Planet Rugby Forum

kiap wrote:Colour key might be the year.

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Surprised I've never seen this before. I'm not sure if I'd rather see the full bodies of the couple or keep the focus on the little one. Reminiscent of the boy chasing the marching column of Canucks ...




... looking for that, found this, which I'll wager is contemporary colour, not colourised.

Major Dick Winters, Captain Lewis Nixon & Lieutenant Harry Welsh. Austria, 1945

I've seen this photo before and, usually contrary to the way Hollywood casting works, thought the real-life men were better looking than the actors portraying them.

A sad farewell this week to Mr Bill Speakman VC, who has passed away peacefully aged 91

Mr Speakman won his Victoria Cross, as a 24 year old Private soldier in the Black Watch; fighting off attacks from 600 Chinese and North Korean soldiers, in an action lasting over four hours.

In November 1951, in a position near over run by the enemy, Pte Speakman filled his pockets with grenades, and led six men in a series of charges. His actions broke up several enemy attacks, inflicting heavy casualties, he continued to lead charges despite a shrapnel wound in his leg. His bravery and leadership kept the enemy at bay long enough to enable his company to safely withdraw.

“It was hand-to-hand; there was no time to pull back the bolt of the rifle. It was November, the ground was hard, so grenades bounced and did damage.”

Mr Speakman received his Victoria Cross from Queen Elizabeth II, the first she was to award. It was reported that having run out of grenades Private Speakman began throwing beer bottles at the enemy, causing some to refer to him as ‘the Beer Bottle VC’.

Mr Speakman went on to serve with the SAS, and eventually retired to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. In 2015 he donated his Victoria Cross to the people of South Korea. He said at the time, "I'm not looking for glory. It's just a sensible thing to do. They can have my medals so future generations can look and see what it was all about."

Of his Victoria Cross he said; “It represents everyone who couldn't be here”




RIP. Forward the 42.

OptimisticJock wrote:A sad farewell this week to Mr Bill Speakman VC, who has passed away peacefully aged 91

Mr Speakman won his Victoria Cross, as a 24 year old Private soldier in the Black Watch; fighting off attacks from 600 Chinese and North Korean soldiers, in an action lasting over four hours.

In November 1951, in a position near over run by the enemy, Pte Speakman filled his pockets with grenades, and led six men in a series of charges. His actions broke up several enemy attacks, inflicting heavy casualties, he continued to lead charges despite a shrapnel wound in his leg. His bravery and leadership kept the enemy at bay long enough to enable his company to safely withdraw.

“It was hand-to-hand; there was no time to pull back the bolt of the rifle. It was November, the ground was hard, so grenades bounced and did damage.”

Mr Speakman received his Victoria Cross from Queen Elizabeth II, the first she was to award. It was reported that having run out of grenades Private Speakman began throwing beer bottles at the enemy, causing some to refer to him as ‘the Beer Bottle VC’.

Mr Speakman went on to serve with the SAS, and eventually retired to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. In 2015 he donated his Victoria Cross to the people of South Korea. He said at the time, "I'm not looking for glory. It's just a sensible thing to do. They can have my medals so future generations can look and see what it was all about."

Of his Victoria Cross he said; “It represents everyone who couldn't be here”




RIP. Forward the 42.

Av it!

Watching people eat rotten fish on the culinary delights thread led me to this Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I6Et ... eHA/videos

Some guy opening and examining vintage military ration kits. Actually very interesting.



Another interesting one I end up watching a fair bit is this

https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenWeapons/featured

A guy talking about rare (and some not so rare) firearms through the ages. Often goes into a fair bit of detail on both their development and how they work. Again, pretty interesting if you are into that sort of thing.

There is a brazilian artist who colors old pictures by digital means and have done some remarkable work, right now she is colouring the faces of Auschwitz, you can follow her on twitter @marinamaral2.



But also, lifeguards at Coney Island 1900: I have some books of her.

Margin_Walker wrote:Watching people eat rotten fish on the culinary delights thread led me to this Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I6Et ... eHA/videos

Some guy opening and examining vintage military ration kits. Actually very interesting.



Another interesting one I end up watching a fair bit is this

https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenWeapons/featured

A guy talking about rare (and some not so rare) firearms through the ages. Often goes into a fair bit of detail on both their development and how they work. Again, pretty interesting if you are into that sort of thing.

C&Rsenal are worth a look too

julian wrote:There is a brazilian artist who colors old pictures by digital means and have done some remarkable work, right now she is colouring the faces of Auschwitz, you can follow her on twitter @marinamaral2.

There's something disturbingly "normal" about those pictures.
As opposed to the traditional black 'n' white images which are so clearly set in the past.

A subtle reminder that mass de-humanisation isn't just history.

Yer Man wrote:

julian wrote:There is a brazilian artist who colors old pictures by digital means and have done some remarkable work, right now she is colouring the faces of Auschwitz, you can follow her on twitter @marinamaral2.


There's something disturbingly "normal" about those pictures.
As opposed to the traditional black 'n' white images which are so clearly set in the past.

A subtle reminder that mass de-humanisation isn't just history.

Disturbing images. The work Amaral is doing is remarkable not only in artistic terms but also to put in "actual" terms those old pics.

More of those pics here: https://facesofauschwitz.com/

If you like this kind of work I recommend you "The Colour of Time".

https://www.amazon.com/Colour-Time-Hist ... or+of+time

Laurent wrote:

Margin_Walker wrote:Watching people eat rotten fish on the culinary delights thread led me to this Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I6Et ... eHA/videos

Some guy opening and examining vintage military ration kits. Actually very interesting.



Another interesting one I end up watching a fair bit is this

https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenWeapons/featured

A guy talking about rare (and some not so rare) firearms through the ages. Often goes into a fair bit of detail on both their development and how they work. Again, pretty interesting if you are into that sort of thing.

C&Rsenal are worth a look too

Cheers, will give it a look.

From a facebook page dedicated to colourised WW1 photos:

https://www.facebook.com/ww1incolour/ph ... =3&theater
















Papier mache heads to bait snipers. Never head of this!

new on gutenberg - Diary Kept by Rifleman B.C. Stubbs of the Second Draft Sent to the Queen Victoria Rifles in France

grim stuff but with some gentle humour

On Sunday the 28th I wrote the Germans are not much good with their shells. I now beg their pardon.

Nieghorn wrote:

I can see why they went back to the drawing board and come up with the Focke Wulf

Last week, my father was invited and transported to Wolverhampton for a reunion of surviving bomber crew from WWII. He was supposed to have been flown up by a volunteer but due to weather he was transported by car. It was all run by volunteers who raise funds and transport the veterans, free of charge from all over the country. They call themselves the Propeller Club and use their own private planes weather allowing. The organiser came on to my father as he was leaving and surprised my father by knowing all his record with the RAF. He also told him he was the oldest veteran attending. He`ll be 99 in September.

GWO2 wrote:Last week, my father was invited and transported to Wolverhampton for a reunion of surviving bomber crew from WWII. He was supposed to have been flown up by a volunteer but due to weather he was transported by car. It was all run by volunteers who raise funds and transport the veterans, free of charge from all over the country. They call themselves the Propeller Club and use their own private planes weather allowing. The organiser came on to my father as he was leaving and surprised my father by knowing all his record with the RAF. He also told him he was the oldest veteran attending. He`ll be 99 in September.

frillage wrote:

GWO2 wrote:Last week, my father was invited and transported to Wolverhampton for a reunion of surviving bomber crew from WWII. He was supposed to have been flown up by a volunteer but due to weather he was transported by car. It was all run by volunteers who raise funds and transport the veterans, free of charge from all over the country. They call themselves the Propeller Club and use their own private planes weather allowing. The organiser came on to my father as he was leaving and surprised my father by knowing all his record with the RAF. He also told him he was the oldest veteran attending. He`ll be 99 in September.

He may be coming up to 99, but, if anyone tried that he`d deck them.

julian wrote:There is a brazilian artist who colors old pictures by digital means and have done some remarkable work, right now she is colouring the faces of Auschwitz, you can follow her on twitter @marinamaral2.




I have some books of her.

Red Triangle for Communists, etc...these photos have haunted me for a while now, she's the spitting image of a girl I know...

B-17 Bomber Pilot in WW2

John Singer Sargent - Heads, Hands, and Figure (also known as Studies for 'Gassed'), charcoal, probably 1918

Ypres Salient

I was at the regional garrison museum yesterday and not only was amazed by the tale of the three VC winners, but that Holland's Stetson was covered in dates and locations. Wonder if did them on the fly or after the fact? Either way, he sure did cover a lot of ground in a year!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Ja ... on_Holland

Which reminds me ... the national war museum has a massive and clearer blowup of this photo on the wall. The man at the head of the column looks like such a badass...

Nieghorn wrote:Which reminds me ... the national war museum has a massive and clearer blowup of this photo on the wall. The man at the head of the column looks like such a badass...

i have a lovely painting of troopers like that driving a cape cart through a drift

Nieghorn wrote:

My grandfather did a couple of those. Shrapnel went through his hand at Guadalcanal.

He lied about his age and joined the Marines at 15. We now have laws that make people dependents of sorts on their parents up to 25.

Passchendaele...

I've just finished reading They Called it Passchendaele by Lyn Macdonald. A very sobering read indeed.

Have any of you chaps been on an organised WW1 Battlefield tour. Have been looking at organising a long weekend around the Somme area and while there are plenty of self drive tour books out there I am tempted to break the habit of lifetime and sign up to package tour.

Anyone done this?

Years ago, with school we did Ypres. That was pretty good.

Plastic Sarrie wrote:Years ago, with school we did Ypres. That was pretty good.

Presume you all snuck off and hit a beer cellar for a few hours before the menin gate ceremony, whose poignant bugle sounds were tainted slightly because you were busting for a piss ?

No, unfortunately we were only 14 and the teachers very zealously guarded us to make sure we didn't do anything stupid. Unlike our sixth form trip to Berlin, which saw us drinking with teachers in the hostel, and someone stealing a bowling ball from the alley we went to.

danny_fitz wrote:Have any of you chaps been on an organised WW1 Battlefield tour. Have been looking at organising a long weekend around the Somme area and while there are plenty of self drive tour books out there I am tempted to break the habit of lifetime and sign up to package tour.

Anyone done this?

Never on an organised tour, but I have been twice to the Somme and also a couple of visits to the Arras/Vimy Ridge area and Flanders. Can provide plenty tips

Plastic Sarrie wrote:

No, unfortunately we were only 14 and the teachers very zealously guarded us to make sure we didn't do anything stupid. Unlike our sixth form trip to Berlin, which saw us drinking with teachers in the hostel, and someone stealing a bowling ball from the alley we went to.

Pffft we were also 14-15 as was gcse 4th year - I was one of the cool tall looks old voice broken types who could nonchalantly order trios stella artois madamoiselle and not get laughed at.
Five pints of the real stuff and I felt I could see through time ! I was utterly steaming !

We were good boys, mostly.

I'm sure that it was just coincidence that they chose a hostel in the middle of nowhere, and we never stayed anywhere especially long enough to get up to any alcohol based mischief.

danny_fitz wrote:Have any of you chaps been on an organised WW1 Battlefield tour. Have been looking at organising a long weekend around the Somme area and while there are plenty of self drive tour books out there I am tempted to break the habit of lifetime and sign up to package tour.

Anyone done this?

I've been to Ypres and Mons area over the last 2 years with a bunch of mates who have been doing it for 10 years or so.
They reckon the place to stay in The Somme is www.snowdenhouse.co.uk ( they have a few properties ), but they have done it all off their own backs . You will need a car ( dunno where you're coming in from ), but I've found the trips as a very sobering and fascinating.

Also www.cwgc.org is worth a look

I'm know if you want to go on a organised trip there are loads of companies that do all that for you.

Rare colour footage of US miliary in 1939, also Army-Navy game...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/c ... g3OTgzOAS2

Nationalist members of the AK with Piats during the Warsaw Uprising 1944



German field bakery near Ypres, Belgium, 1914