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Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premiered on October 5, 1962 in London.
The creator of 007, Ian Fleming (1908-1964), came a wealthy English family, and his father was a Member of Parliament from 1910 until his WWI death in 1917. Fleming was educated at Eton and Sandhurst, and he briefly studied at universities in Munich and Geneva. During WWII, he worked for British Naval Intelligence. He excelled in administration and was involved in the planning and direction of several major operations, but he never really was a field agent.
He wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952. An avid bird watcher, he took the name James Bond from an American ornithologist. He said he wanted the character to be a dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened, and James Bond was the dullest name he could think of. The first five Bond novels were successful and generally well regarded by critics, but then critics turned against him, calling the novels sadistic voyeurism.
He eventually wrote 11 Bond novels and two short story collections, and they rank among the most popular fiction series of all time, selling well over 100 million copies. He died of heart disease in 1964 at age 58.
Place.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premiered on October 5, 1962 in London.
Ian Fleming, the author who created Bond, first visited Jamaica in 1942 and decided to live there after the war. In 1945, he built a villa which he named Goldeneye. He said he was inspired to choose that name because of the WWII Operation Goldeneye with which he was involved and the Carson McCullers 1941 novel, Reflections in a Golden Eye, which described the use of British bases in the Caribbean by the American Navy.
Goldeneye is now a hotel and resort which has hosted a lot of celebrities over the decades including Errol Flynn, Truman Capote, Princess Margaret, Pierce Brosnan, Harrison Ford, Grace Jones, Bono, Michael Caine, Johnny Depp, and Richard Branson. Sting wrote "Every Breath You Take" there at Fleming's desk in 1982.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premiered on October 5, 1962 in London.
Ian Fleming, the author who created Bond, first visited Jamaica in 1942 and decided to live there after the war. In 1945, he built a villa which he named Goldeneye. He said he was inspired to choose that name because of the WWII Operation Goldeneye with which he was involved and the Carson McCullers 1941 novel, Reflections in a Golden Eye, which described the use of British bases in the Caribbean by the American Navy.
Goldeneye is now a hotel and resort which has hosted a lot of celebrities over the decades including Errol Flynn, Truman Capote, Princess Margaret, Pierce Brosnan, Harrison Ford, Grace Jones, Bono, Michael Caine, Johnny Depp, and Richard Branson. Sting wrote "Every Breath You Take" there at Fleming's desk in 1982.
Thing.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premiered on October 5, 1962 in London.
On 29 September 1939, soon after the start of the war, a memo was circulated listing various intelligence ideas to consider using in the war against Germany, particularly German U-boats. It was called the "Trout Memo" because it contained analogies to trout fishing, and it is believed to have been written by Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. Number 28 on the list was an idea to plant misleading papers on a corpse that would be found by the enemy; the suggestion is similar to Operation Mincemeat, the 1943 plan to conceal the intended invasion from North Africa. In fact, the body of a homeless man was taken from a British morgue and dressed in a Royal Air Force uniform. Fake documents like those pictures here were put on his body, along with fake invasion plans, and the body was dumped in the Mediterranean to be found by German agents. It was meant to convince the Germans that the invasion target was Greece or Sardinia, when it was actually Sicily, and it worked.
There's a movie on Netflix now about the operation called "Operation Mincemeat."
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premiered on October 5, 1962 in London.
On 29 September 1939, soon after the start of the war, a memo was circulated listing various intelligence ideas to consider using in the war against Germany, particularly German U-boats. It was called the "Trout Memo" because it contained analogies to trout fishing, and it is believed to have been written by Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. Number 28 on the list was an idea to plant misleading papers on a corpse that would be found by the enemy; the suggestion is similar to Operation Mincemeat, the 1943 plan to conceal the intended invasion from North Africa. In fact, the body of a homeless man was taken from a British morgue and dressed in a Royal Air Force uniform. Fake documents like those pictures here were put on his body, along with fake invasion plans, and the body was dumped in the Mediterranean to be found by German agents. It was meant to convince the Germans that the invasion target was Greece or Sardinia, when it was actually Sicily, and it worked.
There's a movie on Netflix now about the operation called "Operation Mincemeat."
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Person.
I've gotten caught up in watching a new series on Starz called The Serpent Queen, about the real-life Catherine de Medici, the last of the Medici clan that ruled Florence. As queen and queen mother/regent of France, she was a major player in Europe, and she's been called one of the cruelest women who ever lived.
Catherine de Medici, 1519 to 1589, was orphaned within a month of her birth. After time spent with her paternal grandmother and an aunt, she fell under the guardianship of her uncle, Pope Clement VII, who put her in a succession if convents. At 14, he decided to marry her off to the French Prince Henry of Orleans, a political match to unite the papacy and France.
Henry paid her little attention, continuing with mistresses and even fathering bastard children while Catherine couldn't fulfill her duty, i.e. giving birth to a son. He openly conducted an affair in court with the older Diane de Poitiers, sitting in her lap and fondling her breasts in public. She was in a precarious state, considering that Pope Clement and his successor had even refused to pay her full dowry to France's King Francis.
When Henry's brother died, and he became heir, he finally realized that he had a duty as well. Catherine eventually gave him 8 children, six of whom survived infancy, and she served as Queen Consort. King Henry died after a jousting injury in 1559, at age 40. That death thrust Catherine into a new position, Queen Mother, as her 15 year old son was crowned Francis II. While he did not require a Regent to rule for him, Catherine was very influential. She would soon be officially Queen Regent as two of her other under-aged sons became king, Charles IX and Henry III. She was the real power as France was plunged into civil war between the Catholic rulers and the French Protestants or Huguenots.
The Serpent Queen is based on Frieda's biography, which I ordered as soon as I had seen the first episode.
I've gotten caught up in watching a new series on Starz called The Serpent Queen, about the real-life Catherine de Medici, the last of the Medici clan that ruled Florence. As queen and queen mother/regent of France, she was a major player in Europe, and she's been called one of the cruelest women who ever lived.
Catherine de Medici, 1519 to 1589, was orphaned within a month of her birth. After time spent with her paternal grandmother and an aunt, she fell under the guardianship of her uncle, Pope Clement VII, who put her in a succession if convents. At 14, he decided to marry her off to the French Prince Henry of Orleans, a political match to unite the papacy and France.
Henry paid her little attention, continuing with mistresses and even fathering bastard children while Catherine couldn't fulfill her duty, i.e. giving birth to a son. He openly conducted an affair in court with the older Diane de Poitiers, sitting in her lap and fondling her breasts in public. She was in a precarious state, considering that Pope Clement and his successor had even refused to pay her full dowry to France's King Francis.
When Henry's brother died, and he became heir, he finally realized that he had a duty as well. Catherine eventually gave him 8 children, six of whom survived infancy, and she served as Queen Consort. King Henry died after a jousting injury in 1559, at age 40. That death thrust Catherine into a new position, Queen Mother, as her 15 year old son was crowned Francis II. While he did not require a Regent to rule for him, Catherine was very influential. She would soon be officially Queen Regent as two of her other under-aged sons became king, Charles IX and Henry III. She was the real power as France was plunged into civil war between the Catholic rulers and the French Protestants or Huguenots.
The Serpent Queen is based on Frieda's biography, which I ordered as soon as I had seen the first episode.
Place.
I've gotten caught up in watching a new series on Starz called The Serpent Queen, about the real-life Catherine de Medici, the last of the Medici clan that ruled Florence. As queen and queen mother/regent of France, she was a major player in Europe, and she's been called one of the cruelest women who ever lived.
When her husband, Henry II, died, Catherine de Medici took Chenonceau, a castle in the Loire Valley, as her own. She took it from Henry's longtime mistress Diane de Poitiers. It's a huge tourist attraction today, attracting 800,000 visitors annually. Some of the tv series was fined on location there. I am very fortunate to have visited it myself, a few too many decades ago.
I've gotten caught up in watching a new series on Starz called The Serpent Queen, about the real-life Catherine de Medici, the last of the Medici clan that ruled Florence. As queen and queen mother/regent of France, she was a major player in Europe, and she's been called one of the cruelest women who ever lived.
When her husband, Henry II, died, Catherine de Medici took Chenonceau, a castle in the Loire Valley, as her own. She took it from Henry's longtime mistress Diane de Poitiers. It's a huge tourist attraction today, attracting 800,000 visitors annually. Some of the tv series was fined on location there. I am very fortunate to have visited it myself, a few too many decades ago.
Thing.
I've gotten caught up in watching a new series on Starz called The Serpent Queen, about the real-life Catherine de Medici, the last of the Medici clan that ruled Florence. As queen and queen mother/regent of France, she was a major player in Europe, and she's been called one of the cruelest women who ever lived.
From Wikipedia:
"The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (French: Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy) in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Queen Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX, the massacre started a few days after the marriage on 18 August of the king's sister Margaret to the Protestant Henry of Navarre (the future Henry IV of France). Many of the wealthiest and most prominent Huguenots had gathered in largely Catholic Paris to attend the wedding.
The massacre began in the night of 23–24 August 1572, the eve of the feast of Bartholomew the Apostle, two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the military and political leader of the Huguenots. King Charles IX ordered the killing of a group of Huguenot leaders, including Coligny, and the slaughter spread throughout Paris. Lasting several weeks in all, the massacre expanded outward to the countryside and other urban centres. Modern estimates for the number of dead across France vary widely, from 5,000 to 30,000."
The infamous "Red Wedding" depicted in the fictional Game of Thrones is said to have been inspired by the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The author behind GOT, George R.R. Martin has often said that much of his writing is based on real historical events.
I've gotten caught up in watching a new series on Starz called The Serpent Queen, about the real-life Catherine de Medici, the last of the Medici clan that ruled Florence. As queen and queen mother/regent of France, she was a major player in Europe, and she's been called one of the cruelest women who ever lived.
From Wikipedia:
"The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (French: Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy) in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Queen Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX, the massacre started a few days after the marriage on 18 August of the king's sister Margaret to the Protestant Henry of Navarre (the future Henry IV of France). Many of the wealthiest and most prominent Huguenots had gathered in largely Catholic Paris to attend the wedding.
The massacre began in the night of 23–24 August 1572, the eve of the feast of Bartholomew the Apostle, two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the military and political leader of the Huguenots. King Charles IX ordered the killing of a group of Huguenot leaders, including Coligny, and the slaughter spread throughout Paris. Lasting several weeks in all, the massacre expanded outward to the countryside and other urban centres. Modern estimates for the number of dead across France vary widely, from 5,000 to 30,000."
The infamous "Red Wedding" depicted in the fictional Game of Thrones is said to have been inspired by the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The author behind GOT, George R.R. Martin has often said that much of his writing is based on real historical events.
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Person.
Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 8, 1970.
Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was a Russian novelist and critic of the Soviet Union. While serving during WWII, he was arrested for making negative comments about Stalin in a private letter. He was sentenced to 8 years in the Gulag (system of hard labor detention camps) and then internal exile.
When Khrushchev came to power and began dismantling some elements of Stalinism, he was released and started writing. His first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich about life in the Gulag, was published with Khrushchev's approval because it was seen as an attack on Stalinism. After Khrushchev's fall from power, hardline communists took over and set out to shut Solzhenitsyn down. He continued writing novels and the nonfiction Gulag Archipelago which were published in other countries. In 1974, he was stripped of citizenship, and he and his family were flown to West Germany. They moved to the US in 1976.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, his citizenship was restored, and he moved back to Russia in 1994.
Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 8, 1970.
Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was a Russian novelist and critic of the Soviet Union. While serving during WWII, he was arrested for making negative comments about Stalin in a private letter. He was sentenced to 8 years in the Gulag (system of hard labor detention camps) and then internal exile.
When Khrushchev came to power and began dismantling some elements of Stalinism, he was released and started writing. His first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich about life in the Gulag, was published with Khrushchev's approval because it was seen as an attack on Stalinism. After Khrushchev's fall from power, hardline communists took over and set out to shut Solzhenitsyn down. He continued writing novels and the nonfiction Gulag Archipelago which were published in other countries. In 1974, he was stripped of citizenship, and he and his family were flown to West Germany. They moved to the US in 1976.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, his citizenship was restored, and he moved back to Russia in 1994.
Place.
Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 8, 1970. His most famous works, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago, document the harsh life in forced labor camps that dissidents like Solzhenitsyn endured.
From Wikipedia:
"The majority of Gulag camps were positioned in extremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia (the best known clusters are Sevvostlag(The North-East Camps) along Kolyma river and Norilag near Norilsk) and in the southeastern parts of the Soviet Union, mainly in the steppes of Kazakhstan. These were vast and sparsely inhabited regions with no roads (in fact, the construction of the roads themselves was assigned to the inmates of specialised railway camps) or sources of food, but rich in minerals and other natural resources (such as timber). However, camps were generally spread throughout the entire Soviet Union, including the European parts of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. There were several camps outside the Soviet Union, in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Mongolia which were under the direct control of the Gulag."
(The Gulag was actually the name of the government agency that supervised the camps and incarceration system.)
Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 8, 1970. His most famous works, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago, document the harsh life in forced labor camps that dissidents like Solzhenitsyn endured.
From Wikipedia:
"The majority of Gulag camps were positioned in extremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia (the best known clusters are Sevvostlag(The North-East Camps) along Kolyma river and Norilag near Norilsk) and in the southeastern parts of the Soviet Union, mainly in the steppes of Kazakhstan. These were vast and sparsely inhabited regions with no roads (in fact, the construction of the roads themselves was assigned to the inmates of specialised railway camps) or sources of food, but rich in minerals and other natural resources (such as timber). However, camps were generally spread throughout the entire Soviet Union, including the European parts of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. There were several camps outside the Soviet Union, in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Mongolia which were under the direct control of the Gulag."
(The Gulag was actually the name of the government agency that supervised the camps and incarceration system.)
Thing.
Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 8, 1970. His most famous works, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago, document the harsh life in forced labor camps that dissidents like Solzhenitsyn endured.
Gulag is actually an acronym for the agency created by Lenin and greatly expanded by Stalin to administer the extensive network of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. Many of the camps were located in Siberia, the harsh under- populated eastern region of Russia, but they were located throughout the country, and forced labor was used in many construction and mining projects. The word "gulag" was used outside of the USSR; in the USSR, they were called camps or labor camps.
Some numbers about gulags:
18,000,000 people passed through the Gulag's camps
53 Gulag camp directorates (colloquially referred to as simply "camps") and 423 labor colonies in the Soviet Union as of March 1940
The tentative consensus in contemporary Soviet historiography is that roughly 1,600,000 died due to detention in the camps.
Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 8, 1970. His most famous works, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago, document the harsh life in forced labor camps that dissidents like Solzhenitsyn endured.
Gulag is actually an acronym for the agency created by Lenin and greatly expanded by Stalin to administer the extensive network of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. Many of the camps were located in Siberia, the harsh under- populated eastern region of Russia, but they were located throughout the country, and forced labor was used in many construction and mining projects. The word "gulag" was used outside of the USSR; in the USSR, they were called camps or labor camps.
Some numbers about gulags:
18,000,000 people passed through the Gulag's camps
53 Gulag camp directorates (colloquially referred to as simply "camps") and 423 labor colonies in the Soviet Union as of March 1940
The tentative consensus in contemporary Soviet historiography is that roughly 1,600,000 died due to detention in the camps.
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Person.
Happy Leif Erikson Day! In 1964, the US Congress officially recognized October 9 as Leif Erikson Day, commemorating the day in 1000 AD that the Norse explorer is thought to have become the first European to reach North America, possibly at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada.
Erikson (c. 970-c. 1019-1025) was the son of Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse settlement in Greenland and a relative of Naddodd, the Norseman who first settled Iceland. Norse history is based in a long oral tradition of sagas. There is no written evidence, but there are a couple of sagas that tell Erikson's story. One has him sailing to Greenland but being blown off course and discovering what he called Vinland, because of the wild grapes, wheat, and maple trees he found there. Another credits another Norseman, Bjarni Herjolfsson with the accidental discovery, but it tells of Leif outfitting an expedition and following Bjarni's route and wintering in what was probably North America.
In either case, Erikson led the way for future Norse exploration and short-lived settlement of the North American continent, almost 500 years before Columbus set sail in 1492.
Popular fiction writer Neil Gaiman wrote Norse Mythology, a retelling of many great myths. I listened to the Audible version, narrated by Gaiman, and highly recommend that you do the same if you're interested in mythology.
Happy Leif Erikson Day! In 1964, the US Congress officially recognized October 9 as Leif Erikson Day, commemorating the day in 1000 AD that the Norse explorer is thought to have become the first European to reach North America, possibly at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada.
Erikson (c. 970-c. 1019-1025) was the son of Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse settlement in Greenland and a relative of Naddodd, the Norseman who first settled Iceland. Norse history is based in a long oral tradition of sagas. There is no written evidence, but there are a couple of sagas that tell Erikson's story. One has him sailing to Greenland but being blown off course and discovering what he called Vinland, because of the wild grapes, wheat, and maple trees he found there. Another credits another Norseman, Bjarni Herjolfsson with the accidental discovery, but it tells of Leif outfitting an expedition and following Bjarni's route and wintering in what was probably North America.
In either case, Erikson led the way for future Norse exploration and short-lived settlement of the North American continent, almost 500 years before Columbus set sail in 1492.
Popular fiction writer Neil Gaiman wrote Norse Mythology, a retelling of many great myths. I listened to the Audible version, narrated by Gaiman, and highly recommend that you do the same if you're interested in mythology.
Happy Leif Erikson Day! In 1964, the US Congress officially recognized October 9 as Leif Erikson Day, commemorating the day in 1000 AD that the Norse explorer is thought to have become the first European to reach North America, possibly at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada.
In 1960, a husband and wife archaeological team discovered evidence of a Viking settlement on the coast of Newfoundland. The site is called L'Anse Aux Meadows, and carbon dating of the artifacts and remains of building materials place the date of the settlement at between 990 and 1050 AD. While Leif Erikson may not have founded the settlement or returned to it himself, other Norsemen from Greenland most likely founded it. Historians and archaeologists believe that it was probably not a permanent settlement, just a temporary encampment built to gather provisions - Erikson named the land Vinland for the wild grapes and grains he found growing there- and make boat repairs.
8 building sites have been identified, and experts estimate that between 30 and 160 people may have lived there at any one time, and it is believed that the Norse continued to use the site for 20 to possibly 100 years.
Popular fiction writer Neil Gaiman wrote Norse Mythology, a retelling of many great myths. I listened to the Audible version, narrated by Gaiman, and highly recommend that you do the same if you're interested in mythology.
Thing.
Happy Leif Erikson Day! In 1964, the US Congress officially recognized October 9 as Leif Erikson Day, commemorating the day in 1000 AD that the Norse explorer is thought to have become the first European to reach North America, possibly at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada.
I hope most of you know this, but Vikings, or Norsemen, never wore horned helmets - ever. The depiction of helmets with horns and other gaudy ornamentation started in 19th century German operas. And, yes, they look totally awesome on stage, but they were totally impractical in battle, creating more opportunities for one's opponents to use them against you.
Such helmets would have been too costly as well. In fact, only five metal Viking helmets have been excavated, only one intact. They are tight-fitting skull caps, and even those would have been rare. Most Norsemen would have used leather helmets which have deteriorated over time.
Popular fiction writer Neil Gaiman wrote Norse Mythology, a retelling of many great myths. I listened to the Audible version, narrated by Gaiman, and highly recommend that you do the same if you're interested in mythology.
Happy Leif Erikson Day! In 1964, the US Congress officially recognized October 9 as Leif Erikson Day, commemorating the day in 1000 AD that the Norse explorer is thought to have become the first European to reach North America, possibly at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada.
I hope most of you know this, but Vikings, or Norsemen, never wore horned helmets - ever. The depiction of helmets with horns and other gaudy ornamentation started in 19th century German operas. And, yes, they look totally awesome on stage, but they were totally impractical in battle, creating more opportunities for one's opponents to use them against you.
Such helmets would have been too costly as well. In fact, only five metal Viking helmets have been excavated, only one intact. They are tight-fitting skull caps, and even those would have been rare. Most Norsemen would have used leather helmets which have deteriorated over time.
Popular fiction writer Neil Gaiman wrote Norse Mythology, a retelling of many great myths. I listened to the Audible version, narrated by Gaiman, and highly recommend that you do the same if you're interested in mythology.
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Person.
Author MacKinlay Kantor died on October 11, 1977 at age 73, on Siesta Key, Sarasota Florida. His house is gone now, but his writing room has been preserved at the Sarasota History Center (adding it to my places to visit soon). He wrote over 30 novels, including the Pulitzer-winning Andersonville and an alternate history story called If the South Had Won the War. Several of his books have been adapted into movies. The Civil War was a frequent setting. During WWII, he was a journalist who entered Buchenwald concentration camp with American troops, and that inspired him to research and write Andersonville, published in 1956.
Andersonville, officially Camp Sumter, in Georgia became the most infamous Civil War prison camp. Nearly 13,000 Union prisoners died there. Its Confederate commander Henry Wirz was tried, convicted, and executed for conspiracy and murder after the war. Contrary to myth, he was not the only Confederate tried or executed for war crimes, but he is probably the most well known.
Wirz (1823-1865) was born in Switzerland and worked as a merchant before being sentenced to prison for embezzlement and fraud. Upon his release, he moved first to Moscow, then to Massachusetts. In Kentucky, he studied medicine as a doctor's assistant. In 1854, he moved to Louisiana and became a plantation overseer who practiced homeopathic medicine on the side.
When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a private, and list the use of his right arm to injury, although the circumstances of his injury are disputed. He became the adjutant of General Winder, the officer in charge of Confederate POW camps. He became commander of Camp Sumter in April 1864, a few months after it opened.
He was arrested in May 1865 and charged with conspiracy to murder Union prisoners and with 13 personal acts of personal cruelty and murder. The military tribunal heard 158 witnesses; only 12 testified to witnessing specific acts of cruelty or murder. In early November, he was found guilty and was hanged in November 10.
Author MacKinlay Kantor died on October 11, 1977 at age 73, on Siesta Key, Sarasota Florida. His house is gone now, but his writing room has been preserved at the Sarasota History Center (adding it to my places to visit soon). He wrote over 30 novels, including the Pulitzer-winning Andersonville and an alternate history story called If the South Had Won the War. Several of his books have been adapted into movies. The Civil War was a frequent setting. During WWII, he was a journalist who entered Buchenwald concentration camp with American troops, and that inspired him to research and write Andersonville, published in 1956.
Andersonville, officially Camp Sumter, in Georgia became the most infamous Civil War prison camp. Nearly 13,000 Union prisoners died there. Its Confederate commander Henry Wirz was tried, convicted, and executed for conspiracy and murder after the war. Contrary to myth, he was not the only Confederate tried or executed for war crimes, but he is probably the most well known.
Wirz (1823-1865) was born in Switzerland and worked as a merchant before being sentenced to prison for embezzlement and fraud. Upon his release, he moved first to Moscow, then to Massachusetts. In Kentucky, he studied medicine as a doctor's assistant. In 1854, he moved to Louisiana and became a plantation overseer who practiced homeopathic medicine on the side.
When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a private, and list the use of his right arm to injury, although the circumstances of his injury are disputed. He became the adjutant of General Winder, the officer in charge of Confederate POW camps. He became commander of Camp Sumter in April 1864, a few months after it opened.
He was arrested in May 1865 and charged with conspiracy to murder Union prisoners and with 13 personal acts of personal cruelty and murder. The military tribunal heard 158 witnesses; only 12 testified to witnessing specific acts of cruelty or murder. In early November, he was found guilty and was hanged in November 10.
Place.
Author MacKinlay Kantor died on October 11, 1977 at age 73, on Siesta Key, Sarasota Florida. His house is gone now, but his writing room has been preserved at the Sarasota History Center (adding it to my places to visit soon). He wrote over 30 novels, including the Pulitzer-winning Andersonville and an alternate history story called If the South Had Won the War. Several of his books have been adapted into movies. The Civil War was a frequent setting. During WWII, he was a journalist who entered Buchenwald concentration camp with American troops, and that inspired him to research and write Andersonville, published in 1956.
Camp Sumter was opened on 16.5 acres in southwest Georgia in February 1864. The site was chosen partly because of its proximity to the little village of Andersonville which had a railroad line. Original plans called for wooden barracks, but the camp was overwhelmed by the numbers of prisoners immediately. It became an open air stockade, with some prisoners using canvas for cover and digging depressions called she-bangs. Many prisoners lived in the open. At its peak, the camp held 32,000 prisoners. The monthly mortality rate reached a high of 3,000. Overcrowding, heat, lack of food and water, and disease led to 13,000 deaths, a 28% mortality rate.
Sumter was one of 150 prisoners on both sides, housing 400,000 in total. 56,000 died, 30,000 Union POWs and 26,000 Confederate POWs. Death rates were horrendous in camps on both sides.
Today, the site is under the supervision of the National Park Service ( source of the attached photos) and consists of the site, with re-creations of parts of the stockade, the National Cemetery including graves of POWs and later veterans and monuments erected by various states, and the National Prisoner of War Museum.
Author MacKinlay Kantor died on October 11, 1977 at age 73, on Siesta Key, Sarasota Florida. His house is gone now, but his writing room has been preserved at the Sarasota History Center (adding it to my places to visit soon). He wrote over 30 novels, including the Pulitzer-winning Andersonville and an alternate history story called If the South Had Won the War. Several of his books have been adapted into movies. The Civil War was a frequent setting. During WWII, he was a journalist who entered Buchenwald concentration camp with American troops, and that inspired him to research and write Andersonville, published in 1956.
Camp Sumter was opened on 16.5 acres in southwest Georgia in February 1864. The site was chosen partly because of its proximity to the little village of Andersonville which had a railroad line. Original plans called for wooden barracks, but the camp was overwhelmed by the numbers of prisoners immediately. It became an open air stockade, with some prisoners using canvas for cover and digging depressions called she-bangs. Many prisoners lived in the open. At its peak, the camp held 32,000 prisoners. The monthly mortality rate reached a high of 3,000. Overcrowding, heat, lack of food and water, and disease led to 13,000 deaths, a 28% mortality rate.
Sumter was one of 150 prisoners on both sides, housing 400,000 in total. 56,000 died, 30,000 Union POWs and 26,000 Confederate POWs. Death rates were horrendous in camps on both sides.
Today, the site is under the supervision of the National Park Service ( source of the attached photos) and consists of the site, with re-creations of parts of the stockade, the National Cemetery including graves of POWs and later veterans and monuments erected by various states, and the National Prisoner of War Museum.
Thing.
Author MacKinlay Kantor died on October 11, 1977 at age 73, on Siesta Key, Sarasota Florida. His house is gone now, but his writing room has been preserved at the Sarasota History Center (adding it to my places to visit soon). He wrote over 30 novels, including the Pulitzer-winning Andersonville and an alternate history story called If the South Had Won the War. Several of his books have been adapted into movies. The Civil War was a frequent setting. During WWII, he was a journalist who entered Buchenwald concentration camp with American troops, and that inspired him to research and write Andersonville, published in 1956.
The lack of clean water was a major contributor to Andersnville's mortality rate. There was a very narrow stream of water running through the camp, but the prisoners used it for cleaning, drinking, and washing clothes. The Confederates' horse corral was also located too close to the water, as were latrine areas for the POWs and the guards.
Some men dug into the ground, hoping to hit water. On August 16, 1864, according to prisoners' accounts, a group of men had begun praying for pure water when, all of a sudden (some said a lightning bolt struck the ground) water sprayed from the ground. The men called it Providence Spring. In 1901, the Women's Relief Corps erected a stone pavilion and plaques commemorating the story.
Author MacKinlay Kantor died on October 11, 1977 at age 73, on Siesta Key, Sarasota Florida. His house is gone now, but his writing room has been preserved at the Sarasota History Center (adding it to my places to visit soon). He wrote over 30 novels, including the Pulitzer-winning Andersonville and an alternate history story called If the South Had Won the War. Several of his books have been adapted into movies. The Civil War was a frequent setting. During WWII, he was a journalist who entered Buchenwald concentration camp with American troops, and that inspired him to research and write Andersonville, published in 1956.
The lack of clean water was a major contributor to Andersnville's mortality rate. There was a very narrow stream of water running through the camp, but the prisoners used it for cleaning, drinking, and washing clothes. The Confederates' horse corral was also located too close to the water, as were latrine areas for the POWs and the guards.
Some men dug into the ground, hoping to hit water. On August 16, 1864, according to prisoners' accounts, a group of men had begun praying for pure water when, all of a sudden (some said a lightning bolt struck the ground) water sprayed from the ground. The men called it Providence Spring. In 1901, the Women's Relief Corps erected a stone pavilion and plaques commemorating the story.
Person.
On October 12, 1945, Desmond Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman for his valor in the Pacific
Doss ( 1919-2006) was born in Lynchburg Virginia and raised as a devout Seventh Day Adventist, adhering strictly to nonviolence, vegetarianism, and Sabbath-keeping. Even though he was deferred from the draft because of his job in a WWII shipyard, he enlisted in 1942. Because of his religious beliefs, he became a medic and refused to carry a gun. He was constantly abused for his beliefs, verbally and physically, by his fellow soldiers.
While serving in Guam and the Philippines in 1944, he was awarded two Bronze Stars for his exceptional valor in aiding wounded men on the battlefield. During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 50-100 men, one at a time, by lowering the wounded men down from an escarpment called Hacksaw Ridge, despite suffering four wounds himself in the process.
After the war, he was too disabled to continue carpentry as he had hoped. His wounds had caused him to essentially lose the use of his left arm, he had acquired tuberculosis in the Philippines, and treatment at a Veterans hospital caused him to go deaf in 1976. He spent the rest of his life raising his family on a farm in Rising Fawn Georgia.
The 2016 movie Hacksaw Ridge tells his story, based on Booton Herndon's book.
On October 12, 1945, Desmond Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman for his valor in the Pacific
Doss ( 1919-2006) was born in Lynchburg Virginia and raised as a devout Seventh Day Adventist, adhering strictly to nonviolence, vegetarianism, and Sabbath-keeping. Even though he was deferred from the draft because of his job in a WWII shipyard, he enlisted in 1942. Because of his religious beliefs, he became a medic and refused to carry a gun. He was constantly abused for his beliefs, verbally and physically, by his fellow soldiers.
While serving in Guam and the Philippines in 1944, he was awarded two Bronze Stars for his exceptional valor in aiding wounded men on the battlefield. During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 50-100 men, one at a time, by lowering the wounded men down from an escarpment called Hacksaw Ridge, despite suffering four wounds himself in the process.
After the war, he was too disabled to continue carpentry as he had hoped. His wounds had caused him to essentially lose the use of his left arm, he had acquired tuberculosis in the Philippines, and treatment at a Veterans hospital caused him to go deaf in 1976. He spent the rest of his life raising his family on a farm in Rising Fawn Georgia.
The 2016 movie Hacksaw Ridge tells his story, based on Booton Herndon's book.
Place.
On October 12, 1945, Desmond Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman for his valor in the Pacific at the Battle of Okinawa.
The Battle of Okinawa was fought from April 1, to June 22, 1945, and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of WWII. Okinawa represented the last step of the island hopping campaign; plans called for using Okinawa as the base for the final invasion of the Japanese home islands. American forces numbered around 750,000 troops, over 3,000 aircraft, about 270 US Navy vessels, and British aircraft and ships.
The Japanese forces consisted of at least 76,000 soldiers and 40,000 island conscripts, including 1,780 schoolboys as young as 14. The Japanese used the island's steep escarpments and ridges and hundreds, if not thousands, of fortified caves. American forces took many casualties and were slowed down considerably as they moved from cave to cave. Japanese soldiers refused to surrender, and the muddy terrain made movement difficult. Thousands of American troops suffered mental breakdowns because of the seemingly neverending battle and the sights, sounds, and smells of death. The conditions even made it difficult, if not impossible, to retrieve the bodies of their comrades, a particularly devastating blow for Marines who pride themselves on leaving no man behind and conducting dignified burials
Altogether, including Allies, Japanese, civilians, and conscripts, at least 241,000 people died. Thousands of Okinawans were prodded into mass suicide by the Japanese, and thousands of Okinawan women were allegedly raped by Japanese troops
The 2016 movie Hacksaw Ridge tells Desmond Doss' story, based on Booton Herndon's book.
On October 12, 1945, Desmond Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman for his valor in the Pacific at the Battle of Okinawa.
The Battle of Okinawa was fought from April 1, to June 22, 1945, and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of WWII. Okinawa represented the last step of the island hopping campaign; plans called for using Okinawa as the base for the final invasion of the Japanese home islands. American forces numbered around 750,000 troops, over 3,000 aircraft, about 270 US Navy vessels, and British aircraft and ships.
The Japanese forces consisted of at least 76,000 soldiers and 40,000 island conscripts, including 1,780 schoolboys as young as 14. The Japanese used the island's steep escarpments and ridges and hundreds, if not thousands, of fortified caves. American forces took many casualties and were slowed down considerably as they moved from cave to cave. Japanese soldiers refused to surrender, and the muddy terrain made movement difficult. Thousands of American troops suffered mental breakdowns because of the seemingly neverending battle and the sights, sounds, and smells of death. The conditions even made it difficult, if not impossible, to retrieve the bodies of their comrades, a particularly devastating blow for Marines who pride themselves on leaving no man behind and conducting dignified burials
Altogether, including Allies, Japanese, civilians, and conscripts, at least 241,000 people died. Thousands of Okinawans were prodded into mass suicide by the Japanese, and thousands of Okinawan women were allegedly raped by Japanese troops
The 2016 movie Hacksaw Ridge tells Desmond Doss' story, based on Booton Herndon's book.
Thing.
On October 12, 1945, Desmond Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman for his valor in the Pacific at the Battle of Okinawa. Doss served as a medic in WWII, refusing to carry a gun or to violate one of his Seventh Day Adventist principles of nonviolence, vegetarianism, and keeping the Sabbath, despite constant physical and verbal abuse by his own comrades.
Doss had the status of Conscientious Objector.
From Wikipedia:
"Many conscientious objectors have been executed, imprisoned, or otherwise penalized when their beliefs led to actions conflicting with their society's legal system or government. The legal definition and status of conscientious objection has varied over the years and from nation to nation. Religious beliefs were a starting point in many nations for legally granting conscientious objector status.
The first recorded conscientious objector, Maximilianus was conscripted into the Roman Army in the year 295, but "told the Proconsul in Numidia that because of his religious convictions he could not serve in the military". He was executed for this, and was later canonized as Saint Maximilian.
An early recognition of conscientious objection was granted by William the Silent to the Dutch Mennonites in 1575. They could refuse military service in exchange for a monetary payment.
Formal legislation to exempt objectors from fighting was first granted in mid-18th-century Great Britain following problems with attempting to force Quakers into military service. In 1757, when the first attempt was made to establish a British militia as a professional national military reserve, a clause in the Militia Ballot Act allowed Quakers exemption from military service.
In the United States, conscientious objection was permitted from the country's founding, although regulation was left to individual states prior to the introduction of conscription."
On October 12, 1945, Desmond Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman for his valor in the Pacific at the Battle of Okinawa. Doss served as a medic in WWII, refusing to carry a gun or to violate one of his Seventh Day Adventist principles of nonviolence, vegetarianism, and keeping the Sabbath, despite constant physical and verbal abuse by his own comrades.
Doss had the status of Conscientious Objector.
From Wikipedia:
"Many conscientious objectors have been executed, imprisoned, or otherwise penalized when their beliefs led to actions conflicting with their society's legal system or government. The legal definition and status of conscientious objection has varied over the years and from nation to nation. Religious beliefs were a starting point in many nations for legally granting conscientious objector status.
The first recorded conscientious objector, Maximilianus was conscripted into the Roman Army in the year 295, but "told the Proconsul in Numidia that because of his religious convictions he could not serve in the military". He was executed for this, and was later canonized as Saint Maximilian.
An early recognition of conscientious objection was granted by William the Silent to the Dutch Mennonites in 1575. They could refuse military service in exchange for a monetary payment.
Formal legislation to exempt objectors from fighting was first granted in mid-18th-century Great Britain following problems with attempting to force Quakers into military service. In 1757, when the first attempt was made to establish a British militia as a professional national military reserve, a clause in the Militia Ballot Act allowed Quakers exemption from military service.
In the United States, conscientious objection was permitted from the country's founding, although regulation was left to individual states prior to the introduction of conscription."
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