Category: Leadership of the highest kind
Yeah his Dad was that Theodore Roosevelt! Sadly only Terry Allen survived the war as both Patton & Roosevelt died. TR from a heart attack after he was awarded the M.O.H.. Patton died from a car crash. They just don’t build them like they used to! Grumpy
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Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was never meant to be a distant figure on D-Day. A brigadier general and assistant commander of the 4th Infantry Division, he refused to stay behind. At 56 — older than most men in the invasion — and burdened by severe arthritis and a weakened heart, his superiors urged him not to go. He ignored them.
Roosevelt insisted on landing with the first wave at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. He believed a leader’s place was not in safety, but beside his men—especially at the moment it mattered most. It was a principle his father had lived by, and one he felt bound to uphold. Cane in hand, he stepped onto the landing craft.
When they hit the shore, nothing went as planned. The troops had landed nearly a mile south of their intended position. Units were scattered. Confusion spread under enemy fire. It could have unraveled quickly. Roosevelt didn’t panic. He took one look at the situation and made a decision that would define the day. “We’ll start the war from right here.”
With that, he moved forward — personally directing troops, reorganizing units, and pushing the assault inland. Amid the chaos, his calm presence became an anchor. Soldiers who recognized him saw not just a general, but a man sharing their risk, standing exactly where they stood. What could have been a disaster became a coordinated advance.
Roosevelt survived the landing. But the cost followed him. Just over a month later, on July 12, 1944, he died of a heart attack in Normandy. The strain of the campaign had been too much. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day. Today, he lies buried at the Normandy American Cemetery — beside his younger brother Quentin, who was killed in World War I.
Frankly I think that is Old Will’s finest bit of his vast work. As I could see a Leader facing fearsome odds but fires up his troops to do thing beyond their beliefs. It is one of the English Language finest moments! Grumpy
Images courtesy RockIslandAuction.com
It’s the most expensive single firearm sold at auction, according to Rock Island Auction Company. Pairs of guns have gone for more, but this one’s connection to the surrender of Chiricahua Apache Chief Geronimo and impeccable condition added up to a new world-record on April 30, 2016.
Captain Henry Lawton and Lt. George E. Albee served together during the Civil War. The latter went on to work for Winchester, while the former stayed in uniform and later captured Geronimo.
The friendship they forged during the War Between the States ran deep, though, so when the legendary firearm maker was rolling out a brand new carbine—the Model 1886—Serial No. 1 went to Lawton. The engraving isn’t fancy. In fact, it’s so understated it carries a timeless eloquence. The wood, too, is good, but probably wouldn’t turn too many heads.
Albee obviously knew his friend well. Lawton led troops in a rugged time, when troopers relied on their tools and personal possessions to survive and thrive in the scorching sun and pouring rain. Fancy enough to attract longing stares wasn’t—and still isn’t—an asset in the Chiricahua Mountains of the desert Southwest. 
A pocket watch presented to Lawton by businessmen in New Mexico—part of the gun’s auction lot—punctuates that point. He didn’t want to attend the ceremony, but he received a direct order that he would. He described the timepiece as valuable, and from its looks it was rarely, if ever, used.
At 130 years old, the carbine is in great shape and finally, perhaps for the first time since it rolled out of the factory, back in the news. For more of the gun’s history, visit Rock Island Auction’s blog and watch a detailed video about the gun here.
Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow comrades.
On this day, 82 years ago on August 10th 1944, Captain David Auldjo Jamieson of the British Royal Norfolk Regiment won the Victoria Cross. Despite being wounded in the eye and arm, he refused to be evacuated as a casualty as he was the only officer remaining functioning, and with only 100 men held off seven repeated attacks by superior forces against his bridgehead over the River Orne, Normandy, France.
British positions were counterattacked by tanks of the German 12th ϟϟ Panzer Division. D company was at the center of much of the bitter fighting as the Germans tried to dislodge the British from their positions. During the German assault, which lasted over 36 hours, the British destroyed five enemy tanks and an armored car.
In the course of the fighting, Jamieson, who had been badly wounded in the head and arm but had refused evacuation, left his trench to direct fire from a British tank onto the enemy. With most of the company’s officers out of action and with mounting casualties among the men, Jamieson, at 6 ‘5 a somewhat conspicuous figure, effectively took command.
Using radio to bring down artillery fire on the German positions, he walked about in full view of the enemy, reorganizing, rallying and encouraging his company. In what the official reports for his Victoria Cross described as “the seemingly hopeless situation”, Jamieson’s powers of leadership so inspired his men that they managed to repulse each fresh attack.
So great were the mounting casualties on the enemy’s side that, eventually, the Germans were forced to withdraw to regroup further back from the bridgehead. Three months later, Jamieson’s Victoria Cross was announced. The official citation made it clear that it was largely due to his personal actions that the important Ome bridgehead was held.
The son of Sir Archibald Auldjo Jamieson, chairman of Vickers Armstrong, David Jamieson was educated at Eton. With the imminent prospect of war, he abandoned his plans to go up to Cambridge and, in May 1939, aged 18, was granted a Territorial commission, joining the 5th Royal Norfolk Regiment.
He was granted a regular commission in 1941. After the war he stayed in the army and, with promotion to major, served as an instructor at the School of Infantry, Warminster, before being appointed an adviser to the British Military Mission in Egypt. He resigned his commission in 1948 and began what was to be an extremely successful business career.