Veterans' Day Vocab - 11/10/01 01:48 PM
I think it was Emerson who wrote something to the effect that "Evil is good becoming." Out of war occasionally comes movement toward the good.
A topic of interest to me, at least, involves military equipment that promotes the practical.
One such bit of equipment from WWII was the Bailey Bridge. Here are a few points of interest about that bridge and the site from which I gleaned the information:
Donald Bailey was an obscure civil servant in the British War Office. Who, as an engineering, hobby, tinkered with model bridges and their assembly. One day he presented an off-the-wall idea to his chiefs.
The scheme showed some merit so he was encouraged to explore it further. Once accepted, it had to take a low priority on the very busy productions lines thus was not available in quantities until early 1944 when the build up for attack on the mainland was at its height.
And:
The experiences of a single engineering battalion of approximately 600 men with Mr Bailey's bridge may be typical. In support of General George S. Patton's Third Army, there were many occasions to appreciate its merits during the construction of 41 such bridges totaling 4812 feet (almost a mile!)
...my dad was in the Army Corps of Engineers under Gen. Patton, and Dad has described his work with the very swift construction of Bailey bridges.
Also, I thought you might be interested in this historical pont:
Unlike our country Europe is laced with many small deeply incised streams carrying swift flowing water too deep to wade. Their earliest recorded passages were by the Romans of before Christ as they colonized the area. Masters of masonry (from whence the Order of Masons), the builders of these bridges became so highly regarded that participants were granted salvation. It became a work for God and the chief consul of Rome was given the titled of "Pontiff" from pont, or bridge, meaning chief bridge builder- a term still in use.
http://www.150th.com/rivers/bailey.htm
There are many engineering feats that are noteworthy and not destructive that could be discussed here before Veterans' Day, if anyone's interested.
WW
A topic of interest to me, at least, involves military equipment that promotes the practical.
One such bit of equipment from WWII was the Bailey Bridge. Here are a few points of interest about that bridge and the site from which I gleaned the information:
Donald Bailey was an obscure civil servant in the British War Office. Who, as an engineering, hobby, tinkered with model bridges and their assembly. One day he presented an off-the-wall idea to his chiefs.
The scheme showed some merit so he was encouraged to explore it further. Once accepted, it had to take a low priority on the very busy productions lines thus was not available in quantities until early 1944 when the build up for attack on the mainland was at its height.
And:
The experiences of a single engineering battalion of approximately 600 men with Mr Bailey's bridge may be typical. In support of General George S. Patton's Third Army, there were many occasions to appreciate its merits during the construction of 41 such bridges totaling 4812 feet (almost a mile!)
...my dad was in the Army Corps of Engineers under Gen. Patton, and Dad has described his work with the very swift construction of Bailey bridges.
Also, I thought you might be interested in this historical pont:
Unlike our country Europe is laced with many small deeply incised streams carrying swift flowing water too deep to wade. Their earliest recorded passages were by the Romans of before Christ as they colonized the area. Masters of masonry (from whence the Order of Masons), the builders of these bridges became so highly regarded that participants were granted salvation. It became a work for God and the chief consul of Rome was given the titled of "Pontiff" from pont, or bridge, meaning chief bridge builder- a term still in use.
http://www.150th.com/rivers/bailey.htm
There are many engineering feats that are noteworthy and not destructive that could be discussed here before Veterans' Day, if anyone's interested.
WW