One Hundred Years Ago

[Rix Gins]

  Manfred Von Richthofen, the Red Baron, had gotten into a nasty habit of drawing in extra close to his victims in order to insure that his gunfire would deliver the expected results.  The morning of July 6, 1917 was no exception.  A large group of FE2 Pushers was sighted by Richthofen and his men and they were quick to attack.  The Pushers were relatively slow and clumsy and sure enough, the Red Baron picked one out and came up quite close to it in order to deliver a fatal blow.  But he forgot one important thing.  By coming in close, he was presenting himself as a Jim Dandy target for the observer/gunner at the front of the Pusher.

  Second Lieutenant A.E. Woodbridge, the gunner in the Pusher, got off a nice burst of fire at an attacking red Albatross and saw it dive into a wild spin and tumble completely out of control.  Unknown to Woodbridge, was the fact that he had just delivered a bullet that took a glancing blow off of the head of the Red Baron.

  Richthofen was instantly paralyzed and blinded and could do nothing to control his plummeting plane.  Some long moments passed until he noticed his mobility slowly return along with his vision and he was quick to turn off his engine and then glide down to a convenient field on the German side of the lines.  He was helped from his plane and taken away for treatment.  He wouldn't return to service until August 16, 1917.

Info and photo of Albert Woodbridge: http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/woodbridge.php

 
An F.E.2d observer demonstrating the use of the rear-firing Lewis gun, which required him to stand on the rim of his cockpit. Note the camera, and the (non-standard) extra Lewis gun for the pilot.  Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=611332


Richthofen's Albatros D.V after forced landing near Wervicq.  Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1705294           

[Rix Gins]

Country singer (and story teller) Red Sovine was born on July 7, 1917.  I don't really care for his style of 'talking' a song but I did find a recording where he sang all the way through it...a cover of Eric Clapton's Lay Down Sally.  Pretty cool, actually.


https://youtu.be/yPxqYSgMLFc

[Rix Gins]

Twenty two German Gotha bombers brought death and damage  to London on July 7, 1917.

An interesting account of the raid: https://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/a-flock-of-gothas-7-july-1917/

[Rix Gins]

From the Library of Congress. 

Photograph shows woman cutting stripes for American flags with machinery at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2015)

Photo taken on July 7, 1917.https://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2006000253/

Photograph shows General James Franklin Bell (1856-1919), an officer in the U.S. Army who served as commander of the Department of the East at Fort Jay, Governors Island. He is standing with his wife, and Mrs. C. F. Roe (formerly Katherine Bissell), the wife of Major General Charles Francis Roe. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2015)

Photo taken on July 7, 1917.  https://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2006000013/

hotograph shows workers making a monocoque body of an airplane and laminating it at the Lowe, Willard & Fowler Engineering Company, College Point, Queens, New York City. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2015)

Photo taken on July of 1917.  https://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2006000412/

[albrecht]

Country singer (and story teller) Red Sovine was born on July 7, 1917.  I don't really care for his style of 'talking' a song but I did find a recording where he sang all the way through it...a cover of Eric Clapton's Lay Down Sally.  Pretty cool, actually.


https://youtu.be/yPxqYSgMLFc

Ha, we used to laugh at the sentimentality and 'style' of Red Sovine songs in his later career. But some of those, looking back, were pretty good- even if in a corny way. But the equivalent of a Lifetime Movie or something (crippled boy on CB radio missing his daddy, blind girl needs Christmas described to her, etc etc.) The "trucker" era of songs, movies, and tv shows was also an interesting phenomena. I was amused to see in Germany that they have/had a similar style of "trucker" genre and bought a CD of German trucker songs.
ps: good stuff on the Great War updates.

[Rix Gins]

Ha, we used to laugh at the sentimentality and 'style' of Red Sovine songs in his later career. But some of those, looking back, were pretty good- even if in a corny way. But the equivalent of a Lifetime Movie or something (crippled boy on CB radio missing his daddy, blind girl needs Christmas described to her, etc etc.) The "trucker" era of songs, movies, and tv shows was also an interesting phenomena. I was amused to see in Germany that they have/had a similar style of "trucker" genre and bought a CD of German trucker songs.
ps: good stuff on the Great War updates.

I hate most television commercials but I never really minded those record collections ones like The Best of Red Sovine, Zamfir, Slim Whitman etc.  They were always good for a laugh.  Glad you like the Great War stuff.  Up next are some pictures of the Queen visiting a tank works and some pics of the German Gotha raid damage.

[Rix Gins]

From the Imperial War Museum.

Her Majesty the Queen's visit to Tank Corps Central Workshops. Erin, 7 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205235760

Her Majesty Queen Mary visits the Tanks Corps Workshops. Erin, 7 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205235762

The visit of Queen Mary to the Tank Corps Central Stores and Workshops at Erin, 7th July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205236087

Firemen hose down the smouldering remains of Cox's Court off Little Britain in the City of London after a Gotha air raid on 7 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205196283

Bomb damage to the General Post Office (GPO) in St Martin's-le-Grand, London, following the daylight Gotha air raid on 7 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205214729

A general view of the damage caused to buildings on Pancras Road, King's Cross, during the second daylight raid on London by German Gotha GV aircraft on 7 July 1917. A team of soldiers and civilians can be seen on an upper floor of the building, which is open to the elements, the roof having been destroyed in the blast, helping to clear the rubble.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205213213

[Rix Gins]

The First Battle of Ramadi (the British vs. the Turks) took place on July 8, 1917 and would last for five days.  Ramadi is west of Bagdad and was an important mobile link to whoever had control of it.  Here is a link to the battle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Ramadi_(1917)#First_Battle_of_Ramadi  I can save you some time though, if you'd like to know how it turned out 'Reader's Digest' style.  This paragraph says it all.

The first battle in July 1917 resulted in a British defeat. This was caused by a combination of factors, including extreme heat that caused more casualties than enemy fire, bad weather, faulty British communications, and an effective Turkish defence. 

[Rix Gins]

The Amazing Colossal Man was born 100 years ago today.  Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Langan


Glenn Langan.  Public domain.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glenn_Langan_in_Margie.JPG


https://youtu.be/zgpv7_4uonQ 

[Rix Gins]

 Everett True, July 9, 1917.

[Rix Gins]

HMS Vanguard on patrol at Scapa Flow suffered a series of magazine explosions and was sunk almost instantly on July 9, 1917.  Out of 845 men, only two survived.  Here is an interesting, modern day look at the disaster.

https://inews.co.uk/explainers/iq/hms-vanguard-first-world-war-battleship-destroyed-1917-centenary-scapa-flow/

[Rix Gins]

From the Library of Congress.

Photograph shows workers lining airplane bodies at the Lowe, Willard & Fowler Engineering Company, College Point, Queens, New York City.

July of 1917.  https://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2006000403/

[Rix Gins]

From the Imperial War Museums.

HMS VANGUARD. Blew up and sank at Scapa Flow due to faulty ammunition, 9 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205024646

[Rix Gins]

Percy's War, July 9, 1917: https://percyswar.wordpress.com/2017/07/09/witley-july-9-1917/

[Rix Gins]

This man was born 100 years ago.  Appears to have lived quite a full life.


https://youtu.be/awh6bp4JAfE

[Rix Gins]

From the Library of Congress.

Photograph shows soldiers with Lewis machine guns at Camp Albert L. Mills (Camp Mills) Long Island, New York. July 10, 1917.

https://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2006000666/

[Rix Gins]

From the Imperial War Museums.

Second Lieutenant John Hugh Edward Hughes. Unit: 156th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Death: 10 July 1917, killed in action, Western Front.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205301666

[Rix Gins]

Percy's War, July 10, 1917: https://percyswar.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/witley-july-10-1917/

[Rix Gins]

Don Herbert, tv's Mr. Wizard was born on July 10, 1917.

Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Herbert


Publicity photo of Don Herbert from the Watch Mr. Wizard television program.  Public Domain.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mr_Wizard.JPG

[Rix Gins]

From the Imperial War Museums.

Queen Mary of Teck talking to a French woman worker in an Ordnance Works for the repair of British uniforms at Rouen, 11th July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205078973

King George V examining a German machine-gun belt at an old German gun post, Vimy Ridge, 11 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237788

Ruins of the village of Villers-Carbonnel, 11 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205323277

Lieutenant Arthur Davies Lang Browne. Unit: 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers. Death: 11 July 1917, Mesopotamia.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205384246

[Rix Gins]

Percy's War, July 11, 1917: https://percyswar.wordpress.com/2017/07/11/witley-july-11-1917/

[Rix Gins]

One hundred year old photos from the Imperial War Museums.

Queen Mary of Teck accepts a present of articles made from shell cases at Ordnance Works in Havre, 12th July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205078977

King George V and General Julian Byng visit a war cemetery at Thiepval, 12 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237759

Panorama of the ruins of the village of Soyecourt, 12 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205308735

Second Lieutenant Norman Otto Frederick Gunther. Unit: Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles, attached to the 6th Battalion, the Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Death: 12 July 1917, Arras, Western Front. Commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205295925

[Rix Gins]

Percy's War, July 12, 1917: https://percyswar.wordpress.com/2017/07/12/witley-july-12-1917/

[Rix Gins]

The artist Andrew Wyeth was born one hundred years ago.

Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wyeth


N.C. Wyeth in his studio with a cowboy model.  Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NC_Wyeth-cowboy_model-studio.jpg

[Rix Gins]

The Tonopah Daily Bonanza, July 13, 1917.  (Library of Congress)

FLAG AT HALF MAST

  The flag of the Standard Oil Company's warehouse floats at half mast out of respect to the memory of Early Glazier and Walter Dole, two employees who were killed at Trowbridge, Cal., by a train of the Western Pacific running into an auto truck on which they were riding.


HOT WAVE BREAKS IN GRATEFUL RELIEF -  CLOUDS OBSCURE SUN AND A FEW DROPS OF RAIN RELIEVE TEMPERATURE

  For the first time since the first of July the temperature at 2 o'clock in the afternoon was cooler than at noon by four degrees. During the morning bets were made that the record would be fractured today and the morning gave every indication of carrying out the prediction. However, at 1 o'clock the sky clouded and an hour later ten drops of rain that could easily be counted fell on the parched landscape, reducing the temperature to 88, compared with 96 at the same time yesterday. This is the first moisture observed here since May 26, when there was a measurable quantity reported.

  A thunderstorm is expected owing to the growing density of the cumulus clouds caused by the ascension of hot waves from the surface of the earth.


Ads.

MAGIC MOTOR GAS SAVES IN COST OF GASOLINE

   G. A. Roberts has been appointed agent of the Magic Motor Gas, which is guaranteed to save one-third consumption and give better results in motor driving. The best proof of the value of the preparation is the fact that the leading Tonopah trucking and automobile companies are using it. Magic Motor Gas does not contain any ingredients that will in anyway injure the motor and will do all that is claimed for it, namely: increase mileage, neutralize all carbon deposits, increase the power of the motor, prolong the life of the car, saves repair bills, makes a perfect running motor with improved carburetion under any and all conditions of service.



EXPERT EYE-SIGHT SPECIALIST

  Eyes Examined, Glasses Fitted.  Artificial Eyes Made and Fitted. until July 15, 1917. Office: Mizpah Hotel.

[Rix Gins]

The third visit of Our Lady of Fatima took place on July 13, 1917.  Mary appeared to those three kids in that cave at Portugal and told them three secrets.

https://newera.news/third-visit-july-13-1917/

If you would like to skip the article, here are the three secrets in 'Reader's Digest' form:

Secret One:  More of a Disneyland ride then a secret, but Mary gave the kids a brief glimpse of Hell.  They were taken down into the bowels of the earth and saw souls of the damned being tossed about by exploding balls of fire and sparks.  There were demons at work too, busily tormenting the screaming, teeth gnashing souls.  (I couldn't help but think...if you are going to go to Hell, how do you get one of those pitchfork wielding demon jobs?)

Secret Two:  Mary told the kids that they could save the poor souls in Hell by praying to, or on behalf of, her Immaculate Heart.
Mary then starts to fret about Russia becoming a communist state but that with time, they would not be a communist state but rather become a religious state.

Secret Three:  The third secret is a bit convoluted.  Mary told Lúcia (the group spokesperson among the kids) the secret but not to reveal it.  The Catholic church wanted to know the secret and were finally able to persuade Lúcia to write it down and put it in a sealed envelope in June of 1944.  The powers that be hemmed and hawed until May 13, 2000 when a Cardinal revealed that the secret dealt with the prosecution of the church and also that it  forecast a failed assassination attempt on a pope.


Lúcia Santos, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, the three children whom the Virgin Mary revealed her famous "three secrets" in Fátima, Portugal.  Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChildrensofFatima.jpg

[Rix Gins]

From the Library of Congress.


Confederate veteran reunion, 1917
https://www.loc.gov/item/npc2007018430/

[Rix Gins]

One hundred year old photos from the Imperial War Museums.

Aerial oblique. Plotting reference: 20U 22d. Key features:Langemarck.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205359891

King George V, riding on a light railway, passes the wreckage of a 105mm FH 98/09 German howitzer, Martinpuich, 13 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237786

King George V visiting the ruins of Peronne, 13 July 1917. With him are Lieutenant General William Pulteney, the Commander of the 3rd Corps, and Brigadier General Percival Hambro, the Quartermaster General of the 3rd Corps.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237780

King George V climbing the Butte de Warlencourt, Le Sars, 13 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237784

King George V, Edward, Prince of Wales, and General Julian Byng and on the Butte de Warlencourt, Le Sars, 13 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237783

King George V with General Sir Julian Byng looking at the remains of Thiepval Church, 13 July 1917.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205237791

Second Lieutenant Horace Frederick Denyer MID. Unit: 12th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. Death: 13 July 1917 Killed in action Greece. Son of Edwin and Selina Frances Denyer, of Windsor, Berks.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205293458

[Rix Gins]

Percy's War, July 13, 1917: https://percyswar.wordpress.com/2017/07/13/witley-july-13-1917/

[albrecht]

The third visit of Our Lady of Fatima took place on July 13, 1917.  Mary appeared to those three kids in that cave at Portugal and told them three secrets.

https://newera.news/third-visit-july-13-1917/

If you would like to skip the article, here are the three secrets in 'Reader's Digest' form:

Secret One:  More of a Disneyland ride then a secret, but Mary gave the kids a brief glimpse of Hell.  They were taken down into the bowels of the earth and saw souls of the damned being tossed about by exploding balls of fire and sparks.  There were demons at work too, busily tormenting the screaming, teeth gnashing souls.  (I couldn't help but think...if you are going to go to Hell, how do you get one of those pitchfork wielding demon jobs?)

Secret Two:  Mary told the kids that they could save the poor souls in Hell by praying to, or on behalf of, her Immaculate Heart.
Mary then starts to fret about Russia becoming a communist state but that with time, they would not be a communist state but rather become a religious state.

Secret Three:  The third secret is a bit convoluted.  Mary told Lúcia (the group spokesperson among the kids) the secret but not to reveal it.  The Catholic church wanted to know the secret and were finally able to persuade Lúcia to write it down and put it in a sealed envelope in June of 1944.  The powers that be hemmed and hawed until May 13, 2000 when a Cardinal revealed that the secret dealt with the prosecution of the church and also that it  forecast a failed assassination attempt on a pope.


Lúcia Santos, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, the three children whom the Virgin Mary revealed her famous "three secrets" in Fátima, Portugal.  Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChildrensofFatima.jpg

Two of the girls died young and were canonized recently and I think the 3rd lived longer but in some strict convent so nobody could talk or interview her. Not sure the 3rd girl who lived longer wasn't also canonized. Sort of strange? Of course, as we here all know, Father Martin knew the "real" 3rd secret and he told Art but only when Art promised never to reveal it. After Father Martin's death murder Art still wouldn't reveal it.