Bill Kibby (15 April 1903 – 31 October 1942) was a British-born
Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for
gallantry in the face of the enemy that could be awarded to a member of
the Australian armed forces during World War II. In 1940, Kibby
enlisted in the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force and
joined the 2/48th Infantry Battalion. He was injured before the Siege of
Tobruk, but was with the battalion during the First Battle of El Alamein
in July 1942. In October, the battalion was committed to the Second
Battle of El Alamein. Between 23 and 31 October, Kibby went forward
alone and silenced an enemy machine gun post, mended a telephone line
under heavy fire, and pressed forward under withering machine gun fire
to help his company capture its objective. After this final action
ultimately cost him his life, the Victoria Cross was awarded for his
inspirational leadership.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Kibby>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
Public-transportation workers in Indianapolis went on strike,
shutting down mass transit in the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_streetcar_strike_of_1913>
1973:
Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from
Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in
the prison's exercise yard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountjoy_Prison_helicopter_escape>
1999:
All 217 people on board EgyptAir Flight 990 perished when the
aircraft suddenly crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of
Nantucket, Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bunny boiler:
(slang, humorous, derogatory) A person who acts (or may supposedly act)
obsessively or even dangerously towards another person with whom they
were previously, or wish to be, in a relationship.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bunny_boiler>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
From ghoulies and ghosties, And long-leggedy beasties, And
things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!
--prayer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Prayer>