ACG WebOps (11 November 2007)
Welcome to WebOps, Armchair General’s weekly recon of links to military history news, articles, websites, and more. Linking to lots of news about this Veterans / Remembrance Day, along with some railroad military history and a review of Ken Burns’ The War. Clicks away!
News
Sikh bravery in military history – The New Straits Times Online
An exhibition of photographs of Sikh soldiers will offer Malaysians a rare glimpse of their military contributions all over the world from the late 19th century till the end of World War 2 in 1945.
{default}Website puts military history a click away – Kincardine News
Just in time for Remembrance Day, the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre has a new website that puts its military collection at your fingertips.
Artist’s love of history leads to dream – Examiner.com
After a lengthy career as a political and graphic illustrator for publications in the Baltimore region, including The Examiner, Hazard, you could say, has come out of retirement. He’s penciled 14 original illustrations of scenes from the Battle of Gettysburg that will be displayed with exhibits at the new Museum and Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, scheduled to open in April.
Restoring searchlight to Fort Mott State Park – NJ.com
Putting a clean rag to a rustic piece of World War II history, Fort Mott State Park historian Andy G. Grant demonstrated that even though the park’s past remains unchangeable, there is nothing static about the things a person may discover at this living monument to military heritage.
A Rock ‘n’ Roll Tribute to War Vets – Military.com
After nearly 15 years in limbo, the songs of an unlikely partnership — between a conservative Vietnam veteran and a liberal musician — are finally finding an audience.
First Native American inducted into Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame – KSWO.com (video)
This honor recognizes his years fighting for his country while representing Oklahoma – "The Land of the Red Man" – and Native America.
History lesson in art – The Calgary Sun
Military heroics past and present will be joined through art when the latest exhibit at Calgary’s Military Museum is unveiled tonight.
History’s new digs ready to go – The News Star
Aviation, Military Museum to unveil renovation, expansion
NYS Military History Institute’s 2007 Distinguished Veteran – cbs6albany.com
Saturday, the New York State Military History Institute gave their 2007 Distinguished Veteran Award to Colonel John Edwards.
Draper honors military veterans – The Eden Daily News
As the inscription on the Korean War monument in Washington states, “Freedom is not free.†Sheriff Sam Page talked about that Friday in Veterans Park, which is in the Draper section of Eden.
Young Canadians’ war knowledge improving, survey concludes – canada.com
An Ipsos-Reid/ Dominion Institute poll reveals that youth between the ages of 18 to 24 improved their scores of 10 years ago on a 30-question test dealing with the two World Wars and other armed conflicts in Canada’s history.
Veterans’ stories get boost from court reporters – La Crosse Tribune
Thanks to the Veterans History Project, the memories and experiences of thousands of those who served in the U.S. military have been captured on tape.
Thanks to court reporters, that rich oral history now is being transcribed for researchers and the general public to use.
Articles
Riding the rails of history – LancasterOnline.com
From aircraft and naval vessels to jeeps and motorbikes, the military always has had to find better ways to get where it needs to go. That’s where the histories of trains and troops overlap.
Compilation of military history – The Decatur Daily
Priceville woman’s collage illustrates family’s service
Local historian seeks to identify servicemen: Photos have history buffs stumped – The Daily Journal
Time is the enemy of history enthusiasts working to identify local World War II servicemen known only in military portraits, stored at the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society’s Museum and Research Library.
Roy Ash has researched the history of the men who entered the military during what was billed "the war to end all wars". He realized several of those who gave their lives did so not on foreign ground, but at the military camps where they were based.
Announcements
MIlitary history subject of Nov. 17 talk – Newport News-Times
In celebration of Veterans Day, Driftwood Public Library is hosting a program featuring Portland-area writer Kurt R. Nelson at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17.
Books – Movies – TV
World War I: The birth of a killing culture – International Herald Tribune
Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War By Alan Kramer Illustrated. 434 pages. $34.95. Oxford University Press.
The perpetrators of some of the worst atrocities of the Second World War remain alive and unpunished in Japan, according to a damning new book.
DVD Review: The War – Blogcritics Magazine
This film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick brings the courage, the pain, and the reality of what the Second World War was to those who lived through it on the home front and the battle line.
Blogs – Netcasts
The Peloponnesian War (Part One) – Military History Podcast
The Peloponnesian War (Part Two) – Military History Podcast
The Peloponnesian War was fought by Athens and Sparta in the late 5th century BC. It was an epic war between two superpowers, and the similarities to the Cold War are numerous. Since most people know about the Cold War, since it was so recent, I will summarize this episode via comparisons between it and the Peloponnesian War.
Carnage, Culture, and Crapola – Pt 3 – Blog Them Out of the Stone Age
I really do not know what happened between the Frankish cities of Tours and Poitiers in the Fall of 732. I do know there was a fight somewhere around there, and I know that it was between a strong Muslim raiding party and the forces of the Frankish battle-leader Charles Martel.
The Hundred Days – The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast #31
Napoleon, separated from his wife and son (who had come under Austrian control), cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and aware of rumours that he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic, escaped from Elba on 26 February 1815 and returned to the French mainland on 1 March 1815. Thus began “The Hundred Daysâ€.
WebOps is a weekly report linking to military history news and articles published in mainstream online media. Excerpts are taken exactly as they are on the noted source websites; quotation marks are not used. The hyperlinks are added by me as I can find them. Please visit the Armchair Forums to discuss the topics in WebOps. If you just can’t wait until Sunday for the next WebOps, plug yourself into the new del.icio.us Armchair General WebOps feed and get each link as its posted!
Stay Alert, Stay Alive!
Jim H. Moreno