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600 Victoria Crosses were awarded for action in the First World War. And 40 % of them went to heroes that were not born in Britain or Ireland! 

6/26/2016

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In the US, as regular readers of this space know, the same scenario took place. Starting back in Civil War days, throughout the Medal of Honor's history well over 700 went to non-American born heroes. That's one in every five folks. Hundreds of stories here have told you about most of the Canadian individuals. Today's is yet another!

On 20 June the British Press told the world how it is continuing to honour the foreign born WW1 Victoria Cross recipients.

In order to gain some details I used three different search phrases, and  "Google News."  From the first 120 hits that came up, only 9 were on topic. And from these ONLY ONE WAS A CANADIAN STORY about the subject I will bring you today.  

ONLY ONE in all of Canada, that came up on the search, despite the fact that in less than 24 hrs, it is a week old.

I have been bringing you the same message in this space for over 3 years. That message is that we seem to have have forgotten the catch line...  "Lest We forget!"  I thought it was  supposed to be a daily message... not just a preamble to yet another long weekend!

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Today's story actually began back in 2012. Covered in earlier blogs here, I noted that the British government planned on honouring the Victoria Cross recipients born and buried in England that earned the medals for bravery in the Great War. The plan called for the unveiling of a marker like that shown above, center for the hero with his name and date of action. The marker would be unveiled in the town or city he came from or another location chosen by local officials, and unveiled on the 100th anniversary of the battle.

Above is Fred Hall, one of the 3 famous heroes from Winnipeg's Valour Road. Search this site to find the story of the Mayor's unveiling.

Sounded great at first but then the officials discovered the restrictive parameters would result in "a few" not being also honoured. Those few grew to at least 175.

Then came plan B, if you will!

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This plan called for the creation of plaques for 11 countries where the forgotten came from. The names missed in plan A would go onto the plaques and each would be sent off to the individual countries. Shown here are the  American (left) and Canadian plaques now mounted at Arlington and Ottawa and also noted in past blogs.

So the most recent news is the unveiling, if you will, of the third phase, a digital collection of the foreign born VC recipients stories, complete with details of the action involved, the citation, a brief bio and 3 minute film clip. 

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To see this clip just google...   "Victoria Cross Overseas".
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Near the beginning of the clip the narrator tells of the Canadians arriving overseas and show several images. This one, while not identified, seems to show my old regiment... The Toronto Scottish.

By using the above search you will arrive at the site of the digital archive. From there you will be given some details of the program. From there you can also use a search tool to look up any one of the 175 claimed names. But when you go to the individual listing of countries, my addition tells me they have listed 186 names. Within these you will see 4 of the 5 US and two other heroes listed twice. They are listed by birth country and then again by country they served with.. in this case being Canada. Take away the doubles and and the Unknown, and you still end up with 179. Yet they claim 175. Hmmm!


By clicking on any of the above names you will get the details about that hero. Each has been written about in past blogs. As has the story of the US Unknown Soldier's ceremony back in 1921. Dignitaries from several countries attended. Canadian PM Borden attended with 2 Canadian VC men, one being 89 and the oldest of all VC recipients in the world at that time.

Note Hutcheson's name starting the above list of American born men. He is also listed on the Canadian list at the new site. Here is his entry.

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The site has a Canadian listing of 70 heroes, and is longer than all the other countries.

When the British Government changed its original plan and expanded it as above noted, it also commented on public demands for more. They didn't want the memorials stopped there and called for all VC recipients being included.

Regardless of  what war, where born, died or buried. Statements a few years ago indicated that this too was coming so we must watch for this.

But with media coverage like that noted above, finding the news may be more difficult than need be.

Hope to be with you again next week,
Bart

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Too many Medals of Honor, more room now needed for state's memorial!

6/19/2016

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A few days back I brought you some news about the state of Texas and its memorials to Medal of Honor men, including Canadians.

Today let's have a look at the situation along the eastern seaboard at Pennsylvania. That state is only 2nd to New York in the number of Medal of Honor men connected in one way or another to it. An incredible 1 in every 10 in the medal's history have a connection here. That means that the names of 379 of the country's bravest are currently honoured at its capital of Harrisburg. And they are running out of room for many more.

Earlier this month the legislature was yet in heated discussion about what to do about the matter. One wonders if the heat was turned up too high. And it comes from right under the very memorial being debated.

Outside of the Capital Complex there is a grassed area called the mall. Below this are tunnels, wiring and a massive geothermal complex that pulls the earth's heat and circulates it to many of the government buildings.

The mall itself was the very ground on which the Union soldiers gathered to march off in the parades that celebrated the end of the Civil War.

Today these grounds  celebrate the 379 from that war and every other war who were awarded the Medal of Honor.


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The capital buildings are behind you as you look down the "mall." The line of trees on the left and right called the "Soldiers" and " Sailors" groves. At the far end are two "Peace Towers."

Running from the grove of trees on left, across the mall and to the trees on the right are bands of markers, the theme being that each is a wave. And all waves in theory are heading out towards the Peace Towers.

Each of these bands consists of engraved stones with the names of all recipients, their battle, place and date. The bands are also separated by stretches of grass left to right...each representing a time of peace.


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This is a view from the above. Again the government buildings are off to the left and the two Peace Towers off to the right. You can better see the "Times of War' and the "Times of Peace" bands and the groves of trees on either side. Just off the image to the right is the end of the property, and therein lies the problem. Where should they install new rows for later recipients?

Current thoughts are around cleaning out some of the growth around the trees and placing new markers in that area.


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Where a row for a different war begins, a marker like this one is mounted to indicate this. This must surely be of great aid to anyone that is  looking for a particular memorial stone.

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This marker has three MOH recipients being honoured. You will hopefully know the name of John Hayes.

Newfoundland born sailor Hayes earned a MOH for actions in 1864 during the famous battle between the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg France. He  has been much noted in blogs in this space.


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George W Roosevelt, a relative of the President of the same name, Pierre Leon and George W Mindil are of course all MOH men but with no connections to Canada. Almost.

In an earlier blog I told the story of the Roosevelt medal actually being right here in Victoria BC and sold off by a collector to another fellow in Ontario. That fellow went to jail after crossing the border and trying to sell it when he knew full well such actions were illegal. Perhaps he should not have sold it to an FBI man. Da!

Pierre Leon had also been mentioned several times in this space. He was a fellow sailor with Charles Robinson of Halifax and 2 others who earned medals for their roll in the Yazoo Expedition, and also for the taking of Forts Henry and Donelson very early in the Civil War. And George Mindil has been oft mentioned as a double recipient that few wish to give him credit for. He is one of the 21 that  I often mention whilst the rest of the world insists there are only 19 double recipients. Bull, I say.

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This very interesting image is of some of the crew that fought off the CSS Alabama in 1864.

Number 3 is Coxswain John Hayes from Brogus Newfoundland. and #4 is Joachim Pease, who for the longest time was thought to be from the US, then Atlantic Canada, but since has been shown to have probably come from The Cape Verde Islands about 350 miles off the NW coast of Africa.

Back with more next week,
Bart

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Late, but back with another update! 

6/15/2016

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Not being able to bring you blogs as planned each Sunday frustrates me. But life happens and sometimes I get pulled in far too many directions at the same time. The past weekend was one of these. I appreciate your waiting...

Today I want to bring you some news from way down in Texas. 

One of the goals of this blog is to bring you stories about memorials, markers, bridges, streets, buildings, armouries and whatever else that honors Medal of Honor men, and the one lady. But also on these very memorials are found the name or names of recipients from Canada or with a connection to Canada.

So lets travel south from Austin about 300 miles to a place called McAllen. And here we will find The Veterans War Memorial of Texas. It consists of several plaques and here is one of them that honours about 75 War heroes.

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Unreadable as the image is, the memorial also notes that over 1/2 of the MOH recipients were killed in action and their medals were awarded posthumously.

In the column of names on the right famous Audie Murphy is listed. And right above the famous soldier and actor is the name of Jonh C Morgan. A name less well known. His heroism payed a major role in the movie Twelve O'Clock  High and can be read about at this blog site.

He tried to enlist with the American services and they, for some strange reason, thought he ought not to be accepted. Apparently he had broken his neck. So he did what thousands of other airmen did. Some even with good necks. They came north, joined the RCAF took flight training and went off to war.

John's incredible story should be searched here and on the net. You won't believe it. Nor can anyone believe that the recruiter in Canada, forgot to ask if he had broken his neck before enlisting him. Seems to me it would have been one of the first questions I'd ask.  Dah!

I am surprised though, that a name missed is that of New Brunswick born sailor George F Phillips who earned a medal for incredible bravery during the Spanish American War. He and 8 others were all Medal of Honor men whom became the ONLY POW's of the war. That story is also told elsewhere in this space.

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His medal is only one of two on public display in Canada that I know of. There are several others but they are safely tucked away across the country. Past blogs told of the difficulties I went through to get this image and put it on public display... where it belongs.

Not long ago at the Texas state capital, where another memorial to the MOH men of the state resides, a plea was sent out to help the state. Of all its recipients, the memorial  is short the pictures of just 6 men. The story is on the net for you to read.

As are several great images of the memorial as it stands today.

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The memorial starts with a cover plaque talking about the medal and the important  role Texans played in the medal's over all story going back to the days of the UNCIVIL War.  

Next comes quite a few different panels listing each of the brave men and what they did to receive the highest of military distinction in the nation.


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The display has been made so that it can be  broken down,  and thus moveable so that it can be taken out to the people across the state and elsewhere. Here we see some school children reading about these heroes, take pictures and posing themselves. hehe.
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Here is a panel of 18 men. At the bottom right corner we can see our man George Phillips, was not forgotten this time. An enlargement of his details is also above.

I have several more items of news updating to bring in the weeks to come about both the MOH and the Victoria Cross.

Some fabulous news, once verified will be detailed in this space as well. We might have found an image of our friend Joseph Noil. And as exciting, we are on the trail of yet another MOH man from Canada, thus clearly bringing the numbers to well over double that when this work was started over 16 years ago.

So please stay tuned,

Back in a few days..

Bart

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Sunday blog delayed till Wednesday night.

6/12/2016

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Time has yet again become my enemy and coupled with unexpected other matters, means today's blog can not be posted till Wednesday night.

Sorry folks,

Bart

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State of Minnesota plans new honours for Medal of Honor recipients, including Canadians.

6/5/2016

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In mid April it was announced and widely carried in the press that the Congressional Medal of Honor Society had approved the proposal for the twins cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to host this most prestigious society's annual convention. The several day event will be held there In early October and will feature many meetings and hold some forums allowing public participation. There will also be opportunities to actually approach, talk to and even get photo's with these heroes and come home with many most prized autographs, MOH books and other keepsakes.

Back in the Fall of 2013 I attended the annual convention held at Gettysburg, met, collected about 40 autographs and also had a great opportunity to fly the Canadian flag as I spoke to well over 3 dozen of the attending recipients. If you search the blogs back in late September and October of 2013, you will see my DAILY blogs, (at that time), covering the trip which, I trust will bring me many fond memories for the rest of my life.

As a result of writing close to 400 blogs in this space, over the years I have often received requests for help with family researches, and asking questions about the MOH or the VC, and details about many of the recipients. Many requests have been made of the blog to permit use on the material in books, speeches, temporary displays, documentaries, school projects, news clips  and the like.

Most recently I was asked if some of my work on Alonzo Pickle could be used by a group in the State of Minnesota. They will be preparing a permanent record and sharing same with the state, possibly creating a website, and also sharing materials with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society itself. I was honoured and pleased to provide same. 
 

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Alonzo Pickle, shown here,  was born in Farnham Quebec, and moved as a youth to the US. He joined the army for Civil War service and fought at many major battles including Gettysburg.

A year later..on his 20th birthday, he would save his wounded officer's life by carrying him off the field to safety. That same officer would later be awarded a MOH but for actions at Gettysburg.

Alonzo would also be so awarded but for actions during the Siege battles of Petersburg. His story appears in earlier blogs at this site.


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This is the State Capital at Saint Paul, and in front in the Mall is the reflective pool, that does not reflect due to its being dry!!!!

Back in February, it was announced that plans are in the works to create a memorial here to honour the State's Medal of Honor recipients. 

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This state plaque holds the names of about 50 medal of Honor recipients, including several of most interest to this blog. I believe this may be mounted on one of the 6 pillars beyond the pool and closer to the Capital building.
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Here you see the names, taken from the above image, of Canadians George Morgan, Alonzo Pickle, and James Flanagan, probably from Ireland. Also shown is that of the famous Charles Lindburgh. Not shown and apparently missing from the list is James Allen.
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The elder Civil War soldier here is Brig. General George Nelson Morgan, Ontario born, and one of 7 Canadians wearing the US uniform of a General. In past blogs I believe I stated there were 8, in error.   His son, George H Morgan, also Ontario born, served after the Civil War and is shown here as a cadet in his earliest days of service. He would rise to the rank of a full Colonel and earn a medal during the Indian uprisings after the CW. An army base in Bosnia Herzegovina was named in his honor.
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In a Tennessee battle of 1863, Montreal born James Flanagan and 15 others held off an incredible force of about 125 cavalry and in doing so saved a most valuable  wagon train of supplies for the Union forces.

Unfortunately history has yet to reveal a photo of this Medal of Honor recipient. Note the MOH flag beside his marker.


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After becoming famous for his 2 day non stop New York to Paris flight  in 1927, President Woodrow Wilson presented  Charles Lindbergh with a medal from his foundation. In a While House ceremony in March of 1928 the same president placed around his neck the Medal of Honor shown here.
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Lindbergh would do his part to bring his story to the world. He would give some 147 speeches, travel over 1200 miles in ticker tape parades and visit 49 states in the months after his famous deed.

Above he is shown at Ottawa with the parliament buildings in the rear. At his side is Prime Minister Mackenzie King who had invited him to come to Canada... and bring his Spirit of St Louis with him... to help with the Canadian celebrations of our July 60th anniversary of Confederation. He spent a few days here and did some air tours of the area including flying in circles around the Peace Tower.

Note he is not wearing the Medal of Honor, as it had not yet been presented.
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James Allen was probably born in Ireland but at a very early age came to Canada, and by age five he was orphaned and living in Canada, but no information yet on  where.

Soon he would be in the US and by the start of the CW he had signed up, became involved in many of the famous battles like others, and would earn his MOH for bravery at South Mountain Maryland by capturing several prisoners and their colours.


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When his enlistment was up, he reenlisted  and was put into a railway regiment. He would be selected with a few others to actually build a touring car, shown here, for President Lincoln. It was too luxurious and so Lincoln apparently refused to use it. (Note the armed guards protecting it.)

When he was assassinated, Allen and the others were told to strip it down and rebuild it as a funeral car and they did.

Each of the above stories have been told at this site in much more detail and can be found by using the search engine in upper right.

This week I hope to free up some time to investigate why Allen's name is not on the above plaque, and will bring further news on this as it develops.

Hopefully his name will be included in any  new memorial created at the state capital.

See you next Sunday

cheers
Bart



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    Author;
    Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
    Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers 

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