963 at the age of 83.
Oh yes - old "Lucky" de Wiart Jesus H. - incredible!!! Of course if he had amputated his own fingers while serving in the CF -- there would be no disability pension for that! He was quite the hunter it seems and apparently this kept him fit.
The shrapnel injuries are insidious..... my father was injured twice by mortar fire sustaining quite a lot of shrapnel. Because it doesnt all get found and removed surgically....years later it can emerge through the skin from what would first look like a small boil.
When it happened to my father he would call to my brother or I to find a magnet - quite a few 'objects' emerged over the years that stuck to a magnet. Of course shrapnel doesnt have a 'GPS' that directs its movement out to the skin ... and can work its way into other parts of the body......I am suspicious that this contributed to my fathers eventual death.
Kampfhamster
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Switzerland
@Purple: read the book "on killing" by Lt. Col. Dave Grossmann.
The topic is quite complex and can hardly be reduced to the upbringing of the soft youth of today.
The topic is quite complex and can hardly be reduced to the upbringing of the soft youth of today.
That's a gross misunderstanding/insulting view of the issue. I suggest reading books ont he topic such as Ghosts in the Ranks: Forgotten Voices & Military Mental Health by John J Whelan as well as On Killing as Kampfhamster has said.
I'm less interested in seeing people insulted about PTSD than I am about seeing this issue tackled in a systematic way to improve how our military can predict, mitigate and deal with it in future conflicts.
There's a hell of a lot of work that needs to be done on this and on the issue of post-deployment/later life suicides by veterans. I have my own experiences as well as some knowledge of other's personal circumstances, but this is really meaningless in comparison to the findings of systematic clinical analysis.
There's a hell of a lot of work that needs to be done on this and on the issue of post-deployment/later life suicides by veterans. I have my own experiences as well as some knowledge of other's personal circumstances, but this is really meaningless in comparison to the findings of systematic clinical analysis.
My sister-in-law has been studying PTSD in childhood immigrants/refugees to Canada from various conflict zones for the past 30 years.
She's as baffled today (perhaps even more so now) than when she started as to why some of these kids grow up into well adjusted adults, while others don't. There is no clear linkage between post-trauma treatment and living conditions and future success rates. Some of these kids will collapse into a mess at the sound of gunfire on TV for years and years later. Others go on to perfectly normal lives, as able to deal with the world around us as anyone else.
It's a maddening field of study. No clear indications of who will be susceptible to it, who will recover easily and on their own, etc.
My personal, non-scientific, theory: Some people are just wired different.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Amazon.ca stocks deWiart's autobiography, wherein he never once mentions being married, having kids, or being awarded the VC.
Another good read is anything published by Field Marshall Slim. That man could write and lead men with the best of 'em. Bader's book is good too (Paul Brickhill's Reach for the Sky). Guys like that are remarkable human beings. I aspire to be anything like that tough.
Another good read is anything published by Field Marshall Slim. That man could write and lead men with the best of 'em. Bader's book is good too (Paul Brickhill's Reach for the Sky). Guys like that are remarkable human beings. I aspire to be anything like that tough.
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