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Ismay (right) with
Sir John Simon
in 1945
General Hastings Lionel "Pug" Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay, KG, GCB, CH, DSO, PC (21 June 1887 – 17 December 1965) was a British soldier and diplomat, remembered primarily for his role as Winston Churchill's chief military assistant during the Second World War and his service as the first Secretary General of NATO from 1952 to 1957. Ismay was born in India in 1887, but educated in the United Kingdom at the Charterhouse School and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Sandhurst, he joined the Indian Army as an officer of the 21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry. During the First World War, he served with the Camel Corps in Somaliland, where he joined in the British fight against the "Mad Mullah", Mohammed Abdullah Hassan. In 1925, Ismay became an Assistant Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence. After being promoted to the rank of colonel, he served as the military secretary for Lord Willingdon, the Viceroy of India, then returned to the Committee of Imperial Defence as Deputy Secretary in 1936. (more...)



A kidney transplant of the type that Woodruff pioneered.

A kidney transplant
of the type that
Woodruff pioneered.
Michael Woodruff was a British surgeon and scientist principally remembered for his research into organ transplantation. Though born in London, Woodruff spent his youth in Australia, where he earned degrees in electrical engineering and medicine. Having completed his studies shortly after the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps, but was soon captured by Japanese forces and imprisoned in the Changi Prison Camp. While there, he devised an ingenious method of extracting nutrients from agricultural wastes to prevent malnutrition among his fellow POWs. At the conclusion of the war, Woodruff returned to Britain and began a long career as an academic surgeon, mixing clinical work and research. By the end of the 1950s, his study of aspects of transplantation biology such as rejection and immunosuppression led to his making the first kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, on October 30, 1960. For this and his other scientific work, Woodruff was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968 and knighted in 1969. Although retiring from surgical work in 1976, he remained an active figure in the scientific community, researching cancer and serving on the boards of various medical and scientific organizations. (more...)



The storm's path.

The 1941 Florida hurricane was a strong tropical cyclone that affected the Bahamas, Florida, and the southeastern United States in October 1941. The fifth known storm of the 1941 Atlantic hurricane season, it was first observed to the north of the Virgin Islands on October 3. The storm tracked generally westward through the Bahamas, reaching peak winds of 120 miles per hour (190 km/h). After moving across southern Florida the hurricane emerged into the Gulf of Mexico and made another landfall along the Florida Panhandle. Turning northeast, it crossed Georgia and South Carolina, and entered the Atlantic Ocean on October 8.

In advance of the storm, preparations were extensive; residents boarded up homes and businesses, while evacuations were recommended in some coastal areas. In the Bahamas, where winds reached 104 miles per hour (167 km/h), the storm killed three people. The city of Nassau was struck particularly hard. In Florida, damage was relatively severe, and included the deaths of several people. High winds brought down trees and powerlines, though the storm was characterized by highly unusual rainfall patterns. Storm surge in the Everglades region flooded local streets. As the storm progressed northward, the city of Tallahassee suffered widespread power outages and damage to numerous vehicles. Throughout the state, the hurricane inflicted $675,000 (1941 USD) in damages. The cyclone later killed one person in Georgia.



Operation Deny Flight was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation that began on April 12, 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations (UN) no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The United Nations and NATO later expanded the mission of the operation to include providing close air support for UN troops in Bosnia and carrying out coercive air strikes against targets in Bosnia. Twelve NATO members contributed forces to the operation and, by its end on December 20, 1995, NATO pilots had flown 100,420 sorties.The operation played an important role in shaping both the Bosnian War and NATO. The operation included the first combat engagement in NATO's history, a February 28, 1994 air battle over Banja Luka, and in April 1994, NATO aircraft first bombed ground targets in an operation near Goražde. These engagements helped show that NATO had adapted to the Post-Cold War era and could operate in environments other than a major force on force engagement on the plains of Central Europe. Cooperation between the UN and NATO during the operation also helped pave the way for future joint operations. Although it helped establish UN-NATO relations, Deny Flight led to conflict between the two organizations. Most notably, significant tension arose between the two after UN peacekeepers were taken as hostages in response to NATO bombing. (more...)