The sign on the front of the truck reads, “The Kaiser’s Funeral.”
26 September 1918
“We are in a camp near Auzeville and the big drive is to start. In fact the one that finished the ‘Boches’. Then the morning of the 26th dawned but dawn was preceded by a terrific barrage which was as loud as thunder and lighted up the whole skyline for miles. We were not flying ours but were held in reserve. Hundreds of “planes” were now flying over head. One bunch had over 150 in it.
Along about 8 a.m., along comes a boche plane and he burned three of the balloons all observers landed safe but one and his parachute burned and he fell to his death.
A fellow by the name of Barnett and I started out to see the fun. Put our guns on and started for the front line trenches which were about 5 miles north. After a short while we hit the trenches but of course our boys had advanced and were chasing the boche for a fare you well. We hit several mine craters where the boche had mined the roads but already our engineers had started to budge them. After another hour’s walk and dodging a few pieces of shrapnel we hit the town of Varennes and were keen for souvenirs. The boche were still in one side of the Varennes and we were in the other.
Machine guns were crackling with a steady roar and long streams of ambulances carrying away the wounded. Dead Boche were laying every where. The roads were filled with them. Long about then a Boche 77 took my ….. but never touched us. Then we started going through the dugouts and it was there that I got the general’s helmet. Also was almost lucky enough to capture a Jerry but a doughboy beat me to it. He was hiding in a dug out. Looked like he wasn’t as old as “Bugs” and he was scared almost to death.
After monkeying around a while we hopped an ambulance and rode back toward Auzeville. So that finished the day’s fun. But you ought to have seen the dead Huns. Some had legs blown off. Some had their heads and shoulders off and some were in pieces only. A great many had been burned by mustard gas and were burned to a crisp.”
Photograph of the construction of the Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland. Undoubtedly Britain’s most famous railway landmark, The Forth Bridge was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in March 1890 following eight years of building, and completed the east coast railway route between London and Aberdeen. It spans the Firth of Forth, joining the city of Edinburgh and Fife in Scotland. The bridge was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, and built by engineer Sir William Arrol. It contains almost 54,000 tons of steel and when completed, the 1.5 mile long bridge was the biggest in the world. It is the world’s oldest cantilever railway bridge and remains in use to this day.
[Image from Feral Irishman‘s awesome rotating banner. Description from here.]
The war came suddenly. It was a sunny Sunday morning on 25 June 1950, when the peace was shattered by an agitated radio announcer screaming that there was an all-out attack by the North Korean army all along the 38th parallel. Within two days, the distant rumbles of cannons could be heard from our house in Seoul, and on the third day North Korean tanks and soldiers appeared on our streets. It was incredible. The radio had been repeating President Syngman Rhee’s message that brave South Korean army soldiers were repulsing the communist army and that the capital city never would be abandoned to the invaders.
[…] The bridges across the Han River—the only escape routes—were blown up by the retreating South Korean army. There was no question that it was a full-scale invasion. The communist occupation of Seoul lasted for 90 days while the North Korean thrust expanded rapidly southward down the narrow peninsula, despite the U.S. and United Nations participation in the conflict.
The North Koreans in Seoul now engaged in methodical hunts for able-bodied men to be impressed into their various “volunteer” units. I moved nine times from relatives’ houses to friends’ places to stay a step ahead of the occupation soldiers—who were spreading their dragnets ever wider. We heard rumors about “kangaroo courts” held at city squares where any “reactionaries” were bludgeoned to death. I was undoubtedly a “reactionary” by their definition. For the first time I knew fear and hunger, as food was extremely scarce. This was the darkest and most helpless period in my life. I was convinced that all the shocking events were caused by the communist aggression. Along with some schoolmates, I decided to do my part in defending my homeland. – John K. C. Oh
Mr. Oh’s account from USNI Naval History Magazine June 2000, Volume 14 Number 3 [read more here].
Image of members of the “Frozen Chosin” found here.
“This bullet was found on the roof of Kuwait International Hotel where the invaders camped during their last days. Today, the KIH presents you this limited edition souvenir for “GOOD LUCK” just as the hotel survived the war without major damage. November 1991″
Found that tucked away in my home office desk. I think it’s a .50 caliber Browning NATO casing, but I wasn’t smart enough to photo the head stamp before I mailed it off to a veteran friend.
Above: Kuwait International Hotel after occupation by Iraqi forces in 1991. Much of the interior was burned out as these pictures show. More on cartridge casings here.
Remember Always Who Set It Up and Who Paid The Price
It began when left-wing activists from off-campus arrived by bus on Friday May 1 1970 to host a May Day protest rally. Kent State, a small university in northeast Ohio, had been chosen.
