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Question of the Hour

geo said:
Ooooo.....
Vera Lynn?....
NO!!
Another hint...
The Wars in which she participated were not WWI & WWII...One of those Wars is correct...
 
Winston Churchill was a reporter in the field during the Boer War.....
and ....ooohhhh... gotta check my references...

Be back later


BTW - any bites on the General who got shot by those dastardly Belgians?
 
Hmmm, I must be having a bad day, neither the honourary Lt. nor the accidentally wounded general shot by Belgians is coming up on my research.  I first thought Model might have been the general , but that wasn't an accident!


While I am stewing over these, here is another: who is the only civilian buried in the Dieppe War cemetary and why is that person ranked as a Brigadier General?
 
Hmm the first to accomplish what? OK here's the hint, never assume anything.
"The unusual and exceptional man" is actually a woman.....

Would this happen to be Lt. Joan Fletcher?  My history here is somewhat hazy, but she co-ordinated the evacuation of non-combatants somewhere in the Pacific, doing so with such finesse that a Japanese officer gave her his family sword as a sign of respect. 

After WWII she served in the Korean war, and after that served in the Canadian embassy to the Soviet Union conducting intelligence work.  She was evacuated after her work was discovered, but remained long enough (and at significant personal risk) to destroy documents, thereby protecting her contacts.
 
wongskc said:
Would this happen to be Lt. Joan Fletcher?   My history here is somewhat hazy, but she co-ordinated the evacuation of non-combatants somewhere in the Pacific, doing so with such finesse that a Japanese officer gave her his family sword as a sign of respect.  

After WWII she served in the Korean war, and after that served in the Canadian embassy to the Soviet Union conducting intelligence work.   She was evacuated after her work was discovered, but remained long enough (and at significant personal risk) to destroy documents, thereby protecting her contacts.

A good attempt but I am looking for an Honourary Lt.
 
redleafjumper said:
While I am stewing over these, here is another: who is the only civilian buried in the Dieppe War cemetary and why is that person ranked as a Brigadier General?

Mrs. Brigadier Mary Climpson (a Lt in the Salvation Army and wife of Brigadier General Climpson):

She was transferred from the British National Headquarters to France at the outset of WWII to assist the troops. The soldier's called her 'Mother C'. She worked in a variety of Red Shield centres working hard for the benefit of the soldiers. She would write letters for wounded soldiers or lay flowers for relatives on the freshly dug graves and she would also lead religious services. After the soldiers returned to the front line they would often send her pencilled written notes on scraps of paper thanking her for her care and attention.

She was killed on the 20th May 1940 while trying to evacute out of Arras during the rapid Nazi advance on Northern France. While travelling in a convoy towards Dieppe, the Luftwaffe began straffing along the roadway. Mrs. Brigadier Climpson was killed during this incident. Buried in a field, her remains were later re-located to the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, Hautot-sur-Mer, Seine-Maritime, France.
Details from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Web-site:
http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2316950

http://www1.salvationarmy.org/heritage.nsf/titles/Mrs_Brigadier_Mary_Climpson
Her Obituary: javascript:viewImage('Climpsonobit1','Climpson obit1.jpg')
Her Tribute: javascript:viewImage('ClimpsonWCTribute','Climpson WC Tribute.jpg')

May she Rest in Peace.  :salute:
 
Yes indeed, Armyvern, Mary Jane Climson is the civilian in the Dieppe War Cemetary.

Still having trouble finding this honourary Lieutenant and the General shot by the Belgians...
 
redleafjumper said:
Still having trouble finding this honourary Lieutenant and the General shot by the Belgians...

Uhmm, I will post the correct answer (if it isn't discovered by then) at 2200hrs (that being 36 hours after the question was asked). I looked really hard for a tough one this time!!
One more hint: She has already been indirectly referred to (not by name) in this thread somewhere (Hey, there's only 50 pages to go through!!)....

Apparently, so did Geo, because I can't seem to find the answer to that Belgian shooter question either!!
 
Hint about the General.................. he made Field Marshal
("dead giveaway" sort of)
 
armyvern said:
Name the honourary Lt who served the country in-theatre in 2 successive Wars. Between these 2 Wars, this person became the first to accomplish what (and with what corps) that would set the bar for those who would follow?

Nursing Sister Georgina Pope was one of four Nursing Sisters who accompanied the Canadian Force to the Boer War in Nov 1899(these 4 were mentionned previously in response to another question regarding the ship which carried them to the South African Theatre). All 4 were given the rank of Honourary Lt. Georgina Nash served as the Senior Nursing Sister at a field hospital just north of Cape Town returning to Canada in Dec 1900. She returned to South Africa for a second tour from Jan to Jun 1902 serving at a hospital in Natal.

In 1906 she became a member of the permanent Canadian Army Medical Corps working out of the Halifax Garrison Hospital.

In 1908 she attained the position of matron, the first in the history of the Canadian Army Medical Corps and would set the standard for those that would follow.

Also deploying overseas to the European Theatre in WWI, 1917 ,she was invalided back to Canada at the end of 1918.

http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/boer/georginapope_e.html
 
geo said:
Hint about the General.................. he made Field Marshal
("dead giveaway" sort of)

And therefore the answer is:

Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer, KG (1898 - 1979) who was "commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers and fought in World War I where he developed a reputation for being somewhat hapless after accidentally being shot by friendly Belgian forces."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Templer
 
hehe..... yeah - that's him.
Can imagine the reaction of his peers when he got promoted to Field Marshal :)
 
Here is one that may not be too difficult...


Who commanded the USS Monatauk when that vessel sank the CSS Nashville, and what other famous vessel did that officer command during a naval action of great historical significance?  Also, what was the new name of the CSS Nashville at the time of its sinking?
 
Single-turreted monitor USS Montauk
built by John Ericsson at Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint, N.Y.; l
aunched 9 October 1862;
commissioned at New York 14 December 1862,
Decommissioning at Philadelphia in 1865
Comdr. John L. Worden in command.

In February 1862, he was given command of theironclad Monitor and took her into a historic battle with CSS Virginia on 9 March 1862.

CSS Nashville, a 1221-ton side-wheel steamer, was originally a passenger steamer converted to a lightly-armed cruiser. Nashville made one combat cruise under the Confederate Navy flag, starting in October 1861.Returning to American waters early in 1862, she ran the blockade into Beaufort, North Carolina and later   to Georgetown, South Carolina.
Sold to private interests and renamed Thomas L. Wragg, she operated as a blockade runner, but was hindered in this employment by her deep draft. After arrival near Savannah, Georgia, she was sold again in November 1862, to become a privateer under the name Rattlesnake. On 28 February 1863, while still in the Savannah area, she was destroyed by the monitor USS
 
geo said:
hehe..... yeah - that's him.
Can imagine the reaction of his peers when he got promoted to Field Marshal :)

I'm quite surprised that they didn't shoot him too!!  :threat:
 
Geo certainly nailed the correct answer about the famous commander of the Monitor who retired as a Rear Admiral of the USN.  Another easy short snapper from the American Civil War: 

What was the name of Robert E. Lee's horse that he rode for much of the Civil War?  What colour was that horse?
 
Robert E Lee horse?.... he had more than one

Traveller - Gray (his "colt")
Lucy Long - Sorrel mare

Traveller was of the ' Gray Eagle' stock, and, as a colt, took the first premium under the name of 'Jeff Davis' at the Lewisburg fairs for each of the years 1859 and 1860
sold to General Lee for $200 in currency in February 1862

Lucy Long was a present to General Lee from General J. E. B. Stuart in 1862, when the former was conducting the Sharpsburg campaign.
 
Geo is correct, Robert E. Lee did have more than one horse.  His favourite, Traveller carried him to and from the surrender at Appotomax.
The terms dictated to him by General Grant showed very much Grant as a "strategic general" in that they were clearly aimed at reconciliation.  An interesting point about Lee is that he is probably unique in history as being offered command of both opposing armies in a war.

Let's go to one of my favourite periods, the Napoleonic wars.  In 1803 an Indian fortress that was thought to be impregnable fell.  What was the significance of the fall of this fort, what was its name and who was the officer that led the assault over the wall?
 
The fortress was Gawilghur and it fell on December 15th , 1803 after being stormed by  British ( mostly Scottish actually) and Sepoy troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley. Not sure of who actually lead the forlorn hope into the breach as I'm at work and my references are at home.

Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe's Fortress actually gives a fair account of the campaign although naturally his literary hero (then) Ensign Richard Sharpe is credited with leading the Forlorn Hope.
 
I think the name of the officer who lead the final assault was Lockhart. Not sure if he was a Major or L/Col and if he was a Engineer, staff officer or 78th Highlander who provided most of the assualt troops.

As for the significance. This more or less ended armed rebellion/French interference in India and was Wellesley's last battle in India. He saile for England son after and then on to glory in Denmark, Portugal, Spain, France an Belgium.
 
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