Charles Eaton (1895–1979) was a senior officer and pilot in the Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF), and later a diplomat. Born in London, he
joined the British Army in World War I and saw action on the Western
Front before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. Shot down
in 1918, he was twice captured by German forces, and twice escaped.
Eaton left the military in 1920 and worked in India until moving to
Australia in 1923. Two years later he joined the RAAF, serving initially
as an instructor. Between 1929 and 1931, he was chosen to lead three
expeditions to search for lost aircraft in central Australia, which
earned him national attention and the Air Force Cross. In 1939, Eaton
became commanding officer of No. 12 Squadron at the newly established
RAAF Station Darwin, Northern Territory. Promoted group captain, he was
appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1942. He took
command of No. 79 Wing at Batchelor, Northern Territory, in 1943, and
was mentioned in despatches during operations in the South West Pacific.
Retiring from the RAAF in December 1945, Eaton took up diplomatic posts
in the Dutch East Indies, heading a United Nations commission as Consul-
General during the Indonesian National Revolution. He returned to
Australia in 1950, and became a farmer in later life. Popularly known as
"Moth" Eaton, he is commemorated by several memorials in the Northern
Territory.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eaton_(RAAF_officer)>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Anglo-Spanish War: In the Bay of Cádiz, Francis Drake led the
first of several naval raids on the Spanish Armada that destroyed so
many ships that Philip II of Spain had to delay his plans to invade
England for over a year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singeing_the_King_of_Spain%27s_Beard>
1770:
British explorer James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour
(replica pictured), the first European ship to land in eastern
Australia, reached the coast of Botany Bay near present-day Sydney.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour>
1903:
A 30 million cubic-metre landslide buried the town of Frank,
Alberta and killed 70 of the town's 90 residents, making it the
deadliest landslide in Canadian history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Slide>
1910:
The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the People's
Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of
redistributing wealth among the British public.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Budget>
1946:
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened
and indicted Hideki Tojo and 27 other Japanese leaders for war crimes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East>
1968:
The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie
counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opened at the
Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with its songs becoming anthems of the
anti-Vietnam War movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(musical)>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
anapest:
1. (US, prosody) A metrical foot consisting of three syllables, two short
and one long (e.g the word "velveteen").
2. (US, prosody) A fragment, phrase or line of poetry or verse using this
meter; e.g. “Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the
Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did NOT!” (Dr. Seuss, How
the Grinch Stole Christmas.).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anapest>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover.
To know how to criticize is good, to know how to create is better.
--Henri Poincaré
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9>