Bits 'O History-- Some New News About Old Stuff.
1. USS NORTH CAROLINA-- The November 1st Wilmington (NC) Star News had an article about 1400 runners participating in the 2009 Carolina Sports Half Marathon which started at the battleship Saturday.
Karen Foley from Clinton, NJ, ran for her father Dante Renta who served on the USS North Carolina from 1941 to 1946. $20,00 was raised for local charities.
Next Saturday there will be a Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon. That's using the old warship.
2. 12-YEAR OLD SOLDIER-- Records now show that a 12 and 13-year old fought for Britain at the Battle of the Somme. The 12-year old was too short to see over the edge of the trench.
The 13-year-old, George Maker, lied to his recruiting officer and said he was 18 to join the 2nd King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment in 1917. Under fire at Somme, he broke down in tears and was brought before an unsympathetic officer. He died in 1999at age 96.
3. A REAL BLUNDER-- The Nov. 1st Guardian.co.uk Observer reports that 50,000 Allied POWs in Italy were ordered by the British M19 to remain in their prison camps after Italy dropped out of the war.
This made it easy for German troops to recapture them and send them north to prisons in Germany and Poland where thousands died.
Now, You Know. --Cooter
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