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Category Archives: world war two
The search for a soldier without a name (part 5)-the mystery.
The shell came in low and straight, eight hundred metres a second and closing. It sped over the beach cutting between the loose formations of soldiers and slammed into its target-a Sherman tank. The explosion shredded the tank’s track, leaving … Continue reading
The search for a soldier without a name (part 4)-what a picture tells
I almost missed it. At the time, Nelson Mandela was in hospital, and we in the media were expecting the worst. So an anniversary slipped by without me noting it. On June 26, eighty years ago a camera caught the … Continue reading
Posted in The search for the Italian officer, Uncategorized, world war two
Tagged 22 Infantry Division Cacciatori delle Alpi, Accademia Militare di Artiglieria e Genio di Torino, Accademia Militare di Fanteria e Cavalleria Modena., Artillery and Engineer Military Academy in Turin, Italian POW, Military Academy of Infantry and Cavalry in Modena, world war two
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Chocolate in time of war.
My great uncle Morris Christie once had a tooth ache. It was World War Two and Morris was a South African prisoner of war in Poland. He was working in a coal mine and he needed someone to look at … Continue reading
The Search for the Soldier Without a Name (Part 3) – Ten photographs
So here they are, ten photographs taken as trophies of war. Some of them are 79 years old, if the dates on the back of those photographs are correct. Black and white pictures that through the World Wide Web and … Continue reading
The Search for the Soldier Without a Name (Part 2) – An encounter in the desert
This was a foolish act that cost the Italian officer everything he had. Everything dear to him, was taken off him, including those black and white photographs I now have. That act took place somewhere in the Western Desert probably … Continue reading
Premonitions of death in a fox hole
Private Dick Borain went to war believing he was going to die. He was only 24, but could sense death waiting for him in the desert, outside of the dugout that he shared with my grandfather. Their dugout was … Continue reading