Willowgate

Willowgate was a 1988–89 Zimbabwean political scandal in which the "Bulawayo Chronicle" revealed illegal resale of automobile purchases by various government officials. The ensuing investigation resulted in the resignations of five members of President Robert Mugabe's cabinet. One of the five, Maurice Nyagumbo, later committed suicide after being charged with perjury. The reporters who had broken the story, Geoffrey Nyarota and Davison Maruziva, were subsequently removed from their posts.
Discovery.
In October 1988, members of parliament Obert Mpofu and Duduzile Manghena accidentally received a cheque from a car company in Willowvale, an industrial area of Harare; the cheque had actually been intended for Alford Mpofu, a friend of Industry Minister Callistus Ndlovu. Obert Mpofu took the cheque to Lancyott Mpofu and Prince Sunduzani, editors of the state-owned "Bulawayo Chronicle". The paper had already built a reputation for aggressive investigations into corruption at all levels of government, and began to investigate.
In the weeks following their discovery of the cheque, Nyarota and deputy editor Davison Maruziva learned that ministers and officials from the government of President Robert Mugabe had been given early access to buy foreign cars at the Willowvale assembly plant. In some cases, the cars were bought wholesale and resold at a 200% profit. Implicated ministers included Ndlovu, Political Affairs Minister Maurice Nyagumbo, Defense Minister Enos Nkala and Minister of State for Political Affairs, Frederick Shava, who was later elected as President of the UN Economic and Social Affairs Council in 2016. The newspaper published documents from the plant to prove its case, including identification numbers from the vehicles.
Consequences.
In December 1988, Mugabe appointed a three-person panel, the Sandura Commission, to investigate the allegations. The "Washington Post" reported that the commission's hearings "struck a deep chord" in Zimbabwe, where citizens had grown to resent the perceived growing corruption of government. A provincial governor and five of Mugabe's cabinet ministers eventually resigned due to implication in the scandal, including Shava, Nkala and Nyagumbo, who at the time was the third highest-ranking official in Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). Nyagumbo committed suicide by drinking pesticide.
However, Nyarota and Maruziva were both forced out of their jobs with the state-owned paper and into newly created public relations positions in Harare. Though the men were given pay raises, Mugabe also stated that the move was a result of their "overzealousness", leading to public belief that they had been removed for their reporting. ZANU parliamentarians also criticized Nyarota and Maruziva, with the Minister of State for National Security Emmerson Mnangagwa stating that criticism was welcome, but "to the extent that the press now deliberately target Government as their enemy, then we part ways."
In music.
The scandal featured prominently in the lyrics of Solomon Skuza's album "Love and Scandals". In one song, he asks, "how can someone buy a car and sell it again?" In another, he sings of his love leaving him for "a guy who owns a Cressida", referring to the Toyota Cressidas assembled at Willowvale.
In novels.
The scandal was featured in George Mujajati's novel "The Sun Will Rise Again" as the "Sisisida scandal".


Lafayette Young

Lafayette ("Lafe") Young (May 10, 1848November 15, 1926) was a newspaper reporter and editor, and (briefly) a Republican Senator from Iowa.
Early life and education.
Young was born in Monroe County, Iowa. His early education was acquired in the public schools and in printing offices at Albia, Iowa and Des Moines, Iowa. His first business establishment was a newspaper in Atlantic, Iowa, which he named the "Telegraph".
Career.
In 1873, he was elected as a Republican to a seat in the Iowa State Senate representing Adair, Cass, Adams and Union counties, and was re-elected in 1877, and (after a six-year absence) in 1885. In all, he served in the Iowa Senate from 1874 to 1880, and 1886 to 1888.
In 1890 Young moved to Des Moines and purchased a daily newspaper known as the "Daily Iowa Capital" or (after 1901) the "Des Moines Capital". In 1893, Young was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Iowa, losing to Frank D. Jackson. He served as a war correspondent during the Spanish–American War.
When Iowa Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver died suddenly in October 1910, Young was appointed by Iowa Governor Beryl F. Carroll as Dolliver's immediate replacement. Soon after his appointment, his position was up for election in the 1911 Iowa General Assembly, where the Republicans held a large majority but were deeply divided among a long list of candidates for Young's seat. The inability of any candidate to receive the required majority of 76 legislators forced the General Assembly to re-vote each morning of the session. Young was the principal Republican opponent of Fort Dodge attorney William S. Kenyon until the 23rd ballot, when Young lost most of his support to other candidates. Kenyon was ultimately elected on the final day of the session on the 67th ballot. In all, Young served in the U.S. Senate from November 1910 to April 1911.
After his Senate service, Young returned to Des Moines and his newspaper. He again became a war correspondent, travelling to southeastern Europe in 1913 to cover the Second Balkan War. In 1915, he again returned to Europe, this time to assess the early stages of World War I (before the United States' entry). During that trip he was detained in Innsbruck by Austria-Hungary, but was later released.
After the United States declared war in 1917, he was appointed chairman of the Iowa State Council for Defense. As the Council's chairman, Young urged that "disloyal" persons should be impoverished and imprisoned, arguing that "[a]ny man who has lived under the protection of our laws and has accumulated wealth and is now disloyal should be deprived of every dollar he possesses and he should be interned in a stockade until the end of the war and at that time his fate should be considered carefully." He also campaigned against the teaching of any foreign language in any public school or college, and for the imposition of English literacy tests for voting.
In recognition of his work in raising funds in Iowa for the children of Belgium, Young was made a Knight of the Order of Leopold II of Belgium. He continued to edit his newspaper until his death in Des Moines on November 15, 1926. He was interred there in Woodland Cemetery.


Zhou Tonghui

Zhou Tonghui (; November 8, 1924 – February 23, 2020) was a Chinese analytical chemist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Biography.
Zhou was born in Beijing, on November 8, 1924, while his ancestral home was in Guilin, Guangxi. He attended Pingmin Primary School Affiliated Beiping Normal University. He elementary studied at the Middle School affiliated to Beiping Normal University and secondary studied at the High school affiliated to . In 1944 he graduated from Peking University. After graduation, he taught at the university. In 1948, he went to the United States to study at the University of Washington, where he earned his Master of Science degree and Doctor of Philosophy degree under the supervision of Robinson. From 1952 to 1953 he was an assistant professor at the Department of chemistry, University of Kansas. In the summer of 1953, he joined the Burroughs Wekkcomeco as a researcher.
In 1954, Zhou and other students jointly wrote letters to the then President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower and the then Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld, requesting to return to China. In 1955, he and other students jointly wrote to Premier Zhou Enlai, who was then meeting in Geneva, asking the Chinese government to come forward and negotiate with the U.S. government. Finally, the U.S. government agreed to let Chinese students leave the United States on the condition of returning American prisoners of the Korean War. In June 1955, he left the United States by boat and returned to Beijing in July. In September of the same year, he was assigned to the Department of Pharmacology of National Health Research Institute (now Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences) as an associate researcher. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1986.
He died of illness at , on February 23, 2020, aged 95.


Jin Yunying

Yunying (1913–1992), better known as Jin Yunying, was a Chinese princess of Manchu descent. She was the daughter of Zaifeng (Prince Chun) and Youlan, and a younger sister of Puyi, the Last Emperor of China. She was married to Runqi, the younger brother of Puyi's first wife, Wanrong.
Names.
Yunying's original family name was Aisin Gioro; she is referred to as "Yunying" because Manchus were usually referred to by their given names only. Like other members of the Aisin Gioro family (e.g. her brother Puren (Jin Youzhi)), she changed her family name to Jin, which means "gold" in the Chinese language just like "Aisin" in the Manchu language.
Yunying's courtesy name, Ruixiu, was given to her by her father, Zaifeng. Her art name, Binghao, was given to her by her brother, Puyi. She is also sometimes referred to as Jin Ruixiu.
Reginald Johnston, the Scottish academic and diplomat who tutored Puyi, gave Yunying an English name, Lily.
Life.
Early life.
Yunying was born in the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan in 1913 as the third daughter of Zaifeng (Prince Chun) and his primary consort, Youlan. She was also a full sister of Puyi, the Last Emperor of China. She had three other full siblings (one brother and two sisters) apart from Puyi, and six half siblings (two brothers and four sisters). By the time of her birth, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty had already been overthrown by the Xinhai Revolution and her brother, Puyi, who was still a child then, had been forced to abdicate. However, the former imperial family were still allowed to live in the Forbidden City, where Yunying was born. She was referred to as "Third Princess" (三格格) in her childhood and was Puyi's favourite sister. In November 1924, the warlord Feng Yuxiang took control of Beijing and forced Puyi and his family out of the Forbidden City. They moved to Tianjin's Heping District. In Tianjin, Yunying and her siblings learned the Japanese language and played tennis.
Life in Manchuria.
When Yunying turned 19, Puyi arranged for her to be married to Runqi (潤麒) of the Gobulo (郭布羅) clan. Runqi was the younger brother of Wanrong, Puyi's empress. In 1931, Puyi was installed as the emperor of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by the Empire of Japan in northeastern China. Yunying and Runqi were married in Hsinking (present-day Changchun, Jilin), the capital of Manchukuo. About a month after the wedding, Puyi sent Runqi, Pujie and Yunying to Japan for studies. When Yunying arrived in Japan, she was immediately approached by members of the Japanese imperial family, who wanted her to serve as the honorary president of the women's association. One of the Shōwa Emperor's sisters-in-law also specially invited her to their residence to teach them the Chinese language. Yunying felt lonely during her stay in Japan, so she often wrote to Puyi. Puyi had their letters compiled into a book. In 1933, Yunying returned to Hsinking to visit her family and decided to remain in China. Runqi accompanied her and served in Manchukuo as an instructor in a military school.
Later life.
At the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Soviet forces invaded and occupied northeastern China. Yunying and the rest of Puyi's family were evacuated by train from Hsinking to Dalizigou (in present-day Linjiang, Jilin); Puyi, along with two of his sisters, his brothers, three nephews, his physician and a servant, took a plane to Mukden (present-day Shenyang, Liaoning), where he was arrested and taken to a prison camp in Siberia. Runqi was also taken prisoner and was not released until 1957. Yunying, left with only a few sets of clothing, brought her three children with her to Tonghua. During this time, she supported herself and her children by collecting and selling used clothes at a tobacco stand on the streets. During this time, she was taken captive and publicly interrogated about her life. She was released later and allowed to return to Tonghua.
In 1949, after Chinese Communist forces occupied Beijing, Yunying and her three children were allowed to return to Beijing to reunite and live with her family members. In 1951, after the death of her father, Prince Chun, Yunying inherited part of his property and managed to make a living through collecting rental fees. Since then, she had been actively involved in subdistrict affairs in her neighbourhood, and was later nominated by the residents to be the subdistrict representative. As a politician, she often spoke for the new marriage law.
In 1954, Zhang Shizhao, the president of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History, chanced upon the book containing the letters exchanged between Yunying and Puyi. With help from Yunying's uncle, Zaitao, Zhang Shizhao contacted Yunying and asked her to write an autobiography, which he then presented to Mao Zedong. After reading Yunying's autobiography, Mao commented, "A person who enters society becomes someone with aspirations." He then sent the autobiography to Zhou Enlai for him to read too. Shortly after, Yunying was appointed as a delegate representing Beijing's Dongcheng District in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1956, with permission from Mao Zedong, Yunying and Zaitao travelled to the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre to visit Puyi, who was detained there as a war criminal.
Yunying died in China in 1992. She was survived by her three children: Zongyan (宗弇), Zongguang (宗光) and Manruo (曼若). Her husband, Runqi was the owner of a small clinic that treated gynecological diseases and nervous disorders and was interviewed by "The New York Times" in 2000. He died in 2007.
Appraisal.
Yunying was described as beautiful and goodhearted. In his memoirs, Puyi described Yunying as spoiled and idle and interested in pointless matters during the Manchukuo period, foremost to be in his favour: when he gave a gift to another member of the family, Yunying wished to be given the same. According to Puyi, Yunying later said about this period in her life: "What was I before, but an ornament?"


Sergio Onofre Jarpa

Sergio Onofre Jarpa Reyes (8 March 1921 – 19 April 2020) was a Chilean politician who served as a member of the cabinet during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Biography.
Coming from a rural background, he studied agriculture at the University of Chile. He first became involved in politics in the 1950s, initially with the youth movement of the Agrarian Labor Party before becoming involved in the National Action with Jorge Prat. He was instrumental in the formation of the National Party in 1966 and served as leader of the opposition to the left-wing government and, from 1971, editor of the anti-socialist journal "Tribuna".
Elected to the Senate of Chile in the 1973 election, Jarpa became a diplomat following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, serving as a delegate to the United Nations and before becoming ambassador to Colombia (1976-1978) and then Argentina (1978-1983). Jarpa was appointed Minister of the Interior in 1983 with special orders to open dialogue with the opposition, which had organised under the name Democratic Alliance. This policy of appeasement was quickly abandoned by Pinochet however. He held the post until 1985. He formed his own political movement, the National Labour Front ("Frente Nacional del Trabajo"), in 1985 and this group was one of the three that formed National Renewal two years later. He returned to the Senate as a representative of this new party in 1990.
Alongside his political career Jarpa was a noted author on socio-political topics and he was awarded the "Premio al Mérito Geopolítico" by the Chilean Institute of Geopolitics in 1991.
He died on 19 April 2020 due to COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile.


Paul Logan (colonel)

Colonel Paul Logan served as a US Army Quartermaster before and during World War II as the Deputy Director of the Subsistence Division, Office of the Quartermaster General. His most notable accomplishment was the development of the "Logan Bar", or Ration D bar, an emergency chocolate ration manufactured by Hershey Chocolate. He was also responsible for the adoption of dehydrated potatoes and onions.


Breton nationalism and World War II

Before and during World War II, the various Breton nationalist movements were generally right-wing, and sometimes fascist. The extent to which this led to collaboration with the Nazi occupiers of France during the war, together with their motivations, is a matter of historical controversy.
Background.
Before the occupation, Breton nationalists were split between regionalism, federalism, and separatism. Essentially these factions, though divided, remained insensitive and frankly hostile to democratic ideals. Among these groups, only the openly separatist Breton National Party remained organized; dissolved in 1939, it was rapidly reconstituted in the autumn of 1940 and became the most active political party in Brittany under the Occupation. Having broken in 1931 from regionalism, its founders (Olier Mordrel and François Debeauvais) were inspired by the Irish Revolution and played the nationalist card. When war broke out, the Breton National Party chose a position of strict neutrality. This party's ideas were anti-democratic and complacent towards xenophobia and antisemitism, influenced by German racism and close to all the varieties of European fascism. During the war the activism of the Breton National Party completely dominated the other branches of the Breton movement, who found themselves discredited.
Collaboration with the Vichy regime.
On 15 December 1940 a "petition" signed by 46 Bretons requesting "administrative autonomy" in the confines of a united France was sent to Philippe Pétain. On 22 January 1941, the Vichy government named Hervé Budes de Guébriant President of the National Commission for Agricultural Cooperation. The daily journal "La Bretagne" was created by Yann Fouéré on 21 March 1941. It took a regionalist point of view, opposed to the separatism of the Breton National Party. An appreciable number of Breton nationalists were also to be found in the Consultative Committee of Brittany, created on 11 October 1942 by Jean Quénette, prefect of the region of Brittany. "An organization of study and work", according to Yvonnig Gicquel, it did not wield any executive or decisive powers (against the wishes of the provincial parliament which conceived the adoption of the Breton regionalist doctrine). The will of its members (including members of the Breton National Party Yann Fouéré, Joseph Martray, etc.) was to transform this consultative committee into a true legislative assembly to tackle regional problems. Many of its members were to resurface when CELIB was created.
Collaboration with Germany.
German politics.
The work of Henri Fréville and Kristian Hamon have opened up this field for research. Three different periods can be considered.
Before 1939, Germany was trying to stop France and the United Kingdom from entering the war. During the phony war, Germany planned to favor regionalist movements (particularly those of Flanders and Brittany) in order to undermine France. This was in revenge for the Treaty of Versailles, and to ensure that Germany remained the only Continental power, with no threats on its western border. Some weapons were delivered but never used. By the end of June and early July, some Breton nationalists could take it for granted the independence of Brittany was well on the way when the Germans appointed a military governor in Brittany ruling over the five départements of ancient Brittany.
But after the defeat of France a settlement was quickly made with the occupying power. The projects to undermine France were abandoned and the support for the nationalists disappeared (in particular it was formally forbidden to proclaim a Breton state or to harm public order). Moreover, the formal annexation of Alsace-Lorraine was never proclaimed. After the Conference of Montoire nationalist movements were simply tolerated (transport permits were given as well as authorizations for purchases of gasoline that soon meant little in practice), and German support went no further than preventing the Vichy regime from suppressing the nationalist movements.
Ideology.
Bretons were not considered untermenschen (subhuman) by the Nazis, unlike the Jews and Gypsies for example. Mordrel, Lainé and some other Celticists argued that the Bretons were a 'pure' strain of the Celtic race, who had retained their "Nordic" qualities, a view consistent with Nazi Aryan master race ideology. Other Nationalists, such as Perrot, adopted a more conservative-Catholic stance consistent with longstanding Breton anti-radical ideologies that had emerged among the Royalist-Catholic "Whites" during the French Revolution.
Strategic rationale.
A main intention of the German occupiers was to break French national unity. Its support for Breton nationalism needs to be seen in this wider context which included other aspects, for example the division of France into the occupied zone and the Vichy zone. But Breton nationalists very soon realized that Germany was in practice trying to keep its friends in the Vichy government content and therefore refusing to give any priority at all to the Breton nationalist demands.
Nazi scholar Rudolf Schlichting toured the region and sent the following comment to his superiors: "from a racial point of view there would be no objection to a Germanization of the Breton population. It is evident that we have no interest in promoting the Breton national consciousness, once the separation [with France] is accomplished. Not a penny should be spent on the promotion of the Breton language. The French language will however be replaced by German. In one generation Brittany will be a predominately ("sic") German country. This goal is definitely attainable through the schools, the authorities, the army and the press."
Breton National Party.
Important members of the Breton National Party including Morvan Lebesque and Alan Heusaff began collaborating with the Germans to one degree or another. The example of Ireland, or even the ideal of an independent Brittany - continued to be their reference points. Recent studies have shown the close links that Breton separatist leaders such Célestin Lainé and Alan Louarn had with German military intelligence (the Abwehr), going back well before the war, to the 1920s. After the defeat of 1940, the Germans used these separatist agents in military operations or in repression against the Resistance. A short-lived breakaway faction of the Breton National Party, created in 1941, was the Mouvement Ouvrier Social-National Breton (Breton National-Socialist Workers Movement) led by Théophile Jeusset.
Brezona.
At the end of 1940, Job Loyant — along with Kalondan, André Lajat, and Yves Favreul-Ronarc'h, a former leader of the Breton National Party in Loire-Atlantique — developed the doctrine of the Brezona movement: supremacy of the Breton race, formation of a national community, and government by the elite. This movement was to have but a brief existence. To prevent a possible takeover of the BNP by this splinter group, Yann Goulet appeared at Nantes to pronounce the excommunication of the Brezona "deviationists." With his revolver in plain sight on the hip of the black uniform he wore as chief of the Youth Organizations, he left no doubt as to his intentions. The Nantes PNB meeting, at which the Brezona movement had hoped to take control, took place without incident.
Bezen Perrot.
A number of Breton nationalists choose to join the Bezen Perrot organization, a German militia led by Célestin Lainé and Alan Heusaff. As many as 70 to 80 people joined its ranks at one point or another, with typically 30 to 66 at any one time depending on recruiting and defection. At the end of the war a handful of Breton militants decided to ask for German support in the face of the assassination of several leading figures of the Breton cultural movement, such as Abbé Perrot. Having originally been named "Bezen Kadoudal", the 1943 assassination of the priest prompted Lainé to give his name to the organization in December of that year.
It had already been envisaged by German strategists that in the event of Allied invasion the Breton nationalists would form a rearguard, and that further nationalist troops could be parachuted into Brittany. In late 1943 sabotage dumps had been hidden for use by the militia.
Strolladoù Stourm.
The Strolladoù Stourm (also known as Bagadoù stourm), led by Yann Goulet and Alan Louarn, was the armed wing of the Breton National Party. A handful of their members took part in a confrontation with the population of Landivisiau, on August 7, 1943. Yann Goulet, their leader, forbade participation in Bezen Perrot.
Landerneau Kommando.
By April 1943, the Gestapo had created specific units to combat the French Resistance. Formed at the end of April 1944 in Landerneau, the Landerneau Kommando took part in these units. It was composed of 18 German soldiers and ten French agents (some of whom were Breton separatists as well as former Resistance members). They fought against the maquis (rural French Resistance units) of Trégarantec, Rosnoën, and Ploumordien. Several Resistance members were tortured, and the Kommando also summarily executed some prisoners.
Actions by the Resistance.
Several Breton nationalists were assassinated by the Resistance in 1943. The best known was Abbé Perrot, killed on 12 December 1943 by Jean Thépaut, a member of the Communist Resistance. Earlier, on the 3 September, Yann Bricler had been shot in his office by three FTP members, and similarly Yves Kerhoas was killed by the Resistance when leaving a fete in the village of Plouvenez. When American troops arrived in 1944, communist "maquis" members began their repressive actions. Jeanne Coroller-Danio, the Breton historian who worked under the name "Danio", was beaten to death along with her brother-in-law, Commander Le Minthier; the Tastevint brothers were castrated, and the Maubré sisters and their brother were savagely murdered in Morbihan.
The BNP, dissolved along with the French Communist Party in 1939, no longer legally existed. Its activists were hunted down and not distinguished from the Breton militants who wore the symbol of the dukes of Brittany ("ermine-trimmed berets"). Many were deported to detention camps; notably at the Camp Marguerite in Rennes where 150 nationalists were detained for alleged collaborationism. The Breton nationalists sought to defend the fact that their widespread image as an overtly fascist, even Nazi, movement had nothing to do with the actual political backgrounds of their activists, as varied as the Action française (royalist), the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO, socialist), the separatist Breton National Party (PAB), or the French Communist Party. Moreover, Yann Goulet received financial and public backing from several communist militants at the time of the Liberation. Other militants accused of collaboration demonstrated to the courts that they had protected Jewish families during the occupation (Alan Eon–Yann Goulet).
The nationalist movement after the liberation of France.
After France was liberated, it was as collaborators, not as separatists, that the PNB members were punished, and even then it was by no means all those members that were affected. Only 15 to 16 per cent of PNB members appeared in court, and few non-member sympathisers were prosecuted. Most leading members escaped in Ireland or Germany and were not judged. There was no mass repression as claimed in post-war separatist propaganda. However the post-war nationalist movements will tend to minimise the collaboration with nazi Germany and will create the myth of the separatists repression by the French government.
Still today, some people are worried by the "collective amnesia" of the current Breton autonomist movement about World War II or by their attempts to rehabilitate the nationalist collaborationnists.
On the other hand, the standpoint of the Breton nationalists consider that the representation of the Breton nationalism during World War II in the media is a pretext to discredit the current aspirations of the autonomist movement, such as the recognition of linguistic rights.
Involvement in the Resistance.
Several leading Breton activists - regionalists, federalists and separatists - joined the Resistance against the occupation. They had various motivations:
Sao Breiz.
As early as 1940 some joined "Sao Breiz", the Breton wing of the Free French. This included several members of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne (Breton Regionalist Union) and the "Ar brezoneg er skol" association, founded before the war by Yann Fouéré. M. de Cadenet, a member of the latter group, and some of his associates wrote a draft statute, presented to General Charles de Gaulle which would have given Brittany a number of political freedoms after the return of peace. According to Yann Fouéré, this plan was close in spirit to the one that the Breton Consultative Committee wanted to submit in 1943 to Marshal Pétain. Neither of these two plans resulted in anything.
Joining underground organisations.
Activists like Francis Gourvil, Youenn Souffes-Després and Jean Le Maho had before the war been members of minority separatist or federalist movements such as the Parti Autonomiste Breton (PAB) or the Ligue fédéraliste de Bretagne. These organisations were always clearly anti-fascist and critical of the extreme right. This led their members directly into the underground Resistance. Others joined the Resistance as individuals and after the war restarted their involvement in Breton nationalism. The action of a few members of Bezen Perrot has often concealed a very different reality, for example the members of Bagadou Stourm who founded the Forces Bretonnes de l'Intérieur (Breton Forces of the Interior, a Breton wing of de Gaulle's French Forces of the Interior), and were deported to Buchenwald.
Liberty Group.
For other groups, such as the Liberty Group of Saint-Nazaire (composed of young former members of Bagadoù stourm), pro-British feeling was the determining factor in pushing them to ally themselves with the Resistance. The Liberty Group, under the name of "Bataillon de la Poche" ("Pocket Battalion"), helped to liberate Saint-Nazaire from a pocket of German holdouts in May 1945.


Mary Gabrielse

Mary Margaret Gabrielse (born 1923 in Tjimahi, Indonesia) is the niece of Johannes Gabrielse.
Just before World War II she was a champion swimmer holding several Dutch East Indies swim records as well as Asian swimming records.
After the war she became an artist having studied art at school. She also was an artist and interned in the Japanese camps of World War II. She survived as did a number of her colour illustrations reflecting camp life in the women's camp and now at the museum Museon.
Her other work produced after the war is in private hands. She was not prolific due to family responsibilities but with her habit of illustrating her letters to her very large correspondence contacts has ensured that her work is well spread and in many hands.


Oksana Koliada

Oksana Vasylivna Koliada (; born 4 September 1980) is a Ukrainian law enforcement officer and politician. On 29 August 2019, she was appointed as the Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories, IDPs and veterans.
Biography.
In 2002, Koliada graduated from the . From 2016 to 2017, she studied at the Ivan Chernyakhovsky National Defense University of Ukraine.
From 2003 to 2015, she worked at the Ministry of the Interior.
From 2015 to 2017, Koliada served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She was the head of the Communications and Press Department of the Ministry of Defence.
Since March 2019, she worked as Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs.
Colonel of the Reserve.


Steve McGarrett

Steve McGarrett is a fictional character who is the protagonist of CBS' "Hawaii Five-O". McGarrett is a former United States Navy officer and the leader of a special state police task force, which is called Five-O. McGarrett was portrayed by actor Jack Lord in the original show from 1968 to 1980, and later by Alex O'Loughlin in the series' remake from 2010. Throughout the show, McGarrett is partner to Detective Danny "Danno" Williams.
"Hawaii Five-0" (1968–1980).
In the original show, Steve McGarrett was portrayed by Jack Lord from 1968 to 1980. McGarrett was a former United States Navy Lieutenant and Detective Captain in the Honolulu Police Department who had been requested by Governor Paul Jameson to head the Five-0 Task Force, a fictional equivalent of the state police. He was portrayed as a highly driven cop and workaholic, often staying at his office until midnight. It was said that he "only takes orders from the Governor and God – and occasionally even they have trouble".
McGarrett had a sister Mary Ann (Nancy Malone). Their mother was murdered by criminals when they were young. It was revealed that this personal tragedy was what motivated McGarrett to become a police officer.
Throughout the series he drives a black Mercury; a 1967 2-door Mercury Marquis hardtop with a red interior in the pilot only, followed by a 1968 4-door Mercury Park Lane Brougham hardtop, then ultimately a 1974 4-door Mercury Marquis Brougham hardtop in subsequent episodes.
"Hawaii Five-0" (2010–2020).
Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin portrays McGarrett in the reboot of the series from 2010 to 2020. This incarnation bears some similarities to Lord's character from the original, such as their Navy Intelligence background and a long-standing nemesis in Wo Fat.
In the pilot episode, Lieutenant Commander Steven J. "Steve" McGarrett was in South Korea on a classified mission escorting wanted arms dealer Anton Hesse when he received a call via satellite phone from his father John and finds out that Anton's brother Victor was coincidentally holding John hostage on an unrelated matter. McGarrett's convoy was attacked by a helicopter of armed men trying to rescue Anton, resulting in Anton being killed. When Victor finds out, he shoots John point blank with the younger McGarrett still on the line. McGarrett returns to Hawaii to bury his father and is asked by Governor Jameson to set up a task force with "full immunity and means" to investigate and capture criminals such as the Hesse brothers. Despite his initial hesitation, he eventually agrees and transfers to the United States Navy Reserve. He then recruits Newark PD transfer, Detective Sergeant Danny "Danno" Williams, his father's former trainee Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly and recent HPD Academy graduate Officer Kono Kalakaua. These four make up the original members of the "Governor's Task Force", later renamed "Five-0". When McGarrett assembles his task force, he partners with Williams.
Background.
Steven John McGarrett was born in Hawaii on March 10, 1977 to John and Doris McGarrett. Since returning to Hawaii, McGarrett has lived in his childhood home atalong the beach, where his father continued to live in after the break-up of his family and was murdered. Although technically a "haole" like Danny, Steve is accepted as "kama'aina" as he was not only born in Hawaii, but was raised to respect and embrace the local culture. In several episodes, he is shown to be conversant in "bird" (Hawaiian Pidgin). As such, he was not antagonized as much as Danny was by the locals during the first several seasons, evidenced by his friendship with Mamo and the deference shown to him even by "Kapu" leader Kawika and Kamekona, who affectionately calls McGarrett "the big kahuna".
Based on McGarrett's flashbacks and statements from other characters, he had a happy childhood and enjoyed spending time in the garage watching his father fix the antique 1974 Mercury Marquis. He inherited his father's passion for antique cars and occasionally drove the Marquis after fixing it up himself. He was a high school sophomore when his mother Doris was presumed to be killed in a car accident in April 1992, prompting John to send Steve and his younger sister Mary away to the mainland for their own safety. Steve was sent to boarding school while Mary went to live with John's older sister Deb. With the surfacing of crime lord Wo Fat and the theft of John's mysterious tool box after Steve's return to Hawaii, the truth behind Doris' "death" is gradually revealed; while the siblings reunite with their mother, they are still suspicious of her and consider Aunt Deb to be their maternal figure. Steve is said to be fifteen or sixteen in 1992, which roughly corresponds with the fact that he was in BUD/S in the year 2000. A star quarterback, he attended the fictional Kukui High School before being sent to the Army and Navy Academy in California for his junior and senior years after the death of his mother. This led to a decade-long period of estrangement between John and his children. In the season 6 episode "Ka Pohaku Kihi Pa'a / The Solid Cornerstone", Steve admitted that he deeply regretted not patching things up with his father when he had the chance to.
Military and Five-0.
McGarrett is a third-generation Navy veteran and he was named after his late grandfather, Ensign Steven McGarrett, who perished on the USS "Arizona" during the attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. His grandfather has been referenced a number of times as the younger McGarrett had met a Japanese American internee and a retired Petty Officer, both of whom knew Ensign McGarrett when he was still alive. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy and went on to have a distinguished career. Governor Jameson once outlined his resume: "Annapolis, five years Naval Intelligence, six years with the SEALs. Your superiors say that you are the best they have ever seen." McGarrett graduated from BUD/S Class 203 (in real life, Class 203 graduated in 1996, not the 2000s) at the top of his class. His time in the military is largely unknown or vague due to the highly classified nature of most of his missions, but it was mentioned that he has been deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and North Korea, served on board the USS "Enterprise", was stationed at Coronado at some point in his career and was known by the nickname "Smooth Dog". He is multilingual and is mainly conversant in Asian languages; he understands Pashto (he did several tours in Afghanistan), speaks and reads Mandarin fluently and knows conversational Korean and Japanese. He is friends with former Navy SEAL Senior Chief Petty Officer, now NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna from "" and former Delta Force operative turned Phoenix Foundation agent Jack Dalton from "MacGyver". Due to his background in intelligence and special ops, he is well-connected to high-ranking officials in the Navy and the CIA, which he has used to his advantage on several occasions. Prior to his father's murder, he served on a "black op" with his best friend, Freddie Hart, but the mission went south and Hart was killed; his body was not recovered until Season 3 when McGarrett personally flew to North Korea to oversee the repatriation. In season 4, he admits to Lou Grover that after Hart's death, the Navy "didn't feel the same" anymore and that he jumped at the chance to leave when Governor Jameson asked him to set up the task force.
McGarrett uses the same weapons he used as a SEAL including a P226 Navy as his sidearm as well as the Heckler & Koch MP5K and MP7 sub-machine guns, and HK416 assault rifle. Besides his father's vintage Marquis, McGarrett drives a blue Chevrolet Silverado. Its license plate registration number is F6-3958, which was also used by Jack Lord's character in the original series.
In "No Ke Ali'i' Wahine A Me Ka Aina", Steve and Danny, along with an MI-6 officer (Chris Vance) are awarded the George Cross by Queen Elizabeth II for stopping a terrorist attack against Europe.
Characterization and relationships.
Despite the fact that he is no longer on full-time active duty, McGarrett's military background and SEAL training are still evident in his daily routine and habits; he still takes a "Navy shower", keeps his house impeccably neat and tidy, maintains a fitness regimen and is extremely sensitive to sound even when asleep. His military mannerisms are also apparent in the way he approaches his cases, some of the lingo he uses and his ability to remain calm even when under intense pressure, and he is frequently mocked by Danny for his lack of "human" touch. In later seasons he becomes more affable around the other task force members and would be seen cracking jokes with other team members. Despite his stoicism, he has a soft spot for children, especially his adoptive niece Joan and Danny's children Grace and Charlie, both of whom often refer to him as 'Uncle Steve', and is extremely protective of his younger sister Mary.
Much of McGarrett's interaction with Danny outside of work usually begins and ends with the duo bickering over trivial matters or good-naturedly mocking one another; there is a running gag in the show where various characters would comment on how the duo bicker like an "old married couple". Although they seem like polar opposites—for example, McGarrett keeps his house neat and tidy and keeps his emotions bottled up while Danny is shown to be a slob and often vocalizes his frustrations by ranting—they form an unlikely friendship, with McGarrett mocking Danny in his deadpan humor several times about how the latter misses him secretly but refuses to admit it. Although he is often referred to as "Boss" by the other members of Five-0 and he is usually seen giving orders, he considers the other members of the team as his peers and "ohana" (family), as mentioned in the Season 5 premiere.
McGarrett was in a long-term on-and-off relationship with Catherine Rollins (Michelle Borth), a rekindled old flame introduced early in season 1. In season 8, it is revealed that his romantic relationship with Catherine dates back to 2002-eight years prior to the events of the pilot. Early in season 6, she leaves on a classified CIA operation before he's able to propose to her. He begins to date Lynn (Sarah Carter) later that season. Despite his ongoing relationship with Lynn, in the season seven premiere McGarrett confesses to a fellow police officer he meets in a hospital chapel that he "met the right woman but couldn't hold on to her". In a subsequent episode later that season MI6 agent Harry Langford tells Steve that his deceased wife was "the only one he ever let in" to which McGarrett replies that he "got one of those" but has "no chance of getting her back". In the season nine premiere, it is revealed that he has broken up with Lynn. In season ten, he is seen dating multiple women before eventually admitting to Danny that he is “feeling lost” and used the dating as a “distraction”.
In the series finale, McGarrett laments to new friend Lincoln Cole that Catherine was “the one who got away”. In the final moments of the series, McGarrett is seen smiling and holding Catherine's hand as they await to depart Hawaii.
McGarrett is an extremely private man who rarely shares aspects of his personal life or preferences, in contrast to Danny, who rants about anything and everything he dislikes. For example, he attempted to keep his relationship with Catherine a secret from the team for much of season 1, although Danny later stated that he knew whenever Catherine was in town from McGarrett's "stupid smile". Although used to working in a team environment, he is usually a "lone wolf" who is extremely self-reliant and has difficulty relying on others for emotional support, which was a source of concern for his Aunt Deb. Despite Danny's persistent prying, McGarrett never speaks of his military service, largely because of the classified nature of most of his missions, often brushing Danny off with "It's classified" or "I can neither confirm nor deny". He frequently displays little or no emotion in situations where Danny is extremely emotional. It is not until Season 5 that McGarrett finally explains to Danny that he was raised in a family environment where males were not encouraged to express emotion.


Lisala

Lisala is the capital of the Mongala Province in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Congo River flows through the city. Its Cathédrale Saint-Hermès is the cathedral episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lisala. It is the birthplace of president Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled Congo (which he renamed Zaire) from 1965 to 1997.
The population is made up of several different tribal groups, notably Ngombe with minorities of Mongo, Ngandi, Ngwaka and Budja.
The area is crossed by the N6 road, of the Route Nationale and is bordered to the north by the Mongala River and to the south by the Congo River.


Heinz Pehlke

Heinz Pehlke (October 8, 1922 – March 12, 2002) was a freelance German cinematographer in film and television. In 1943, he worked as an assistant on the Nazi propaganda film, "Kolberg" directed by Veit Harlan and in 1962, on the anti-Nazi television film, "Jeder stirbt für sich allein", directed by Falk Harnack.
Life and early career.
Heinz Paul Helmut Pehlke was born in Berlin to Elisabeth (née Knaack) and Friedrich Wilhelm Pehlke, a merchant. He first became interested in photography at the age of 12. In 1939, Pehlke began attending a graphic arts school in Berlin. That same year, while on vacation at the Millstätter See, he happened to see a movie being shot, "Kitty und die Weltkonferenz", directed by Helmut Käutner, and first became interested in filmmaking.
In late summer 1942, at the age of 19, he was accepted as a trainee at Döring Film Werke, which made promotional films, including for the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. While there, Pehlke worked as an assistant to Czech cinematographer Friedrich Jurda on a Nazi propaganda film, "Einsatz ausländischer Arbeiter in Deutschland" ("Foreign Worker Employment in Germany"), where they filmed at Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps for six weeks. The footage may be part of the 1943 Nazi film "Wir leben in Deutschland" ("We Live in Germany"), archived at the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv; however, the credits don't mention Pehlke's participation. In autumn 1943, after the company was hit during a bomb attack, Pehlke sought a similar position at Universum Film AG (UFA). He was accepted in late August 1944 and began working at UFA on September 1, 1944 for 50 Reichmarks a week, though he had apparently already been working there as a temporary employee for several months. Pehlke finished his formal training at UFA.
Because of the war, there was a shortage of manpower and Pehlke advanced quickly, soon becoming an assistant to several notable cinematographers, such as Bruno Mondi. He worked as an assistant on Veit Harlan's propaganda film "Kolberg", and under heavy allied bombing, to cinematographer Igor Oberberg an Käutner's film, "Unter den Brücken" and to Heinz von Jaworsky on Wolfgang Liebeneiner's unfinished film, "Das Leben geht weiter" (1945). The Liebeneiner film contained a nighttime farewell scene at a darkened Berlin S-Bahnhof, complete with a background of "flak" searchlights in the sky and cascading Pathfinder flares, to be produced with special effects. As Pehlke later commented, "The absurdity of it all was to produce with special effects what we were going through non-stop in reality."
In early February 1945, despite an injury in his teens that prevented him from being called to military service, Pehlke was called to serve in the Volkssturm, where he used Italian-made arms and had no ammunition. After the war, he was held by the Soviet Union as a prisoner of war in Spandau Prison and was released shortly thereafter in March 1945.
Postwar career.
Even before the end of the war, Pehlke returned to the industry, continuing as the country came under Allied occupation, with licensing and denazification requirements, rationing and other difficulties. Film was in short supply, studio space was virtually non-existent and other difficulties presented themselves. Pehlke later spoke of trying to shoot in the winter of 1946-1947, which was unusually cold. While shooting in Dannenberg on the Elbe river, the camera froze and stopped working and they had to use a propane gas stove to keep the camera functioning while they completed the scene. He worked as an assistant and as a cameraman on a number of films, but was never listed in the credits. By the early 1950s, his career was stagnating. His breakthrough came with "Teenage Wolfpack" in 1956 and before long, he was working as a cinematographer, first in film and then in the 1960s, in television, as well. He worked on several television films based on novels, including Hans Fallada's "Every Man Dies Alone" and "Gabriel Schilling's Flight", by Gerhart Hauptmann.
On September 23, 1994, Pehlke was given an award by the city of Cologne and the German Society for Photography "for his many years of outstanding achievement in film and television."


James Dalgleish Pollock

Captain James Dalgleish Pollock VC (3 June 1890 – 10 May 1958) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Details.
Pollock was 25 years old, and a corporal in the 5th Battalion, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place at the Battle of Loos, for which he was awarded the VC.:
Further information.
He was commissioned into the Cameron Highlanders in 1916 and left the Army in 1919 with the rank of Captain.
James Pollock gained the VC for his outstanding bravery in saving his comrades in the Big Willie trench when it was infiltrated by German bombers. Just over two weeks later his second cousin, James Lennox Dawson also won the VC in the same trenches at the same battle. His actions were remarkably similar. Dawson saved his colleagues in the trench by going over the top, under machine-gun fire, to roll away gas canisters that had been blown open by German shells. Both men were 25 years of age and born within six months of each other in the small Scottish town of Tillicoultry. Both were feted back in Scotland and given the equivalent of a civic reception, James Pollock in Tillicoultry and James Dawson in Alloa, barely a week apart in December 1915.
Royal Observer Corps.
Pollock volunteered for service the Royal Observer Corps during World War II. He is recorded as being an Observer Officer and full-time Duty Controller in No 33 Aberdeen (Ayr) Group. As far as is known, he was the only ROC Officer in history of the Corps to hold the Victoria Cross. Along with other members of No 33 Group James Pollock stood down on or before 12 May 1945.
To mark the end of the Second World War the Air Ministry arranged a huge rally at RAF North Weald in Essex from Saturday 23 June to Monday 25 June 1945. Almost 2,000 members of the ROC from all over the United Kingdom were invited to attend the rally. King George VI had already approved the design of an Ensign for the newly formed Royal Observer Corps, the Ensign was RAF blue with the Union Jack in one corner and also bearing the Corps' crest. It was dedicated at a special service held at North Weald on Sunday 24 June 1945. That day the 2,000 observers carried out the first ever uniformed ROC march past to the accompaniment of the RAF Band with the Under Secretary of State for Air, Lord Beatty, taking the salute. The parade then formed into a huge square and the Royal Observer Corps Ensign was presented by Lord Beatty. The Ensign was borne to the drumhead by Observer Lieutenant Pollock VC. In the parade Observer Lieutenant Pollock bore the Ensign flanked by two senior NCO’s at the head of the massed contingent of observers. A filmed record of the day's events is held in the National Archive at the Imperial War Museum, London.
The medal.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Regimental Museum of Queens Own Highlanders, (Fort George, Inverness-shire, Scotland).


Liberty bond

A Liberty bond (or liberty loan) was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the Allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financial securities to many citizens for the first time.
Liberty Bond Issues 1917–1918.
There were four issues of Liberty Bonds:
Interest on up to $30,000 in the bonds was tax exempt only for the First Liberty Bond.
First Liberty Bond Act.
The Second Liberty Loan Act established a $5 billion aggregate limit on the amount of government bonds issued at 30 years at 3.5% interest, redeemable by the government after 15 years. It raised $2 billion with 5.5 million people purchasing bonds.
Second Liberty Bond Act.
The 2nd Liberty Loan Act established a $15 billion aggregate limit on the amount of government bonds issued, allowing $3 billion more offered at 25 years at 4% interest, redeemable after 10 years. The amount of the loan totaled $3.8 billion with 9.4 million people purchasing bonds.
Sales difficulties and the subsequent campaign.
The response to the first Liberty Bond was unenthusiastic and although the $2 billion issue reportedly sold out, it probably had to be done below par because the notes traded consistently below par. One reaction to this was to attack bond traders as "unpatriotic" if they sold below par. The Board of Governors of the New York Stock Exchange conducted an investigation of brokerage firms who sold below par to determine if "pro-German influences" were at work. The board forced one such broker to buy the bonds back at par and make a $100,000 donation to the Red Cross. Various explanations were offered for the weakness of the bonds ranging from German sabotage to the rich not buying the bonds because it would give an appearance of tax dodging (the bonds were exempt from some taxes).
A common consensus was that more needed to be done to sell the bonds to small investors and the common man, rather than large concerns. The poor reception of the first issue resulted in a convertible re-issue five months later at the higher interest rate of 4% and with more favorable tax terms. When the new issue arrived it also sold below par, although the Times noted that "no Government bonds can sell at par except temporarily and by accident." The subsequent 4.25% bond priced as low as 94 cents upon arrival.
Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo reacted to the sales problems by creating an aggressive campaign to popularize the bonds. The government used a division of the Committee on Public Information called the Four Minute Men to help sell Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps. Famous artists helped to make posters and movie stars hosted bond rallies. Al Jolson, Elsie Janis, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin were among the celebrities that made public appearances promoting the idea that purchasing a liberty bond was "the patriotic thing to do" during the era. Chaplin also made a short film, "The Bond", at his own expense for the drive. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts sold the bonds, using the slogan "Every Scout to Save a Soldier".
Beyond these effective efforts, in 1917 the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps established an elite group of Army pilots assigned to the Liberty Bond campaign. The plan for selling bonds was for the pilots to crisscross the country in their Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" training aircraft in flights of 3 to 5 aircraft. When they arrived over a town, they would perform aerobatic stunts, and put on mock dog fights for the populace.
After performing their air show, they would land on a road, a golf course, or a pasture nearby. By the time they shut down their engines, most of the townspeople, attracted by their performance, would have gathered. At that point, most people had never seen an airplane, nor ridden in one. Routinely each pilot stood in the rear cockpit of his craft and told the assemblage that every person who purchased a Liberty Bond would be taken for a ride in one of the airplanes. The program was successful in raising a substantial amount of money which was used to pay for the war effort. The methodology developed and practiced by the Army was later followed by numerous entrepreneurial flyers known as Barnstormers, who purchased war surplus Jenny airplanes and flew across the country selling airplane rides.
Vast amounts of promotional materials were manufactured. For example, for the third Liberty Loan nine million posters, five million window stickers and 10 million buttons were produced and distributed. The campaign spurred community efforts across the country and resulted in glowing, patriotically-tinged reports on the "success" of the bonds. For the fifth and final loan drive (the Victory Loan) in 1919 the Treasury Department produced steel medallions made from melted down German cannon that had been captured by American troops at Château-Thierry in NW France. The inch-and-a-quarter wide medallions suspended from a red, white, and blue ribbon were awarded by the Department to Victory Liberty Loan campaign volunteers in appreciation of their service in the drive.
Despite all these measures, recent research has shown that patriotic motives played only a minor role in investors' decisions to buy these bonds.
Through the selling of "Liberty bonds," the government raised around $17 billion for the war effort. Considering that there were approximately 100 million Americans at the time, each American, on average, raised $170 on Liberty bonds.
According to the Massachusetts Historical Society, "Because the first World War cost the federal government more than $30 billion (by way of comparison, total federal expenditures in 1913 were only $970 million), these programs became vital as a way to raise funds".
Peak US indebtedness was in August 1919 at a value of $25,596,000,000 for Liberty Bonds, Victory Notes, War Savings Certificates, and other government securities. As early as 1922 the possibility that the war debt could not be paid in full within the expected schedule was raised, and that debt rescheduling may be needed. In 1921 the Treasury Department began issuing short term notes maturing in three to five years to repay the Victory Loan.
Victory Liberty Loan.
A fifth bond issue relating to World War I was released on April 21, 1919. Consisting of $4.5 billion of gold notes at 4.75% interest, they matured after four years but could be redeemed by the government after three. Exempt from all income taxes, they were called at the time "the last of the series of five Liberty Loans." However they were also called the "Victory Liberty Loan," and appear this way on posters of the period.
Repayment.
The first three bonds and the Victory Loan were partially retired during the course of the 1920s, but the majority of these bonds were simply re-financed through other government securities. The Victory Loan, which was to mature in May 1923, was retired with money raised by short term treasury notes which matured after three to five years and issued at 90-day intervals until sufficient funds were raised in 1921. The likelihood of successfully retiring all of the war debt (within the amount of time) was noted as early as 1921. In 1927, the 2nd and 3rd, together worth five billion dollars (25% of all government debt at the time), were called for redemption and refunded through the issuance of other government securities through the Treasury Department. Some of the principal was retired. For example, of the 3.1 billion dollars owed on the 2nd Liberty Bond, 575 million in principal was retired and the rest refinanced. At this same time, the 1st Liberty Bond still had 1.9 billion dollars outstanding in 1927 with a call date for 1932 while the fourth Liberty Bond, with six billion dollars, had a call date for 1932 as well.
Default of the Fourth Liberty Bond.
The first three Liberty bonds, and the Victory Loan, were retired during the course of the 1920s. However, because the terms of the bonds allowed them to be traded for the later bonds which had superior terms, most of the debt from the first, second, and third Liberty bonds was rolled into the fourth issue.
The fourth Liberty Bond had the following terms:
The terms of the bond included: "The principal and interest hereof are payable in United States gold coin of the present standard of value." This type of "gold clause" was common in both public and private contracts of the time, and was intended to guarantee that bond-holders would not be harmed by a devaluation of the currency.
However, when the US Treasury called the fourth bond on April 15, 1934, it defaulted on this term by refusing to redeem the bond in gold, and neither did it account for the devaluation of the dollar from $20.67 per troy ounce of gold (the 1918 standard of value) to $35 per ounce. The 21 million bond holders therefore lost 139 million troy ounces of gold, or approximately 41% of the bond's principal. This was the equivalent of $2.866 billion (in 1918 dollars).
The legal basis for the refusal of the US Treasury to redeem in gold was the gold clause resolution (Pub. Res. 73–10), dated June 5, 1933. The Supreme Court later held this to be unconstitutional under section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment:
However, due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's elimination of the open gold market with the signing of Executive Order 6102 on April 5, 1933, the Court ruled that the bond-holders' loss was unquantifiable, and that to repay them in dollars according to the 1918 standard of value would be an "unjustified enrichment". The ruling therefore had little practical effect.
Impact.
According to a 2020 study, "counties with higher liberty bond ownership rates turned against the Democratic Party in the presidential elections of 1920 and 1924. This was a reaction to the depreciation of the bonds prior to the 1920 election (when the Democrats held the presidency) and the appreciation of the bonds in the early 1920s (under a Republican president), as the Federal Reserve raised and then subsequently lowered interest rates."


B-ration

B ration (or Type B Ration) is a term used in the United States military for a meal provided to troops which was prepared using canned or preserved ingredients. 'B' ration meals may be prepared in field kitchens and served in the field, or served in garrisons without adequate refrigeration or freezer facilities.
'B' rations differ from 'A' rations in that they do not use fresh, frozen, or refrigerated ingredients. They are distinguished from field rations, formerly known as C rations (such as the Meal, Ready-to-Eat or its predecessor, the Meal, Combat, Individual ration) in that they are ordinarily prepared in field kitchens instead of being distributed at the unit or individual level for immediate consumption.
Whereas historical 'B' rations were often prepared by trained personnel in field kitchens, the term increasingly applies to prepackaged bulk rations that require minimal additional preparation in the field today, more analogous to group feeding rations such as 5-in-1 ration or 10-in-1 food parcel of the past. 'B' rations today may include the Unitized Group Ration B (UGR-B), a hybrid meal kit designed to feed a group for one meal. The UGR-B has several different varieties, including a tray-based heat and serve (T-rat) form, heated by hot water immersion when a field kitchen is not available, or the express form, with a self-heating module and disposable accessories.


Bi Jilong

Bi Jilong(; 1914-5/30/2007), (original name Bi Qinfang), was a Chinese diplomat and the second Chinese Under-Secretary-General of United Nations.
Early life.
Bi was born in Shanghai to a local leading family. His father, Bi Yihong, was a staff member of the embassy of the Qing Dynasty in Singapore, and later the editor of "Eastern Times" in Shanghai. His maternal grandfather, Yang Yunshi, was in the Consul of the Qing Dynasty to Singapore. Bi's family was losing their financial position during his childhood, and he went to live with his uncle in Yangzhou, where he attended Yangzhou High school. He graduated from National Central University and worked in several agencies of the Nationalist government as well as Yingshi University.


Francis Douglas (priest)

Francis Vernon Douglas (22 May 1910 – July 1943) was a New Zealand priest of the Missionary Society of St. Columban who was killed in the Philippines by Japanese soldiers in 1943.
Biography.
He was born in Johnsonville, in Wellington, the fifth of eight children (five sons and three daughters) of Kathleen ("née" Gaffney) and George Charles Douglas, an Australian-born railway worker. His mother was a devout Catholic from County Sligo, Ireland, and his father became a Catholic in 1926.
Douglas trained for the Catholic priesthood at Holy Cross Seminary, Mosgiel. Within a few months of his ordination, at the end of 1934, he applied to join the Missionary Society of St. Columban. He was curate at New Plymouth when he left to join the society at the start of 1937. He was appointed to the Philippines in July 1939. He was posted to Pililla. Five years later during the Japanese occupation he was taken by secret police looking for information on guerillas active in his area.
Over three days in the Church of Saint James the Apostle in Paete, Laguna, he was savagely beaten and had a cruel torture of the water cure, the presumption being that police were trying to extort information from him about guerillas whose confessions he may have heard. He remained silent through it all, and was last seen on the evening of 27 July 1943, very weak but still conscious, being put on a truck with a guard of Japanese soldiers. He was never seen again. It was only after the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation at the end of 1944 that the Columbans could start to piece his story together. What emerged was a picture of a priest, aged 33, who could be regarded as a martyr, having demonstrated outstanding priestly fidelity (especially to the Seal of Confession). He is remembered in the name of a boys college in New Plymouth, Francis Douglas Memorial College.
Beatification.
In collaboration with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington, the Columban Missionaries are already preparing the steps in opening Fr. Douglas' cause for sainthood. He is honored for his steadfast devotion to his religious duties, and stands with Mother Mary Joseph Aubert and Emmet McHardy as one of the New Zealand Catholic Church’s three great inspirational models of sanctity.


The Very Thought of You (film)

The Very Thought of You is a 1944 romantic drama film directed by Delmer Daves and starring Dennis Morgan, Eleanor Parker and Dane Clark. The screenplay concerns an American soldier on a short leave during World War II who falls in love with and marries a woman.
Plot.
Away for a year and a half serving their country, Army Sergeants Dave (Dennis Morgan) and "Fixit" (Dane Clark) spend a three-day pass in Pasadena, also visiting Dave's alma mater, Caltech.
They meet two young women who work in a parachute factory. Cora (Faye Emerson) quickly catches Fixit's eye, while Janet (Eleanor Parker) remembers Dave from school days. Upon realizing that Dave has no family nearby, Janet invites him home for Thanksgiving dinner.
Her family does not treat him kindly. Janet's mother does not approve of getting involved with a military man who's away all the time. One reason for that is Janet's sister Molly (Andrea King), who is married to a sailor but seeing other men behind his back. Janet's brother, classified 4-F, is rude to Dave as well. Only her father and younger sister Ellie makes their dinner guest feel welcome. Ellie notices the attraction between Janet and Dave and secretly arranges a date on Thanksgiving morning between Dave and Janet.
After a day at Mount Wilson runs long and causes them to be late getting Janet back home, but the couple can't bear to part, so Janet and Dave proceed to Cora's apartment and fall asleep. It is 3 a.m. when he takes her home, where Janet's mother slaps her.
Dave must report for duty in San Diego, but is in love and marries Janet, enjoying a brief honeymoon. Molly disapproves and intercepts Dave's letters to Janet.
Janet decides to move out and live in Cora's apartment.
She and Dave (with Fixit's help) have a quick rendezvous in San Diego, sleeping on a beach, because all the hotels and trailer parks are full. Shortly after this, Janet learns she's pregnant, which leads to more acrimony between her and Molly.
When news comes that Dave and Fixit have been wounded in the war, everyone in Janet's family finally relents. Molly even begs husband Fred (William Prince) for forgiveness and they reconcile. It takes months more, but Dave finally returns to rejoin his wife and meet their new baby boy.
Reception.
According to Warner Bros records the film earned $1,933,000 domestically and $581,000 foreign.


Papa Nichols


Yetaishan Campaign

The Yetaishan Campaign (爷台山战役), also known as the Chunhua Incident (淳化事变) by the nationalists and dubbed the Yetaishan Counteroffensive (爷台山反击战) by the communists, was a series of battles fought between the nationalists and the communists during Chinese Civil War shortly before the end of World War II, and resulted in the communist victory.
Order of battle.
Nationalists (totaling around 20,000):
Communists (around 6,000):
First stage.
Yetai Mountain (Yetai Shan, 爷台山) located at the southern tip of the Qiao (乔) Mountain Range at the border of Chunhau (淳化) and Yao (耀) Counties was the southern gate of the Communist base in Shaanxi, and its main peak was 1,300 meters above sea level. Beginning on 15 July 1945, Hu Zongnan redeployed his forces in Henan, Xi'an, along the Yellow River westward to part of Xunyi (旬邑), Tongguan (同官), Chunhau (淳化) and Yao (耀) Counties, reaching a total of nine divisions. On 21 July 1945, the nationalist 2nd Cavalry and Temporarily Organized 59th Divisions suddenly launched a surprise attack on this strategic location, as a probe attack to discover the weakness of the Communist defense, as well as the reaction of Communists and the general public. On 23 July 1945, the nationalist 3rd Reserve Division also joined the attack on the enemy. After a series of small but fierce battles that continuously lasted a week, the numerically and technically inferior local Communist garrison withdrew on 27 July 1945 into the heart of their base in Shaanxi, and the nationalists succeeded in taking control of the mountain and 41 hamlets to the west of the mountain.
The Communists organized a temporary headquarters for counteroffensive at Horse Fence (Malan, 马栏). Zhang Zongxun was appointed as the commander-in-chief, Wang Shitai (王世泰) and Wang Jishan (王近山) as the deputy commanders-in-chief, Xi Zhongxun as the political commissar, Tan Zheng (谭政) as the deputy political commissar, and Zhang Jingwu (张经武) as the chief-of-staff, and Gan Siqi as the director of the political directorate. A total of eight regiments of Communist New 4th Brigade, 358th Brigade, 1st and 2nd Training Brigades and 1st Garrison Brigade were deployed to counterattack.
Second stage.
The harsh conditions of the local area could not support three mechanized divisions, and most of the nationalist force had to withdraw in order to avoid the logistic nightmare, and the main force had to be deployed in other regions, including Bin (邠), Zhongbu (中部), Shibao (石堡), Xingping (兴平), Chunhau (淳化) and Yao (耀) Counties and Xi'an. Only six companies were left behind to guard the newly conquered territory, including two heavy machine gun companies, and four infantry companies, with the crack troop nicknamed the "Ever Victorious Company", the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the nationalist 59th Temporary Organized Division guarding the main peak of the Yetai Mountain (Yetai Shan, 爷台山). To strengthen their positions, seven additional machine guns were assigned to the "Ever Victorious Company". The nationalists also drafted most of the local population to build over a dozen bunkers interconnected by trenches to fortify their positions.
Communists were determined to dislodge the nationalists from their positions. Five battalions of the Communist New 4th Brigade and a mountain gun crew were assigned as the main force of the first attack wave, and they were to be helped by the 1st and 3rd Garrison Regiments of the Communist 1st Garrison Brigade. They were tasked to annihilate nationalists in the regions of Yetai Mountain (Yetai Shan, 爷台山), Laozhuangzi (老庄子), and Song Family's Pit (Songjiawa, 宋家洼). The 358th Brigade was the second wave deployed in the region of Phoenix Mountain (Fenghuanshan, 凤凰山) and Zhaojin (照金), and join the fight if necessary, but its main tasks was to prepare for the possible nationalist counterattack that would certainly follow. The 1st and 2nd Training Brigade deployed in the region of Ridge Gulf (Lingwan, 岭湾) and Shangzhenzi (上珍子) as general reserve were tasked to protect the rear. After the Communist force regrouped at the region of Horse Fence (Malan, 马栏), they set out on 7 August 1945 and the communist temporary headquarters was also moved forward from Horse Fence (Malan, 马栏) to Mianlu (免鹿) Hamlet at the foothill of Phoenix Mountain (Fenghuanshan, 凤凰山), 10 km away from Yetai Mountain (Yetai Shan, 爷台山).
Third stage.
At the dusk of 8 August 1945, Communists secretly approached the nationalist positions and dug in. At midnight, the attack begun, but their advance was checked by the stubborn nationalist defense. By 4:00 AM of 9 August 1945, only the 771st Regiment of the New 4th Brigade succeeded in taking nationalist positions at Meng Household's Plain, (Menghuyuan, 孟户原) and Xionng Family's Mountain (Xiongjiashan, 熊家山), while other communist attacks were beaten back. The communist headquarters consequently ordered the 358th Brigade to join the fight, and the 8th Regiment of the 358th Brigade was ordered by its brigade commander Huang Xinting (黄新廷) to launch another round of attack on the nationalists, under the cover of the artillery barrage of three mountain guns and eight mortars, the entire artillery pieces of the brigade.
By 10:00 AM on 9 August 1945, the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Regiment of the Communist 358th Brigade succeeded in taking all trenches outside the bunkers occupied by the nationalists, and a Communist soldier named Yin Yufen (尹玉芬) first breached the first nationalist bunker, and soon after, other units of the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Regiment of the Communist 358th Brigade and 1st Battalion of the 16th Regiment of the New 4th Brigade also succeeded in breaching the nationalist defense, finally taking the remaining nationalist positions at Yetai Mountain (Yetai Shan, 爷台山) by 2:00 PM. After the main battle ended, the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Regiment of the Communist 358th Brigade and the 3rd Garrison Regiment succeeded in taking the last five bunkers in the region of Laozhuangzi (老庄子), and Songjiawa (宋家洼), and the five nationalists companies left to guard the region were completely destroyed and Communist took a defensive posture to prepare for possible nationalist counterattacks.
Conclusion.
After concluding the nationalists would not launch anymore counterattacks, the Communist finally declared a victory on 10 August 1945. The Communist succeeded in retake all of the territories previously lost by destroying all of the six nationalist companies stationed there, succeeding in capturing over a hundred nationalist enlisted, thirty-six nationalist officers (including a battalion commander), while killing most of the remaining nationalist troops. A total of nineteen machine guns and huge amount of ammunition also fell into Communist hands. The conflict was used by the Communists as a mean to evaluate the training of their troops, especially the 358th Brigade.
The nationalists not only learned that the rugged mountainous terrain favored the enemy defenders but ill-suited for the mechanized force of their own, but was also worrying the political fallout of alienating the general public for launching an attack on the Communists instead of the Japanese invaders. Furthermore, the American investigation team (accompanied by Yang Shangkun, with Huang Hua and Ma Haide (George Hatem) as interpreters) visited the site on 12 August 1945 concluded that the nationalists were at fault, which agreed with the perception of the general public, and losing US support was simply a risk the nationalists could not afford to take. The nationalists therefore decided not to attempt a retake of the region, and the campaign concluded as both sides turned their attention to capturing more territories from the Japanese invaders.


Mainframe (G.I. Joe)

Mainframe is a fictional character from the "" toyline, comic books and animated series. He is the G.I. Joe Team's communications expert and debuted in 1986.
Profile.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Mainframe's real name is Blaine L. Parker, and his rank is sergeant E-5.
Mainframe was both an athlete and a scholar as a child, though as a self-confessed nerd, he would much rather learn about computers than do anything else. He graduated high school at the age of seventeen, and immediately enlisted in the Army airborne. He soon headed into battle overseas, receiving his Combat Infantryman Badge, and later left the army to get his degree from MIT on the G.I. Bill. Mainframe then did a stint developing computer software in Silicon Valley, making big bucks and fighting boredom with a stick. Luckily, the Marines were looking for a few good men with just his qualifications, and Mainframe was soon back in uniform. He even served at the Pentagon for a time, before joining the G.I. Joe Team as a computer specialist.
The world's ever-increasing reliance upon technology makes him a valued member of the G.I. Joe Team, and his ability to design computer viruses makes him a nuisance to Cobra Command.
Toys.
A Real American Hero.
Mainframe was first released as an action figure in 1986. He was also available in 1987, and was discontinued in 1988.
A re-colored version of Mainframe was also released in 1986, as an exclusive in a special set from Toys R Us named "Special Mission: Brazil". The boxed set also included Claymore, and re-colored versions of Dial Tone, Leatherneck, and Wet Suit. The set included a cassette tape that detailed the secret mission.
25th Anniversary.
In 2008, a new version of Mainframe was released, but renamed "Dataframe". A Comic Pack with Beach Head & Dataframe also has been released.
Comics.
Marvel Comics.
In the Marvel Comics "" series, he first appeared in issue #58. In that issue, Mainframe and Dusty are sent on a mission into a Middle Eastern nation torn apart by the war between the Royalist rebels and the forces of dictator Colonel Sharif. Mainframe and Dusty are sent in to locate a Cobra Terror Drome launch base hidden in the country after spy satellites detect the base's infrared signature. In exchange for helping them ambush one of Sharif's weapons convoys, the Royalists give the Joes a guide to lead them through the desert, a local teen named Rashid. Much of the story deals with Rashid's disrespect for Mainframe for not being a 'real' soldier. However, after watching Mainframe reprogram a Firebat to strafe enemy troops and hearing about his past as a frontline soldier from Dusty, Rashid changes his mind about Mainframe and even becomes an expert in computer in order to honor him. Later, after detecting a shuttle launched from Cobra Island, Mainframe is part of a team that heads into space on board the space shuttle Defiant to defend U.S. satellites against a Cobra attack. Some time later, Mainframe works on the USS Flagg as part of Hawk's operations team during the Joes' involvement in the Cobra civil war. Mainframe serves in a similar capacity on the Flagg later during the Battle of Benzheen. He later aids the G.I. Joe Ninja Force in their efforts to help Destro remove a bounty on his head.
Action Force.
Mainframe also appears in the British Action Force continuity. In one incident he's part of a Joe team taken prisoner. They have access to vital technology that would allow Cobra to more easily attack European interests. Mainframe's team and a secondary Joe squad cause enough chaos Cobra's plans are stopped.
Transformers.
In the original out of continuity G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover, Mainframe is essential in rebuilding the severely damaged Bumblebee.
Devil's Due.
Mainframe appears many times when Devil's Due takes over the Joe license. He is one of the first ones recruited back into active duty when gathered intelligence indicates Cobra is a threat yet again. He works closely with Lifeline to neutralize the threat of microscopic nanites which are causing various forms of deadly havoc. A couple of ideas work out and the nanites are defeated. At a later point, Mainframe's long-term efforts to uncover white-collar Cobra crime results in Roadblock fighting Dreadnoks on live television; this just increases Roadblock's financial well-being. Mainframe's work at the computer causes him to admit he needs to get out more.
G.I. Joe comes into conflict with Serpentor and his new independent army, 'Coil', which has taken over Cobra Island. Mainframe teams with Flash for a sabotage mission against EMP generators. Coil troops trap the two with a bomb and they perish when it explodes. The generators are also destroyed. Mainframe's name is part of memorial in Arlington dedicated to all Joes who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Mainframe's protégé, Firewall later aids his teammates in finishing an old mission involving the drug dealer Headman. Rashid also assists in this mission.
Mainframe is part of the alternate reality crossover "G.I. Joe Vs. Transformers 2". In the climactic battle he assists Doctor Mindbender and Wheeljack in saving the Earth from complete destruction. However, it doesn't go quite as planned, with the after-effects of the life saving computer hacks accidentally incinerating his Joe teammate Mercer.
IDW.
Mainframe is the Joe soldier who discovers that Cobra exists as an organization in the first place; his theories that they are a group willing to profit in the long term pans out. In order to chase the proof, he goes off base, with Snake Eyes the only Joe who thinks he is not a traitor. As he is Joe-trained, the other Joes chasing him use lethal force.
He later returns to the team, a trusted field commander. At one point, he leads operations in Europe defending the life of an injured diplomat, shot in an Cobra attack. Said diplomat is trusted by both sides in a bitter conflict. Mainframe is later called in to assist in tracking down possible Destro involvement in a fatal conflict in Rio de Janeiro.
Animated series.
Sunbow.
Mainframe appeared in the original "" animated series, voiced by Patrick Pinney. In the 5-part mini series "Arise Serpentor, Arise!", Mainframe and his teammate Beach Head escape from Cobra troops by hiding in the actual coffin of Vlad Tepes. In the same series, Mainframe mentions a posting he had monitoring base security in Vietnam. Mainframe was also apparently married with children at one point. While driving through Transylvania, he remarks that the countryside reminds him of when he would take his kids trick or treating.
In the Sunbow Season 2 episode, "Computer Complications", he mentions having an ex-wife. In that same episode, Zarana goes undercover at a Joe base as "Carol Weidler". During that time, Mainframe and Zarana develop romantic feelings for each other. At the end of the episode, the Dreadnoks joke to her: "Hey, Zarana, I’ve been thinking! Maybe you oughta quit the Dreadnoks, go marry that wimp, get a house in the suburbs, have kids." to which she responds by shooting in their direction. The episode ends showing both Mainframe and Zarana, miles away looking at the moon, perhaps pondering the same question. In "Grey Hairs & Growing Pains", Zarana helps Mainframe again; he had undergone de-aging.
G.I. Joe: The Movie.
Mainframe also appeared briefly in the 1987 animated film "".
Books.
Mainframe is a supporting character in the novel "Divide and Conquer". Without permission, he risks damage to Joe Headquarters to gain information from Cobra computers.
Mainframe is featured in the younger-children storybook "Operation Starfight" drawn by Earl Norem. He is wounded in the arm during the story.
Video games.
Mainframe appears as a non-playable supporting character named "Data Frame" in the video game "", voiced by Wally Wingert.
Other works.
Mainframe's figure is briefly featured in the fiction novel "6 Sick Hipsters". In the story, the character Paul Achting spent four years collecting G.I. Joe figures to set up a battle scene between the Joes and Cobra. As he imagined the characters in his head, he described three of the Joes hanging back from the front lines: Lifeline, Mainframe, and Iceberg. Beside Iceberg, "Mainframe, clad in his distinctive gray short-sleeved uniform, manned the battlefield computer. They did not speak to each other. Only waited and watched."


John H. Ferrell

John H. Ferrell (April 15, 1829 – April 17, 1900) was a civilian employee of the Union Navy during the American Civil War and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. He is one of only eight civilians ever to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
Born on April 15, 1829, in Bedford County, Tennessee, Ferrell was living in Illinois when he was hired by the Navy as a pilot. By December 6, 1864, he was serving in the Cumberland River aboard the . On that day, during an engagement with Confederates at Bells Mills near Nashville, Tennessee, he and Quartermaster John Ditzenback braved heavy fire to re-raise "Neosho"'s flag after it was shot down. For this action, both he and Ditzenbach were awarded the Medal of Honor six months later, on June 22, 1865.
Ferrell's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Mr. John H. Ferrell, a United States Civilian, for extraordinary heroism in action on board the U.S. Monitor "NEOSHO" during the engagement with enemy batteries at Bells Mills, Cumberland River, near Nashville, Tennessee, 6 December 1864. Carrying out his duties courageously during the engagement, Civilian Pilot John Ferrell gallantly left the pilothouse after the flag and signal staffs of that vessel had been shot away and, taking the flag which was drooping over the wheelhouse, make it fast to the stump of the highest mast remaining although the ship was still under a heavy fire from the enemy.
Ferrell died April 17, 1900, at age 71 and was buried at Price Cemetery in Elizabethtown, Illinois.


Skullion

Skullion is a central character in "Porterhouse Blue" (1974) and "Grantchester Grind" (1995), two novels about life in the fictitious Porterhouse College at Cambridge by British novelist Tom Sharpe. For centuries, Porterhouse College has been renowned for its cuisine, the prowess of its rowers and the low level of its academic achievements. Since the college was founded there have been Skullions at Porterhouse.
Skullion is the head porter at the college, a responsibility he has held for many years and which he takes very seriously indeed.
Head porter of Porterhouse College.
James Skullion's first contact with Porterhouse College came when, as a young boy, he carried the students' cases for sixpence when they arrived at the railway station at Cambridge, running beside their cabs to help unload them at the college. He became a porter at Porterhouse in 1928 and served in the Royal Marines during the Second World War. He became the head porter in 1949. In the books, Skullion has worked at the college for forty-five years, has served seven masters, and sees himself as a link with the college's great and glorious past; as such he regards it as his duty to maintain the standards of bygone years. Porterhouse is not an academic college; rather, it is a club for gentlemen, where admission depends on rank and wealth and where degrees can be bought. This often involves a brighter substitute from another college being paid to take the place of the Porterhouse student in the examination. Based on their fraudulent degrees, many of these students have gone on to obtain positions of great power in government and industry. These men are known as " 'Skullion's Scholars' ". He keeps their names on a list, knowing it will be useful one day.
When the master of Porterhouse dies without naming his successor, the College Visitor, the Queen, takes the prime minister's advice and appoints Sir Godber Evans (a former student at the college) as his successor. Sir Godber, having been pressured by his wealthy left-wing wife, Lady Mary, announces sweeping changes to the centuries of college tradition, much to the concern of Skullion and the Fellows, who plan a counter attack to the proposed contraceptive machines, women students, and a self-service canteen. He also intends to sell the row of houses where the college servants live.
Skullion contemptuously remembers Sir Godber from his student days as not being a gentleman as he had been educated at a grammar school. Skullion is sacked for insolence by Sir Godber, the new Master, and is forced to leave his home. He appears live on a television programme in which he reveals all of the college's murky secrets, and refers to his list of " 'Skullion's Scholars' ", to the horror of Sir Godber and the college's Senior Fellows, but to the amusement of everybody else.
Skullion returns to Cambridge, determined to ask for his job back in return for donating a large inheritance he has received to the college. He confronts Sir Godber who treats him with pity and contempt. This angers Skullion's sense of pride, and he advances menacingly on Sir Godber, who, backing away in fear, trips and bangs his head. He is found dying by the Dean and Senior Tutor and tries to tell them who is responsible. They misunderstand his meaning and believe that he has named Skullion as his successor as Master. They inform Skullion of this and he suffers a " 'Porterhouse Blue' ", a stroke, but survives and is installed as master of the college.
Master of Porterhouse.
In "Grantchester Grind" the wheel-chair bound Skullion is still Master, but is showing signs of physical frailty. The mystery surrounding the death of the previous Master, Sir Godber Evans, prompts his widow, the millionairess Lady Mary, to instigate a plan to investigate the death through a planted Fellow, Dr Purefoy Osbert, backed by a large, anonymous donation to Porterhouse.
At the same time, the Dean decides to look for a new Master for the college, preferably a wealthy one, to replace Skullion; he drives around the country visiting Old Porterthusians (previous students at Porterhouse), including Lord Jeremy Pimpole, (who is now a chronic alcoholic with a sexual predilection for sheep and dogs), in the hope that he will find one is willing to become Master. None is suitable. Meanwhile, the College Bursar is contacted by the American media and drug-running billionaire Edgar Hartang, who seems to be interested in supporting the college without clarifying what it is he wants in return. Knowing that Dr Osbert is eavesdropping, Skullion admits that he murdered Sir Godber Evans. He is immediately and secretly sent to "Porterhouse Park", an unpleasant retirement home for the college's mad or troublesome Fellows. He escapes from here with the assistance of Dr Osbert, and returns to Porterhouse and confronts the Fellows. As is his right as Master, Skullion nominates the new master of the college, the alcoholic Lord Pimpole.
Skullion in film.
In 1987 "Porterhouse Blue" was adapted for television as "Porterhouse Blue" by Malcolm Bradbury for Channel 4, with David Jason playing the role of Skullion, and winning a BAFTA for Best Actor for the role.


Mary Previte

Mary Evelyn Previte (September 7, 1932 – November 16, 2019) was an American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly, where she represented the 6th legislative district from 1998 to 2006.
Life and career.
Born in Kaifeng, China on September 7, 1932, Previte was the great-granddaughter of James Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission. As a young girl, Previte was a student at the Chefoo School at Yantai in Shandong, China and spent three years in a Japanese concentration camp at Weihsien Compound during World War II, from which she was liberated by American paratroopers on August 17, 1945. Over 50 years later, in 1997, she began to seek out and thank, in person, each of the soldiers who had been involved in liberating the camp.
At the age of 14, Previte lost her left hand in a revolving saw accident. But this did not hinder her from going on to graduate with a B.A. from Greenville College and received an M.A. from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) in English / Education.
She served on the Voorhees Board of Education in 1966 and 1967 and a trustee on the Haddonfield Board of Education from 1972 to 1974. Previte was the Administrator of Camden County Youth Center for over 20 years and was elected in 1997 as the first female president of the New Jersey Juvenile Detention Association.
In 1994, she published "Hungry Ghosts", the story of her experience as Administrator of the Youth Center.
Previte was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly representing the 6th legislative district from 1998 to 2006. She served on the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Advisory Committee since 1995. She served on the Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice in 1994. Previte served in the Assembly on the Family, Women and Children's Services Committee (as Chair), the Federal Relations Committee and the Regulated Professions and Independent Authorities Committee. She did not seek reelection to the Assembly in 2005, and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Pamela Rosen Lampitt. She died on November 16, 2019 at the age of 87 from complications of injuries sustained after being struck by a motor vehicle weeks prior.


Three Modern Women

Three Modern Women () is a 1933 Chinese film directed by Bu Wancang and written by Tian Han. The film tells a story about the romantic relationships between a movie star and three women representing three archetypes of contemporary women. Released by the Lianhua Film Company, it was highly popular and won praise from left-wing critics.
It is considered a lost film.


Wang Jianwu

Wang Jianwu (; born August 1958) is a Chinese military officer and the current political commissar of the Southern Theater Command, one of the five military regions of the People's Liberation Army. Wang was promoted to the rank of general. He is a member of the 19th CPC Central Committee.
Biography.
Wang was born in Luoning County, Henan, in August 1958. He served in various posts in the Jinan Military Region before becoming political commissar of the Tibet Military District in 2016. He was deputy director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission and deputy leader of the Leading Group on Poverty Alleviation and Development of the State Council in May 2018, and held that offices until January 2019. On 17 January 2019, Wang was appointed political commissar of the Southern Theater Command, replacing Wei Liang.


Zhang Wannian

Zhang Wannian (; 1 August 1928 – 14 January 2015) was a general of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China.
Biography.
Zhang Wannian was born in Huang County (now Longkou), Shandong Province of China on 1 August 1928.
He joined the Eighth Route Army in August 1944 and the Communist Party of China in August 1945.
From 1958 to 1961, he studied in the preparatory and basic department at the Nanjing Military Academy of PLA. From 1962-1966, he was the head of the 367th regiment, affiliated to the 123rd division of 41st Army. From 1966-1968, he was the vice director in the battle department in the headquarters of Guangzhou Military Region. From 1968-1978, he was the head of 127 division of 43rd Army. From 1978-1981, he was the vice head of 43rd Army and head of 127th Division. He was studying at PLA Military Academy from 1978-79. He led the 127th Division of the 43rd Corps during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese border war. From 1981-82, he was the head of 43rd Corps. From 1982-85, he was the vice commander in Wuhan Military Region.
From 1985-87, he was the vice commander of Guangzhou Military Region, and became the commander and vice secretary of CPC's committee there in 1987 till 1990. From 1990-92, he was the commander of Jinan Military Region, and vice secretary of CPC committee there.
In 1992, he became a member of CPC's central military commission and the director as well as the secretary of the party of the General Staff Department of PLA. In September 1995, he was elevated to vice-Chairman of the CMC (Central Military Commission), along with Chi Haotian. As expected, both were elected as the executive vice Chairmen of the CMC at the Fifteenth Party Congress in 1997. He was soon promoted to the Politburo as well as the Chinese Communist Party Secretariat. He attended the changeover ceremonies in Hong Kong in 1997 as the sole senior military representative (Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission), indicating his preeminent position in the military.
He was a deputy to CPC's 9th National Congress, and an alternative member of 12th and 13th CPC's central committee. He became an alternate member of the 12th and 13th and a member of the 14th and 15th CPC's Central Committees, and a Politburo member and Secretary of the Secretariat in 15th central committee.
He was awarded Third-Class Liberation Medal, and has achieved Great Honors five times. When he visited Pakistan in September 1993, he was awarded a military medal by the President.
He was promoted to lieutenant general in September 1988, and to general in June 1993. He retired in 2003.
He was married to Zhong Peizhao (钟佩昭).