Frodov
Bronze Member
-October 8th, 1918 somewhere in the Argonne Forest, France
I hear tell that they call this place a forest. Aint lookinâ much like any forest Iâs eâer seen. Shore donât look anythinâ like the woods back home in Tennessee and thatâs the gospel truth. Sticks and mud, trenches and mud, smoke and mud, gas and mud, bodies and mud.. and lots more mud. I donât think Iâll ever rightly understand why we all have to be here in this here forest in France a killinâ one another. But I understand that I have a duty to God and my country so I aim to do the best I kin I recon. I sure do miss home though, where a forest really has trees and there aint so much of this confounded mud everywhere you look. Sarge came around this morninâ passinâ out the mail from back home. Even I got a letter. Twas from my ma. Said she still didnât take to well to knowinâ I was over here a fightinâ this here war but theyâs callinâ it âThe War To End All Warsâ back home so maybe itâs a good thing we go ahead and get it over and done with. She says that she and all my kin back home miss me a whole heap and are a prayin that I come home safe and sound when Iâm finished with doinâ my duty for our country. Ma said she put a shiny brand new penny in with the letter and hoped it would bring me good luck. It sure is a shiny little thing. Itâs got a picture of Olâ Honest Abe on one side with this years date of 1918, and wheat stalks on tâother. Sure makes me feel a little better to know that I have a little bit of home in my pocket. Well Sarge just came round and said that the Germans were about to try pushing us back a piece. I still donât understand whatâs so valuable about this little patch of mud or that little patch of mud but they sure do have a hankerinâ for it. I still donât cotton much to the idea of a killinâ a man over one mud hole or another, but I hear olâ Sarge a sayinâ â Corporal York! Them Germans are aiminâ to kill you! To kill you and every one of your fellow soldiers ! We have to keep advancing and taking this ground back from them if we want to end this war. Theyâll be shooting at you with everything they have, artillery, rifles and machine guns. We will advance, we will die if we have to, but we will advance because those are our orders. Now move out!â
âThe Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldnât tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from⌠And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our attack just faded out⌠And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard. â - Corp. Alvin Cullen York excerpt from Sergeant York: His Own Life Story and War Diary, 1928.
Corp. Alvin Cullen York lead an attack on German held machine gun positions taking 32 machine gun nests killing 28 German Soldiers and capturing 132 others . York was promoted to the rank of Seargent and later awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor and going above and beyond the call of duty.
Flu or False..
more people died in 1918 from the Flu than from the fighting in the war (WW I) ?
TRUE !!!!!!!!!!!
World War I claimed an estimated 16 million lives. The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history.
Howâs that for some History and trivia? Hi again everyone. I hope I didnât bore you with the historical interlude there. I had to look up something that occurred on or close to this date (October 10th) way back in 1918. Why? Because I found a well worn little Lincoln Wheat cent while out metal detecting this morning, that âs why. I wanted to tie that date to todayâs date somehow, to bring it home so to speak. Well itâs a little freaky that we as a society, especially here in the U.S. at the present are very concerned if not panicking over the Swine Flu Epidemic (dare we call it a Pandemic yet?) .. and wouldnât you know it, but the Flu was kind of big news way back in 1918 as well. You could say it was KILLER news, even with a war.. the âGreat Warâ.. the âWar to End All Warsâ or as we know it now World War One goin on and soldiers on both sides dying by the hundreds or even thousands every day. Sad to think that perhaps weâve not come so far in all these years after all huh? Ok ok ok ok.. enough with the depressing thoughts. This was supposed to be a celebration of sorts. <grin> I mean I cleaned up today at the park!
Yeah, I found a lot of coins, but thatâs not what I meant about cleaning up. I cleaned up a lot of trash while detecting. Ugh.. lots of scrap metal identifiable or not, lots of pull tabs, metal and plastic bottle tops, scrap and crap, but there were a few notable gems in the mix as well though. Thankfully! Besides the one lone Wheaty that Iâve turned into a bit of a soap opera now <rolling eyes> I also found one lonely little lady hanging out around one of the baseball fields in the County Park that I was detecting. A Susan B. Anthony Dollar coin. ⌠yeah.. I thought about doing some research on her and including it in my post, but then Iâd have to get it published as it would be a freakinâ BOOK by the time I was done. <laughing> Anyway.. One Little Old Wheaty Circa 1918, and little miss Susan B. The unique finds for the day.
Iâd mentioned Iâd found some plastic while metal detecting. Yeah. You know, if you keep your eyes open you do tend to find things on the surface as well as with the detector that are otherwise unseen. I generally pick up pop bottles and the like and toss them in the nearest trash can. I save the âcoke rewardsâ caps however for my wife as she collects the points online for goodies . I find toys and stuff from time to time as well. Some of you have seen the âcrittersâ and cars and what not from my previous postings. Well today it was a soldier.. (yeah.. another reason I went with the 1918 allegory, and Sergeant York etc.) Although I dare say that this trooper is a depiction of a much more recent combatant than The Gentleman from Tennessee.
There were lots of zipper pulls found today, I only kept these three to share in my post however. A Nike related pull (I think) and one from Louisville Slugger, and one from âUnder Armour â. Never heard of that brand before. Buttons, a key, and one lone hair clasp. The clasp is metal with a paste âgemâ in it.
The park I was detecting at today is a BIG park. Itâs the County Park in Georgetown Kentucky (Scott County). There is a rather sizeable tot lot with woodchips.. or had woodchips until recent rains have flooded the playground and washed most of them away. A tot lot bereft of woodchips is a sad sight to behold. *sigh* However, besides the one tot lot, there are four or five baseball (softball) fields, along with the âfair groundsâ area, soccer fields fishing ponds and lots of walking trails. Like I said, itâs a BIG park. I concentrated my efforts hunting to the areas around the ball fields and the tot lot. Iâll go back another time to check out the soccer fields and other places.
Oh the trash was there to be found, and I found it. All manner of things metal, foil, pull tabs, bottle caps, pieces of fencing, metal siding? Metal clips even. Oh well, if I dug it up, I picked it up. Most of the trash metal ended up in the recycling can after I got home of course, even the stuff I took pictures of for my post.
And of course there were the coins. Besides the two coins already mentioned, I picked up and dug up a whole bunch of clad! Certainly paid for my gas today! And then some! <smile>
You got to love a hobby that pays you to play, gets you to exercise, and stimulates your curiosity and your mind. And is just plain FUN! I hope you all get out to play a little this weekend. .. and as always..
~HAPPY HUNTING~
Frodov
I hear tell that they call this place a forest. Aint lookinâ much like any forest Iâs eâer seen. Shore donât look anythinâ like the woods back home in Tennessee and thatâs the gospel truth. Sticks and mud, trenches and mud, smoke and mud, gas and mud, bodies and mud.. and lots more mud. I donât think Iâll ever rightly understand why we all have to be here in this here forest in France a killinâ one another. But I understand that I have a duty to God and my country so I aim to do the best I kin I recon. I sure do miss home though, where a forest really has trees and there aint so much of this confounded mud everywhere you look. Sarge came around this morninâ passinâ out the mail from back home. Even I got a letter. Twas from my ma. Said she still didnât take to well to knowinâ I was over here a fightinâ this here war but theyâs callinâ it âThe War To End All Warsâ back home so maybe itâs a good thing we go ahead and get it over and done with. She says that she and all my kin back home miss me a whole heap and are a prayin that I come home safe and sound when Iâm finished with doinâ my duty for our country. Ma said she put a shiny brand new penny in with the letter and hoped it would bring me good luck. It sure is a shiny little thing. Itâs got a picture of Olâ Honest Abe on one side with this years date of 1918, and wheat stalks on tâother. Sure makes me feel a little better to know that I have a little bit of home in my pocket. Well Sarge just came round and said that the Germans were about to try pushing us back a piece. I still donât understand whatâs so valuable about this little patch of mud or that little patch of mud but they sure do have a hankerinâ for it. I still donât cotton much to the idea of a killinâ a man over one mud hole or another, but I hear olâ Sarge a sayinâ â Corporal York! Them Germans are aiminâ to kill you! To kill you and every one of your fellow soldiers ! We have to keep advancing and taking this ground back from them if we want to end this war. Theyâll be shooting at you with everything they have, artillery, rifles and machine guns. We will advance, we will die if we have to, but we will advance because those are our orders. Now move out!â
âThe Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldnât tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from⌠And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our attack just faded out⌠And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard. â - Corp. Alvin Cullen York excerpt from Sergeant York: His Own Life Story and War Diary, 1928.
Corp. Alvin Cullen York lead an attack on German held machine gun positions taking 32 machine gun nests killing 28 German Soldiers and capturing 132 others . York was promoted to the rank of Seargent and later awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor and going above and beyond the call of duty.
Flu or False..
more people died in 1918 from the Flu than from the fighting in the war (WW I) ?
TRUE !!!!!!!!!!!
World War I claimed an estimated 16 million lives. The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history.
Howâs that for some History and trivia? Hi again everyone. I hope I didnât bore you with the historical interlude there. I had to look up something that occurred on or close to this date (October 10th) way back in 1918. Why? Because I found a well worn little Lincoln Wheat cent while out metal detecting this morning, that âs why. I wanted to tie that date to todayâs date somehow, to bring it home so to speak. Well itâs a little freaky that we as a society, especially here in the U.S. at the present are very concerned if not panicking over the Swine Flu Epidemic (dare we call it a Pandemic yet?) .. and wouldnât you know it, but the Flu was kind of big news way back in 1918 as well. You could say it was KILLER news, even with a war.. the âGreat Warâ.. the âWar to End All Warsâ or as we know it now World War One goin on and soldiers on both sides dying by the hundreds or even thousands every day. Sad to think that perhaps weâve not come so far in all these years after all huh? Ok ok ok ok.. enough with the depressing thoughts. This was supposed to be a celebration of sorts. <grin> I mean I cleaned up today at the park!
Yeah, I found a lot of coins, but thatâs not what I meant about cleaning up. I cleaned up a lot of trash while detecting. Ugh.. lots of scrap metal identifiable or not, lots of pull tabs, metal and plastic bottle tops, scrap and crap, but there were a few notable gems in the mix as well though. Thankfully! Besides the one lone Wheaty that Iâve turned into a bit of a soap opera now <rolling eyes> I also found one lonely little lady hanging out around one of the baseball fields in the County Park that I was detecting. A Susan B. Anthony Dollar coin. ⌠yeah.. I thought about doing some research on her and including it in my post, but then Iâd have to get it published as it would be a freakinâ BOOK by the time I was done. <laughing> Anyway.. One Little Old Wheaty Circa 1918, and little miss Susan B. The unique finds for the day.
Iâd mentioned Iâd found some plastic while metal detecting. Yeah. You know, if you keep your eyes open you do tend to find things on the surface as well as with the detector that are otherwise unseen. I generally pick up pop bottles and the like and toss them in the nearest trash can. I save the âcoke rewardsâ caps however for my wife as she collects the points online for goodies . I find toys and stuff from time to time as well. Some of you have seen the âcrittersâ and cars and what not from my previous postings. Well today it was a soldier.. (yeah.. another reason I went with the 1918 allegory, and Sergeant York etc.) Although I dare say that this trooper is a depiction of a much more recent combatant than The Gentleman from Tennessee.
There were lots of zipper pulls found today, I only kept these three to share in my post however. A Nike related pull (I think) and one from Louisville Slugger, and one from âUnder Armour â. Never heard of that brand before. Buttons, a key, and one lone hair clasp. The clasp is metal with a paste âgemâ in it.
The park I was detecting at today is a BIG park. Itâs the County Park in Georgetown Kentucky (Scott County). There is a rather sizeable tot lot with woodchips.. or had woodchips until recent rains have flooded the playground and washed most of them away. A tot lot bereft of woodchips is a sad sight to behold. *sigh* However, besides the one tot lot, there are four or five baseball (softball) fields, along with the âfair groundsâ area, soccer fields fishing ponds and lots of walking trails. Like I said, itâs a BIG park. I concentrated my efforts hunting to the areas around the ball fields and the tot lot. Iâll go back another time to check out the soccer fields and other places.
Oh the trash was there to be found, and I found it. All manner of things metal, foil, pull tabs, bottle caps, pieces of fencing, metal siding? Metal clips even. Oh well, if I dug it up, I picked it up. Most of the trash metal ended up in the recycling can after I got home of course, even the stuff I took pictures of for my post.
And of course there were the coins. Besides the two coins already mentioned, I picked up and dug up a whole bunch of clad! Certainly paid for my gas today! And then some! <smile>
You got to love a hobby that pays you to play, gets you to exercise, and stimulates your curiosity and your mind. And is just plain FUN! I hope you all get out to play a little this weekend. .. and as always..
~HAPPY HUNTING~
Frodov
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