Obama Looks to Sacrifice of War Dead to Inspire American People

In his inaugural speech last month, the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, seemed to emphasise sacrifice: comparing that of the past with the future. He encouraged people to look to those in current military service ‘with humble gratitude ’ that ’they have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages’. [...]

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The sinking of the Lusitania

Barbara McDermott, one of the two remaining survivors of the RMS Lusitania, died on 12 April. The British ocean liner, Lusitania, was sailing to London from New York when she was torpedoed by a German submarine on 7 May 1915.  Over half of the nearly 2,000 passengers on board were killed.  The sinking was condemned in Britain and America [...]

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A different kind of memorial

Today’s post is really outside of the remit of the UKNIWM.  It’s about an American serviceman who died last week, serving in Iraq.  He doesn’t appear on a memorial (yet at least) and if he did, it would not be in the UK.  But, I still wanted to share this.  It’s about the personal experience of war and sacrifice and how we [...]

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Hiroshima bomb pilot dies

Paul Tibbets, the commander of the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, has died.  He was 92.  Read more from BBC NEWS Around 140,000 people died in the explosion and later from the effects of injury and radiation poisoning.  The UKNIWM database database contains a [...]

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