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What TV shows have you recently watched? No Spoilers please!
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WHATTT? Howwwww is it scary??? Because of the freaking demogorgon? I mainly like Stranger Things because of the characters.I love stranger things and i’m on season 2 but it’s too scary for me. I mostly watch it because I love all the actors and actresses and because the plot is sooo good. I absolutely hate all the scary parts (which is most of the show)
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So I watched another controversial documentary last night that made me absolutely furious.
It was about the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, specifically the Wereth 11 in 1944.
I felt even more angry about these men and what happened to them cos things really have not changed today.
The 333rd were an African-American battalion, they suffered terribly and had in many ways held onto Bastogne almost without any reinforcements. These young men were down to their last food, ammunition and still no back up arrived despite their white commanding officer placing many requests. Their commanding officer was hugely respected by his men and it was a mutual respect. He treated them very well...even though there was well documented segregation even at war.
The tragedy of the Wereth 11 is something that needs to be investigated properly. The 11 men were split away from their unit during the so-called Battle of the Bulge.
They sought sanctuary and found an isolated farm. The Belgian farmer, Mathias Langer, took the men in, gave them food, shelter and tended to their injuries. He and his family took an incredible risk to try and keep these men safe. However a neighbour ratted on Langer, the men were captured by 1st SS Panzer commander Joachim Peiper. As a direct result to the family taking these men in, a nearby town, Stavelot, suffered a massacre by Peiper's men.
Meanwhile the Wereth 11 had effectively vanished.
In February 1945 the frozen bodies of the 11 men were found, partially covered with snow in a woodland outside the village of Wereth. They had been tortured and killed.
That was the men's first injustice. What came next makes their story all the more heartbreaking. Despite being found, identified and cause of death being recorded, the US military told their families back home that they had died in action. Only a couple of the bodies were sent home, the rest were buried in the local churchyard......and they lay forgotten. After the war Peiper and his men were charged with war crimes including the Malmedy and Stavelot massacres but not the torture and murder of the Wereth 11.
The farmer, Mathias Langer, and his family refused to forget the 11 young soldiers. They lobbied the US military to have their bravery recognised...afterall had it not been for these men and the rest of the 333rd, the Battle of the Bulge could have ended differently.
But no, the US military would not recognise the murder of these men. So the farmer's son, Hermann (who was just 12 years old when the soldiers stayed at his farm), decided to build his own memorial to them and that is what his family did in 1994.
The Wereth 11 have their memorial close to where they were brutally tortured and murdered. The family also traced and contacted the families of those 11 men back in the US and told them what had really happened to their loved ones.
It was not until 2004 that the US military finally acknowledged their murder and at that point formally adopted their memorial as a war grave.
The loss of these young men in such an horrific way would have been forgotten had it not been for Mathias and Hermann. They fought to have these men recognised. They fought the US military to have them properly recorded and documented. The reason why they had not been recognised before 2004 was simply the colour of their skin. The military admitted in 2014 that the "coloured" battalions during WW2 had been segregated away from their compatriots and that it was the reasoning behind the effective cover up of 333rd's bravery at Bastogne and subsequent murder of the Wereth 11.
These young soldiers went to fight for freedom to speak, freedom to think and freedom to hold an opinion, yet when they died in truly horrific non combat ways, they were forgotten.
I find their story not only terribly sad but in many ways nothing has changed. It took a farmer and his family to fight for these 11 men.....and that, to me at least, is not just sad but its as big an injustice as what has been seen in more recent times.
Nothing has changed.
It was about the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, specifically the Wereth 11 in 1944.
I felt even more angry about these men and what happened to them cos things really have not changed today.
The 333rd were an African-American battalion, they suffered terribly and had in many ways held onto Bastogne almost without any reinforcements. These young men were down to their last food, ammunition and still no back up arrived despite their white commanding officer placing many requests. Their commanding officer was hugely respected by his men and it was a mutual respect. He treated them very well...even though there was well documented segregation even at war.
The tragedy of the Wereth 11 is something that needs to be investigated properly. The 11 men were split away from their unit during the so-called Battle of the Bulge.
They sought sanctuary and found an isolated farm. The Belgian farmer, Mathias Langer, took the men in, gave them food, shelter and tended to their injuries. He and his family took an incredible risk to try and keep these men safe. However a neighbour ratted on Langer, the men were captured by 1st SS Panzer commander Joachim Peiper. As a direct result to the family taking these men in, a nearby town, Stavelot, suffered a massacre by Peiper's men.
Meanwhile the Wereth 11 had effectively vanished.
In February 1945 the frozen bodies of the 11 men were found, partially covered with snow in a woodland outside the village of Wereth. They had been tortured and killed.
That was the men's first injustice. What came next makes their story all the more heartbreaking. Despite being found, identified and cause of death being recorded, the US military told their families back home that they had died in action. Only a couple of the bodies were sent home, the rest were buried in the local churchyard......and they lay forgotten. After the war Peiper and his men were charged with war crimes including the Malmedy and Stavelot massacres but not the torture and murder of the Wereth 11.
The farmer, Mathias Langer, and his family refused to forget the 11 young soldiers. They lobbied the US military to have their bravery recognised...afterall had it not been for these men and the rest of the 333rd, the Battle of the Bulge could have ended differently.
But no, the US military would not recognise the murder of these men. So the farmer's son, Hermann (who was just 12 years old when the soldiers stayed at his farm), decided to build his own memorial to them and that is what his family did in 1994.
The Wereth 11 have their memorial close to where they were brutally tortured and murdered. The family also traced and contacted the families of those 11 men back in the US and told them what had really happened to their loved ones.
It was not until 2004 that the US military finally acknowledged their murder and at that point formally adopted their memorial as a war grave.
The loss of these young men in such an horrific way would have been forgotten had it not been for Mathias and Hermann. They fought to have these men recognised. They fought the US military to have them properly recorded and documented. The reason why they had not been recognised before 2004 was simply the colour of their skin. The military admitted in 2014 that the "coloured" battalions during WW2 had been segregated away from their compatriots and that it was the reasoning behind the effective cover up of 333rd's bravery at Bastogne and subsequent murder of the Wereth 11.
These young soldiers went to fight for freedom to speak, freedom to think and freedom to hold an opinion, yet when they died in truly horrific non combat ways, they were forgotten.
I find their story not only terribly sad but in many ways nothing has changed. It took a farmer and his family to fight for these 11 men.....and that, to me at least, is not just sad but its as big an injustice as what has been seen in more recent times.
Nothing has changed.
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I'm very boring.....only watch documentaries and motorsport (not F1 cos I cannot stand Hamilton)
Yesterday I watched back to back live motor racing......MotoGP, WRC, BTCC, F4, Porsche Carrera Cup, Ginetta GT4, Ginetta Juniors and Mini Challenge...around 10 hours in total.
Currently, whilst doing laundry, I have Murder Maps on....then it will be Abandoned Engineering.
Yesterday I watched back to back live motor racing......MotoGP, WRC, BTCC, F4, Porsche Carrera Cup, Ginetta GT4, Ginetta Juniors and Mini Challenge...around 10 hours in total.
Currently, whilst doing laundry, I have Murder Maps on....then it will be Abandoned Engineering.
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Contentious subject warning..
I watched a fascinating documentary on PBS America last night about the background and behind the scenes perspective of the war in Vietnam.
The political tussles tween Truman and his successor, Nixon and those from both sides of the divide...those who protested around the world against the conflict, some incredible footage from London, Copenhagen, Rome and, of course, towns and cities across the USA....and those within political circles who pushed for the conflict to continue to its conclusion.
As someone who has visited Saigon, Cu Chi tunnels, Da Nang, Hanoi and Hoi An several times...and seeing the very buildings that feature so much in footage from the war correspondents of the day and seeing them in what is an extremely raw way.....let's not beat around the bush here, the War Remnants Museum in Saigon is terrifying and comes with many warnings before you walk through the doors, and when walking around Hanoi you can turn a corner at anytime and you will find ponds of water with B52 wreckage poking up that has never been touched....and, possibly the most mindboggling are the homes in the paddy fields and villages which would normally be built on wooden stilts that are now sat on top of old ordnance (not all of it made safe) and ordnance made into feeding troughs or raised gardens.
Its very much as if you, the visitor, are walking back in time...take away the heavy traffic and the neon signs and nothing has changed from those images seared into the brain during the conflict.
On the ships I was fortunate to be aboard that were visiting the country (along with land touring Cambodia and Laos), there were many passengers from the USA, and several Vietnam Veterans. The thing that struck me the most was the complete lack of ill feeling from either the Veterans or the Vietnamese, even in the north of the country where some of the worst things happened during the conflict.
It is very clear that the Vietnamese who lived through the war years absolutely do not want what happened forgotten, they do not want the history to be erased even those who fought on the enemy side, they want the evidence of war to stay visible, be spoken about openly and freely. It was a real education to watch and listen to them recalling their experiences, groups of Veterans and Vietnamese (both sides of the Vietnamese conflict) sit down and talk to each other and become firm friends and to be able to set aside differences and to agree that neither "side" actually wanted to be there during the conflict.
If those involved on both sides of the Vietnamese conflict can sit down with their families and talk and become friends...after everything that was done in that conflict...why can't others from lesser conflicts and arguments do the same?
I watched a fascinating documentary on PBS America last night about the background and behind the scenes perspective of the war in Vietnam.
The political tussles tween Truman and his successor, Nixon and those from both sides of the divide...those who protested around the world against the conflict, some incredible footage from London, Copenhagen, Rome and, of course, towns and cities across the USA....and those within political circles who pushed for the conflict to continue to its conclusion.
As someone who has visited Saigon, Cu Chi tunnels, Da Nang, Hanoi and Hoi An several times...and seeing the very buildings that feature so much in footage from the war correspondents of the day and seeing them in what is an extremely raw way.....let's not beat around the bush here, the War Remnants Museum in Saigon is terrifying and comes with many warnings before you walk through the doors, and when walking around Hanoi you can turn a corner at anytime and you will find ponds of water with B52 wreckage poking up that has never been touched....and, possibly the most mindboggling are the homes in the paddy fields and villages which would normally be built on wooden stilts that are now sat on top of old ordnance (not all of it made safe) and ordnance made into feeding troughs or raised gardens.
Its very much as if you, the visitor, are walking back in time...take away the heavy traffic and the neon signs and nothing has changed from those images seared into the brain during the conflict.
On the ships I was fortunate to be aboard that were visiting the country (along with land touring Cambodia and Laos), there were many passengers from the USA, and several Vietnam Veterans. The thing that struck me the most was the complete lack of ill feeling from either the Veterans or the Vietnamese, even in the north of the country where some of the worst things happened during the conflict.
It is very clear that the Vietnamese who lived through the war years absolutely do not want what happened forgotten, they do not want the history to be erased even those who fought on the enemy side, they want the evidence of war to stay visible, be spoken about openly and freely. It was a real education to watch and listen to them recalling their experiences, groups of Veterans and Vietnamese (both sides of the Vietnamese conflict) sit down and talk to each other and become firm friends and to be able to set aside differences and to agree that neither "side" actually wanted to be there during the conflict.
If those involved on both sides of the Vietnamese conflict can sit down with their families and talk and become friends...after everything that was done in that conflict...why can't others from lesser conflicts and arguments do the same?
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They have a certain chemistry that is why it works so well
When Jeremy was fired for punching a junior producer at TG, it was simply due to being out and about all day in filthy wet and cold weather, up to their knees in mud and sheep poo and in a stream too. All that the junior producer offered them after they had been out in that lot wearing nothing but dinner suits, dress shirts and brogues was a sandwich.
Well sorry and all that but I would have punched the junior producer too.
Should not have taken much intelligence to realise that 16 hours in cold, weat weather and sheep poo, mud and water required a good hot meal after filming was completed.
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Trouble is that you have to be so careful when TV channels show older series....incase some little flower gets offended
In the UK its becoming beyond ridiculous...wonderful old comedy series like Fawlty Towers get viewer warnings cos of the war being mentioned and the "stereotypical use of a short English man acting the part of a Spanish waiter with poor English"
Whatever happened to changing channels if you did not like a specific programme?
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