Tuesday

[nightdog_barks]

Cold and grey, although at least the weather guys are saying this should be our LAST cold front of the year.

Interesting news story from the Guardian -- Lieutenant John Pritchard and Private Christopher Elphick, killed in 1917 in the Great War, are laid to rest after being found in a farmer's field. There's a nice photo of the two men at the link, and a long write-up at the BBC, here.

Allan Arbus, the actor who played psychiatrist Sidney Freedman on M*A*S*H, has passed away. He was 95 (!). His first wife was Diane Arbus, which I felt like I should've known but didn't.

Have started Mitchell Zuckoff's Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II. Wow, that's a long title.

There. Three things make a post.

Comments

[knitty_woman]

I'm curious about Private Elphick. One of my college professors, a Canadian, had the name Elphick, and I wonder if they were related in any way. As for Allan Arbus, I had exactly the same reaction you did concerning his first wife, until I realized that I'd never actually know the actor's name, and thus would have had no clue at all. An interesting thing, though.

[nightdog_barks]

I can't imagine Elphick is a very common name, so I'd think it's entirely possible there was a relation there. :D

[taiga13]

Sometimes I marvel at all the war dead lying around Europe... I remember reading some trees still have shrapnel in them.
My father's uncle is buried at Brookfield Military Cemetery west of London, TaigaSis and I want to visit the grave when we're there. He's the only war dead our family has.

[nightdog_barks]

Heh, there's a tree stump in the Smithsonian with bullets in it from the Battle of Spotsylvania (May 12th, 1864).

No war casualties in my family (or Mister Nightdog's family) as far as we know, although my dad and uncles and Mister Nightdog's dad all fought in WWII. We got lucky, somehow.

Editing to add that I did once meet an Australian co-worker of Mister N's, whose grandfather had fought and died at Passchendaele, in WWI.

[taiga13]

TaigaDad's uncle is the only one who served that I know of. My grandfathers didn't serve, that I know. TaigaDad's uncle didn't leave any children, he was only 19 when he died, so I feel like we should visit his grave because we're the only ones who ever will; none of TaigaDad's family has ever been to England.

[nightdog_barks]

Just 19! :-(

I think it would be a very good thing to visit his grave. For real. ♥

[blackmare]

I followed the links about the soldiers and about Arbus, and then forgot to say anything. Got kind of lost, I suppose.

So many people died in so many wars. Sometimes I wonder what the world would look like now, if those wars had never happened.

[felis]

Hey, thanks for that link about Allan Arbus, I'd have missed that. Sidney Freedman was awesome, and I loved that they included him in the finale, too. ... which reminds me, there was a really lovely story about him and Father Mulcahy in last year's Yuletide (Whys and Whats), which I think you might like as well?

[nightdog_barks]

Oh, thank you for the link! I do read M*A*S*H fic occasionally, but I'd not seen that one. Sidney was always one of my favorite characters. ♥