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Interesting Facts and Stories

In 1944, Charles Carpenter was a Major attached to the 1st Bombardment Division in which he flew an unarmed L-4 "Grasshopper" andL-5 "Sentinel" observation plane performing recon missions and acting as an airborne artillery observer. Not being the kinda guy to overlook a juicy enemy target, even in an unarmed and slow as hell kite with propeller, he enlisted some help of an ordinance technician and had 3 bazooka rocket launchers fitted to each wing. Now having a bit of offensive capability, the "Mad Major" started to strafe enemy armor whenever he encountered it. By war's end he would be officially credited with destroying several armored cars and 6 tanks with 2 being Tiger Is! This hard-charger not only kicked ass in the sky but he once took command of a M4 medium tank and counter attacked a German assault. In the mayhem, he ordered the fire on a friendly "Dozer" Sherman which luckily only destroyed its dozer and not the crew. Carpenter was arrested in the field and threatened with a court martial but being the private pilot to the 4th Armored Division's CO and being a favorite of Gen. Patton himself, it led to the striking of the said court martial and he was instead bestowed with the Silver Star for his action. By war's end, Carpenter was promoted to Lt. Col. and received the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star, and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. Carpenter was quoted as saying "Some people around here think I'm nuts but I just believe that if we're going to fight a war we have to get on with it sixty minutes an hour and twenty-four hours a day." Sounds like he gave his 100% ever time, all the time.

Go get 'em "Bazooka Charlie"

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At around 0200 hours on June 7th 1944, an armoured company of Panzer Grenadiers from the 21st Panzer Division bore down on 'A Company' of the Le Regiment de la Chudiere outside of Colomby-sur-Thaon just off Juno beach. No. 9 Platoon was quickly overrun along with the Company XO and over 40 prisoners were taken to German lines.

The remaining two platoons along with two of the battalions six-pounder AT guns were engulfed in the fight with the only light source coming from moonlight and the burning wrecks of German vehicles. One of the 6 pounder crews was quickly taken out except for once crewmen who was identified as Pvt L.V. Roy. Alone and cut off from infantry support, Pvt Roy was last seen occupying all positions of the gun crew as the weapon continued to fire at the company of of halftracks providing covering machine gun fire for the advancing Germans. The Chaudiere's were unable to safely redeploy to link up with his position but when the attack crumbled there was little doubt in anyone's mind why A Company had been able to fend off the attack. From their positions, it seemed whenever the AT gun was heard to fire another halftrack brewed up.

At dawn members of A Company were able to reach Pvt Roy's position, only to find the him lying dead across the breech of the gun. 17 destroyed halftracks littered the field before A Company's positions. As the only military decoration the Commonwealth could award posthumously was the Victoria Cross, this politically charged medal was not granted, and Pvt Roy's heroism went unrecoginised.
 
No idea myself but my gut says given the timing there was some concern awarding a VC to Canadian before British soldier in the much talked about invasion of France. Hope I'm wrong. :(
 
Two days after the soldier Adolf Hitler wrote this postcard to his comrade Karl Lanzhammer telling him about a visit to the dentist, he wrote another one on 21 Dec 1916 about the painful visit, where he claims 19 of his teeth were extracted.

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The second postcard surfaced in Bavaria, just like the first one, which was discovered in 2012 during Europeana’s Family History Roadshow in Munich.

Dated 21 Dec 1916, the recently discovered correspondence was again addressed to Lanzhammer, who was in the same regiment as Hitler in the war in France. After an evaluation of the dictator’s dental records, it is possible that Hitler may have exaggerated the episode, as only 15 teeth were believed to have been removed, according to German newspaper Münchner Merkur, which broke the news about the postcard. However, the procedure provides an explanation as to why Hitler was not at the front from early Oct 1916 to early March 1917.

The recently-discovered postcard is privately owned. The owner received the card from his father, who fought in World War Two with a relative of Lanzhammer, and received the card from him.-

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The Vatican City itself was bombed during World War II. Friday, November 5, 1943 was a quiet morning. Until, they say, five bombs fell on the Vatican from a single, unmarked plane.-

No Vatican inquiry was ever made and that the low-level plane was unmarked. It was likely a "top secret" mission and neither the Nazis or Fascists ever claimed responsibility. The building in the photo is the train station of Vatican City, now used as a sort of department store for Vatican employees and others.-

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orbiscatholicus.blogspot.com.ar
 
Alfred Czech was Adolf Hitler’s youngest hero. He was just 12 when German newsreel cameras famously filmed him having by the Führer at his Berlin bunker after he was ceremoniously awarded the Iron Cross medal for outstanding bravery.-
He threw away his Iron Cross before he was captured in Czecho-slovakia in 1945. Czech died on 13 June 2011 in Hückelhoven, Germany.-
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During the WW One, 12 million letters were delivered to the front every week.-
Astonishingly, it only took two days for a letter from Britain to reach the front in France. The journey began at a purpose-built sorting depot in Regent's Park before being shipped to the trenches.-
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from bbc & telegraph
 
The 17th Service Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment was a First World War Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, part of the British Army, which was formed as a Pals battalion. The core of the battalion was a group of professional footballers, which was the reason for its most commonly used name, The Football Battalion.
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The Battalion fought in the Battle of the Somme amongst others, and soldiers who fought for the 17th included Second Lt. Walter Tull, who was the first black Infantry Officer in the British Army.
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Walter Tull, a grandson of black slaves who played for Tottenham Hotspur and died for Britain in WW1.
 
A Japanese man survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during WW2.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi (1916 – 2010) was a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II. Although at least 160 people are known to have been affected by both bombings, he is the only person to have been officially recognized by the government of Japan as surviving both explosions.
 
Bolivia was the only country to declare war in 1943 to Germany.
Shortly after war was declared, the President of Bolivia, Enrique Peñaranda, was overthrown in a coup.
The new ruler, Gualberto Villarroel, had fascist and anti-Semitic leanings, but foreign pressure compelled him to remain at war and to suppress his more extreme pro-Nazi supporters.
Bolivian mines supplied needed tin to the Allies, but with no coastline, the landlocked country did not send troops or warplanes overseas.
 
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