Landships II

James H · Legend

The Diggerhistory Approach to Research.

TOPCAT · Corporal

Bet he gets a lot of help with that attitude!
Maybe he is one of those guys who has to "do it all himself" and no-one else can do it right!
At least you tried, James.

TC

Mark Hansen · Legend

If he wasn't interested in the information, he could at least have pointed that out politely. The same applies if he doesn't agree with your conclusions. And as for having "...little interest in why�he was�awarded the other two medals...", why have a historical site at all?
Presumably he is an Australian but I can assure you he is not representative of the majority.

James H · Legend

Thanks, Topcat. And Mark - I'm sure Mr. Harris isn't representative.

I suggested to him that he might be a little more gracious, and have received a number of replies since. I enclose a selection. Since Landships is intended for a wide audience I have�deleted Mr. Harris's numerous and detailed�descriptions�of homosexual practices and almost all of his four-letter words, as well as the jpeg of an obscene postcard urging me to "Shut the F*** Up."

If anyone is interested, I'll forward them privately.

_______________________________________

Fact. The medals were awarded.
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Fact. The Australian War Memorial provided the wording I used. They have dozens of researchers working full time on providing factual information. You can check it yourself at http://www.awm.gov.au/ Go to 'Search our collections' insert 'issy smith' and read their wording.
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Fact. I get an Email from some goose who knows better than anyone else saying that my information is flawed. He provides no support for his argument that the AWM is wrong except to say that he has done some research.
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Fact. I get dozens of Emails from geese all over the world pointing out all sorts of "mistakes" in the over 6,000 pages I have on site. 98% of them prove to be factually wrong or� to merely have a different opinion. The other 2 percent are divided between nit pickers and people who are correct.
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Fact. Many people are anti-Semitic. (Are you in that group)?

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I do not claim to be a historian. (S**t, that would put me in your exalted class. Capable, like you, of using big words like "obnoxious" and I would not be good enough. I don't nit pick well enough, nor do I have such a belief in my own omni-presence that people half way round the world should say to themselves " Oh, he says "X" so the worlds premier military history museum is wrong when they say "Y" )

I set out to PRESENT (Aus and NZ military) history� in a form that will hopefully tell the story to my kids and their generation and my grand kids and theirs. I did this because although many sources have little bits of info, no one (in Aus or NZ) had ever tried to put it all together in one place on the WWW. (Which you believe means Whinge Whine & Wail).
�
No. No historian me. Merely an editor and presenter. 1 bloke working alone and with no funding. So yes, I do present the work of other people. I do so after their work comes out of Copyright, OR with their approval, OR with the approval of organizations like the AWM (who do not try to present in the way I do and so allow me to quote them).
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It is sort of funny in a weird way.....
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My 47 web sites get a total of about 12 million hits per year and yours gets.............Oh that's right, you are so busy 'correcting' other people that you don't seem to get time to have a site that "TELLS THE TRUTH".
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But, I do have to thankyou, sincerely, for one thing. I now have a better understanding of the stupidity that marched the British Empire into German machine guns protected by barbed wire entanglements 40 to 80 yards deep and carefully ranged artillery, not once but time after time, and
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I have a better understanding of why there is no British Empire any more, why your country is being overrun with people from countries that you once ruled and why the best you seem to hope for these days is to swing off the coat tails of the EU.
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Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the seas,
Nowadays all Poms do is shit green peas.
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CLICK HERE
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and have a nice life.

________________________________________________________

There is a great deal more. Mr. Harris does not seem to see any�contradiction in the attitudes he displays and�his position as self-appointed custodian of ANZAC remembrance.

Mr. Harris has also been in trouble with some ISPs for allowing an organisation called ANZMI (Australian and New Zealand Military Impostors) or sometimes CPMH (Coalition of Patriots for Military Honour) to post uncorroborated�allegations against certain individuals of impersonating war veterans. These have sometimes been spiced up with additional allegations of paedophilia. A number of legal actions have resulted.

http://pub23.bravenet.com/forum/1925085003/show/507716

Mr. Harris has a wide range of interests and is, clearly,�a complicated man. Ideal for the task of honouring those who gave their lives.

-- Edited by James H at 16:27, 2007-11-07

Ironsides · Legend

Hi James, I guess Mr Harris is what you'd call a good old fashioned Bigot....its likely that many of the terms lower down on this link would also apply......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigotry

Cheers

Mark Hansen · Legend

I assume you were providing some background information on the awarding of the Russian St. George Cross and either the Indian service medal or the French Croix de Guerre. It seems inconceivable that he wouldn't want the information but I think it's more a case of "I haven't got the information and no P**** b******�is going to tell me anything."
As for his assertion that the AWM can't get it wrong, they can (they're human as well) and are more than happy to be corrected or to have missing information provided.
Curious that he doesn't like people using "big" words. I thought illiteracy was something to be remedied, not revered.

James H · Legend

The latest news, should anyone be interested, is that the Australian War Memorial have amended their article on Issy Smith and the Australian Dictionary of Biography have told me that they will amend theirs when time permits. A number of other sites are doing likewise. Many thanks to Ironsides for the info on The London Gazette, which was the clinching evidence.

The interesting Mr. Harris has not been idle. His correction can be seen at the link below. He has had to correct his correction, which initially said that I claimed that Issy did not serve in Mesopotamia, which I did not. I think you will agree that the tone of Mr. Harris's adjustment provides even more of an insight into his complex personality.

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-vc/smith.htm

If you would like to send Mr. Harris any information that helps him to improve the accuracy of his website, for example the news that�many of his illustrations of German troops in The Great War are actually of the Franco-Prussian War, he can be contacted at diggerhistory@ozemail.com.au or tedharris@ozemail.com.au

*It is only fair to warn you that communications that do not please Mr. Harris are likely to result in the receipt of emails of an abusive and sexually explicit nature.

-- Edited by James H at 14:16, 2007-12-11

alfisherjr · Colonel

I presume that you left an interesting morsel or two in his guest book . . .

Al

James H · Legend

That's "work in progress".

In the meantime, I've sent him this.

Mark Hansen · Legend

James H wrote:

...The interesting Mr. Harris has not been idle. His correction can be seen at the link below. He has had to correct his correction, which initially said that I claimed that Issy did not serve in Mesopotamia, which I did not. I think you will agree that the tone of Mr. Harris's adjustment provides even more of an insight into his complex personality...

I don't understand his�'addendum'. If he�doesn't�care about the award, why the fuss about correction? If he doesn't wish to identify Issy Smith as Australian, why have him on his website? Definitely a complex personality or�two, or more...