Well here we are on the 4th November this time 49 years ago I was bobbing around in the Mediterranean sea on a landing craft waiting to invade the Suez Canal on the 5th of November which is only now a few hours away. Now tomorrow I will be opening the garden of Remembrance in our local town at the start of the Remembrance Period which will finish over here 13 th November


I WENT TO SEE THE SOLDIERS

I went to see the soldiers, row on row on row,
And wondered about each so still, their badges all on show.
What brought them here, what life before
Was like for each of them?
What made them angry, laugh, or cry,
These soldiers, boys and men.
Some so young, some older still, a bond more close than brothers
These men have earned and shared a love, that's not like any others
They trained as one, they fought as one
They shared their last together
That bond endures, that love is true
And will be, now and ever.

I could not know, how could I guess, what choices each had made,
Of how they came to soldiering, what part each one had played?
But here they are and here they'll stay,
Each one silent and in place,
Their headstones line up row on row
They guard this hallowed place.

Kenny Martin

Some personal "today in history" experiences, very good LeEnfield!
I would love to hear more about that (if you don't mind sharing??)


Here's some more for today:

1576
Spanish defeat Walloons & take Antwerp Belgium


1791
In what became known as St. Clair's Defeat, U.S. General Arthur St. Clair was beaten by the British-supported Northwest Indian Confederation.

1862
Gatling gun patented (Richard J Gatling)

1864
Battle of Johnsonville, Tennessee
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...3&day=10272969

1956
Soviets crush Hungarian revolt
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...3&day=10272969

1956
Israel captures Straits of Tiran from Egypt

1956
Israeli troops reach Suez Canal

1957
2nd Soviet Earth-satellite launched

1979
The hostage crisis in Iran began as the U.S. embassy in Tehran was seized by Iranian militants in a move sanctioned by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...9&cat=10272946

1995
Yitzhak Rabin assassinated
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, corecipient with Shimon Peres and Yasir 'Arafat of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1994, was assassinated this day in 1995 by a Jewish extremist while attending a peace rally.
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...3&day=10272969

Well we had arrived at Port Said by landing craft on the morning of the 6th November,
It quickly became apparent to the rank and file that no one was sure just what we should be doing. We were moved some distance along the beach to some beach huts where we made our base camp. Now these beach huts must have been grand places in their time and built for the Victorians and Edwardians to escape the worst of the Egyptian heat, there were lavish bedrooms, kitchens and dining rooms, and you could still see the faded glory from those days lingering in the buildings. Well during the day we did some patrol work which I wont go in to on this story, but come the evening we went to settle down in the beach huts, but gave that up as a bad job as the thin planks of wood were letting bullets in like you would not believe and for safety sake we abandoned them for the sake of a slit trench. Well about 22.00 hours some lorries were passing through our lines when a 105 mm shell hit one of them.
The lorry a brand new Bedford did not explode but caught on fire. The driver who was fairly a very young national serviceman was terrified of getting into trouble and was try putting out the fire with a hand pump Pyreen fire extinguisher, and was standing amongst the flames pumping away why we stood around the lorry cheering him on. After a few minutes the flames were spreading fast and some bright spark asked the chap what he had on the lorry, the driver proudly announced that he was carrying ammunition. Well we pulled the driver of the back of the lorry and headed for the slit trenches and no sooner had we arrived the whole lot went up. Well emerged some minutes later rather sheepishly and relieved once a head count had been done that we were all in one piece. Now we had another problem the ammunition had set fire to a couple of the beach huts and the whole area was lit like day and the Egyptians shells started popping of at fairly regular intervals as we were such a good target. Our officer thought we should put out the fires, which we agreed, the question was how. The sea was near by but we nothing to carry that amount of water in so, some bright spark suggested that if we got a number of us standing around one of the burning buildings and if we all had a hand grenade and on the count of three we would all pull the pins out at same time and throw them in to the building it might just bring it down then we could shovel sand on it and put the fire out. Well he thought about for a minute then agreed. Well dozens of grinning Para’s arrived with their grenades and on the count of three, a dozens were thrown at the building. There was a clatter glass as some went in, but there was some loud thumps as some of them hit the building or wood work and came bouncing back, when I looked at my feet there was a smoking grenade. Well we took of for trenches again but this time we made for the closest one. Those that got there first were squashed by the late comers who dived in on top of them, those that got there last dived for the trench and found that they were a couple of feet in the air as the trenches were that full. Well after a number bangs we got up and checked and again we had all survived. The beach huts were still standing but with some big holes in them that allowed the air to get in and the fires to burn brighter than ever. The officer went of muttering that we were all trying to kill him one way or another and if he could remember who suggested such a daft thing he would shoot the silly sod. So that night we slept in the trenches safe, sound and very warm.

The beach huts

November 05


FDR Re-Elected President

1940 On this day in 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is re-elected for an unprecedented third term as president of the United States. Roosevelt was elected to a third term with the promise of maintaining American neutrality as far as foreign wars were concerned: "Let no man or woman thoughtlessly or falsely talk of American people sending its armies to European fields".

The truck that was hit by a shell

Thank you very much for your story LeEnfield.


Here are a few more historical events from 5 November:

1556
Mughal victory assures Akbar's ascension
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...3&day=10272970

1605 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT:
Early in the morning, King James I of England learns that a plot to explode the Parliament building has been foiled, hours before he was scheduled to sit with the rest of the British government in a general parliamentary session
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...0&cat=10272946

1911
Italy attacks Turkey, takes Tipoli & Cyrenaica

1914
France and Britain declared war on Turkey, widening the conflict of World War I.

1917
Gen Pershing & US troops see action on Western Front for 1st time

Wow thank you very much Le Enfield

One of the many dumps for captured weapons

Some of SU 100 Russian Tanks captured by 3 Para