10,000 torches in remembrance of WWI's End

10,000-torch display in London marks 100th anniversary of WWI's conclusion

ABC News
By DAVI MERCHAN LONDON
Nov 6, 2018

An installation commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the end of World War I has opened in London.

Yeoman Warders, commonly known as a "Beefeaters," stand by after lighting the first of thousands of flames in a lighting ceremony at the Tower of London, Nov. 4, 2018.

Called "Beyond the Deepening Shadow: The Tower Remembers" and featuring approximately 10,000 torches, each illuminated every evening by more than 250 volunteers, is an act of remembrance for the lives lost during the war.
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WWI Battle of The Somme Chronicle of PTSD

How shell-shock shaped the Battle of the Somme
The Telegraph UK
Taylor Downing
16 APRIL 2016

'The dreams sir, I dare not go to sleep because I dream so of…’

A shell shock victim staggers back from the front and needs help to work.

CREDIT: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

Private Arthur Hubbard, a clerk from Streatham in south London, went over the top at 7.30am on 1 July 1916, the bloody first day of the Battle of the Somme. What he experienced over the next few hours changed him forever. He and his unit, the 14th London, a Pals Battalion, got into the German lines that morning.

They had orders not to take prisoners. When three wounded Germans, badly bleeding, emerged from a dugout Hubbard finished them off. Then a British officer was shot by a sniper as he stood by him. Later that afternoon as he withdrew to the British lines, a mass of soil from a nearby shell buried him. His mates eventually dragged him out and back into the lines.

Hubbard’s family next heard from him in a convalescence hospital in Ipswich. He told his mother not to worry, that he was a bit shaky and suffering from 'severe headaches’ but otherwise he was fit and well and would make a quick recovery. Unfortunately Private Hubbard did not recover.

If the daytime was bad enough, at night it grew even worse. Victims would whisper to Steadman, 'The dreams sir, I dare not go to sleep because I dream so of…’ and he would describe the horrific sights he has witnessed, of mates being blown to pieces alongside, of being buried under debris during one of the massive bombardments.

The worst thing for Steadman was having to send the men back to the front when they seemed to have calmed down. He wrote: 'You cannot help them long, just a few days and then back they must go. If they were kept long the hospital would be absolutely crowded out. There would be no men to fight.’
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Iraq war vet: ‘Now it’s time to win’ at Paralympics

Iraq war vet: ‘Now it’s time to win’ at Paralympics
By Jamieson Lesko
NBC News

LONDON -- "I love my country. I fought for it, and now it's time to win for it,” said U.S. Army Iraq war veteran Scott Winkler, who was paralyzed in 2003 while serving on a mission in Tikrit.

"When you raise your hand and you swear to your country, that is the chance you have to take. That's the biggest part of being a soldier," Winkler, now a shot putter on the U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Team, told NBC News.

Bound to a wheelchair for life, he battled depression and went through a divorce. While in recovery at the VA Augusta Spinal Cord Injury Unit in Georgia, it was a struggle to regain self-sufficiency.

"I said enough is enough. I don't want anyone taking care of me and dressing me, bathing me. ... I'm a soldier," Winkler, 39, said.
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Silver Star recipient's brother takes gold in decathlon

Silver Star recipient's brother takes gold in decathlon
By JENNIFER HLAD
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 10, 2012

WASHINGTON — Before decathlete Ashton Eaton left for London, Gunnery Sgt. Verice Bennett told him that if he ever got tired, he should picture Bennett running just ahead of him.

“Because you know if I beat you, I’m talking trash ... for the rest of your life,” Bennett said he told his half brother.

Apparently the motivation worked. Eaton earned Olympic gold — and the title of world’s greatest athlete — scoring almost 200 points more than the silver medalist, American teammate Trey Hardee.

Back in Virginia, Bennett was cheering. Loudly.
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UK soldiers sent to guard Olympic games in horrible living conditions

Soldiers complain about conditions
(UKPA)
1 day ago

Soldiers have complained about "horrible" living conditions, boredom and a lack of Olympics tickets as Boris Johnson visited their packed warehouse base in London.

The London mayor walked past soldiers sleeping on camp beds in the open, cramped rooms full of dozens of makeshift beds, people washing in plastic crates, smelly portable toilets and an outdoor kitchen as he visited the armed forces' accommodation in an old tobacco warehouse.

The sound of diggers and cranes filled the air as Mr Johnson visited the recreation area - a small strip of concrete next to the old dock. "What is that there?" he remarked. "Should we go and intervene? It's probably Hare Krishnas or something."

Inside, some troops watched Britain win another rowing gold medal and posed for pictures with Mr Johnson, but others told stories of missing holidays and having nothing to do while on standby or on downtime.
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Fort Benning Sergeant defends Olympic gold in men’s skeet

Sergeant defends gold in men’s skeet
By Gary Mihoces
USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Jul 31, 2012

LONDON – Army Sgt. Vince Hancock became the first American man to defend an Olympic gold medal in skeet shooting by winning the event Tuesday afternoon at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Hancock, of Eatonton, Ga., shot a 148 to hold a two-clay advantage over silver medalist Anders Golding of Denmark. Nasser Al-Attiya of Qatar won the bronze with a 144 after winning a shoot off over Russia’s Valeriy Shomin.

With Hancock's result Tuesday and Kim Rhode’s on Monday, the United States swept the skeet gold medals.
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Soldiers going to Olympic Games with Army of support

Olympic wrestlers going to London Games with Army of support
POSTED: 07/16/2012
By Lindsay H. Jones
The Denver Post

FORT CARSON — Each day as the three U.S. Olympic wrestlers drive to and from work, they pass signs that serve as a reminder of the lives they have chosen.

"I will never accept defeat" and "I will never quit" are two of the four signs posted near the gates at Fort Carson, the mammoth Army base near Colorado Springs. The signs are part of the "Warrior Ethos," a mantra for all American soldiers. But the mottos mean more for Dremiel Byers, Justin Lester and Spenser Mango as they prepare to wrestle in London at the Summer Olympics.

All three are members of the Army's World Class Athlete Program, active soldiers and national wrestling champions — each with a legitimate shot of winning a medal in their respective weight classes.

"I expect gold medals," Mango said Monday as he looked around the WCAP wrestling gym.
"We've got three of them in the room right now."
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London Police alerted to 'distressed' mother hours before child killings

Police alerted to 'distressed' mother hours before child killings
Last updated 12 minutes ago
Senior police officer describes scene as 'something no human being should ever have to see in their life'
Woman, 21, sectioned under Mental Health Act
• Social services launch inquiry into family's case
Helen Carter and Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk, Friday November 14 2008 00.01 GMT The Guardian, Friday November 14 2008

The family of a baby and his two-year-old brother who were stabbed to death at home expressed their complete devastation yesterday at the loss of their "beautiful, innocent" children.

A senior police officer described the scene inside the home in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, as "something no human being should ever have to see in their life". Police and ambulance crews who attended the house have been offered counselling.

The boys, Romario Mullings-Sewell, two, and his three-month-old brother Delayno, were discovered at 6pm on Wednesday, a few hours after a family doctor had called police to express concerns at the erratic behaviour of their mother, Jael Mullings. The brothers had single stab wounds to their abdomens.

As Mullings, 21, was arrested on suspicion of murder and sectioned under the Mental Health Act yesterday it emerged the family was known to social services, though the children were not on the at-risk register. The admission that the family was on the radar of social services is likely to once again focus attention on the efficiency of child protection measures in the wake of the death of Baby P in Haringey, north London.

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Miracle landing from 5,500 feet by pilot suddenly blinded by stroke

Pilot lands safely after going blind in mid-air
British aviator reveals 'terrifying' ordeal after suffering stroke at 5,500 feet
updated 7:54 a.m. ET, Sat., Nov. 8, 2008
LONDON - A British pilot who was suddenly blinded by a stroke during a solo flight was talked safely down by a military pilot, the Royal Air Force said Friday.

Jim O'Neill asked for help after he was went blind 40 minutes into a flight from Scotland to southeastern England last week. The BBC reported that O'Neill, flying a small Cessna aircraft, lost his sight 5,500 feet in the air.

"It was terrifying," O'Neill said. "Suddenly, I couldn't see the dials in front of me."
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27600521/