Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
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maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The 11 Nov date on the colourized photo and their wearing kilts gets my attention. A kilt and apron would have been correct dress for a highland battalion. But, the armies learned much earlier in the war that trousers were just so much more practical on the battlefield. Sure, it's tradition and all, but armies learn what works and doesn't. Kilts in mud and snow would have been especially injurious to bare legs.
Secondly, these guys weren't savages coaxed down from the windswept Scottish highlands by stirring pipe tunes. They were ordinary guys who joined up because they liked the lifestyle of the storied regiments. But, that doesn't mean they went around without underpants. The Archivist at the Canadian War Museum told me that they have dozens of pairs of good woolen underwear dating from WW1 which were issued to kilted units. She said the donors usually thought they had broken some sort of taboo by disclosing the drawers.
Secondly, these guys weren't savages coaxed down from the windswept Scottish highlands by stirring pipe tunes. They were ordinary guys who joined up because they liked the lifestyle of the storied regiments. But, that doesn't mean they went around without underpants. The Archivist at the Canadian War Museum told me that they have dozens of pairs of good woolen underwear dating from WW1 which were issued to kilted units. She said the donors usually thought they had broken some sort of taboo by disclosing the drawers.
Col. Kenneth L. Reusser flew 253 combat missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and was shot down in all three conflicts, five times in all.
He earned 59 medals to include 2 Navy Crosses, 5 Purple Hearts, 2 Legions of Merit and 18 Air Medals. In 1944, he led a flight of Corsairs (Black Sheep Squadron) intending to shoot down a Japanese KI-45 "Nick" high-altitude photo reconnaissance airplane gathering information for the day's Kamikaze flights. With altitude frozen guns, the only weapon left was the Corsair itself. Ken and his wingman severely damaged the tail of the KI-45 with their propellers. It entered a graveyard spiral, breaking up before hitting the water. Ken and his wingman shared the kill.
During the Vietnam War, Reusser flew helicopters. He was leading a Marine Air Group in a rescue mission, when his own "Huey" was shot down. He needed skin grafts over 35 percent of his badly burned body. He retired from the Marine Corps in July 1968 making him one of the most decorated Marine aviator in history. #ww2
www.zerofoxtrot.com
He earned 59 medals to include 2 Navy Crosses, 5 Purple Hearts, 2 Legions of Merit and 18 Air Medals. In 1944, he led a flight of Corsairs (Black Sheep Squadron) intending to shoot down a Japanese KI-45 "Nick" high-altitude photo reconnaissance airplane gathering information for the day's Kamikaze flights. With altitude frozen guns, the only weapon left was the Corsair itself. Ken and his wingman severely damaged the tail of the KI-45 with their propellers. It entered a graveyard spiral, breaking up before hitting the water. Ken and his wingman shared the kill.
During the Vietnam War, Reusser flew helicopters. He was leading a Marine Air Group in a rescue mission, when his own "Huey" was shot down. He needed skin grafts over 35 percent of his badly burned body. He retired from the Marine Corps in July 1968 making him one of the most decorated Marine aviator in history. #ww2
www.zerofoxtrot.com
Men of the 1/4th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment in a sap-head of a front line trench at Givenchy, 28 January 1918.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 7265)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug - Colourising History
(Photo source - © IWM Q 7265)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug - Colourising History
Canadian "Kiltie" is armed with a Mk III Ross.
StrelokM38
CGN Regular
"Mine is longer."
Kampfhamster
CGN frequent flyer
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I always find it interesting how these veterans could do it again and again. By the time we got to Vietnam he must have known the horror that was waiting for him there. Brave man.
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its one thing on bolt actions, but the lewis was automatic and has sights just as tall as a modern AR. the top pic shows it folded down, but the 2nd pic shows it raised to fire.
the minor increase in target profile is a good trade off for making rapid aimed fire much more effective by improving the bore axis to reduce muzzle climb. see the bren, the MG34 or 42, the FG42, the lewis above, etc
Googlized translated from Portuguese.
MOÇAMBIQUE
- Antonio Command
The boy adopted by the commands in full war.
"It's weird to like the people who killed my mother ..."
António Comando
António José Comando died. At the age of 53, he passed away on 18 June in Porto, a victim of cardiopulmonary arrest, a person whose whole story is a story that has rarely been told.
For most of the Portuguese the name of this person is totally unknown, but not for the military of “Ultramar”, particularly the 9th Companhia de Comandos that served in Mozambique in the Colonial War, where Salgueiro Maia was also training.
In the middle of the war, Portugal sent a company of Commandos to fight FRELIMO in a difficult Mozambican territory, known for the bravery of its soldiers. In ambushes carried out by Mozambican troops, it was normal to send women and children on the front to serve as human shields. It is in one of these ambushes that António's story begins.
At the age of 3, he was going to his mother's back when the Portuguese commandos were caught in the trap. In the middle of the shooting, a large part of the local population dies, including António's mother. The 3-year-old child suffered irreversible injuries to a hand, precisely because of the bullet that went through the mother's body and killed her.
In the midst of this warlike scenario, the Portuguese Commandos had an act of full Humanism and did not abandon the 3 year old child in the bush and visibly injured. Before a child who was alone, paralyzed, hurt, helpless and with her mother dead by the side, the Portuguese military brought him by helicopter to the barracks in order to be given medical care and remained there with the Commandos until the end of the war.
In a report made by SIC in the 90s, António José Comando - name that was officially registered by the Portuguese military, jokingly said that he went to the “troop at 3 years old and quickly made him "furriel" (lance sergeant) to sit at the officers' table” . Just remember that he cried compulsively when he put on his first boots because he always lived barefoot and did not like to wear shoes.
At the end of the war he was brought to Portugal and lived for 11 years in an orphanage in Braga. He had weekly visits from the military of the 9th Company and spent the weekends at each of their homes until one day the situation was definitively resolved with the formal adoption by Luís Gonzaga Martins, former Commander and resident of Harbor. António became the eldest son of a family that already had 4 children, including Luís Pedro Martins, currently responsible for marketing at the Irmandade dos Clérigos.
Comando always attended the 9th Company meetings at the same time as taking the Law course and lived in Porto with the adoptive family.
After 30 years, through SIC, he went to Mozambique and found his father, brothers and nephews, but his life was in Portugal where he married, had two children and remained here until the tragic death of someone whose life story had everything for him. end up at the age of 3, injured and abandoned in the middle of an ambush in the middle of the Colonial War.
In the midst of the war chaos, there are still stories that deserve recognition given the Humanism shown by those who could be his executioners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ranks_of_Portugal
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���� ����On 8 April 1970, Specialist Four Rob George McSorley was serving with L Company, 75th Infantry (Rangers), 101st Airborne Division, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. Although he was a citizen of Canada, Rob chose to fight in South Vietnam.
On that day, SP4 McSorley was killed in action when he sustained wounds from small arms fire while on a reconnaissance mission near Khe Sahn. During his time in the service SP4 McSorley was honored with the following for his bravery and valor:
Silver Star
Combat Infantryman Badge
Purple Heart
Army Commendation Medal
National Defense Service Medal
RVN Gallantry Cross with Silver Star
Rob G McSorley is memorialized on Panel 12W Line 107 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Original description and photo sourced by
www.vvmf.org and militaryhallofhonor.com
On that day, SP4 McSorley was killed in action when he sustained wounds from small arms fire while on a reconnaissance mission near Khe Sahn. During his time in the service SP4 McSorley was honored with the following for his bravery and valor:
Silver Star Combat Infantryman BadgePurple HeartArmy Commendation MedalNational Defense Service MedalRVN Gallantry Cross with Silver StarRob G McSorley is memorialized on Panel 12W Line 107 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Original description and photo sourced by
www.vvmf.org and militaryhallofhonor.com
Erich Alfred Hartmann with friend during a relaxed moment.
Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993) was a German fighter pilot and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He was credited with shooting down a total of 352 Allied aircraft, those being 345 Soviet planes and seven American while serving with the Luftwaffe. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his fighter 16 times due to either damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure; he was never shot down from direct enemy action.
Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993) was a German fighter pilot and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He was credited with shooting down a total of 352 Allied aircraft, those being 345 Soviet planes and seven American while serving with the Luftwaffe. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his fighter 16 times due to either damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure; he was never shot down from direct enemy action.
fingers284
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Man, what got me about this photo is..."what would todays monetary value be of everything in that photo, from the flotilla in the background to all the heavy iron on the beach". And that is just a small segment of what the entire beach landing would look like.
Isn't the Canadian army still using some of that stuff......
