Uncle George Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 Richard Norton, American volunteer ambulance.khaki No (but very close). As a clue, here's a balloon. Well, it may be a balloon; but it may not always be so: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 He looks a bit young to be Abbott Thayer, American pioneer in the use of camouflage, but could it be his son Gerald? Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 He looks a bit young to be Abbott Thayer, American pioneer in the use of camouflage, but could it be his son Gerald? Ron No - you're moving away from khaki's near answer - move away still further: into now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 9 February , 2016 Admin Share Posted 9 February , 2016 E E Cummings? Or Lord Flasheart judging by the pose Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 Is it David Niven? His autobiography was "The Moon's a Balloon", wasn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 Edward Cummings, American Red Cross Ambulance. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 Is it David Niven? His autobiography was "The Moon's a Balloon", wasn't it? Yes, and he was quoting e.e. cummings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 Well, having checked, I now know that it's not David Niven ... he was born in 1910, and there weren't many eight year old soldiers in 1918!! However, did e.e.Cummings actually serve in the front line? This is what those nice people at Wikipedia say about his war service: The war yearsIn 1917, with the First World War ongoing in Europe, Cummings enlisted in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, along with his college friend John Dos Passos. Due to an administrative mix-up, Cummings was not assigned to an ambulance unit for five weeks, during which time he stayed in Paris. He fell in love with the city, to which he would return throughout his life. During their service in the ambulance corps, they sent letters home that drew the attention of the military censors, and were known to prefer the company of French soldiers over fellow ambulance drivers. The two openly expressed anti-war views; Cummings spoke of his lack of hatred for the Germans. On September 21, 1917, just five months after his belated assignment, he and a friend, William Slater Brown, were arrested by the French military on suspicion of espionage and undesirable activities. They were held for 3½ months in a military detention camp at the Dépôt de Triage, in La Ferté-Macé, Orne, Normandy. They were imprisoned with other detainees in a large room. Cummings' father failed to obtain his son's release through diplomatic channels and in December 1917 wrote a letter to President Wilson. Cummings was released on December 19, 1917, and Brown was released two months later. Cummings used his prison experience as the basis for his novel, The Enormous Room (1922), about which F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Of all the work by young men who have sprung up since 1920 one book survives—The Enormous Room by e e cummings... Those few who cause books to live have not been able to endure the thought of its mortality." Cummings returned to the United States on New Year's Day 1918. Later in 1918 he was drafted into the army. He served in the 12th Division at Camp Devens, Massachusetts, until November 1918. From this, it doesn't seem as if he did ... or am I reading something into the photo (I.e. that it's a representation of the trenches) that's not there? (Sent from Confused.com!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 E E Cummings? Yes! Edward Cummings, American Red Cross Ambulance.khaki Yes indeed ... Yes, and he was quoting e.e. cummings. He disliked being referred to as 'e.e. cummings', apparently. 'it may not always be so' is one of his poems. 'the moon's a balloon' and 'move away still further: into now' are quotations. http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2012/06/04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 9 February , 2016 Share Posted 9 February , 2016 am I reading something into the photo that's not there? Yes. (Niven's father was killed at Gallipoli, I believe.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 10 February , 2016 Share Posted 10 February , 2016 Yes. (Niven's father was killed at Gallipoli, I believe.) Thank you ... I plead guilty to the charge of "Seeing something that's not there!" Yes, David's father, William Niven served in the Berkshire Yeomanry in the First World War and was killed during the Gallipoli Campaign on 21 August 1915. He is buried in Green Hill Cemetery, Turkey in the Special Memorial Section in Plot F. 10. It's off topic, I know, but something else I didn't know about him is that his grandfather was William Degacher, who was was killed in the Battle of Isandlwana (1879), during the Zulu War. Born William Hitchcock, he and his brother Henry had followed the lead of their father, Walter Henry Hitchcock, in assuming their mother's maiden name of Degacher in 1874. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 11 February , 2016 Share Posted 11 February , 2016 Thank you ... I plead guilty to the charge of "Seeing something that's not there!" Yes, David's father, William Niven served in the Berkshire Yeomanry in the First World War and was killed during the Gallipoli Campaign on 21 August 1915. He is buried in Green Hill Cemetery, Turkey in the Special Memorial Section in Plot F. 10. It's off topic, I know, but something else I didn't know about him is that his grandfather was William Degacher, who was was killed in the Battle of Isandlwana (1879), during the Zulu War. Born William Hitchcock, he and his brother Henry had followed the lead of their father, Walter Henry Hitchcock, in assuming their mother's maiden name of Degacher in 1874. There's an interesting tread here: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21767 concerning veterans of both the Zulu War and the GW. I was especially taken by centurion's post about Charles Livesay: "Charles Livesay didn't fight at Rorkes Drift but he did serve in the Zulu war. He also served in the Mashona War and the South African War. He was one of the first New Zealanders to volunteer for WW1 and was first sent to Egypt and then France where at the age of 64 he fought at the Somme with the rank of Sergeant Major ... " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 Another one to bring this to the top - two brothers in arms who both died during the war: http://postimg.org/image/hewzi9orp/full/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 Another one to bring this to the top - two brothers in arms who both died during the war: http://postimg.org/image/hewzi9orp/full/ Are they the Watson brothers (Briigadier Generals William and Harry Watson)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 Are they the Watson brothers (Briigadier Generals William and Harry Watson)? Nope - one held military rank, the other did not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 Nope - one held military rank, the other did not. Did the second brother hold naval rank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 Did the second brother hold naval rank? No - the one who did hold military rank was a Colonel in his local Volunteers regiment. If it helps, brothers in arms is literal rather than metaphorical... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 "Two brothers in arms". This is "literal rather than metaphorical" They are brothers - "literal rather than metaphorical". So they had the same parents. They are "in arms" - "literal rather than metaphorical". So they were in the armed forces. But one held neither military nor naval rank. What a tangled web ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 How about William George Malone (killed at Chunuk Bair) and his brother Austin, of the New Zealand Armed Constabulary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 "Two brothers in arms". This is "literal rather than metaphorical" They are brothers - "literal rather than metaphorical". So they had the same parents. They are "in arms" - "literal rather than metaphorical". So they were in the armed forces. But one held neither military nor naval rank. What a tangled web ... How about William George Malone (killed at Chunuk Bair) and his brother Austin, of the New Zealand Armed Constabulary? Another miss - you were getting warm with the brothers, then drifted away again... another clue, they both would have been very familiar with this extremely distinguished gentleman, who has already featured here: http://postimg.org/image/4fb3uzhxx/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 16 February , 2016 Share Posted 16 February , 2016 Does "brothers in arms" indicate that they might be twins? Note for Uncle George: "in arms" to indicate service in the armed forces is, in fact, metaphorical rather than literal! Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 17 February , 2016 Share Posted 17 February , 2016 Does "brothers in arms" indicate that they might be twins? No - they were born five years apart. The three had one particular child I'm thinking off, and she was a grand old lady... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 17 February , 2016 Share Posted 17 February , 2016 The chap with the beard is Sir Hiram Maxim. The other two are Thomas and Albert Vickers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 17 February , 2016 Share Posted 17 February , 2016 The chap with the beard is Sir Hiram Maxim. The other two are Thomas and Albert Vickers. Correct! Colonel Thomas E. Vickers (1833-1915) and Albert Vickers (1838-1919), chairmen of Vickers from 1873-1909 and 1909-1919 respectively. They met Maxim in the early 1880's, then both encouraged and helped him to develop his gun into a successful design. They would have both overseen the emergence of the lightened and refined version originally called the 1908 Rifle Calibre "Light Pattern" Vickers gun, which after testing and modification by the British military between 1910-12 would finally emerge as the MkI .303in Vickers gun (aka The Grand Old Lady of No-Mans-Land). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 17 February , 2016 Share Posted 17 February , 2016 Good choice and cunning clues Andrew, and well spotted Uncle. As usual I didn't have the foggiest but enjoyed witnessing the chase. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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