UNDERGROUND CARVINGS MEMORIALIZE CANADIAN SOLDIERS

Canadians have found a unique way to honor their veterans of the First World War.

A long-forgotten subterranean memorial to Canadian soldiers who fought in the First World War will soon see the light of day, thanks to the efforts of a London, Ontario based group.

The unusual memorial was made by the soldiers themselves as they slept, ate and waited in a cave in northern France. They were eventually called to fight at nearby Vimy Ridge, in what would become one of the greatest victories in Canadian military history.

The cave, which is accessible through a small hole in a farmer's field, has been sealed off and largely forgotten since the 1917 battle. British experts reopened the cave five years ago, working to preserve carvings made by soldiers along the cave walls.




Part of an ancient chalk quarry, the cave is a labyrinth of corridors and open spaces that were once lined with hundreds of bunk beds. While recovering from wounds, soldiers carved into the wall.


Alec Ambler, a young stone mason, signed his work and went on to survive the war. Many others weren't so lucky.

A soldier names Elroy Lacey drew animals he remembered from his farm in Dunwich, Ontario. He was later killed in the fighting. Another carver, Grant Phelps, was a railway worker from St. Thomas, Ontario. He was hit by shrapnel in the opening moments of the Vimy Ridge battle and succumbed to his wounds hours later.

Eventually the fighting ended and the cave was abandoned. But there is also some graffiti in the cave dating to 1940, as Belgian refugees hid from the fighting in the next world war.

Now a Canadian group called the Canadigm Team has joined them to document and to make exact replicas of hundreds of pieces of graffiti, which they plan to show across the country.

"This is unique," said retired General Rick Hillier, the honorary chair of the Vimy Foundation. "It's part of our legacy, part of our history."

The etchings by long-dead soldiers are slowly deteriorating, so restorers have been working to document subterranean pre-battle, First World War-era hideouts in France. Soldiers' stories are being researched in preparation for the centenary of Canada's victory at Vimy Ridge.

Canadigm's inaugural exhibit, titled The Souterrain Impressions, will open in the fall of 2013 and will tour across Canada for the next four years, leading up to the 100th anniversary of the battle.


- CTV News










Today's Bird HERE


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NORWALK CT SCHOOLS DROP VETERANs DAY

I bet you dollars to doughnuts these wingnuts celebrate Earth Day - S.L.

Norwalk, Conn. (AP) - A Norwalk city council member with the backing of local veterans groups is asking the city's education board to reconsider its decision to eliminate Veterans Day as a school holiday.

Councilor Kelly Straniti says she contacted the Board of Education after veterans opposed to the calendar change asked her to get involved.

The change was adopted earlier this month at the recommendation of Superintendent Susan Marks, who wanted more classroom time for students. Some of that classroom time would be spent educating students on the importance of Veterans Day.

Alfred Scudder, chairman of the Norwalk Veterans Committee, tells The Hour newspaper that the decision was "crazy."

Board of Education Chairman Jack Chiaramonte says no disrespect was meant and he's willing to listen to the veterans' concerns.




They defended the nation. It is only right and proper to teach our children to honor them.




Today's Bird HERE



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THE EPITOME OF HONOR

A Marine Force Recon buddy sent this to me today; this is what the American warrior class does for it's own - we always bring them back. It might take fifty, or a hundred and fifty years, but in the end . . . we always bring them back.


This is Honor.





The Marine Raiders of World War II were the forerunners of Force Reconnaissance.








Also today, we honor Tim Hetherington, British war correspondent and photographer - killed in action, 20 April 2011 in the besieged Libyan city of Misurata.

Journalists go forward to the battle fronts as absolute volunteers - there is no requirement they go. This is guts, and they serve an important role as scribes of history. But in the end, theys rolls the dices and theys takes theys chances. Hetherington was worthy, however - he was director and producer of the film “Restrepo”




In 2007 and 2008, Hetherington spent 14 months with a platoon of 
paratroopers from the famed 173d Airborne Brigade in the Korangal Valley, Afghanistan.


I saw that documentary; it was so real for me, it sent shivers up my spine.




Timothy (Tim) Hetherington, 1970 – April 20, 2011



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400 ROUNDS, 17 GRENADES & 30 ENEMIES

Soldier Single-Handedly Beats Back Taliban Barrage.


Last summer, a single Gurkha soldier of the British forces single-handedly beat back a Taliban attack of 30 fighters in Afghanistan with just a chunk of metal and a sandbag after running out of ammunition. Sgt. Pun's extraordinary courage in Helmand province earned him the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross at a special ceremony in London:





Facing a surprise attack at a Afghanistan checkpoint, Sergeant Dipprasad Pun, 31, hoisted a 50lb machine gun off its mount to blast at the enemy.

When they kept coming, he launched 17 grenades and picked up an SA80 assault rifle, which jammed on him.

Then he threw the machine gun's metal tripod at his attackers, before fending them off with a sandbag while yelling in Nepali: "I will kill you!"

With nothing left to hand, the exhausted hero finally managed to fire off a Claymore mine, and the blast sent the enemy scattering.

Pun's medal citation said his actions saved the lives of three comrades and prevented the key military position he was guarding from being overrun.

"I was really scared but as soon as I opened fire that was gone. I knew I had to kill them.

"I thought they were going to kill me after a couple of minutes, definitely. Looking back at it, I realise I'm a very lucky guy, a survivor. It is great to get this award. I am very happy."

The sergeant in the Royal Gurkha Rifles told how he was on night-time sentry duty on September 17 last year when he discovered insurgents laying an improvised explosive device at the checkpoint.

He was surrounded and the enemy opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK47s.

As the 20-minute battle raged, Sgt Pun raced onto a wall to remove the .50 cal machine gun from its mount so he could lower it enough to aim at the attackers below.

At one point he turned to find a "huge" militant standing behind him ready to pounce and Sgt Pun fired a final machine gun round at him.

He also fired his SA80 assault rifle, but the weapon failed just as another Taliban crept up on him. He said: "I threw it away and grabbed a sandbag to hit him but all the sand poured away. I had nothing left. Suddenly I found the metal rod and hit him with it.

"I threw it at him yelling in Nepali 'I will kill you' and he fell down. They were very determined. They kept coming and coming. In the end I was nearly collapsed."








Sgt. Pun's actions saved the lives of three comrades and prevented the key military position he was guarding from being overrun.


The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross is just one level below the UK's top military honor, the Victoria Cross.









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CONSTANT DRUMBEAT OF INSANITY CONTINUES

The continual assault on our culture continues. If I had time, I would document the many ways the destructive, anti-Western Civilization forces within our society have attacked all that is good and decent. The inversion of our morals and values has become an almost daily occurrence. This time the very method we honor our heroes is cheapened, made meaningless:


”A three-year-old federal law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military is unconstitutional, an appeals court panel in California ruled Tuesday.”

“A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with him in a 2-1 decision Tuesday, agreeing that the law was a violation of his free-speech rights. The majority said there's no evidence that such lies harm anybody, and there's no compelling reason for the government to ban such lies.”






August 17, 2010 SAN FRANCISCO - A federal law making it a crime to lie about receiving the Medal of Honor or other military decorations violates freedom of speech, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.



Read more HERE and HERE


You know, they're absolutely right. All a military decoration is, is a little piece of tin or brass, with a bit of silken ribbon around it - these things are ultimately meaningless.

Unless you attach meaning to them, of course. Stolen Valor is about giving meaning to the symbols we drape upon those who have bled on our behalf, those who came back in bits and pieces, and those can no longer defend themselves; the Honorable Dead.

During the course of my career I had the dubious pleasure of personally busting out two phony wannabe's - shamed the shit out of these kids and tossed them out of Special Forces training. I've seen too many good men die in that uniform, seen too many families suffer the consequences of such sacrifice, to tolerate fake heroes.

But now the Bozo's of the Ninth Circus Court of Appeals have determined that this is OK. They have stripped honor from the real heroes, and their families, on behalf of the fake, phony wannabe's who mock our heroes by portraying themselves as something that they are not.

Have we gotten to the point where nothing has any meaning any more? If not, at what point will we get there?

Burning an American flag - that's okay, that's Freedom of Speech. Erecting an al Qaeda Victory Monument on Ground Zero - that's good too, that's Freedom of Religion - in the meantime, try to get a copy of the Ten Commandments into a U.S. Courthouse, or a nativity scene on a church lawn and see what happens next. Two boys holding hands and getting married - that's good, that's Freedom of whatever-it-is.

Hordes of undocumented foreigners to stream across the borders and infest our land - and the same crowd that is against all that is good and decent in our society goes out to demonize and punish those who wish to take action, those who suffer at the hands of these hordes. Let these non-Americans wave Mexican Flags and dance and sing in the hallways of our schools on Cinco de Mayo - a non-holiday invented by Adolf Coors Brewing Company to sell beer - that's OK too; but dare not to wear an American flag on your t-shirt or to defend the American flag on this High Holy Day of Mexican Meaninglessness - "we cannot have this, no, no, no, no, NO!"


My only question is how come nobody ever tries to burn an American Flag whenever I'm around?


Thanks to Jason, Thomas H., and of course Theo, who each sent info on this sad state of affairs, to me.

- SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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ADMIN NOTES

I've been tooling around the Blogger service, trying to jazz up the STORMBRINGER Experience . . .


Are YOU "Experienced"?


OK so I've cracked the code of the links (to the right on your screen) . . . IF YOU ASKED TO BE LINKED AND I DIDN'T DO IT - I DIDN'T BLOW YOU OFF I was still learning and I know at least one guy fell off my radar . . .


I'm struggling with ad sense on getting some better ads, stuff that's military related . . . if you see an ad for something TOTALLY WEIRD be advised I have no control over some of that stuff that's coming across the screen . . .


The products and services I personally endorse are to the right there - my buddy Mike's Screamin' Eagle Softail Custom Harley:




I have seen this bike and featured it on Theo's LAST of the FEW and STORMBRINGER last summer - THIS BIKE HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED . . . like the ad says: "meticulously detailed, garage kept beauty" and I can attest it DOES have less than 1000 miles.


. . . and a new Friend of STORMBRINGER: Caspi Silver by Amnon Caspi:





He makes the Sterling Silver Joysticks from famous IDF combat airplanes including the Mirage, the F-4 Phantom and the F-16:





Amnon makes other cool things as well, like miniature Jerusalem Walled City Business Card holders - as soon as I rate a permanent office and a desk I'm getting one of those - and other Holy Land related items.


STORMBRINGER GOT SUCKED INTO POLITICS this past couple of weeks . . . I told you it generates Dark Energy within me . . .


Dark Energy


What can I say? There's been some big dealings going down in Dog City - all you suckers who think the Federal Government is going to take care of you - did you forget already all that hullabaloo last year over the deplorable state of affairs at the VA and Walter Reed? Well guess what? Walter Reed is the SHINING JEWEL of Government Healthcare - you ought to pay it a visit, see what you're in for. Bring some kind of kerchief for your nose, maybe some Vicks VapoRub to put under your nose there like they did in Silence of the Lambs - the place smells of urine.





This post signals a return to the original vision of Blog STORMBRINGER . . . to fight Evil wherever and whenever it manifests itself . . . to promote military themes . . . cool facts and anecdotes from history . . . international security . . . the Holy Land . . . guns . . . leadership . . . survival . . . honor . . .





. . . the Paratrooper Mystique . . .









. . . and the general kaleidoscope of WAR WEIRDNESS . . .



. . . that followers of Blog STORMBRINGER have come to love and expect . . .






"Read responsibly, my friends . . ."




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