26-year-old World War I Victim

Posted by Miss Cellania in Weapons & War on November 20, 2009 at 11:43 am

Maité Roël of Bovekerke, Belgium is the youngest victim of the first World War. As a disabled war victim, she carries a veteran’s card that entitles her to reduced train fares, but gets suspicious looks when she uses it. Roël was only nine years old when an RAF bomb that was inadvertently thrown on a bonfire nearly destroyed her leg. She underwent 29 operations and was addicted to morphine for ten years.

“We went on a scout camping expedition to Wetteren and I remember now that it was an old military camp,” Maité recalls very slowly. She has tiny dreadlocks that hang down her slim face and a silver ring in her nose – not the usual face of a First World War victim. “It was July 6th, 1992. I knew nothing about war. I remember we all built a fire using bricks round the outside and the other kids starting throwing logs on it. I was tired and so I went a few metres from the fire so I could sleep. Then there was a sudden explosion – I woke up and saw sparks from the explosion. Everyone was running and shouting and I tried to get up and I couldn’t. Everyone was looking at me and I looked down – and I saw that my left leg was hanging by a piece of skin.”

Roël is under the care of the Belgian Institute for Veterans’ Affairs and War Victims. She has no interest in learning about the war that affected her life. Link -via YesButNoButYes

(image credit: Laurent Lenclud)

 
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Remembering the Great War

Posted by Queuebot in Weapons & War on November 11, 2009 at 7:02 am

"The War to End All Wars" ended 91 years ago on the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month in 1918. This became known as Armistice Day, and later as Veteran’s Day. For many, especially Americans, World War I has been practically forgotten as it is overshadowed by WWII in history classes, but WWI had a great impact on the 20th century and that impact lingers to this day. The nation of Iraq was created in the aftermath of the war, for example.

World War I in many ways was the “War to end all Wars” in that it was every war past and future rolled up into one. There were Napoleonic charges, aerial bombardment, a few misguided cavalry charges with actual horses, tanks, machine guns, artillery barrages, air combat, poison gas attacks, flamethrowers, submarine warfare, and primitive hand-to-hand fighting that came down to knives, sharpened spades, and clubs.

The trenches were hell on earth – mud, water, snipers, artillery barrages, barbed wire, machine gun fire, and the rotting corpses of those who fell in No-Man’s Land, the deadly area between the opposing armies’ trenches. Plus there was rampant disease, lice, and rats grown fat from feeding off of corpses.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by samuraidave.

 
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Caption Monkey 61: You Shall Not Pass!

Posted by Alex in Animal, Caption Monkey, Movies & SciFi on June 23, 2009 at 7:31 am


Photo: pyza* [Flickr]

This week’s Neatorama and Hobotopia’s Caption Monkey photo of a hamster named Piórko came to us via the always awesome Cute Overload. I think there’s more to this hamster than meets the eye.

As usual, the funniest caption will win a free black and white custom Monkey drawing from Adam "Ape Lad" Koford. Game rules are simple: place your caption in the comment. One caption per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you’d like.

And "You shall not pass" is taken, mmkay? Oh, by the way, that phrase is a variation of a World War I propaganda slogan "They shall not pass" made famous in the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings, was himself a soldier who fought during World War I.

Be sure to check out Adam’s blog for inspiration. Good luck!

Update 6/23/09 – Adam has picked the winner! Congratulations to JB who won with this caption: I don’t mind the baths, but do you have to BLOW DRY?!?

 
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Unseen Photographs Shed New Light on World War I

Posted by Queuebot in Pictures, Weapons & War on May 25, 2009 at 3:58 am

The Independent newspaper in the UK has released some newly discovered portraits of British soldiers from World War I. 

Hidden in a French barn for ninety years, these pictures are a telling record of soldiers in preparation for the Battle of the Somme. 

Over 400 glass plates have been discovered and collected by photography enthusiasts Bernard Gardin and Dominique Zanardi, in hopes of identifying the soldiers:



A treasure trove of First World War photographs was discovered recently in France. Published here for the first time, they show British soldiers on their way to the Somme. But who took them? And who were these Tommies marching off to die?

Link – via webphemera

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.

 
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