Thanks the scotsman. Adding to catalog, no ping:
Posted on 09/03/2013 7:14:35 PM PDT by the scotsman
'A British PoW captured by the Germans in World War I was freed to see his dying mother - but went back to the prison camp after giving the Kaiser 'his word' he would return.
Capt Robert Campbell, aged 29, was gravely injured and captured just weeks after Britain declared war on Germany in July, 1914.
But after two years in Magdeburg Prisoner of War Camp, the British officer received word from home his mother Louise Campbell was close to death.
He speculatively wrote to Kaiser Wilhelm II, begging to be allowed home to visit his mother one final time.
Incredibly the German leader granted the request allowing the professional office two weeks leave - as long as he returned.
The only bond he placed on the leave was Capt Campbell's 'word' as an army officer.
He returned to his family home in Gravesend Kent in December 1916 and spent a week with his cancer-stricken mother.
He then kept his promise by returning to his German prison - where he stayed until the war ended in 1918.
The remarkable example of wartime honesty was uncovered by historian Richard Van Emden, 48, as he researched his new book.'
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
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Back in the day when a gentleman was a gentleman.
Hard to believe now, when even the President of the United States routinely lies his *ss off.
Then returned again in March of 1945? That would cinch it.
How far we have sunk in so many ways?
A cynic would say he was simply being smart, avoiding the horrific front line.
But, I prefer not to be a cynic. A man’s word meant a lot back then, and if the Kaiser had actually bothered to be so gracious toward me simply because I wrote to him, I would likely feel compelled to keep my word.
WW I was such a tragic needless stupid war.
Europe never recovered from it.
May I suggest “Panzer Commander” by Major Hans von Luck?
in it, Major von Luck discusses desert warfare in North Africa, where it was English vs Italians (then Germans) vs Arab nomads; if the nomads caught you out in the desert, they would kill you and strip your corpse of weapons and valuables.
Therefore the Axis and Allied forces arranged a truce that ran nightly from sunset to sunrise; if opposing forces were caught out in the desert at night they were returned to their own lines.
Hostilities resumed at dawn...
Honor once meant something.
Alas, those days are long gone....
Agreed. Then, most of them are.
“Either war is obsolete or men are.’’— British historian/author J.F.C. Fuller.
Wonder how he got from Germany to England and back? He must have gone through Holland or Denmark.
I remember when a man shook your hand, his word was his life. Not that long ago, either.
“WW I was such a tragic needless stupid war. Europe never recovered from it.”
It really was the end of the Christian chapter of Western Civilization. Without a generation the main opponents were pagans (Nazis) and atheists (Bolsheviks), both born of the ashes of WWI.
With the assistance of the United States, whose "war for democracy" deposed the saintly emperor Charles and dismantled the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire.
“With the assistance of the United States, whose “war for democracy” deposed the saintly emperor Charles and dismantled the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire.”
That’s right; we wanted to make the world safe for democracy fighting for the British Empire (on which the sun never set). 70 years after awarding chunks of territory to Serbia for being on the allies’ side, the same allies went to war with Serbia to force her to give them up.
You can’t make this stuff up.
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