Item Highlight-World War II Photograph

After writing about the Civil War photograph yesterday, my fascination with old pictures just increased. I looked through our other photographs and came across another one that had a strong effect on me. This time, it was a picture from around World War Two.

This picture is of two brothers. It was taken in Washington D.C. in 1940. There is even an address for the location of the picture: 4210-10th Street in North East Washington D.C. The one brother's name was given as Eugene, but there is not a name for the other one. It seems like information on the back of the photograph is primarily about the unknown brother. It says that he was stationed at the United States Naval Magazine of "Bellevue" in D.C. as a commanding officer. Fifty-nine years of age, he was a lieutenant of the United States Navy. The man served until the 15th of July in 1943, when he retired.


I thought it was really amazing that the information about the photograph had been written on the back at some point. It was neat to see that whoever took the picture wanted to make sure people would know about the people in it and what they did in their lives. It definitely gives this particular photo a very personal feeling to it that I find pretty moving.

Again, if you'd like to look more closely at this item or wish to make it part of your collection, here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170436007875&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Item Highlight-Civil War Photograph

All of us have seen old photographs. Whether it be in a dusty antique case, a museum, or even at your grandparent's house, old photographs seem to captivate anyone who finds them. Here at the Gettysburg Quartermaster, we have a lot of these kinds of pictures. I thought it might be interesting to do an entry on a particular photograph that I came across today.

This photograph is of a young soldier named Henry Brink. It was taken in Columbus, Ohio by the photographer J. M. Elliot. After doing some research on the "Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio" and the "Historical Data Systems, Inc," I found some information about him. He was only seventeen years old when he went into the Army. He enlisted as a Private on October 5th, 1861. That day, he was mustered into "B" Company of the Ohio 46th Infantry. During his time in the military, Brink was promoted to Sergent. Henry Brink was relieved of his duty after the end of the war while he was in Louisville, Kentucky on July 22nd, 1865.

If you're like me, you have wondered from time to time what the story was behind the person in the picture. Hopefully this gives a more personal glimpse at this photograph. If you'd like to see some more images of this photograph or are interested in owning it, here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170433964569&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Gettysburg-Years Later

As you know, our store operates out of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. If you're interested in history, I'm sure you know all about the battle that took place here, so instead of going over what you already know, I'm going to discuss a part of Gettysburg's history that you might not know.

What happened after the battle?

In 1913, the largest reunion of American Civil War soldiers took place on the Gettysburg battlefield (encampment pictured above). It came to be known as the "Great Reunion of 1913." The reunion took place from June 5th to July 4th. In attendance were more than 50,000 soldiers, both Union and Confederate. At the time, the veteran's ages ranged from 61 to (rumored) 112 years of age. 47 out of the 48 states were represented by the attendees; the only state that did not have representatives was Nevada.

During the reunion, veterans were able to participate or watch some very special events. The most moving perhaps was the reenactment of Pickett's Charge. This emotional recreation of the charge had the two sides come together at the High Water Mark, where the Confederate veterans met with the Union veterans. The two sides came together with handshakes, ceremonial flags, and speeches. Another event that took place during the Great Reunion of 1913 was the attendance of President Woodrow Wilson (the first Southerner to be elected to President since 1848). Not wanting to draw comparisons to Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," he was a little reluctant to make his own speech. Eventually, after appearances amongst the veterans, he addressed the soldiers on July 4th.

Another reunion took place on the 75th anniversary in 1938. This time, only 1,845 veterans were in attendance. There were 1,359 from the North and 486 from the South. Of all the veterans there, only 65 of the men were in the battle at Gettysburg. Since the average age of the veterans was 94, special arraignments were made to help them at the event. This anniversary saw the dedication of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The eternal flame was lit during the dedication on July 3rd.

July 2nd-Important Events in History

Today, we're going to be sticking with a theme of flight. July 2nd has seen a lot of history, especially in regards to flight achievements and tragedies. In today's entry, we'll be discussing the first flight of a particular kind of aircraft, as well as the disappearance of a famous pilot.

The first thing on the agenda (and chronological time line), happened on July 2nd, 1900. On Lake Constance (nearby to Friedrichshafen, Germany), the very first Zeppelin flight took place (ascent shown above). Due to some malfunctions in the winding mechanism, the flight only lasted eighteen minutes. The ship had to make an emergency landing on the surface of the lake. The Zeppelin was taking back to the airplane hanger, where it then broke after falling off of its holding apparatus. After it was repaired, the craft made two more flights later on. A lack of funding led to the dismantling of the ship in 1901.

July 2nd was also a day of sadness. In 1937, Amelia Earhart (pictured above) disappeared. She had been supposed to land on Howland Island, but radio contact was lost. Her last known transmission was at 8:43 a.m. The Itasca (a Coast Guard Ship that was following her during her flight) could not reach her on her radio after that and they began to make smoke from their boilers to try to get her attention and find her. Attempts to contact her through voice and Morse code were not successful. The Itasca led many attempts to search for Earhart and her plane; they searched the area surrounding Howland Island, but nothing came up. On July 19th, search efforts were ended. It seemed that no trace of Earhart or her aircraft were to be found. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding what actually happened to her. Theories range from UFOs to the plane running out of gas to a crash landing on an unknown island. There is also a lot of speculation as to whether Earhart actually died in the accident or if she survived for some time afterward. Whatever happened, she was declared legally dead in 1939.

July 1st-Important Events in History

Today is the start of a new, incredibly historical month. July has seen its fair share of triumphs and tragedies, which will make all the blog entries this month jam-packed with historical stories. As for today, we'll be talking about the birth of a famous English pilot, as well as the start of a World War Two battle.
In 1903, Amy Johnson (pictured above) was born in Kingston upon Hull, England. After first being introduced to the hobby of flying aircraft, she received her first pilot's license (A Licence No. 1979) in July of 1929. In that same year, Johnson became the very first woman to receive a ground engineer's "C" license. In 1932, she married Jim Mollison, a Scottish pilot who proposed to her after only eight hours of knowing her. The marriage only lasted six years. Some of her accomplishments include: being the first woman to make a solo flight from Britain to Australia (1930), setting records for flying from London to Moscow and from England to Japan (1931), and setting a solo record for flying from London to South Africa (1932). It was in 1940 that Johnson joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, an organization that helped transport the Royal Air Force's aircraft around the country. During her time in the ATA, she rose to First Officer. On January 5th, 1941, during a flight mission for the ATA, Johnson's aircraft went down. There is some controversy surrounding the reason; on story is that she hit bad weather, forcing her to bail out of her plane, while the other is that she was shot down after failing to give the correct identification code to a nearby aircraft. Amy Johnson drowned in the Thames Estuary; her body was never found.
July 1st, 1942 saw the beginning of the Battle of El Alamein. Field Marshall Erwin Rommel had his Afrika Korps in El Alamein, which is 60 miles from Alexandria, Egypt. Hitler was anticipating the addition of Egypt to his growing empire. The Allied troops, after being reinforced by supplies from the US, were ready to make another stand against the Axis forces. British General Claude Auchinleck led troops from New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Britian (British pictured above) in a fight against Rommel's army. Rommel's men were exhausted from their lack of supplies, so Auchinleck's troops quickly brought them to a standstill. Rommel was forced to be back on the defensive, which gave the war a turning point in North Africa.