neverforget Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Eddie has it, Colin. It's Guerin. I can't see any African-born 20+ aces of the Aéronautique militaire (or even any <20) who have not been named here and all are wrong. I assume "that's war for you" was a clue, but it's got me stumped.... Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Is he Georges Madon? Born in Tunisia and killed there in a flying accident in 1924. Or, Gabriel Guerin? Born in Morocco and killed taking off in 1918. JP Actually, helpjpl mentioned him first is post 1647, so I guess your answer only referred to Madon.... Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Another first and with an avian connection but who is this Frenchman ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Are we looking at Americanos, UG? A very interesting chap. He was awarded the Medal of Honor; he was one of the "Lost Battalion"; and it sounds like he was involved in the Watergate carryon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Nelson M Holderman - from your generous clues UG ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Nelson M Holderman - from your generous clues UG ! Yes that's him Steve. His Medal of Honor citation: "Captain Holderman commanded a company of a battalion which was cut off and surrounded by the enemy. He was wounded on 4, 5, and 7 October, but throughout the entire period, suffering great pain and subjected to fire of every character, he continued personally to lead and encourage the officers and men under his command with unflinching courage and with distinguished success. On 6 October, in a wounded condition, he rushed through enemy machinegun and shell fire and carried 2 wounded men to a place of safety." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Post1650 Its the cap badge of The 1st Royal Dragoons. The Eagle 105 was the Standard of the French 105th Regiment captured at Waterloo by the 1st Royal Dragoons Eddie Indeed. Rather splendid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Another first and with an avian connection but who is this Frenchman ? WIT K (373 x 544).jpg The first general of the Gallic persuasion to wear a cancan dancer's leg on his hat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Sans can-can girl (but perhaps clutching her phone number !) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 20 January , 2015 Share Posted 20 January , 2015 Last clue for today: he died over 100 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Actually, helpjpl mentioned him first is post 1647, so I guess your answer only referred to Madon.... Cheers ColinHelpjpl must have edited, as Geurin wasn't there in the original post, only Madon. Thank goodness it's solved in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Have been drawing a lot of blanks with this one Another first and with an avian connection but who is this Frenchman ? WIT K (373 x 544).jpg but could it be Jean Brun? I can't see an avian connection except that as minister of war up to 1911 (when he died in office) he developed and promoted military aviation... Oh, and he did re-introduce military service for criminals in the African batallions as well as setting up a military penitentiary in St. Malo - so a connection to jailbirds? Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Not him, Colin. A few more clues on the "moustachioed" French general. The avian connection refers to his demise as does the first clue. Although no Dr Doolittle some sea-going mammals took orders from him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDWARD1 Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 It is Charles Rondony and the avian connection is the battle in which he was killed - Rossignol - which is french for nightingale. Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Well done, Eddie - the pic from post 1656 is also on Rodony's Wikipedia entry, so there can be no doubt that you're right. I was well off the mark - I understood correctly that Steve's clue "sea-going mammals" were human animals, but was looking more in the realms of the navy than the colonial "marines". Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 What connects this young soldier - KIA at 2nd Ypres - to a fictional cricketer and gentleman thief? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 What connects this young soldier - KIA at 2nd Ypres - to a fictional cricketer and gentleman thief? This is Oscar Hornung, son of E W Hornung, creator of Raffles the gentleman thief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 WOODEN CROSSES (1916) "Go live the wide world over - but when you come to die, A quiet English churchyard is the only place to lie!" I held it half a lifetime, until through war's mischance I saw the wooden crosses that fret the fields of France. A thrush sings in an oak-tree, and from the old square tower A chime as sweet and mellow salutes the idle hour: Stone crosses take no notice - but the little wooden ones Are thrilling every minute to the music of the guns! Upstanding at attention they face the cannonade, In apple-pie alignment like Guardsmen on parade: But Tombstones are Civilians who loll or sprawl or sway At every crazy angle and stage of slow decay. For them the Broken Column - in its plot of unkempt grass; The tawdry tinsel garland safeguarded under glass; And the Squire's emblazoned virtues, that would over- weight a Saint, On the vault empaled in iron - scaling red for want of paint! The men who die for England don't need it rubbing in; An automatic stamper and a narrow strip of tin Record their date and regiment, their number and their name - And the Squire who dies for England is treated just the same. So stand the still battalions: alert, austere, serene; Each with his just allowance of brown earth shot with green; None better than his neighbour in pomp or circumstance - All beads upon the rosary that turned the fate of France! Who says their war is over? While others carry on, The little wooden crosses spell but the dead and gone? Not while they deck a sky-line, not while they crown a view, Or a living soldier sees them and sets his teeth anew! The tenants of the churchyard where the singing thrushes build Were not, perhaps, all paragons of promise well fulfilled: Some failed - through Love, or Liquor - while the parish looked askance. But - you cannot die a Failure if you win a Cross in France! The brightest gems of Valour in the Army's diadem Are the V.C. and the D.S.O., M.C. and D.C.M. But those who live to wear them will tell you they are dross Beside the Final Honour of a simple Wooden Cross. E.W Hornung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Yes, Uncle G., quite right - and a moving poem. EWH subsequently volunteered for the YMCA and worked both in Britain and in a library/canteen in France. Oscar is commemorated on the Menin Gate (although EWH is said to have visited his grave during his time in France). Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Well done Eddy, It is General Rondony, the first French general to be killed in combat in WW1. He commanded the 3rd Colonial Brigade; General Raffanel, his divisional commander died later the same day in the same battle and General Montignault the commander of the other brigade was wounded and taken prisoner. The 22 August 1914 was a bad day for the French Army and the Colonial Corps (known as "Marsouins" or porpoises) in particular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Does anyone know the tale of the man highlighted at the bottom right, along with fellow "craftsmen"??? P.S. Enjoyed the poem, U.G. I had a picture of Hornung to post shortly, but Colin`s was a much better one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 P.S. Enjoyed the poem, U.G. . Reminds me of Kipling: "The heathen in his blindness bows down to wood and stone; He don’t obey no orders unless they is his own; He keeps his side-arms awful: he leaves them all about, And then up comes the Regiment and pokes the heathen out." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Does anyone know the tale of the man highlighted at the bottom right, along with fellow "craftsmen"???. Are these men Masons, NF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Is "Amanda Nelson" a clue? If it is, I can't find anything relevant... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 21 January , 2015 Share Posted 21 January , 2015 Amanda Nelson is not there of my doing, so should be ignored. They are not all of the same trade, and aren't Masons either. They do share the same surname however, and "craftsmen" was a mischievous reference to that name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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