Christian, Husband, Dad, Education Consultant, P-T Vicar, Ex-Teacher, Ex-School Governor, WW1 Researcher, @EssexCricket, @Coventry_City supporter. Views my own.
Joined June 2020
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4,880 Photos and videos
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Apr 16
Are you free last week of June? Why not join me as I lead a Reflections of Peace Pilgrimage in Flanders. Walk battlefields of Ypres, stand at Tyne Cot, & experience the moving Last Post at Menin Gate. £50 a person discount for my followers!
Find out more: tinyurl.com/vhujdahk
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15 June 1918, Cpt Edward Brittain, brother to Vera, killed, aged 22, in 2nd Battle of Piave River, Italian Front. This added to grief Vera experienced with deaths of her fiancé Roland Leighton & friends Victor Richardson & Geoffrey Thurlow, main characters in Testament of Youth.
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15 June 1936, first flight of Vickers Wellington twin-engined bomber. Early in #WW2 used as night bomber & later as anti-submarine aircraft. Only British bomber produced for duration of war & in greater quantity than any other British-built bomber. Named after Duke of Wellington.
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15 June 1888, Crown Prince Wilhelm (1859-1941), eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria, became Kaiser Wilhelm II, last Emperor of German Empire. Due to death of predecessors Wilhelm I & Frederick III, 1888 was year of three Emperors. His foreign policy was one of reasons for #WW1.
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Jun 13
13 June 1917, PC Alfred Smith, aged 37, died in German air raid. Having warned factory workers in Central St, Finsbury, to stay inside, a bomb exploded a few feet away from him. He left wife & 3 yr old son. Remembered on Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in London's Postman's Pk.
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Jun 13
13 June 1917, deadliest #WW1 German air raid on London carried out by Gotha bombers. 100 bombs dropped in daylight, mostly within 1 mile radius of Liverpool St Station & in East End. Resulted in 162 deaths, including 18 infants at Upper North St School in Poplar, & 432 injuries.
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Jun 13
13 June 1944, Germans launched first V-1 flying bombs (doodlebugs) at south-east England. Of the ten fired on this day, four reached England, killing six people & destroying a railroad bridge. These ‘revenge weapons' were designed to terrorise civilians & undermine morale. #WW2
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Jun 12
12 June 1963, Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham, (b.1883) died. 1897, he entered Royal Navy. 1911-1918 captain of HMS Scorpion, a destroyer, serving in Dardanelles & Mediterranean. In #WW1, won DSO and two bars. 1939-1943, C-in-C Mediterranean, 1943-1946 First Sea Lord. #WW2
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Jun 11
11 June 1937, Reginald Joseph Mitchell (b.1895), aircraft designer, died in Southampton of bowel cancer, first diagnosed in 1933. Famous for designing racing seaplanes & the Supermarine Spitfire, the advanced monoplane aircraft which was one of the best-known fighters of #WW2.
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Jun 10
In 2024, I walked through ruins of French village of Oradour-sur-Glane. On 10 June 1944, it was destroyed when 643 civilians were killed by Waffen-SS unit. Women & children locked in church which was then burnt. Poignant to see crucified Christ in front of memorial plaque. #WW2
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Jun 10
Anyone guess who this toddler is? He was born on 10 June and brought up in France, Britain and Germany. In #WW2, he served in the Royal Navy and left the service in 1952 with the rank of commander.
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Jun 10
10 June 1942, after assassination of Reinhard Heydrich , Nazis annihilated Czech town of Lidice, shooting, 170 men & deporting most of women & children. C 50 women died at Ravensbruck concentration camp. A few children were deemed racially pure & Germanized, 80 were gassed. #WW2
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9 June 1915, US Secretary of State William Bryan resigned over President Wilson’s response to death of 1,201 people, including 128 Americans, when RMS Lusitania sank. Proponent of strict US neutrality, he felt Wilson’s position against Germany could draw 2 nations into war. #WW1
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9 June 1834, death of William Carey (b.1761), Baptist missionary to India. Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God. His most famous quotation engraved on lectern in Westminster Abbey.
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8 June 1917, 2nd Lt Henry Williams, N Zealand Machine Gun Corps, died, aged 32. Buried Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Rd Military Cem. Born Wanganui. Studied @christs_college & @RidleyHall (photo of their memorial). 1911, ordained @Southwarkcathed. Enlisted 05/1915. Served Egypt & France.
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8 June 1917, Brigadier Gen Charles Brown DSO, New Zealand officer who served in #WW1 in Gallipoli campaign (where severely wounded) & on Western Front, killed by artillery fire at Le Moulin de l'Hospice. Born 1872. One of three NZ brigadier generals who died in WW1 ©IWM HU 114487
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8 June 1916, Italian armed merchant cruiser SS Principe Umberto sunk by Austro-Hungarian SM U-5 (photo) in Adriatic Sea while carrying 55th Infantry Regt from Albania to Italy. 1,750-1,926 casualties (exact number unknown), largest number of lives lost in naval disaster in #WW1.
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7 June 1931, Duke of Brabant, later King Leopold III of Belgium, unveiled Ploegsteert Memorial to Missing. It commemorates 11,447 Commonwealth soldiers, including four VC recipients, with no known graves who died in various battles outside Ypres Salient around Ploegsteert. #WW1.
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7 June 1915, Flight Sub-Lt Reginald Warneford #RNAS won Victoria Cross for destroying Zeppelin in mid-air. Dropped bombs onto it. One set it on fire from end to end, overturned his plane & stopped its engine. He landed in hostile country but re-started engine & returned to base.
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6 June 1935, Field Marshal Julian Byng, Commander of Canadian Corps at their victory at Vimy Ridge in April 1917, Commander of British 3rd Army in 1918, Governor General of #Canada from 1921 to 1926 & Commissioner of @metpoliceuk from 1928 to 1931, died, aged 72. #WW1
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