Club Obi Wan

For all of you fellas who know Tolkien, I never know that he met Indy and assigned him his gun
http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00o00200h

Thanks for the link!!!

Great info.

Interesting...the daily millstone which embodied what he came to perceive as the futility - if even still a necessity - called war. Which I understand was part of the drive behind the message of LOTR.

A sobering keepsake.

Of course, many of the young men of that era who served in the trenches as officers and survived to become famous probably carried Webleys. I know Robert Graves (I, Claudius; Goodbye to All That) and Ned Lawrence (Seven Pillars of Wisdom) did. Thank heavens Tolkien got trench fever, or Sean Astin would only be remembered as Mikey in Goonies. Strange how these things go....

"trench fever." Nice euphamism. Dont they call it Post traumatic stress disorder now?

Russ

I think that was called Shell Shock

"Trench Fever attacked all armies and until the final year of the war baffled doctors and researchers. Chief symptoms of the disease were headaches, skin rashes, inflamed eyes and leg pains.

Despite such wide-ranging symptoms (which resembled typhoid and influenza) the condition was not itself particularly serious, with patients recovering after some five or six days although prolonged hospitalisation amounting to several weeks was common.

In military terms however it proved one of the most significant causes of sickness and military authorities were therefore keen to determine the root of the problem.

In 1918 the cause was identified as excretions from lice, affecting all trenches: Rickettsia quintana. The disease was transmitted via the bites of body lice and was chiefly prevalent on the somewhat warmer Western and Italian Fronts.

In 1917 a renewed incidence of the disease was recorded with effects much as before although the average duration of sickness was slightly longer. In 1918 victims reported suffering frequent relapses after intervals of several days. "

I think that was called Shell Shock

Yep, THAT's the term I was looking for! Thanks for the clarification.

Russ

nice save djd