snafuHis name will be amongst the 20,000-odd US MIAs from the last days of WWII.
(A little bit of history…) It is such a small thing but many former PoWs returning from Russia passed on the names of others they had been locked up with as a way to let their next of kin know they were on their way home; yet lots of them never turned up. The Soviets never announced how many former prisoners and evaders had made it across the eastern front line, merely that – at some point – there were no more allied personnel to return.
But there were allied military prisoners in Russia; there was possibly one million former PoWs and displaced persons detained in the Soviet sector, as well as German prisoners who, in some cases, were treated better than those they had fought against. Indeed, when the former Nazis were released there were debriefs where they gave descriptions or names of those they had known or met.
Even after the Korean war there were frequent reports of prisoners being transported through eastern Russia who spoke only English. Some of the crews of spy planes or other aeroplanes shot down in the cold war and declared dead by their own side were said to still be alive by released prisoners from Siberia, even down to names and details given that could only have come from those men themselves. Solzhenitsyn mentions an English soldier, who cannot speak Russian, at the prison camp in his novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and apparently passed on the names of others he met after being deported from Russia in 1974.
The western allies returned all those that the Russians asked for – former prisoners killed themselves at transit camps in Germany and Italy rather than return, and it was reported that many returning Cossacks and their families were gunned down on arrival at Russian prison camps. The Russians at first denied that there were PoW camps in eastern Germany or Poland, then refused to let allied military authorities travel to the camps to check on the prisoners; in some cases it was reported that only men who escaped as the Russians arrived made it home, whereas other camps were treated well and repatriated when it was safe to do so. Families at home, who had received confirmation that their loved ones were alive but being held prisoner were later informed that that had been a mistake or that they had been killed in the last days of the war, before or during liberation.
And that was it; our governments washed their hands of the missing.
This is a horrible, nasty subject in which no country comes out of it very well.
There is a small chance that the man you are looking for is still alive – about 80 Japanese former soldiers were repatriated in 1992 – although the chances of someone surviving to be 90-100 years old (or more) in a Russian gulag is, admittedly, very unlikely.
snafu…All I would say is that it is indisputable (due to photographic and documentary evidence) that some bones were found, the Egyptians say they carried out DNA tests on those remains, they produced a simple and apparently flawed report of the test results and the MoD and FCO then accepted that report without question…
Nothing I can add re actual DNA testing, but surely if a test had been carried out – finding DNA or not – there might well be a result which appears the same with each test that would make it easy enough to declare that the test (DNA or whatever) was on bones (which obviously can survive in such conditions, even if DNA can’t) from the same body?
In addition it should be remembered that Egypt has not been particularly stable politically, recently. If some people there say or do things which may appear a little distracted there might well be multiple reasons that have nothing to do with this case.
snafuIf the plane had entered service during World War II would have helped to anticipate the end of the conflict?
Was there any advantage in this design over others during WWII had it flown five years earlier, other than its engines, of course?
snafuMaybe for the same reason that, generally, air displays do not carry on after the crash of a displaying aircraft – because the fire crews and tenders are all off base and unable to cover for another incident?
I too was confused about the times given by the media. Would a statement from the base about incident that had just occurred have been given in anything other than the time local to that incident? Apparently so. Nowhere has it been said that the crash occurred just after take off, but the indications are all there for it either to have happened then or because it had to return for some reason. I am sure I saw somewhere that the six aircraft had been unable to meet with a tanker, yet I cannot find any trace of that now.
snafuSchool massacres are not, it has to be said, solely the preserve of America.
Sweden sword attack: Two killed by masked attacker
A masked man armed with a sword has killed a pupil and a teacher at a school in Sweden.
The suspect, clad in black, apparently posed for photos with students ahead of the attack, in the western town of Trollhattan.
Two further victims, a pupil and a teacher, are seriously injured. The attacker was shot by police and has died of his injuries. He was 21 and resident in Trollhattan, police said.
The king has said Sweden “is in shock”.
Eyewitnesses described chaos at the school, with hundreds of students fleeing from the building screaming.
Police responded to an emergency call reporting an attack in the cafe area of the Kronan school, at around 10:10 local time (08:10 GMT) on Thursday.
Arriving at the scene, they found a dead man – a teacher – near the entrance.
Two male students and another teacher were rushed to hospital. One of the boys, aged 17, has since died of his injuries.
The other pupil, who is 15, and the teacher, a 41-year-old man, are being treated in intensive care for knife injuries. Their condition is described as serious but stable by the hospital.
The attacker was also taken to hospital with gunshot wounds and has since died.
Police have said several knives were used in the attack.
Officers have identified the suspect but not released his name. They have searched the suspect’s home and have found “interesting” things, spokesman Thord Haraldsson told a news conference.
He was not previously known to police, he said.
Asked about possible links to far-right extremism, Mr Haraldsson refused to comment, Swedish radio reports.
Local media have reported that the suspect’s accounts on Facebook and YouTube suggest an interest in Hitler and Nazi Germany. In a photo given to media by a student at the school, he appears to be wearing a black trench coat and a helmet resembling those worn by German troops in World War Two.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241370[/ATTACH]
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an account (in Swedish) of a girl, who they refer to as Sara, who witnessed the attack.
The girl left her classroom and met two school friends who stood with a masked man holding a bloody knife, she said. He was playing “horrible, Halloween-type” music and did not speak, she said.
Her friends thought it was a joke and wanted to be photographed with the man, so Sara took a photo, Aftonbladet reports.
A teacher came out and asked the man what he was doing, the girl said.
“You’re scaring the children, you can go,” the teacher said.
The man just nodded then stabbed the teacher in the side with his knife, Sara said.
She and her friends ran. The man chased them but they managed to escape.
King Carl Gustav said in a statement that he had learned of the events in Trollhattan “with great dismay and sorrow”.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has arrived in the town, and said it was a “black day for Sweden”.
“I think of the victims and their families, students and staff, and the whole of the affected community. No words can describe what they are going through right now. We must ensure that they receive all the support they need,” he said.
Trollhattan is an industrial town in west Sweden, located around 75km (50 miles) north of Gothenburg, the nation’s second largest city.
School attacks are rare in Sweden – with just one incident on record in the past 20 years, in which one pupil was shot dead.
Europe is obviously still in the middle ages – this attack was made using a sword (and probably a knife too). Just one such incident on record in the last 20 years. Is that a miracle, RpR, that the US should aspire to or is it something that Sweden needs to get used to?
snafuSchool massacres are not, it has to be said, solely the preserve of America.
Sweden sword attack: Two killed by masked attacker
A masked man armed with a sword has killed a pupil and a teacher at a school in Sweden.
The suspect, clad in black, apparently posed for photos with students ahead of the attack, in the western town of Trollhattan.
Two further victims, a pupil and a teacher, are seriously injured. The attacker was shot by police and has died of his injuries. He was 21 and resident in Trollhattan, police said.
The king has said Sweden “is in shock”.
Eyewitnesses described chaos at the school, with hundreds of students fleeing from the building screaming.
Police responded to an emergency call reporting an attack in the cafe area of the Kronan school, at around 10:10 local time (08:10 GMT) on Thursday.
Arriving at the scene, they found a dead man – a teacher – near the entrance.
Two male students and another teacher were rushed to hospital. One of the boys, aged 17, has since died of his injuries.
The other pupil, who is 15, and the teacher, a 41-year-old man, are being treated in intensive care for knife injuries. Their condition is described as serious but stable by the hospital.
The attacker was also taken to hospital with gunshot wounds and has since died.
Police have said several knives were used in the attack.
Officers have identified the suspect but not released his name. They have searched the suspect’s home and have found “interesting” things, spokesman Thord Haraldsson told a news conference.
He was not previously known to police, he said.
Asked about possible links to far-right extremism, Mr Haraldsson refused to comment, Swedish radio reports.
Local media have reported that the suspect’s accounts on Facebook and YouTube suggest an interest in Hitler and Nazi Germany. In a photo given to media by a student at the school, he appears to be wearing a black trench coat and a helmet resembling those worn by German troops in World War Two.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241370[/ATTACH]
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an account (in Swedish) of a girl, who they refer to as Sara, who witnessed the attack.
The girl left her classroom and met two school friends who stood with a masked man holding a bloody knife, she said. He was playing “horrible, Halloween-type” music and did not speak, she said.
Her friends thought it was a joke and wanted to be photographed with the man, so Sara took a photo, Aftonbladet reports.
A teacher came out and asked the man what he was doing, the girl said.
“You’re scaring the children, you can go,” the teacher said.
The man just nodded then stabbed the teacher in the side with his knife, Sara said.
She and her friends ran. The man chased them but they managed to escape.
King Carl Gustav said in a statement that he had learned of the events in Trollhattan “with great dismay and sorrow”.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has arrived in the town, and said it was a “black day for Sweden”.
“I think of the victims and their families, students and staff, and the whole of the affected community. No words can describe what they are going through right now. We must ensure that they receive all the support they need,” he said.
Trollhattan is an industrial town in west Sweden, located around 75km (50 miles) north of Gothenburg, the nation’s second largest city.
School attacks are rare in Sweden – with just one incident on record in the past 20 years, in which one pupil was shot dead.
Europe is obviously still in the middle ages – this attack was made using a sword (and probably a knife too). Just one such incident on record in the last 20 years. Is that a miracle, RpR, that the US should aspire to or is it something that Sweden needs to get used to?
snafuIs it a Blenheim, or one of those Bolingbrokes?;o)
snafu(Lights the blue touchpaper…)
Guns, eh. Lets talk about guns and bullets and what they do when one is fired from the other…
Real bullet hits actor during Tombstone gunfighting re-enactment at O.K. Corral
Astrid Galvan, Associated Press 5:04 p.m. MST October 19, 2015TOMBSTONE – An actor staging a historical gunfight in the Old West town of Tombstone was shot with a live round during a show that was supposed to use blanks, leading officials to put the popular reenactments on hold.
The shooting happened Sunday as performers from the Tombstone Vigilantes group were portraying a gunfight in the 19th century mining town made famous by Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral.
A performer’s gun fired live rounds, hitting a fellow member of the acting group, the Tombstone Marshal’s Office said. Ken Curtis fell to the ground and was flown to a Tucson hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove the bullet.
A bystander also was hurt, suffering a small cut to her neck from a ricochet or shrapnel. She did not require any medical treatment.
Mayor Dusty Escapule said someone inspects weapons used in the gunfight skits to ensure the performers use blanks. But he said the actor who fired the live rounds showed up late, and his gun was not examined.
“I was dumbfounded,” Escapule said of learning about the shooting. “I was just appalled the Vigilantes would allow one of the actors to not have their weapons checked.”
Escapule said the town near the U.S.-Mexico border is drawing up an ordinance to provide more regulations for the mock battles. The new rules will mandate inspections to ensure blanks are used and require background checks of every actor involved.
All Tombstone gunfights are on hold as the investigation unfolds, Escapule said.
Tombstone Marshal Bob Randall believes the shooting was an accident and says he’ll forward the case to prosecutors with a recommendation for an aggravated assault charge. He said the Tombstone Vigilantes are normally “very good at what they do, and they check their weapons religiously.”
When asked how or why the gun wasn’t checked for bullets, he said: “That’s the question of the day. Anybody that’s been around firearms knows the first thing you do is check your weapon.”
Curtis was listed in good condition Monday at Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson, hospital spokeswoman Elyse Palm said. She declined to give further details about his injuries. Curtis said he couldn’t discuss the shooting when reached at the hospital.
The Tombstone Marshal’s Office said authorities inspected the weapon and found one live round and five casings that indicated the gun was filled with live rounds prior to the skit. The mayor said the weapon was a .45-caliber pistol.
“Tombstone takes pride in the safety and security of its townspeople and tourists alike, and the citizens of Tombstone can be assured that stringent safety protocol will be enforced prior to allowing any further gunfight skits,” Randall said in a statement.
Tombstone, about three hours southeast of Phoenix, was a bustling mining town in the 1800s. It now has about 1,500 residents, and it mostly caters to visitors who come to see gunfight reenactments and historical sites.
The Tombstone Vigilantes formed in 1946 and are dedicated to preserving and passing along Tombstone’s history to tourists.
The group also performs mock hangings. The shooting occurred during Tombstone’s Helldorado Days celebration, which includes gunfights, a parade, music and line dancing.
The shooting left locals and tourists in shock. Teresa Benjamin, who dresses in late 1800s prairie outfits and promotes a local business near Allen Street, said she was worried about how it would affect tourism.
“This is our livelihood. This is tragedy,” Benjamin said.
But the incident piqued the interest of some tourists. Mitch Treese and his wife stopped in Tombstone on their way to nearby Bisbee largely out of curiosity.
“We wanted to see if it was really true. They got us on the hook.”
The shooting was reminiscent of a 2011 incident in Hill City, South Dakota, where a man fired a loaded gun during a western-themed reenactment and wounded three tourists. The man, a convicted felon, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after authorities say he tried to cover up the fact that he used lived rounds in the shooting.
Gosh. Someone else didn’t check his weapon and he shot somebody. Not to mention the tourist. What are the chances of that…?
Still, at least no one died.
Not like this tragic event:
A 3-year-old, a 6-year-old, cops and robbers and a gun … then tragedy
Megan Crepeau Contact Reporter
Chicago TribuneA 3-year-old boy, who was one of two people killed in city shootings since Saturday night, was accidentally shot by his 6-year-old brother while the two were playing cops and robbers, according to police.
The boy, whom authorities identified as Eian Santiago, was at a residence about 9:05 p.m. in the 1000 block of North Francisco Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side when his 6-year-old brother got hold of a revolver and shot him in the head.
According to Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, the two had been playing “cops and robbers” when the 6-year-old saw the handgun atop a refrigerator, took it and fired it in the direction of his brother. Guglielmi could not further describe the weapon other than saying it was a handgun.
The boys’ father, 25-year-old Michael Santiago, was charged with felony child endangerment in connection with the shooting. He kept a loaded gun on top of a refrigerator, according to police. He is expected to appear in bond court Sunday.
Guglielmi said that Michael Santiago told police he was a former member of the Spanish Cobras gang and that he had purchased the gun from another gang member for protection. Guglielmi said police are in the process of tracing the weapon…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-shooting-violence-20151017-story.html
The gun was held illegally. The father had no license. A senseless waste of a young life.
Still, thank goodness the father had a gun in case someone broke in and tried to shoot him, otherwise it could have been a completely different story.
snafu(Lights the blue touchpaper…)
Guns, eh. Lets talk about guns and bullets and what they do when one is fired from the other…
Real bullet hits actor during Tombstone gunfighting re-enactment at O.K. Corral
Astrid Galvan, Associated Press 5:04 p.m. MST October 19, 2015TOMBSTONE – An actor staging a historical gunfight in the Old West town of Tombstone was shot with a live round during a show that was supposed to use blanks, leading officials to put the popular reenactments on hold.
The shooting happened Sunday as performers from the Tombstone Vigilantes group were portraying a gunfight in the 19th century mining town made famous by Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral.
A performer’s gun fired live rounds, hitting a fellow member of the acting group, the Tombstone Marshal’s Office said. Ken Curtis fell to the ground and was flown to a Tucson hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove the bullet.
A bystander also was hurt, suffering a small cut to her neck from a ricochet or shrapnel. She did not require any medical treatment.
Mayor Dusty Escapule said someone inspects weapons used in the gunfight skits to ensure the performers use blanks. But he said the actor who fired the live rounds showed up late, and his gun was not examined.
“I was dumbfounded,” Escapule said of learning about the shooting. “I was just appalled the Vigilantes would allow one of the actors to not have their weapons checked.”
Escapule said the town near the U.S.-Mexico border is drawing up an ordinance to provide more regulations for the mock battles. The new rules will mandate inspections to ensure blanks are used and require background checks of every actor involved.
All Tombstone gunfights are on hold as the investigation unfolds, Escapule said.
Tombstone Marshal Bob Randall believes the shooting was an accident and says he’ll forward the case to prosecutors with a recommendation for an aggravated assault charge. He said the Tombstone Vigilantes are normally “very good at what they do, and they check their weapons religiously.”
When asked how or why the gun wasn’t checked for bullets, he said: “That’s the question of the day. Anybody that’s been around firearms knows the first thing you do is check your weapon.”
Curtis was listed in good condition Monday at Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson, hospital spokeswoman Elyse Palm said. She declined to give further details about his injuries. Curtis said he couldn’t discuss the shooting when reached at the hospital.
The Tombstone Marshal’s Office said authorities inspected the weapon and found one live round and five casings that indicated the gun was filled with live rounds prior to the skit. The mayor said the weapon was a .45-caliber pistol.
“Tombstone takes pride in the safety and security of its townspeople and tourists alike, and the citizens of Tombstone can be assured that stringent safety protocol will be enforced prior to allowing any further gunfight skits,” Randall said in a statement.
Tombstone, about three hours southeast of Phoenix, was a bustling mining town in the 1800s. It now has about 1,500 residents, and it mostly caters to visitors who come to see gunfight reenactments and historical sites.
The Tombstone Vigilantes formed in 1946 and are dedicated to preserving and passing along Tombstone’s history to tourists.
The group also performs mock hangings. The shooting occurred during Tombstone’s Helldorado Days celebration, which includes gunfights, a parade, music and line dancing.
The shooting left locals and tourists in shock. Teresa Benjamin, who dresses in late 1800s prairie outfits and promotes a local business near Allen Street, said she was worried about how it would affect tourism.
“This is our livelihood. This is tragedy,” Benjamin said.
But the incident piqued the interest of some tourists. Mitch Treese and his wife stopped in Tombstone on their way to nearby Bisbee largely out of curiosity.
“We wanted to see if it was really true. They got us on the hook.”
The shooting was reminiscent of a 2011 incident in Hill City, South Dakota, where a man fired a loaded gun during a western-themed reenactment and wounded three tourists. The man, a convicted felon, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after authorities say he tried to cover up the fact that he used lived rounds in the shooting.
Gosh. Someone else didn’t check his weapon and he shot somebody. Not to mention the tourist. What are the chances of that…?
Still, at least no one died.
Not like this tragic event:
A 3-year-old, a 6-year-old, cops and robbers and a gun … then tragedy
Megan Crepeau Contact Reporter
Chicago TribuneA 3-year-old boy, who was one of two people killed in city shootings since Saturday night, was accidentally shot by his 6-year-old brother while the two were playing cops and robbers, according to police.
The boy, whom authorities identified as Eian Santiago, was at a residence about 9:05 p.m. in the 1000 block of North Francisco Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side when his 6-year-old brother got hold of a revolver and shot him in the head.
According to Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, the two had been playing “cops and robbers” when the 6-year-old saw the handgun atop a refrigerator, took it and fired it in the direction of his brother. Guglielmi could not further describe the weapon other than saying it was a handgun.
The boys’ father, 25-year-old Michael Santiago, was charged with felony child endangerment in connection with the shooting. He kept a loaded gun on top of a refrigerator, according to police. He is expected to appear in bond court Sunday.
Guglielmi said that Michael Santiago told police he was a former member of the Spanish Cobras gang and that he had purchased the gun from another gang member for protection. Guglielmi said police are in the process of tracing the weapon…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-shooting-violence-20151017-story.html
The gun was held illegally. The father had no license. A senseless waste of a young life.
Still, thank goodness the father had a gun in case someone broke in and tried to shoot him, otherwise it could have been a completely different story.
snafuSurely all they’d need is a dataplate – it works for Spitfires!
snafusnafu…whether this is down to not being prepared to cough up a fee to publish photos or cannot be arsed to do their job right I cannot say…
Well the Mail doesn’t need to pay since they have (or had) an extensive picture library, unlike the more recent nationals who are at the mercy of independant picture libraries and therefore are left to what someone else can be bothered to research and make available.
snafuHoping the IWM batttle “Evlyn Tensions” might make a re-apperance
The ‘Battle’ that is a Firefly, you mean?
snafuSo strictly speaking captured in the sense of two sides at war with each other…
snafuNo, to the original question about captured B29s.
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