percyjacksonwriter

[percyjacksonwriter]

Events 7.23

811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum’s treasury. 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. 1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. 1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. 1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France. 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. 1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor’s coasts. 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. 1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union. 1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck takes command of the Union Army. 1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India. 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. 1908 – The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans. 1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28. 1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana 1921 – The Communist Party of China (CPC) is established at the founding National Congress. 1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. 1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay. 1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties. 1940 – The United States’ Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin. 1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad. 1943 – The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England. 1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland. 1945 – The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin. 1952 – General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt. 1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua. 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite. 1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed. 1962 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 1967 – Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings. 1968 – Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days. 1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel. 1970 – Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war. 1972 – The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. 1974 – The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece’s metapolitefsi era. 1980 – Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut. 1982 – Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie. 1983 – Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. 1983 – Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba. 1988 – General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests. 1992 – A Vatican commission, led by Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender. 1992 – Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia. 1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later. 1997 – Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel. 1999 – ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa. 1999 – Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory. 2005 – Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people. 2010 – English-Irish boy band One Direction is formed by judge Simon Cowell on The X Factor (British series 7), later going on to finish at third place. It would go on to become one of the biggest boy bands in the world, and would be very influential on pop music of the 2010s. 2012 – The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed the Earth by nine days. If it hit, it would have caused up to US$2.6 trillion in damages to electrical equipment worldwide. 2014 – TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Phengu Airport. Forty-eight of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured. 2015 – NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by Kepler. 2016 – Kabul twin bombing occurred in the vicinity of Deh Mazang when protesters, mostly from the Shiite Hazara minority, were marching against route changing of the TUTAP power project. At least 80 people were killed and 260 were injured. 2018 – A wildfire in East Attica, Greece caused the death of 102 people. It was the deadliest wildfire in history of Greece and the second-deadliest in the world, in the 21st century, after the 2009 bushfires in Australia that killed 180.

[percyjacksonwriter]

Events 7.23 (before 1970)

811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum's treasury. 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. 1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. 1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. 1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France. 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. 1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor's coasts. 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. 1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union. 1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union Army. 1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India. 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires. 1900 – Pressed by expanding immigration, Canada closes its doors to paupers and criminals. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. 1908 – The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans. 1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28. 1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana 1921 – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is established at the founding National Congress. 1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. 1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay. 1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties. 1940 – The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin. 1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad. 1943 – The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England. 1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland. 1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua. 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite. 1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed. 1962 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 1967 – Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings. 1968 – Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days. 1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel.

[percyjacksonwriter]

Events 7.23 (before 1950)

811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum's treasury. 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. 1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. 1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. 1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France. 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. 1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor's coasts. 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. 1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union. 1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union Army. 1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India. 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires. 1900 – Pressed by expanding immigration, Canada closes its doors to paupers and criminals. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. 1908 – The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans. 1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28. 1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana. 1921 – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is established at the founding National Congress. 1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. 1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay. 1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties. 1940 – The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin. 1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad. 1943 – The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England. 1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland. 1945 – The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin.

[percyjacksonwriter]

Events 7.23

811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum’s treasury. 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. 1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. 1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. 1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France. 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. 1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor’s coasts. 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. 1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union. 1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck takes command of the Union Army. 1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India. 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires. 1900 – Pressed by expanding immigration, Canada closes its doors to paupers and criminals. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. 1908 – The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans. 1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28. 1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana. 1921 – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is established at the founding National Congress. 1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. 1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay. 1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties. 1940 – The United States’ Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin. 1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad. 1943 – The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England. 1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland. 1945 – The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin. 1952 – General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt. 1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua. 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite. 1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed. 1962 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 1967 – Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings. 1968 – Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days. 1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel. 1970 – Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war. 1972 – The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. 1974 – The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece’s metapolitefsi era. 1980 – Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut. 1982 – Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie. 1983 – Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. 1983 – Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba. 1988 – General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests. 1992 – A Vatican commission, led by Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender. 1992 – Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia. 1993 – China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 crashes during takeoff from Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, killing 55 people. 1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later. 1997 – Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel. 1999 – ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa. 1999 – Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory. 2005 – Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people. 2010 – English-Irish boy band One Direction is formed by judge Simon Cowell on The X Factor (British series 7), later going on to finish at third place. It would go on to become one of the biggest boy bands in the world, and would be very influential on pop music of the 2010s. 2011 – A high-speed train rear-ends another on a viaduct on the Yongtaiwen railway line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, resulting in 40 deaths. 2012 – The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed the Earth by nine days. If it hit, it would have caused up to US$2.6 trillion in damages to electrical equipment worldwide. 2014 – TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Phengu Airport. Forty-eight of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured. 2015 – NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by Kepler. 2016 – Kabul twin bombing occurred in the vicinity of Deh Mazang when protesters, mostly from the Shiite Hazara minority, were marching against route changing of the TUTAP power project. At least 80 people were killed and 260 were injured. 2018 – A wildfire in East Attica, Greece caused the death of 102 people. It was the deadliest wildfire in history of Greece and the second-deadliest in the world, in the 21st century, after the 2009 bushfires in Australia that killed 180.

[percyjacksonwriter]

Good Morning, Happy New Week ☀️

[percyjacksonwriter]

Phillipians 4:6

[percyjacksonwriter]

I'm sending you a letter edged in black

I had a Very Weird childhood, ok, and there was bad and good in that, but every now and then I find that something I think is common knowledge, at least to older people, is very much not. So - do you know what a "letter edged in back" is? I just mentioned it to a friend who really loves history, and she was unfamiliar. I don't know if she's just today's lucky 10,000 or my estimation of 'common knowledge' is w-a-y outta wack.

A-n-y-h-o-w. This black-edged letter was sent to my grandfather Lester by a friend in 1919. However, it is not a death announcement! This - is like riding up to your friend's house for a visit - in a hearse?! I think. And the letter, which I can partially read, appears to be just a chatty, normal one. She was happy to receive a pretty card from him. "A pretty party in Paris", boating on the river, bicycles, etc. Her parents send him their good wishes.

The only possible way I can account for stationery used to announce deaths being used for a normal letter is if she was just completely out of any other paper.

Mmm, well. One hundred and six years ago July 20th, Marie wrote a chatty letter to Lester in Anvers, Belgium. The Treaty of Versaille had been signed just the month before, but does not seem to have affected Marie's social life. Perhaps, like other who lived through horrific circumstances, she is 'keeping' it light as a survival mechanism.

[percyjacksonwriter]

Sunday July 20, 2025 is National Ice Cream Day ...

[percyjacksonwriter]

Happy Moon Landing Day!

On this day, for the first time in human history, some guys went up and got absolutely silly on a big space rock that *wasn’t* the Earth! And that’s really cool.

[percyjacksonwriter]

It's Moon Landing Day!

On this, Tumblr's first celebration of Moon Landing Day, my insomnia and I bring you this humble, barely researched post of fast facts!

On July 20, 1969 at 4:17 p.m. EDT Apollo 11 becomes the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon.

Neil Armstrong (commander), Buzz Aldrin (lunar module pilot) and Michael Collins (command module pilot) were the crew.

The Apollo 11 spacecraft consisted of the command module, Columbia, and the lunar module, Eagle.

The crew traveled 240,000 miles from the Earth to the moon in 76 hours.

1:47 p.m. EDT Armstrong and Aldrin, in the lunar module Eagle, separate from the command module. Collins remains onboard the Columbia orbiting the moon.

4:17 p.m. EDT - The Eagle lands.

4:18 p.m. EDT - “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed,” Armstrong reports. When the lunar module lands on the moon’s surface at the Sea of Tranquility, it has less than 40 seconds of fuel left.

10:56 p.m. EDT - Armstrong says, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he becomes the first human to set foot on the moon.

11:15 p.m. EDT (approx.) - Buzz Aldrin joins Armstrong on the moon. The men read from a plaque signed by the three crew members and the president, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

11:48 p.m. EDT - President Nixon speaks to Armstrong and Aldrin via radio from the Oval Office, “(it) certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made.” They speak for two minutes and the call is televised on both ends.

Armstrong and Aldrin spend over two hours collecting moon rock samples and data, and spend the night on board the Eagle.

Text from CNN, image from USA Today

[percyjacksonwriter]

Hey. Why isn’t the moon landing a national holiday in the US. Isn’t that fucked up? Does anyone else think that’s absurd?

[percyjacksonwriter]

happy the moon landing july 20 :)

[percyjacksonwriter]

Bruce Lee, November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973.

[percyjacksonwriter]

Jul 20 1919 in WWI

Pictures of some of the Aboriginal serviceman of the 11th Australian Light Horse Regiment who returned to Australia on the Troopship HMT Morvada #OnThisDay Jul 20 1919

AWM P00889.003 “ Studio portrait of 57247 Trooper (Tpr) Horace Thomas Dalton, 11th Light Horse Regiment. Tpr Dalton, of Dunwich, Qld, enlisted on 16 May 1918, and embarked for service overseas aboard HMAT Port Sydney (A15) from Sydney on 17 August 1918. After disembarking in Suez, Egypt, Tpr Dalton underwent training at the Australian Light Horse Remount Unit at Moascar, and was later hospitalised due to an ear infection. He returned to Australia on 20 July 1919. ”

AWM P00889.004 “ Studio portrait of 2436 Private (Pte) Harry C Murray, 11th Light Horse Regiment. Pte Murray of Taroom, Qld, worked as a stock and station hand prior to enlisting on 2 June 1917. He embarked for service overseas with the 11th Light Horse Regiment, 20th Reinforcements aboard HMAT Ulysses (A38) from Sydney on 19 December 1917. After undergoing training at the Australian Light Horse Remount Unit at Moascar, Pte Murray joined the 11th Light Horse Regiment at Belah, Palestine, on 9 March 1918. He returned to Australia on 20 July 1919. ”

AWM P00889.015 “ Portrait of 2428 Trooper (Tpr) Frank Fisher, an Aboriginal serviceman who was born at Claremont, Qld, but at the time of his enlistment was living with his second wife Esme, and three children from his first marriage, at the Barambah Settlement, Qld (renamed Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement in 1931). Tpr Fisher enlisted in Brisbane on 16 August 1917 in the 28 Reinforcements to 11th Light Horse Regiment and embarked in Sydney on the troopship Ulysses (A38) on 19 December 1917. After landing at Suez he was transferred to the 4th Light Horse Training Regiment at Moascar, Egypt, and eventually to the 11th Light Horse Regiment on 13 April 1918. Tpr Fisher returned to Australia on the troopship Morvada sailing from Kantara on 20 July 1919. “

[PRG 1511/6] Troopship H. T. ‘Morvada’ arriving at Outer Harbor on 23 August 1919, with members of the 11th Light Horse (including Bert Penna, 5th Reinforcements) on board. The ship left Egypt on 20 July 1919.

The 11th Light Horse Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment of the Australian Army during the First World War. The regiment was raised in August 1914, and assigned to the 4th Light Horse Brigade. The regiment fought against the forces of the Ottoman Empire, in Egypt, at Gallipoli, on the Sinai Peninsula, and in Palestine and Jordan.

[percyjacksonwriter]

On 20th July 1918 near Marfaux, France, Sergeant John Meikle died, he was just 19.

Sergeant Meikle joined the 2/4th Seaforths on the 8th February, 1915, when barely 19 years. He was trained at Bedford, Fort George, and Blair Atholl, being one of the hardy band to cross the Grampians on the long trek between the Fort and the Blair. He went to France on July 30th, 1916, and although wounded on two or three occasions, never seriously, had only been home on furlough, his last leave being in November, 1917, shortly after the battle of Cambrai. He had a high reputation in the battalion throughout, and it was felt that when he got the Military Medal for gallantry in action on September 20, 1917, he had won it well. Sergt Mekle received a gold watch from the people of Nitshill when home on furlough, and was promoted sergeant on returning to France

On 20th July 1918 near Marfaux, France, Sergeant John Meikle died, he was just 19.

John Meikle was one of the many First World War recruits that were so anxious to join up that they lied about their age.

He was just 16 years when he volunteered to go to war by pretending to be 18, the lowest official age for enlistment.  One historian has estimated that as many as 250,000 "boy soldiers" under the age of 18 signed up to fight in the Great War.

Three years after he enlisted, Meikle died aged 19 and is thought to be one of the youngest-ever recipients of the Victoria Cross. He is also the only Scottish railway employee to have received this award for valour. Of the 628 crosses awarded during the war, only 25 went to men under 20.

Like so many young men at the start of the war, Meikle was motivated by patriotism to "do his bit" for his country. He attempted to enlist after war broke out in 1914 but was rejected due to his youthful appearance and small stature.

Eventually he was accepted by the Seaforth Highlanders on 8 th February 1915 at Maryhill Barracks. He lied about his age saying he was 18, when in fact he was 16 years and five months old. But even at his pretend age of 18, he had to wait a further year to go to France, as a soldier had to be 19 to fight overseas.

Meikle's personal military service record, along with many others, was destroyed in an air raid during the Second World War. But it is know that on July 30th, 1916, Meikle, who had by now trained as a Lewis (machine-) gunner, was sent to France. He was transferred to the 1/4th Seaforth (Ross Highland) Battalion, fighting in the Battle of the Somme and subsequently rising quickly through the ranks.

He was injured in the 3rd Battle of Ypres in 1917, during which he was awarded the Military Medal for his actions near Langmarch. He was sent home to Glasgow to recover from his injuries.

While in Nitshill in November 1917, he was presented with a gold watch on behalf of his fellow villagers in the local public hall. The watch engraved with his initials remains a treasured family heirloom. When Meikle returned to France, he had been promoted to sergeant.

The Second Battle of the Marne was the turning point for the Allies in the War, and became known as the last great German offensive. By 20 July 1918, Meikle and his unit (No 2 Company, 4th Battalion), were with the 51st Highland Division in the French Aisne-Marne Sector, and would defend the Ardre Valley.

Meikle's comrade, Company Sergeant Major G W Sturrah, (who was only 23 years old himself), in a letter to Meikle's mother Annie, wrote: "It is with the deepest regret that I write to you to inform you of your dear son 200854 Sgt Meikle, J, of his death, (killed in action) on the 20th July. We were on this day attacking a strong enemy position, and your dear lad behaved as gallantly as ever Britisher did. He single handed knocked out an enemy machine gun post and its crew. Knocking out with a walking stick he always used to carry and was afterwards rushing another similar post when he was killed by Machine Gun fire. His death was instantaneous."

After his death, his mother Annie donated accumulated funds from her son's VC pension and soldiers pay to two local churches. The family did not attend the official presentation of John's VC at Buckingham Palace, as they were unable to afford the associated expense of new clothes and accommodation in London. Instead they chose to receive the decoration during a local parade at Maryhill Barracks on 28 October 1918.

[percyjacksonwriter]

British Royal Family - Queen Camilla in the parade ring as she attends Betfair Ascot Chase Raceday at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurs) | February 15, 2025

[percyjacksonwriter]

British Royal Family - Queen Camilla in the parade ring as she attends Betfair Ascot Chase Raceday at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurs) | February 15, 2025