George Gosse (16 February 1912 – 31 December 1964) was an Australian recipient of the George Cross, the highest non-combat award for heroism or courage that could be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces at the time. Gosse served in the Royal Australian Navy between 1926 and 1933, and in 1940 joined the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve. He served in the UK before being sent to British India as a naval mine clearance specialist. Returning to the UK in late 1944, in April 1945 he was given command of a party responsible for mine clearance in the recently captured Bremen Harbour in Germany. He displayed courage in defusing three mines under very difficult conditions between 8 May and 19 May 1945, for which he was awarded the George Cross. After the war Gosse reached the rank of lieutenant commander, retiring in 1958. He died of a heart condition in 1964. His medal set is displayed in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gosse

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1857:

Queen Victoria announced the choice of Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the British colony of Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa

1909:

The Manhattan Bridge, connecting Lower Manhattan to Downtown Brooklyn and considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, opened to traffic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Bridge

1965:

Military officers led by Jean-Bédel Bokassa began a coup d'état against the government of Central African Republic president David Dacko. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Sylvestre_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

1999:

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin became acting president upon President Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

auld lang syne: (idiomatic) Days gone by; former times. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/auld_lang_syne

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I believe our students must first seek to understand the conditions, as far as possible without national prejudices, which have led to past tragedies and should strive to determine the great fundamentals which must govern a peaceful progression toward a constantly higher level of civilization. There are innumerable instructive lessons out of the past, but all too frequently their presentation is highly colored or distorted in the effort to present a favorable national point of view. In our school histories at home, certainly in years past, those written in the North present a strikingly different picture of our Civil War from those written in the South. In some portions it is hard to realize they are dealing with the same war. Such reactions are all too common in matters of peace and security. But we are told that we live in a highly scientific age. Now the progress of science depends on facts and not fancies or prejudice. Maybe in this age we can find a way of facing the facts and discounting the distorted records of the past.   --George Marshall https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Marshall