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In a footnote on page 291 of Mallinson, Allan (2006). Too Important for the Generals: Losing and Winning the First World War. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 9780593058183. we read "During a sudden attack in the Vosges Mountains, American troops began to flee. Some of them were stopped by Captain (later President of the United States) Harry S. Truman of the Missouri National Guard, serving with the 129th Field Artillery. He is said to have used language so shocking, learned while working on the Santa Fe railroad, that they promptly rallied. There are leadership tricks not taught at West Point - or Sandhurst". What I want to know is - what did he actually say? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 01:28, 23 February 2022 (UTC)
It was hard to believe that this brawling gang of fighting Irish would go to pieces under fire, but the men panicked and all except five ran for their lives into the forest. “I got up and called them everything I knew,” said Truman. The curses that poured out contained some of the vilest four-letter words heard on the Western Front. Said Father Curtis Tiernan, the regiment’s Catholic chaplain, who was on the scene, “It took the skin off the ears of those boys.” The effect was amazing, Padre Tiernan recalled with pleasure. “It turned those boys right around.”The words "imprecations upon the maternity of the Irish" suggest a qualification like whoresons, which is considerably longer than four letters. --Lambiam 12:50, 23 February 2022 (UTC)
Could a kind soul provide a birth date and/ or a burial location for Peggy Bacon (radio producer), also a radio presenter and television producer, born Birmingham in 1918 or 1919, please? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:42, 23 February 2022 (UTC)
What is the garment habitually worn by Maurice Yeatman, the local verger in the BBC comedy Dad's Army? Is that a surplice? I was struck by the top half similarity to Fred Dibnah in Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain. But the bottom half is different, of course. 86.188.121.44 (talk) 19:42, 23 February 2022 (UTC)