ANNIVERSARIES

[MajorBloodnok]

06-08
RFA
1982-06-08: RFA SIR GALAHAD SET ALIGHT IN AIR STRIKE, KILLING 48 SOLDIERS AND CREWMEN, WOUNDING (BURNING) MANY OTHERS
SIR GALAHAD was active during the FALKLANDS WAR, sailing from HMNB Devonport on 6 April with 350 ROYAL MARINES and entering San Carlos Water on 21 May.
On 24 May 1982 in San Carlos Water she was attacked by A-4 Skyhawks of the Argentine Air Force's IV Brigada Aérea and was hit by a 1000 pound bomb dropped by Lt. Luis Alberto "Tucu" Cervera's A-4, (which did not detonate) then strafed by Dagger fighter bombers. After removal of the unexploded bomb, she carried out supply runs to Teal Inlet along with RFA Sir Percivale.
On the 8 JUNE 1982 while preparing to unload soldiers from the WELSH GUARDS in Port Pleasant, off FITZROY, together with RFA SIR TRISTRAM, the SIR GALAHAD was attacked by three A-4 Skyhawks from Argentine Air Force's V Brigada Aérea, each loaded with three 500 lb retarding tail bombs. At approximately 14:00 local time RFA SIR GALAHAD was hit by two or three bombs and set alight.
A TOTAL OF 48 SOLDIERS & CREWMEN WERE KILLED IN THE EXPLOSION AND SUBSEQUENT FIRE.
Her Captain, PHILIP ROBERTS, waited until the last minute to abandon ship and was the last to leave. He was subsequently awarded the DSO for his leadership and courage.
CHIU YIU-NAM, a seaman on RFA SIR GALAHAD, was AWARDED THE GEORGE MEDAL FOR RESCUING TEN MEN TRAPPED IN A FIRE IN THE BOWELS OF THE SHIP!
BBC television cameras recorded images of ROYAL NAVY helicopters hovering in thick smoke to winch survivors from the burning landing ships. These images were seen around the world.
Other units affected include 3 TROOP (of 20 FIELD SQUADRON, 36 ENGINEER REGIMENT attached to 9 INDEPENDENT PARACHUTE SQUADRON ROYAL ENGINEERS and was being transported on the GALAHAD to provide engineering support following the landings. ENGINEERS feature prominently in contemporary footage showing two lifeboats landing survivors. Also 16 FIELD AMBULANCE (RAMC) were on board and assisted with the treatment and evacuation of the many casualties.
During the attack on 8 June, the fires were out of control. The MAIN PART OF THE EVACUATION OF THE WOUNDED WAS CARRIED OUT BY THE SHIP'S ROYAL MARINE DETACHMENT. The ROYAL MARINES organised the launch of life rafts from the bow of the ship, whilst at the same time marshaling helicopters for personnel to be winched clear. Immediate first aid was given to those most seriously wounded and a triage system set up. The ACTIONS OF THESE FEW ROYAL MARINES UNDPOUBTEDLY SAVED LIVES ON THE DAY, THOUGH ONLY ONE, SGT DOLIVERA, RECEIVED A 'MENTION IN DISPATCHES'. The ROYAL MARINES were the last personnel to abandon ship.
The SAME ROYAL MARINES had also returned to the RFA SIR GALAHAD to assist the ROYAL NAVY EOD team in defusing the 1000 lb bomb which crashed through the side of the ship without exploding on 24 May 1982. All had returned on board as volunteers and assisted in physically carrying the unexploded bomb through to the rear Tank Deck ramp, where it was placed in an inflatable boat (filled with packets of cornflakes to act as padding!) and taken out into San Carlos water where the boat was punctured and sank.
During the 25th Anniversary of the Falklands War some of the ROYAL MARINES requested to attend the RFA SIR GALAHAD ASSOCIATION Dinner, HOWEVER THIS WAS REFUSED AS THEY HAD NOT BEEN COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AT THE TIME OF THE ATTACK!(?).
After the Falklands War
On 21 JUNE the hulk was towed out to sea and sunk by HMS ONYX; it is now an official war grave, designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act.
GUARDSMAN SIMON WESTON was among the survivors of the attack on SIR GALAHAD. HE SUFFERED 46% BURNS and his story has been widely reported in television and newspaper coverage. Ten years after SIR GALAHAD was sunk, WESTON was awarded the OBE. Other survivors include the intelligence consultant CRISPIN BLACK.
A replacement ship entered service in 1988, carrying the same name and pennant number.
The 48 CASUALTIES Of The RFA SIR GALAHAD:
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Electric Fitter Leung Chau
3rd Engineering Officer Christopher F. Hailwood
2nd Engineering Officer Paul A. Henry, G.M.
3rd Engineering Officer Andrew J. Morris
Butcher Sung Yuk Pai
Leung Chau
Sung Yuk Fai

1st Battalion, WELSH GUARDS
Lance Corporal Anthony Burke
Lance Sergeant Jim R. Carlyle
Guardsman Ian A. Dale
Guardsman Michael J. Dunphy
Guardsman Peter Edwards
Sergeant Clifford Elley
Guardsman Mark Gibby
Guardsman Glenn C. Grace
Guardsman Paul Green
Guardsman Gareth M. Griffiths
Guardsman Denis N. Hughes
Guardsman Gareth Hughes
Guardsman Brian Jasper
Guardsman Anthony Keeble
Lance Sergeant Kevin Keoghane
Guardsman Michael J. Marks
Guardsman Christopher Mordecai
Lance Corporal Stephen J. Newbury
Guardsman Gareth D. Nicholson
Guardsman Colin C. Parsons
Guardsman Eirwyn J. Phillips
Guardsman Gareth W. Poole
Guardsman Nigel A. Rowberry
Lance Corporal Philip A. Sweet
Guardsman Glyn K. Thomas
Lance Corporal Nicholas D. M. Thomas
Guardsman Raymond G. Thomas
Guardsman Andrew Walker
Lance Corporal Christopher F. Ward
Guardsman James F. Weaver
Sergeant Malcolm Wigley
Guardsman David R. Williams

Army Catering Corps
Lance Corporal Barry C. Bullers
Private Albert M. Connett
Private M Anthony Jones
Private Richard W. Middlewick
Royal Army Medical Corps
Lance Corporal Ian R. Farrell
Major Roger Nutbeem
Private Ken Preston
[9 INDEPENDENT PARACHUTE SQUADRON, ROYAL ENGINEERS]
Actually Members of 3 TROOP, 20 FIELD SQUADRON, 36 ENGINEER REGIMENT, ROYAL ENGINEERS.
(3 TROOP was temporarily attached to 9 PARA for the Falklands Conflict.)
Corporal Andrew G. McIlvenny
Sapper Wayne D. Tarbard
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
Craftsman Mark W. Rollins
Lance Corporal Anthony R. Streatfield

R.I.P.

[MajorBloodnok]

06-17
BRITAIN
1940-06-17: SINKING Of BOMBED ‘HMT*/RMS LANCASTRIA’ WITH The LOSS OF AT LEAST 4,000 LIVES, 1,738 NAMED FATALITIES,
‘HMT*/RMS** LANCASTRIA’ [*Hired Military Transport / **Royal Mail Ship]
was a British Cunard liner commandeered by the UK Government for war. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with at least 4,000 fatalities, and possibly a great many more.
It is the greatest ever loss of life in the sinking of a single British ship, claiming more lives than the combined losses of the RMS Titanic (1,517 passengers and crew) and RMS Lusitania (1,198 passengers). It had also the highest death toll for UK forces from a single ship in the whole of World War II.
The Sinking & Its Aftermath
She was sunk off the French port of St. Nazaire while taking part in ‘OPERATION ARIEL’, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation.
After a short overhaul, she left Liverpool on 14 June under Captain Rudolph Sharp (born 27 October 1885) and arrived in the mouth of the Loire estuary on 16 June. She anchored 11 miles (18 km) south-west of St. Nazaire. By the mid-afternoon of 17 June she had embarked an unknown number (estimates range from 4,000 up to 9,000!) of civilian refugees (including Embassy staff and employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium), line-of-communication troops (including Pioneer and RASC soldiers) and RAF personnel. The ship's official capacity was 2,200 including the 375-man crew. Captain Sharp had been instructed by the Royal Navy to "load as many men as possible without regard to the limits set down under international law".
At 13:50, during an air-raid, the nearby Oronsay, a 20,000-ton Orient Liner, was hit on the bridge by a German bomb. Lancastria was free to depart and the Captain of the British destroyer HMS Havelock advised her to do so, but without a destroyer escort as defence against possible submarine attack Sharp decided to wait.
A fresh air raid began before 16:00. Lancastria was bombed at 15:48 by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft from II. Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30.
Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port; she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. Over 1,400 tons of fuel oil leaked into the sea and was set partially on fire. Many drowned, were choked by the oil, or were shot by strafing German aircraft. Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900. There were 2,447 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011.
Many families of the dead knew only that they died with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF); the death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the BEF in France. She sank around 5 nmi (9.3 km) south of Chémoulin Point in the Charpentier roads, around 9 nmi (17 km) from St. Nazaire.
The Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed.
Rudolph Sharp survived the sinking and went on to command the RMS Laconia, losing his life on 12 September 1942 when that ship was torpedoed and sunk off West Africa.
Availability of Information
The immense loss of life was such that the British Government suppressed news of the disaster through the D-Notice system, but the story was broken by the Press Association on 25 July, in the United States by The New York Times and in Britain by The Scotsman on 26 July, more than five weeks after the sinking. Other British newspapers then covered the story, including the Daily Herald (also on 26 July), which carried the story on its front page, and Sunday Express on 4 August; the latter included a photograph of the capsized ship with her upturned hull lined with men under the headline "Last Moments of the Greatest Sea Tragedy of All Time", but the full story of the Lancastria never came out. As part of the government-ordered cover-up, survivors and the crews of the ships that had gone to the aid of Lancastria did not at the time publicly discuss the disaster.

[MajorBloodnok]

FX140162089.jpg (137.01 KiB) Viewed 2352 times

[MajorBloodnok]

06-26

2015-06-26: MUSLIM/ARAB TERRORISM –
TUNISIA ‘SOUSSE/PORT EL KANTAOUI HOTEL SHOOTINGS’ :
MUSLIM/ARAB TERRORIST MURDERS 38 PEOPLE (30 BRITISH CITIZENS), WOUNDS 39 (26 BRITS).

On 26 June 2015, a mass shooting occurred at the tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, about 10 kilometres north of the city of Sousse, Tunisia.
Thirty-eight people, 30 of whom were British, were killed when a Tunisian gunman attacked a hotel. It was the deadliest non-state attack in the history of modern Tunisia, with more fatalities than the 22 killed in the Bardo National Museum attack 3 months before.
Attack
On 26 June 2015 the Spanish-owned five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel at Port El Kantaoui, a tourist complex situated on the coast about ten kilometres north of Sousse, Tunisia, was hosting 565 guests mainly from Western Europe, 77% of its capacity. Tourists from the hotel as well as from the Soviva Hotel located nearby went to the beach to swim and sunbathe.
At around noon, the Tunisian gunman, disguised as a tourist, socialised with others, and then took out a Kalashnikov assault rifle concealed in a beach umbrella and fired at the tourists on the beach. He entered the hotel, shooting at people he came across. He was killed by security forces during an exchange of fire. All bullets were found to have been fired from the one weapon; the attacker had four magazines of ammunition. The attacker had spoken to his father on a mobile telephone which he then threw into the sea just before the attack; it was retrieved.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said that they were sure that others helped, but did not participate directly, providing the Kalashnikov, and helping the terrorist to the scene.
VICTIMS
KILLED/WOUNDED/TOTAL
United Kingdom 30/26/56
Republic of Ireland 3/0/3
Germany 2/1/3
Belgium 1/3/4
Russia 1/1/2
Portugal 1/0/1
Tunisia 0/7/7
Ukraine 0/1/1

Total 38/39/77
Thirty-eight people were killed, thirty of whom were British. Among the fatalities was Denis Thwaites, a former professional footballer for Birmingham City, and his wife, Elaine.
Thirty-nine others were wounded.
On 4 July, Tunisian President Essebsi removed from his post the provincial Governor of Sousse and at least five senior police officers. Among the policemen dismissed were three from Sousse, one from Gaafour (the home city of Rezgui) and one from Kairouan, where Rezgui was studying.

[Norseman]

Excuse me Major, but do we need all this information about dead, sorrows and killings?
I'm sorry but I don't want any reminders of killings and death numbers in this peaceful forum.
Maybe I'm wrong but this is the way I feel about it.

[MajorBloodnok]

Dear Norseman,

If the Swedes or Norwegians cared more about their history & heritage, their countries would not be in such a mess!

I believe the victims of war, terrorism & violence deserve to be remembered; servicemen & servicewomen that sacrificed their lives in particular! The same goes for outstanding historic persons.

If you are not interested in history or don't care, just don't open this thread!

[Norseman]

Is Norway in a mess? Please explain and enlighten me.
I also believe that I'm above average interested in history but each to his own!

[oakdale160]

Norseman--- It is not compulsory for people reading the forum to open every thread. Read the threads that you enjoy and omit any that you find distasteful.

[Lev]

Norseman--- It is not compulsory for people reading the forum to open every thread.

It is for moderators.

It also happens on occasion that we remind folk that we are a Hua Hin/Thailand forum and sometimes things would be more suited on their own niche forums where they would probably get the audience they seek.

[MajorBloodnok]

Norseman & Lev,

moderators should NOT be biased!

Norseman--- It is not compulsory for people reading the forum to open every thread. Read the threads that you enjoy and omit any that you find distasteful.

What OAKDALE said, applies to everyone on this forum!
Or do you want to censure everything that you personally don't appreciate?

As for the ridiculous HUA HIN FORUM argument - Do I have to draw your attention to the fact that the section of the Forum in question is entirely devoted to topics that have nothing to do with Hua Hin! Foo in particular!
My thread is devoted to events in British, Canadian, Aussie & New Zealand (Military) History!
If a majority of Brits, Canadians, Aussies & Kiwis tell me to f**** off, I shall immediately close this thread!


Regards,

MB

[Norseman]

Good, then do that, This has nothing to do with Hua Hin or Thailand so why cling to some history that means nothing to most civilians.
Certainly not on a forum that mainly is about the Hua Hin area.

[MajorBloodnok]

Norseman,

most of the subsections in "The LOUNGE" are explicitly dealing with topics "not directly related to Hua Hin"!
If I had opened my thread in the Scandinavian section you would have every right to call me to order.

Unless heaps of forum members call for my removal, I hope to continue reminding Brits, Canadians, Aussies & Kiwis of memorable dates in their military histories.

Subject closed!

MB

[Norseman]

This is an action from one of the moderators of this forum and if you don't like it I couldn't care less, but your bloodstained anniversaries dosent belong here in this forum!
Have I made myself clear?
Jeez, how many Germans, Russians, Brits Venezuelans, and Boers did fall in the former wars?
The Brits lost a heck of a load of soldiers in the independent war(s) and so did the Germans in Russia and among other states, Norway.
This is the end of the line Major.

[Bamboo Grove]

So major whatever you are, do you think that only those who killed those that you support were the bad guys? Imperialism never happened and those accountable for that should never be accused of that?

[Lev]

MajorBloodnok - disturbing, vile and unacceptable material removed, this forum is NOT the place for it, consider this a warning.