DOCSLIB.ORG

The Unknown from the Great

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Unknown from the Great Chapter III The Unknown from the Great War The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier will be “a Mecca for all mothers of the land whose dead could not be given back to them.” – Chaplain Charles Pierce tars and Stripes, the official newspaper of the American Expe- ditionary Forces, reported: “At the eleventh hour on the elev- Senth day of the eleventh month hostilities came to an end… there followed a strange, unbelievable silence as though the world had died.”1 Later that day, as the certainty of peace became appar- ent, allied troops began to celebrate the end of the war; bands played and church bells rang, with the revelries continuing throughout the day and night. These lucky troops had somehow survived life in the trenches, a global influenza pandemic, and the horrors of combat.2 It was now time to celebrate their deliverance.3 The signing of the armistice in November 1918 effectively ended the fighting in Europe, but the psychological impact and po- litical consequences of the war would continue to haunt future gen- erations. Millions of soldiers had perished during the conflict and it would be left to the survivors to ultimately bring meaning to this whole-scale mass slaughter of humanity. 53 54 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier World War I had been the first truly technological war, a con- flict, according to one contemporary, fought by men and machines. New and terrible armaments had been developed by both sides and were used to great efficiency. These weapons included machine guns, U-boats, poison gas, tanks, long-range artillery, hand grenades, flamethrowers, airplanes, and zeppelins. All had contributed to the terrible carnage and the unprecedented number of war casualties. Individual valor, courage, and heroism seemed meaningless on the new, twentieth century battlefield. Even the bravest of soldiers could be killed instantly by an artillery shell fired from miles away or shot dead by an anonymous sniper’s bullet or killed by inhaling toxic fumes from exploding gas canisters.4 Death was ubiquitous, but it also appeared to be random and meaningless. One British soldier, Captain Llewelyn Griffith, graphically described the slaughter typi- cal on the frontlines: “There were more corpses than men, but there were worse sights than corpses. Limbs and mutilated trunks, here and there a detached head, forming splashes of red against the green leaves, and, as in advertisement of the horror of our way of life and death, and of our crucifixion of youth, one tree held in its branches a leg, with its torn flesh hanging down over a spray of leaf.”5 During the war, British Commonwealth nations sustained over 1,724,000 casualties—killed, wounded, and missing. On the single bloodiest day of fighting (July 1, 1916), 19,240 British sol- diers were killed-in-action at the Battle of the Somme.6 The sheer volume of casualties was unfathomable to the world’s civilian popu- lations, while the massive number of deaths posed serious logisti- cal challenges for the warring armies. For both hygienic and psy- chological reasons, rapid burial of the dead was essential, but this often proved problematic due to the proximity and intensity of the fighting. Dead soldiers were commonly buried at night with few, if any, religious rites or military rituals; their mangled corpses were consigned to hastily dug trenches shrouded only in a crude blanket.7 By the end of the war, there were over 2,300 allied and enemy cem- eteries scattered throughout western Europe.8 Many of these burial sites were primitive and inadequate, contributing to the stark reality that thousands of soldiers would never be individually identified.9 The Unknown from the Great War 55 Since most of the fighting on the western front had taken place in northern France, the French government made it a post-war priority to quickly reclaim the dormant battlefields in an effort to restore the old pastures and fields to agricultural use. This required the removal of unexploded ordnance, the clearing out of debris, the filling-in of trenches and bomb craters, the removing of shallow graves, and the recovering of the remaining dead.10 The allies simultaneously began a Herculean effort to prop- erly identify, reinter, and consolidate their war dead in newly estab- lished “concentration” cemeteries. In order to properly memorialize these deceased soldiers, the new cemeteries mandated uniform, stan- dardized grave markers in order to prevent what one British report warned against: “[the] hideous effigies relatives often have a ten- dency to erect.”11 The recently created British War Graves Commis- sion helped coordinate these efforts and ordered: “That there should be carved on the headstone the rank, name, regiment and date of death of the man buried beneath it, and that relatives should be al- lowed at their own cost to add a short inscription to the nature of a text or prayer, subject to the approval of the Commission.” 12 Fam- ily members in Britain and the other Commonwealth nations were strictly forbidden from making any effort to reclaim and repatriate the remains of their loved ones from the continent. This extremely controversial and unpopular policy was rationalized by the belief that the nation’s public morale could not withstand the psychologi- cal trauma and emotional impact that would ensue from years of individual memorial services and endless private burials.13 Despite the admirable goal of properly identifying all of the war dead, it proved impossible to accurately account for all of the soldiers. As military historian, Patrick O’Donnell, writes: “Artillery vaporized and shredded men on the battlefield, reducing many of their bodies to mere remains—‘unknown soldiers.’”14 The British classified over 517,000 of its soldiers as missing-in-action while more than one million French soldiers were still unaccounted for by the end of the war.15 The loss of identity in death was a fate greatly feared by all soldiers. Most wore or carried small metal al- 56 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier loy identification disks which listed their name, rank, and regiment but these tokens were easily lost or separated from a soldier during combat, making post-mortem identification difficult.16 Furthermore, the number of unidentified soldiers increased because, as historian Neil Hanson writes: “Many grave markers [were] destroyed in sub- sequent fighting, or removed by farmers squatting on their ruined land in primitive shelters and desperate to begin ploughing and re- planting. As a result, all trace of tens of thousands of graves had been obliterated.”17 For countless grieving families, this meant that there would never be a known grave where they could focus their sorrow. In her seminal book, Bodies of War, author and historian Lisa Budreau writes: “loss of a loved one in battle [was] magnified by the uncertainty of burial place and the inability to connect a name with a grave or body...[there would be] no funeral service, no head- stone in a local cemetery, nothing left to venerate, and no closure so necessary in the grieving process.”18 Almost immediately after the cessation of the fighting, small towns, hamlets, villages, and cities throughout Europe began to erect war memorials. These early efforts at commemoration of the local dead attempted to honor hometown soldiers by permanently inscrib- ing in stone the names of their dead and thereby restoring a bit of their lost identity. 19 On a larger scale, the most imposing and somber war memorial to be erected after the armistice was the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium. On the monument’s massive walls were inscribed the individual names of 54,896 miss- ing British and Commonwealth soldiers who had disappeared during the fighting in Flanders. In the nearby city of Zonnebeck, the Tyne Cot Memorial similarly listed the names of another 35,000 missing soldiers.20 At Whitehall in England, the renowned architect, Sr. Ed- win Lutyens, erected a large, wood and plaster cenotaph collectively honoring “the Glorious Dead.” This temporary pylon became such a popular place of pilgrimage with the grief-stricken public that it was replaced by a permanent stone monument in 1920.21 In stark contrast to London’s bodiless memorial, the French constructed a massive ossuary at Verdun. There, the bones of 130,000 unidentified The Unknown from the Great War 57 (Philip Bigler) A typical war memorial in the town square of Wellen, Belgium. Hundreds of such monuments were erected after the war to honor the hometown dead. 58 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier French and German soldiers were entombed, forever uniting the for- mer enemies in death.22 DURING THE GREAT War, the Reverend David Railton served as a military chaplain with British troops.23 In 1916, during the terrible fighting at the Battle of theSomme, Railton stumbled upon the lone grave of a British soldier who had been killed during the combat. Written on a crude wooden cross was a modest but poignant inscrip- tion: “Unknown British Soldier of the Black Watch.”24 The mem- ory of that unidentified soldier haunted Railton for years. He was consumed by the knowledge that literally hundreds of thousands of grieving families would never know the ultimate fate of their loved ones, aware only that they had perished on a distant battlefield fight- ing for King, Country, and Commonwealth. In truth, many bodies had been obliterated by modern weaponry but there were still thou- sands of other soldiers who had been anonymously entombed in graves dispersed throughout cemeteries in France and Belgium. After the armistice, Reverend Railton returned to England and was appointed the vicar of St. John the Baptist’s, Margate in Kent.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Volume 7, Issue 2, July 2021 Introduction: New Researchers and the Bright Future of Military History
    www.bjmh.org.uk British Journal for Military History Volume 7, Issue 2, July 2021 Cover picture: Royal Navy destroyers visiting Derry, Northern Ireland, 11 June 1933. Photo © Imperial War Museum, HU 111339 www.bjmh.org.uk BRITISH JOURNAL FOR MILITARY HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD The Editorial Team gratefully acknowledges the support of the British Journal for Military History’s Editorial Advisory Board the membership of which is as follows: Chair: Prof Alexander Watson (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK) Dr Laura Aguiar (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland / Nerve Centre, UK) Dr Andrew Ayton (Keele University, UK) Prof Tarak Barkawi (London School of Economics, UK) Prof Ian Beckett (University of Kent, UK) Dr Huw Bennett (University of Cardiff, UK) Prof Martyn Bennett (Nottingham Trent University, UK) Dr Matthew Bennett (University of Winchester, UK) Prof Brian Bond (King’s College London, UK) Dr Timothy Bowman (University of Kent, UK; Member BCMH, UK) Ian Brewer (Treasurer, BCMH, UK) Dr Ambrogio Caiani (University of Kent, UK) Prof Antoine Capet (University of Rouen, France) Dr Erica Charters (University of Oxford, UK) Sqn Ldr (Ret) Rana TS Chhina (United Service Institution of India, India) Dr Gemma Clark (University of Exeter, UK) Dr Marie Coleman (Queens University Belfast, UK) Prof Mark Connelly (University of Kent, UK) Seb Cox (Air Historical Branch, UK) Dr Selena Daly (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) Dr Susan Edgington (Queen Mary University of London, UK) Prof Catharine Edwards (Birkbeck, University of London,
    [Show full text]
  • Centennial of Honor: a Brief History of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Part 1
    Centennial of Honor: A Brief History of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Part 1 “We have had no national expression of any sort since the war ended that would give the people an opportunity to show their appreciation of the services over there of the young manhood of the nation and it seems to me it would be a very fine thing for Congress to make some provision for a ceremony that would give the people of the country an opportunity to do that.” – General of the Armies John Pershing On November 11, 1918 at 11:00am the guns on the western front of France fell silent and the “War to end all Wars” came to an end. After four years of brutal conflict and over 9 million military and 10 million civilian dead the world took a collective breath, paused, and began to count the cost of World War I. How many empires had broken during those years? How many advances, horribly destructive advances, had occurred in military tactics and technology? How many generations of young men were lost? Those questions soon turned to how to appropriately remember our fallen. To understand the history of our Unknown Solider and our selection process, first we must look to the French and English: and inquiry into our history and sacred duty is important as our nation prepares to commemorate the Centennial of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 2021. Unknown Brothers-in-Arms Setting aside the controversy of who first thought of the idea and when in 1916, both France and Great Brittan officially began the process of selecting one of their fallen to represent all the dead from World War I in 1919.
    [Show full text]
  • Last Post Indian War Memorials Around the World
    Last Post Indian War Memorials Around the World Introduction • 1 Rana Chhina Last Post Indian War Memorials Around the World i Capt Suresh Sharma Last Post Indian War Memorials Around the World Rana T.S. Chhina Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research United Service Institution of India 2014 First published 2014 © United Service Institution of India All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the author / publisher. ISBN 978-81-902097-9-3 Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research United Service Institution of India Rao Tula Ram Marg, Post Bag No. 8, Vasant Vihar PO New Delhi 110057, India. email: [email protected] www.usiofindia.org Printed by Aegean Offset Printers, Gr. Noida, India. Capt Suresh Sharma Contents Foreword ix Introduction 1 Section I The Two World Wars 15 Memorials around the World 47 Section II The Wars since Independence 129 Memorials in India 161 Acknowledgements 206 Appendix A Indian War Dead WW-I & II: Details by CWGC Memorial 208 Appendix B CWGC Commitment Summary by Country 230 The Gift of India Is there ought you need that my hands hold? Rich gifts of raiment or grain or gold? Lo! I have flung to the East and the West Priceless treasures torn from my breast, and yielded the sons of my stricken womb to the drum-beats of duty, the sabers of doom. Gathered like pearls in their alien graves Silent they sleep by the Persian waves, scattered like shells on Egyptian sands, they lie with pale brows and brave, broken hands, strewn like blossoms mowed down by chance on the blood-brown meadows of Flanders and France.
    [Show full text]
  • The War to End War — the Great War
    GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE GIVING WAR A CHANCE, THE NEXT PHASE: THE WAR TO END WAR — THE GREAT WAR “They fight and fight and fight; they are fighting now, they fought before, and they’ll fight in the future.... So you see, you can say anything about world history.... Except one thing, that is. It cannot be said that world history is reasonable.” — Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoevski NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND “Fiddle-dee-dee, war, war, war, I get so bored I could scream!” —Scarlet O’Hara “Killing to end war, that’s like fucking to restore virginity.” — Vietnam-era protest poster HDT WHAT? INDEX THE WAR TO END WAR THE GREAT WAR GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1851 October 2, Thursday: Ferdinand Foch, believed to be the leader responsible for the Allies winning World War I, was born. October 2, Thursday: PM. Some of the white Pines on Fair Haven Hill have just reached the acme of their fall;–others have almost entirely shed their leaves, and they are scattered over the ground and the walls. The same is the state of the Pitch pines. At the Cliffs I find the wasps prolonging their short lives on the sunny rocks just as they endeavored to do at my house in the woods. It is a little hazy as I look into the west today. The shrub oaks on the terraced plain are now almost uniformly of a deep red. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE WAR TO END WAR THE GREAT WAR GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1914 World War I broke out in the Balkans, pitting Britain, France, Italy, Russia, Serbia, the USA, and Japan against Austria, Germany, and Turkey, because Serbians had killed the heir to the Austrian throne in Bosnia.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unknown Warrior: a 4-Minute Film Teachers' Notes
    The Unknown Warrior: a 4-minute film teachers’ notes Watch the film here: https://youtu.be/FFav8-49XNo Transcript NAZIA: Mum, what’s that? AMAL: Ah, Nazia, that’s a very special grave, one that no one ever walks over. Some say it’s the most important in Westminster Abbey. NAZIA: A King or Queen? AMAL: No, not a monarch NAZIA: But someone famous? AMAL: No, not when he was alive. We don’t actually know who he was. NAZIA: I don’t understand. If we don’t know who he was, why is he buried at Westminster Abbey? AMAL: Because, that’s the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. Nearly nine million men from all over the British Empire fought in the First World War, approximately 6.5 million from Britain and Ireland, and 2.5 million from the Commonwealth. Places like: India; Pakistan; Bangladesh; Australia and New Zealand; the West Indies; Canada. The average age was 24. And though soldiers had to be over 18, 250,000 boys lied about their age. The youngest was 12 years old. For every nine men that served, three were wounded; often with injuries lasting the rest of their lives. One in nine were killed. Of those killed, 200,000 were missing and never found. Thousands of warriors, forever unknown. NARRATOR: The Unknown Warrior’s story begins in 1916, in a garden, in France. British Army Chaplain David Railton finds the grave of a fallen British soldier, buried underneath a simple cross, with the words ‘an unknown British soldier’. Back in Britain cries an unknown mother.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Has the First World War Been Remembered in Different Ways Since 1918?
    PAGE 1 ENQUIRY 8 Why has the First World War been remembered in different ways since 1918? Key stage 3 ENQUIRY OVERVIEW This enquiry is designed to give students some examples of how and why the First World War has been remembered in different ways and in different times and contexts since 1918. The initial stage compares a local war memorial with the Cenotaph in London, considering factors that would be useful for comparing similar memorials on a battlefields visit. The enquiry goes on to focus on five different interpretations (including works of art, memorials and a feature film) which were deliberately created after the War’s end to provoke particular emotional responses in their original audiences. All five sources could be investigated in turn, or fewer could be selected for teaching but deliberately chosen to illustrate contrasting interpretations of the First World War. The memorials in particular could be compared with those of other types and commemorating other nationalities on the Western Front during a battlefields visit. In the final activity students consider how such interpretations might be presented today and why these past interpretations of the War might generate different feelings in modern audiences to those intended by their creators. There are opportunities through this topic to make links to English (e.g. developing speaking and listening skills, writing imaginatively, creatively and thoughtfully, producing texts that interest and engage the reader), citizenship (e.g. looking at the actions individuals, groups and organisations can take to influence and provoke popular opinion) and geography (e.g. interactions between people and their environments, the location of places and environments).
    [Show full text]
  • Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guard Schedule
    Buckingham Palace Changing Of The Guard Schedule Unpuckered Corky bump-start her endurance so trippingly that Westleigh animadvert very segmentally. Doggy and quintan Quintin often unswear some aftershaft contingently or sear harassedly. Undisordered Elvis still riven: unchartered and Ptolemaic Jeremy sneezings quite censurably but tritiates her hairpins unfavorably. And use them. What anguish the changing of these guard? Each guard changing of schedule of buckingham palace changing the guard! Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Defies Hurricane Irene Stays Open. Our tour to your hands on guard the reign of. Buckingham Palace Changing of state Guard cancelled to stop. Opinion process we witnessing a changing of liberty guard at Buckingham Palace John Griff is a broadcaster in Northamptonshire By John Griff. And priority for the benefits of buckingham palace gate doors, but never put together unlikely to guard changing of the buckingham palace connecting services or queen is. Under proud new AR 670-1 Soldiers traveling commercially on official business are authorized to whack the Army Combat Uniform or ACU. The Changing of all Guard in London at Buckingham Palace is at Horse Guards Parade is worth seeing you do. The formality and pageantry of the Changing of the accident at Buckingham Palace. Changing of peonies, all else you know that usually accompanies the tour activity bags and serious cases they are stabled in the palace changing of guard the buckingham palace walls. Changing the type at Buckingham Palace. What is among the most had not held every month to changing of buckingham the palace guard schedule for a very well as the underlying crime, is very busy event to skip and safety accidents during a london.
    [Show full text]
  • December 2020
    The Semaphore Circular No 705 The Beating Heart of the RNA December 2020 WISHING ALL OUR READERS A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR Shipmates Please Stay Safe If you need assistance call the RNA Helpline on 07542 680082 This edition is the on-line version of the Semaphore Circular, unless you have registered with Central Office, it will only be available on the RNA website in the ‘Members Area’ under ‘downloads’ at www.royal-naval-association.co.uk and will be emailed to the branch contact, usually the Hon Sec 1 indicates a new or substantially changed entry Contacts Financial Manager 023 9272 3823 [email protected] Finance Assistant 023 9272 3823 [email protected] Communications Manager 07860 705712 [email protected] Digital Communications [email protected] Operations Manager 023 9272 0782 [email protected] Membership Support Manager 023 92723747 [email protected] General Secretary / CEO 023 9272 2983 [email protected] Admin 023 92 72 3747 [email protected] Project Semaphore [email protected] National Branch Retention 07713 876846 [email protected] and Recruiting Advisor National Welfare Advisor 07934 775087 [email protected] National Rules and Bye-Laws 0860 214766 [email protected] Advisor National Ceremonial Advisor 07810 300383 [email protected] PLEASE NOTE DURING THE CURRENT RESTRICTIONS CENTRAL OFFICE IS CLOSED. PLEASE USE EMAIL OR, IF THE MATTER IS URGENT, THE HELPLINE ON 07542 680082. Staff photo (L – R) Bill Oliphant, Nigel Huxtable, Kathryn Brindley, Michelle Bainbridge, National President Vice Admiral john McAnally, Mike Gray, Charlie Darlington, Andy Christie Daily Orders (follow each link) Orders [follow each link] 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Roundup-History
    Year 9 History - Remembering the First World War Centenary of the Arrival of the Unknown Warrior at Victoria Station – 10 November 2020 Every year on 10 November, the Western Front Association holds a service of remembrance at Victoria Station to commemorate the arrival, in 1920, of the Unknown Warrior on his journey to Westminster Abbey. Because this year is the centenary of this happening, the Western Front Association is asking Year 9 students to write a letter to the Unknown Warrior. You can write as yourself, a young person in 2020, looking back on the First World War or you could pretend to be someone living in 1920 who has lost someone important to you in the war: a brother, a father or a friend perhaps. If you would like to take part in this commemoration then you need to write a letter of no more than 500 words and email it to your class teacher by November 1st, 2020. The Association will publish the most interesting and thoughtful letters on their website and in their magazine and offer some small prizes. The Story When the First World War ended in 1918, about 800,000 British and colonial troops had died and another 200,000 were “missing”. Some of these were prisoners but most were dead: either they could not be identified or they were never found. The men and women who died abroad in the war were buried there and many had “no known grave” so that families in Britain were rarely able to visit a grave to mourn for the people that had lost.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 89, No. 2
    The Official Organ of the Seven Seas Club Volume 89, No. 2 WINTER 2013 1 COMMITTEE MEMBERS President – Mr. Martin Earp Vice President – Mr. Bill Murray Immediate Past President – Mr David Watson Mr. Mark Scoular, Mr. Graham Capel, Capt. Chris Esplin-Jones C.B.E., Capt. Louis Roskell & Mr. Fez Wood. OFFICERS Acting Hon. Secretary / Historical and Protocol Adviser – Cdr. John Mankerty O.B.E., RN Hon. Treasurer – Mr. Derek Bevan Hon. Membership & Dinner Secretary – Mr. Dominique Watson Hon. Almoner – Mr. Martin Earp Hon. Magazine Editor – Mr. John Callcut OTHER POSITIONS Hon. Life Members – Mr. Paul Antrobus, Mr. George Kingston, Capt. David Matthews, Capt. Richard Woodman & Mr. Ray Williams Hon. Chaplains – Revd. Canon Paul Thomas O.B.E. & Revd. Peter Dennett Hon. Auditor – Mr. M.J. Buck The committee meets on the first Tuesday of each month throughout the dinner ‘season’. 2 CONTENTS Editorial President’s Address Secretary’s Corner Membership Almoner’s Report Club Dates Obituaries Sister Clubs South Africa Australia Dinners Dinner Photographs and Reports Features Unpublished Pictures – an ongoing feature The loss of ss Laristan by Glyn Evans Minutes of the 89th AGM Free Fronts – Free Franks by Graham Capel Dinner Protocol by Commander John Mankerty O.B.E., R.N. South Africa 2013 Report by Sipho Wanliss The Seven Seas Trophy Slop Chest Front Cover – This picture appeared on the front cover of the Seven Seas Shanty Book under the title ‘Rolling down to Rio’. 3 EDITORIAL When David Watson approached me about editing the Seven Seas magazine I must admit that I was taken somewhat by surprise.
    [Show full text]
  • Tomb of the Unknown Warrior
    TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR Regimental Padre Reverend David Railton, M.C. was at Armentieres in France in 1916 when he saw a white wooden cross on a grave in a garden. On the cross were the words “An unknown British Soldier” and in brackets underneath were the words “Of the Black Watch”. As a result he gave a lot of thought to the fact that there were thousands of dead troops who had no known graves and consequently in 1920, after the war had ended and things began to settle down, he wrote to the Dean of Westminster proposing that an unidentified dead soldier from the battlefields of France be buried with due ceremony in Westminster Abbey “among the kings”, to represent the many hundreds of thousands of Empire dead, thereby creating a lasting focal point for the relatives of those troops killed in battle who had no known grave. This proposal was supported by the Dean and Prime Minister Lloyd George and also King George V. Brigadier L J Wyatt, Commander of British Forces in France, and Lt. Col. E A S Gell, the Director of Graves Registration, instructed that the body of a British soldier which would be impossible to identify should be brought from each of the four battle areas, The Aisne, The Somme, Arras, and Ypres, on the night of the 7th November 1920 and placed in the chapel at Saint Pol sur Ternoise, near Arras. The remains were laid on stretchers and covered with the Union Flag. Shortly after midnight Brigadier Wyatt closed his eyes and then rested his hand on one of the bodies to indicate his selection, and these remains were then placed in the shell of a coffin and the lid 1 screwed down.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fairmiles
    October 31, 2007 This is the Seventh Section of the manuscript “Radio Stations Common? Not This Kind” by Spurgeon G. Roscoe Radioman Special Royal Canadian Navy 1956-1961 Graduate Radio College of Canada, Toronto Graduate National Radio Institute, Washington First Class Certificate of Proficiency in Radio # 6-108 Coast Guard Radiotelegraph Operators Certificate # 054 Amateur Radio Station VE1BC THE FAIRMILES When I realized I was never going to have a book on this history I kept adding to it for my own enjoyment especially this section on the Fairmiles. Joan and I will have been married 46 years on September 7th, 2007. Joan is one of the Kinney girls from Kinney Road, Ashmore, Nova Scotia and her family helped construct these Fairmiles so the 15 Weymouth built copies are like family. Jerry Proc VE3FAB now has his version of this section on his web site under Fairmile Radio Fit. Our shipyards were to turn out 456 merchant ships and some 300 naval vessels during World War II. These ships were built by a number of shipyards and the size of the yard normally dictated the size of the ships it constructed. The little ships known by the name Fairmile fascinate me most of the naval ships constructed. The British Fairmile Company designed them, so the British and British Commonwealth navies called them Fairmiles. They were designed as a sister ship to the Submarine Chaser of the United States Navy. At the outbreak of World War II steps were taken for the smaller Canadian shipyards to build a fleet of these little ships for the Royal Canadian Navy.
    [Show full text]