museumtom Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 I can tell you that he is on TV tonight. UTV and ITV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 -Your last clue was a very generous one. Have we heard this poor fellow`s tale yet???gd.jpg Served in the 60 th Infantry Regiment. Is he Samuel Woodfill? "... a man whom General Pershing called 'America's greatest soldier,' a man who had more medals (1919) than any other soldier in the army and who was responsible for 'the most remarkable one-man exploit of World War I.' The WASHINGTON STAR commented that his deeds of valor were so quietly done that no one knew about them except the War Department...'How did it happen that the country at large was deprived of the knowledge of him. Someone should be charged with the responsibility of searching out and making known these great shy ones.' " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 Just had a quick look at Woodfill. Amazing guy! No such heroics from my chap, but a change of trousers would definitely have been in order. 60 th French Infantry Regiment by the way. Sorry, no attempt to mislead there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 Just had a quick look at Woodfill. Amazing guy! No such heroics from my chap, but a change of trousers would definitely have been in order. 60 th French Infantry Regiment by the way. Sorry, no attempt to mislead there. That's Lucien Bersot who was condemned to death and executed as an example for others because he refused to put on a pair of trousers soiled with the blood of a dead comrade. EDIT: If I've understood the French correctly, he requested a pair of warm woollen trousers like his comrades had and the NCO offered him a bloody pair taken froma dead comrade. He was initially given 8 days arrest, but an officer decided that he should be court-martialled and that was the upshot, despite the sentence not being in line with military law as he was not at the front when the incident occurred. He was rehabillitated in 1922 which meant that his widow could receive a pension and his daughter was not disadvantaged. Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 I don't know what to make of Tom's. So meanwhile, who is this ? ? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museumtom Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 OK lads, I'll tell ye. Its Ken Barlow from Corrie AKA William Roche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 That's Lucien Bersot who was condemned to death and executed as an example for others because he refused to put on a pair of trousers soiled with the blood of a dead comrade. EDIT: If I've understood the French correctly, he requested a pair of warm woollen trousers like his comrades had and the NCO offered him a bloody pair taken froma dead comrade. He was initially given 8 days arrest, but an officer decided that he should be court-martialled and that was the upshot, despite the sentence not being in line with military law as he was not at the front when the incident occurred. He was rehabillitated in 1922 which meant that his widow could receive a pension and his daughter was not disadvantaged. Cheers Colin Quite so, Colin. Thanks for elaborating the story. Found whilst looking for Daniel`s most recent chap. http://www.argunners.com/movie-story-lucien-bersot-executed-deny-wear-bloodied-pants/ During the same search, I came across this young lady, who was awarded the iron cross. Who is she??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 OK lads, I'll tell ye. Its Ken Barlow from Corrie AKA William Roche. Nice one Tom; I wouldn't have got that in a month of Sundays. A bit of light relief doesn't go amiss every now and then. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museumtom Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 Thanks Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 Keep `em coming, Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 During the same search, I came across this young lady, who was awarded the iron cross. Who is she???et.jpg Is she Marthe Cnockaert? She "was awarded the German Iron Cross for her work tending German wounded in a Belgian hospital. Yet many of those she tended had been wounded as a direct result of intelligence she had supplied to the British, who, using her information, had bombed a German stronghold. She was later found out, arrested and tried. Facing the death penalty, two German officers testified on her behalf and her sentence was commuted to imprisonment." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 You`re unstoppable, U.G. Marthe Cnockaert it is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marthe_Cnockaert Outstanding young woman. Honoured by Germany, Belgium, France and Britain. Can`t think of many who could claim that distinction, though I`m sure that there must be one or two out there.Hoping for a little help with your digger, if that`s what he is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 My chap enlisted during the war, was court-martialled and dismissed from the army, re-enlisted (the war being still in progress) using a different name (his real name this time), was court-martialled again (twice) and survived the war. None of this is his most note-worthy feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 (edited) Whilst we digest the character reference on uncle`s chap. I don`t know who he is, but I wish I knew his solicitor. To keep him company, another fly-boy who fell prey to the Jastas. That wasn`t the end of him though. EDIT: Was shot down but survived. Taken prisoner but escaped. Recaptured, was bayoneted but survived. Escaped again........ Edited 6 March , 2015 by neverforget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 Quite so, Colin. Thanks for elaborating the story. Found whilst looking for Daniel`s most recent chap. http://www.argunners.com/movie-story-lucien-bersot-executed-deny-wear-bloodied-pants/ There is quite a lot on French Wikipedia about men who were "executed as examples" (fusillé pour l'exemple) to enforce discipline. In Bersot's case the regiment had just received a draft of raw recruits and the CO wanted to put the wind up them. Two of his comrades tried to protest the verdict and for their trouble were transported to N. Africa to do hard labour, others refused to be detailed to the firing squad, apparently without consequences for themselves. There was no appeal against the verdicts of these summary courts martial, no witnesses were heard and the verdict was carried out immediately. In Bersot's case the prosecutor and presiding judge was the CO himself, so Bersot never had a chance. There were attempts to prosecute the CO post-war, but Maginot, the minister of war, prevented this. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Bersot In another case 2 men were brought before a summary court martial and executed immediately, ostensibly for desertion. In fact they had been told off by their captain to stay behind with the men's baggage whilst the regiment went up to take part in an attack. Previously their baggage had been pilfered while the men were away and the captain chose these two men because they were the sole bread-winners for their families (one a father of 5). However, the captain was replaced by a new man and in the hand-over the 2 baggage guards were somehow overlooked. The new captain therefore showed them as absent without explanation in his returns and when the regiment moved on and the 2 men rejoined their comrades, the CO hauled them up for desertion in the face of the enemy on the basis of the captain's reports and they never had a chance. It took until 1934 for them to rehabillitated. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Chemin_et_%C3%89douard_Pillet Reigning by terror.... Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 March , 2015 Share Posted 6 March , 2015 Chilling stuff. So many untold and indeed, unknown injustices. Shameful. Thanks Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 Whilst we digest the character reference on uncle`s chap. I don`t know who he is, but I wish I knew his solicitor. To keep him company, another fly-boy who fell prey to the Jastas.fr.jpg That wasn`t the end of him though. EDIT: Was shot down but survived. Taken prisoner but escaped. Recaptured, was bayoneted but survived. Escaped again........ He is John Owen Donaldson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 He is John Owen Donaldson. Correct. Eventually managed to escape successfully to Holland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Owen_Donaldson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 More clues for my chap: he was court-martialled for reading a trench newspaper while on guard duty, and then working his .303 rifle bolt to threaten his corporal. But after his (first) court-martial, and his sentence to 10 years imprisonment, Australia’s Minister of Defence intervened, quashed the sentence, and ordered him home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 More clues for my chap: he was court-martialled for reading a trench newspaper while on guard duty, and then working his .303 rifle bolt to threaten his corporal. But after his (first) court-martial, and his sentence to 10 years imprisonment, Australia’s Minister of Defence intervened, quashed the sentence, and ordered him home. You`re making him sound more and more just like the average digger there I`d say. Was the thing for which he is most well known post WW1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 Was the thing for which he is most well known post WW1? He was "Australia's [a superlative] soldier". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 As UG wrote in a post above My chap enlisted during the war, was court-martialled and dismissed from the army, re-enlisted (the war being still in progress) using a different name (his real name this time), was court-martialled again (twice) and survived the war.None of this is his most note-worthy feature. I've been assuming he must have received one or more awards for bravery - perhaps a VC - which would fit in with the minister's intercession, but I've been drawing blanks all the way. Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 But whilst looking for UG's man I have found some interesting and scurrilous characters and tales, scurrious being the apposite word for this photo: I doubt anybody knows their individual names, but who are they? Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 As UG wrote in a post above I've been assuming he must have received one or more awards for bravery - perhaps a VC - which would fit in with the minister's intercession, but I've been drawing blanks all the way. Cheers Colin You're going down the wrong track, Colin. He died in May 1919: he "who had left the tall trees, the Tambo River and the country life, was dead at 17, a veteran of the Western Front." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 7 March , 2015 Share Posted 7 March , 2015 You're going down the wrong track, Colin. He died in May 1919: he "who had left the tall trees, the Tambo River and the country life, was dead at 17, a veteran of the Western Front." I get them when you give them away: Victor Earnest Lee http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/a-bruthen-boy-14-ernie-lee-fooled-wwi-enlistment-officers-twice/story-fnkfnspy-1227014116577 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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