On this day in history.

[J. A.]

Thanks Johanna - enjoyed the video! Dave

You're welcome.

 

[scifan57]

There's a Google Doodle today (for Austria, no idea whether or not other countries got this as well):

I can confirm, it's available in Canada. I just watched the video. Thanks for posting, Johanna. I never knew about Google Doodles until today.

 

[J. A.]

I can confirm, it's available in Canada. I just watched the video. Thanks for posting, Johanna. I never knew about Google Doodles until today.
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You're welcome.

They appear on special occasions, and sometimes for a few countries only. Most of the time it's fun watching them and finding new information.

 

[scifan57]

You're welcome.

They appear on special occasions, and sometimes for a few countries only. Most of the time it's fun watching them and finding new information.

I also noticed there's a YouTube channel where you can watch all the previous Google Doodles.

 

[KevinJS]

When I started this thread I had no inkling of the fact that it would run and run. Thanks to all contributors (so far)

On this day in 1918 World War 1 ended. The war that was supposedly to have ended all wars was finally over.

Please take a couple of minutes this Remembrance Day to remember and honour those who gave all in the hope of our freedom, and spend an extra minute or so thinking about our friends around the world; brought together by forums such as this one.

 

[giradman]

In addition to the end of WW I on this day, as stated by Kevin above - today, the USA celebrates Veterans Day - quoted below is the start of the linked Wiki article, which had a rather poignant picture (shown below) - also, I guess in a small part, a day for me, too - the second pic from the mid-1970s when I was in the Army Medical Corps in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for a couple of years. Dave

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans, that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who gave their lives and those who perished while in service.[1]

.

 

[J. A.]

Burgenland has a completely different reason to celebrate this day:
November 11 is St. Martin's Day.
St. Martin's Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We're celebrating Martin of Tours, our patron saint. That's why schools have a day off on this day (in my state).

 

[scifan57]

In Canada, Remembrance Day celebrates both Canada's veterans and those who gave their lives in the service of their country.

 

[giradman]

In honor of Veterans Day, NPR this afternoon had a story on Alvin C. York, one of the most decorated American soldiers in the Great War - he was from (and returned to) Pall Mall, Tennessee (see map below - around a lot of the areas I've been putting into my travelogues) - also below, a pic of Sergeant York and his decorations, including the Medal of Honor.

Quote from the first paragraph of the Wiki article link above. Upon the USA's entry into WW II, the 'patriotic' film Sergeant York was released in 1941, starring Gary Cooper as York and Joan Leslie, who was still a teenager at the time and played his future wife, Gracie Williams - I own the DVD shown and will likely replace w/ a blu-ray restoration, when available? Dave

Alvin Cullum York (December 13, 1887 – September 2, 1964), known also by his rank, Sergeant York, was one of the most decorated soldiers of the United States Army in World War I.[1] He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a Germanmachine gun nest, taking 32 machine guns, killing 20 German soldiers, and capturing 132 others. This action occurred during the United States-led portion of the broader Meuse-Argonne Offensive in Francemasterminded by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch to breach the Hindenburg line and make the opposing German forces surrender.

After York's death, his wife sold most of the York farm to the State of Tennessee. The farm is now open to visitors as the Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historic Park.

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[scifan57]

In honor of Veterans Day, NPR this afternoon had a story on Alvin C. York, one of the most decorated American soldiers in the Great War - he was from (and returned to) Pall Mall, Tennessee (see map below - around a lot of the areas I've been putting into my travelogues) - also below, a pic of Sergeant York and his decorations, including the Medal of Honor.

Quote from the first paragraph of the Wiki article link above. Upon the USA's entry into WW II, the 'patriotic' film Sergeant York was released in 1941, starring Gary Cooper as York and Joan Leslie, who was still a teenager at the time and played his future wife, Gracie Williams - I own the DVD shown and will likely replace w/ a blu-ray restoration, when available? Dave


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I've had Sergeant York in my collection since I first bought it as a VHS copy 30 years ago.

 

[giradman]

I've had Sergeant York in my collection since I first bought it as a VHS copy 30 years ago.

Hi Scifan.. - yep, I had the movie on VHS tape - got rid of those years ago replacing the tapes w/ optical discs - on DVD now, but I'm sure that a blu-ray restoration will be offered (when?) - Joan Leslie was an amazing teenage talent - she was 16 y/o in Sergeant York in '41, and then 17 y/o the next year in Yankee Doodle Dandy w/ James Cagney (that one I do have as a BD w/ excellent sound) - a couple pics below w/ her in those two films @ that young age - Dave
.

 

[giradman]

Elizabethan Age Begins w/ the Virgin Queen enthroned this day in 1558

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, the childless Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty (Source).

The long reign of Elizabeth, who became known as the “Virgin Queen” for her reluctance to endanger her authority through marriage, coincided with the flowering of the English Renaissance, associated with such renowned authors as William Shakespeare. By her death in 1603, England had become a major world power in every respect, and Queen Elizabeth I passed into history as one of England’s greatest monarchs (Source). Dave
.

 

[scifan57]

The tomb of Elizabeth I was one of the highlights of my tour of Westminster Abbey during my London visit in 2014.

 

[giradman]

The tomb of Elizabeth I was one of the highlights of my tour of Westminster Abbey during my London visit in 2014.

Yes, I've been to Westminster Abbey several times and usually look for the musicians, authors, & scientists (list of some favorites below) - BUT, there are so many personages either there 'in person' or in memory - for those interested, look HERE - also, a pic of the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I mentioned above - Dave

Muzio Clementi (composer/pianist)
Charles Darwin (author/naturalist)
Charles Dickens (author)
George F. Handel (composer)
Charles Lyell (scientist)
Issac Newton (scientist)
Laurence Olivier (actor)
Henry Purcell (composer)
Ralph V. Williams (composer)
.

 

[scifan57]

November 18, 1863;

Abraham Lincoln travels to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to deliver a short address at the dedication of a cemetery for the dead from the battle of Gettysburg. This short speech became one of the most famous speeches in American history.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.