Who is This ? ? ?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Knotty said:

My chap, in post #10620, never personally received his final promotion which gave him his unique position.

 

     OK- I'll fall for it- Black Jack..  Potentially the only 6 Star General.  The matter is set out  by that very learned chap, Mr. W.I.Kipedia:

 

Pershing is the only American to be promoted in his own lifetime to General of the Armies rank, the highest possible rank in the United States Army.^{[Notes 1]} Allowed to select his own insignia, Pershing chose to use four gold stars to distinguish himself from those officers who held the rank of General, which was signified with four silver stars.^[3] After the creation of the five-star General of the Army rank during World War II, his rank of General of the Armies could unofficially be considered that of a six-star general, but he died before the proposed insignia could be considered and acted on by Congress.

[Knotty]

Sorry MrV it is not Black Jack, similar circumstance with Congress voting etc.

[Ron Clifton]

Is it Dewey, who was made the first and only "Admiral of the Navy"?

 

Ron

[Uncle George]

2 hours ago, voltaire60 said:

 

     OK- I'll fall for it- Black Jack..  Potentially the only 6 Star General.  The matter is set out  by that very learned chap, Mr. W.I.Kipedia:

 

 

It was proposed to promote MacArthur to six-star rank. As I remembered it, this was to be for the proposed invasion of mainland Japan (which of course never took place). But upon checking it seems my memory was playing tricks: the proposal was made in 1955:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-star_rank

 

[Knotty]

10 minutes ago, Ron Clifton said:

Is it Dewey, who was made the first and only "Admiral of the Navy"?

 

Ron

 

Not him either Ron, I think that the uniform would have give it away.

[Uncle George]

2 hours ago, Knotty said:

Sorry MrV it is not Black Jack, similar circumstance with Congress voting etc.

 

Is he Peter Conover Hains? He saw active duty in the American Civil War, and was prompted to Major General in 1916 by Act of Congress.

 

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/pchains.htm

[Knotty]

Not him UG, this chap was born 14/12/1868 in Ohio, so after the end of the Civil War.

He had to apply for a commission in the regular army, although he was an outstanding army cadet at university (Ohio State Uni.)

[Margaretnolan]

Ok Knotty. It’s Brigadier General Edward  Sigerfoos. Died of wounds October 7th 1918. The date of birth helped!!

[Guest]

And this chap?     Not been on WIT before:

 

    Clues?   Oh, alright

1)  For those of you old enough to have been stuck on the Exeter Bypass in days of yore, then a name will be familiar

 

2)   His actions in the last half hour of his life are alluded to in the last episode of "Blackadder Goes Forth"  The clue is in the picture

 

         

 

3)  He rests next to John, a man similar to him who met the same end on the same day

 

 

Edited 29 July , 2018 by Guest

[Knotty]

2 hours ago, Margaretnolan said:

Ok Knotty. It’s Brigadier General Edward  Sigerfoos. Died of wounds October 7th 1918. The date of birth helped!!

 

You have the correct person, but what was his unique claim to fame?

[Nepper]

7 minutes ago, Knotty said:

 

You have the correct person, but what was his unique claim to fame?

Only US General KIA - although I believe confirmation of his promotion was posthumous.

[Knotty]

Thats the bit I was after Nepper, tided up the WIT question nicely, he was a Major at the time of his death, with his promotion making its way through Congress. As you say it was a posthumous award .

[Uncle George]

14 hours ago, voltaire60 said:

And this chap?     Not been on WIT before:

 

    Clues?   Oh, alright

1)  For those of you old enough to have been stuck on the Exeter Bypass in days of yore, then a name will be familiar

 

2)   His actions in the last half hour of his life are alluded to in the last episode of "Blackadder Goes Forth"  The clue is in the picture

 

         

 

3)  He rests next to John, a man similar to him who met the same end on the same day

 

 

 

"Captain Darling will pump you thoroughly in the debriefing room!"

 

ww1 gso kia

 

But your chap does not appear to be a GSO. So I've come to a halt.

 

 

[Knotty]

Well Mr V

I believe that to be Lt Col Laurence Charles Walter Palk DSO, commanding the 1st Batt. Hampshire Regiment kia 1/7/1916, and buried alongside Lt Col John Thicknesse of the 1st Batt. Somerset Light Infantry, both layed to rest at Sucrerie Military Cemetery,Somme.

 

There is an anecdote that whilst he was "lying mortally wounded in a shell hole, he turned to another man lying near him and said "If you know of a better 'ole, go to it.", but I don't think that was featured in the last episode of Blackadder, I think it is a reference to a "Red Tab" going over the top and killed in action.

 

The Exeter connection is the district of Haldon as he was the son of the 2nd Baron & Baroness of Haldon. 

 

 

[Ron Clifton]

29 minutes ago, Knotty said:

he turned to another man lying near him and said "If you know of a better 'ole, go to it.", but I don't think that was featured in the last episode of Blackadder, I think it is a reference to a "Red Tab" going over the top and killed in action.

The anecdote involves two privates, and is the caption to one of Bruce Bairnsfather's most famous cartoons.

 

Ron

[Knotty]

Hi Ron

The anecdote was something I read whilst checking out the WIT, 

http://ashbury.org.uk/wp-content/legacy/WW1anecdotespdf.pdf

[Guest]

 

      Correct gentleman. Sir Lawrence Palk, of Haldon in the County of Devon it is. A very brave man who belies the "Lions led by Donkeys" myth- he died leading 1st Hampshires on the Somme, 1st July 1916- from the front. German wire started about half way across No Nan's Land, some 500 yards across. He was wounded close to the German wire and subsequently killed.

 

    Ist Hampshires suffered very heavy casualties-26 officers (ie all of them) and 559 men-and they went in straight after a battalion of the East Lancs had met a similar fate.

 

       The allusion in Blackadder-   well, the stick held by Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh - Lt-Col Palk died leading his men armed only with his walking stick. It is alluded to in the  episode  when they are preparing to leave their dugout and go into position. The dialogue thus:

 

Edmund: How are you feeling, Darling?

Darling: Erm, not all that good, Blackadder -- rather hoped I'd get through the
         whole show; go back to work at Pratt & Sons; keep wicket for the
         Croydon gentlemen; marry Doris... Made a note in my diary on my way
         here. Simply says, "******."

Edmund: Well, quite.

        (a voice outside gives orders)

Voice: (??)! (??)!

Edmund: Ah well, come on. Let's move.

Voice: Fix bayonets!

        (They start to go outside)

Edmund: Don't forget your stick, Lieutenant.

George: Oh no, sir -- wouldn't want to face a machine gun without this!

 

 

 

Edited 29 July , 2018 by Guest

[Ron Clifton]

There is an anecdote somewhere in the British Official History about an officer (a battalion commander, I think) who went into action armed with a stout walking-stick with a metal ferrule, which he used to despatch at least one German soldier.

 

Ron

[Heid the Ba]

Carton de Wiart claimed he carried only a stick because he didn't trust himself not to get so angry he would shoot someone on his own side.

[Guest]

 

   And this chap?      A much later photograph.    Served in France  as a Captain in the Great War and WazIristan just after.  He was a firm believer in  killing a wounded enemy and often wrote about the benefits of finishing an adversary off, preferably  cleanly with a single shot to the head

 

 

 

 

Edited 30 July , 2018 by Guest

[Rob B]

On 27/05/2017 at 15:43, Uncle George said:

 

I read somewhere that his last words were, "Why was mother so beastly to me?" He was I think a very sad and lonely man.

Indeed a very sad and lonely life, something his son Michael suffered under.

Montgomeries Road to Damascus was a wound and night spent on his back in No Man's land, I rather think my hero Carton de Wiart had a similar experience!

[neverforget]

13 hours ago, voltaire60 said:

 

   And this chap?      A much later photograph.    Served in France  as a Captain in the Great War and WazIristan just after.  He was a firm believer in  killing a wounded enemy and often wrote about the benefits of finishing an adversary off, preferably  cleanly with a single shot to the head

 

 

 

 

Is it Brigadier Reginald Dyer, the butcher of Amristar?

[Heid the Ba]

Dyer died in 1927, this chap looks WW2.

[Guest]

No, not Dyer- though I do not recognize the term "butcher" in your description of him. When the Golden temple was stormed by Indian police a few years ago and hundreds killed in Amritsar (again), then no-one of the Indian Police has been referred to as "Butcher". Thus, I see no reason why that term should be applied to Brigadier-General Dyer

[neverforget]

No, not Dyer- though I do not recognize the term "butcher" in your description of him. When the Golden temple was stormed by Indian police a few years ago and hundreds killed in Amritsar (again), then no-one of the Indian Police has been referred to as "Butcher". Thus, I see no reason why that term should be applied to Brigadier-General Dyer