Cyril Bassett (1892–1983) was a New Zealand recipient of the Victoria
Cross, the Commonwealth's highest combat award for gallantry at the
time. He was the only soldier serving with the New Zealand
Expeditionary Force in the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War to
receive this award. Born in Auckland, Bassett was a bank worker when the
First World War began. Posted to the New Zealand Divisional Signal
Company of the Territorial Force as a sapper, he saw action on the
opening day of the Gallipoli campaign. It was during the Battle of
Chunuk Bair in August 1915 that he performed the actions that led to his
award. Medically evacuated due to sickness shortly after the battle, he
later served on the Western Front and finished the war as a second
lieutenant. Recalled to active duty during the Second World War, he
served in the Home Guard as a commander of signals in the Northern
Military District, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Bassett>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1576:
The cornerstone of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's observatory
Uraniborg was laid on the island of Hven.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraniborg>
1929:
The German airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin embarked on a flight
to circumnavigate the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin>
1956:
A mining disaster killed 262 workers, mainly Italian nationals,
at the Bois du Cazier coal mine in Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bois_du_Cazier>
2010:
A massive mudslide in Zhouqu County in the Chinese province of
Gansu killed at least 1,471 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Gansu_mudslide>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sidle:
1. (transitive, intransitive, also figuratively) To (cause something to)
move sideways.
2. (transitive, intransitive, also figuratively) In the intransitive
sense often followed by up: to (cause something to) advance in a coy,
furtive, or unobtrusive manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sidle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am the pool of gold When sunset burns and dies,— You are my
deepening skies, Give me your stars to hold.
--Sara Teasdale
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sara_Teasdale>