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Genealogy Blog

15 September 2010

War Heroine Found Dead In Devon To Have Council Funeral

A wartime heroine who was captured three times by the Germans and endured spells in concentration and labour camps is to be buried by a council because no friends or family can be traced.

Eileen Nearne, 89, who died in her Devon home on 2 September, was one of 39 female agents sent to occupied France in her capacity as a member of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II.

Miss Nearne, who was fluent in French, was captured by the Germans just four months after arriving in France, but managed to persuade them she was an innocent French woman.

Source & Full Story

10 September 2010

Japan Says Over 230,000 Listed Centenarians Can't Be Found

More than 230,000 people listed as alive and at least 100 years old in Japan cannot be found, including 884 who would be 150 or older, officials said Friday.

Japan, famed for its longevity, launched a nationwide survey after a recent string of grisly discoveries -- including a mummified man in his bed and an old woman's remains in a backpack -- sparked alarm over the fate of many elderly.

The cases also triggered soul-searching over elderly people living in isolation, and public outrage at relatives of those missing who have kept their deaths secret in order to keep receiving their pension payments.

Source & Full Story

30 July 2010

Tokyo's 'Oldest Man' Had Been Dead For 30 Years

He was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo - but when officials went to congratulate Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday, they uncovered mummified skeletal remains lying in his bed.

Mr Kato may have been dead for 30 years according to Japanese authorities.

They grew suspicious when they went to honour Mr Kato at his address in Adachi ward, but his granddaughter told them he "doesn't want to see anybody".

Police are now investigating the family on possible fraud charges.

Source & Full Story

20 July 2010

African Ancestry Tracing Goes Mobile with AfricanAncestry.com's First Multi-City 'We Are Africa' Road Tour

If you think ‘Mobile Ancestry’ is another new app … think again! In an old-school move, African Ancestry, the company that pioneered DNA-based ancestry tracing for people of African descent, is going “mobile” by loading up a van, a video camera and one of its co-founders and taking ancestry tracing on a 14-city trek to help African Americans more easily and accurately access their ancestral roots. The first-ever ‘We Are Africa’ Road Tour kicks off on August 1 in New Orleans and culminates on August 19 in New England, hitting 12 cities in between.

To learn more about African Ancestry’s ‘We Are Africa’ Road Tour and find out more about what’s happening in your city go to http://www.africanancestry.com/roadtour.

Source & Full Story

UK's Oldest Person Dies Aged 111

The oldest person in the UK has died, one month before her 112th birthday.

Eunice Bowman, who was born in 1898, died peacefully in her sleep at a care home on Tyneside.

When World War I broke out she went to work for the Armstrong munitions factory in Newcastle and the money she earned was used to help her family.

Source & Full Story

23 June 2010

Nurse In Iconic WWII Photograph Dies Aged 91

A 91-year-old who said she was the nurse photographed being kissed in Times Square in New York at the end of World War II has died.

Edith Shain said she was grabbed and kissed by an unknown American soldier on 14 August 1945.

The picture by Alfred Eisenstaedt was taken as people celebrated Japan's surrender, and it became an iconic image.

The identity of the sailor remains disputed.

Source & Full Story

8 June 2010

Death Of Scottish 'Great Escape' Survivor

A Scot who is believed to be the last survivor of the "Great Escape" from a German prisoner of war camp has died, at the age of 97.

Jack Harrison took part in the famous breakout from Stalag Luft III in 1944, an event later immortalised on film.

He missed his chance to flee the camp when the German guards discovered the escape plot.

Of those who broke out of the camp only three reached safety and of the 73 recaptured, 50 were shot.

Source & Full Story

5 May 2010

World's Oldest Person Dies At 114

Guinness World Records has reported the death of the world's oldest person aged 114 years and 357 days, a week shy of her 115th birthday.

Kama Chinen, a resident of a sub-tropical island in Okinawa, Japan, died on May 2, 2010. She lived to see three different centuries, the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) commented.

The title of oldest human now passes to 114-year-old Frenchwoman Eugenie Blanchard, who was born in February 1896. She lives on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, GRG said.

Source & Full Story

23 April 2010

Whitney Harris, Nuremberg Prosecutor, Dies At 97

Whitney Harris, who was a member of the U.S. legal team that prosecuted Nazis at Nuremberg after World War II, has died. He was 97.

Harris was the last surviving of the three Nuremberg prosecutors, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said. He died Wednesday at his home in the suburban St. Louis town of Frontenac, according to his stepdaughter, Theresa Galakatos of Richmond Heights. She said he had been battling cancer for three years and had been in and out of the hospital since suffering a fall in his home about six months ago.

Harris was lead prosecutor in the first of the Nuremberg war-crime trials in 1945 and tried Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the senior surviving leader of the Nazi Security Police. He also helped cross-examine Hermann Goering, Hitler's second-in-command, and helped get the confession of Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hoess, head of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

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6 April 2010

John H. Lauten Dies At 96; Army Captain Helped Plan Invasion Of Normandy

John H. Lauten, a lawyer who helped plan the invasion of Normandy as an Army captain during World War II and later became the first non-engineer to oversee the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, has died. He was 96.

Lauten died of natural causes March 22 at an assisted-living facility in Simi Valley, his family said.

For heroism during the D-day invasion, Lauten was awarded a Silver Star. He already had received a Bronze Star for heroic action in Algeria in 1942.

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28 February 2010

Canada's Last WWI Vet Honoured In U.S.

John Babcock, Canada's last known First World War veteran, was being honoured Saturday in a memorial service in his adopted hometown in Washington state.

Babcock died earlier this month in his home in Spokane at the age of 109.

Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn and General Walter Natynczyk, Canada's chief of defence staff, were attending the service in Spokane.

Blackburn was to present Babcock's widow with the flag that flew over Parliament on Feb. 18, the day he died.

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25 February 2010

German Officer Who Helped Save Bordeaux's Port From Destruction By Nazi Forces In World War II Has Died

A former German officer who helped save Bordeaux's port from destruction by Nazi forces in World War II has died.

Henri Salmide, born Heinz Stahlschmidt, died Tuesday at the age of 92, Alain Moga, the deputy mayor of Bordeaux, said.

The Germans had a plan to blow up the Bordeaux port before they retreated toward the end of the war.

Approximately 4,000 fuses needed for the plan were stored in the Mediterranean city's munitions depot. Salmide, then a junior officer in the German navy, defied his superiors and blew up the depot, rendering the fuses useless and saving the port, Moga said.

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19 February 2010

Final Canadian WWI Veteran Dies

The last Canadian veteran of World War I has died at the age of 109.

John Babcock enlisted at the age of 15 after lying about his age. He trained in Canada and England but the war ended before he reached the French frontline.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Mr Babcock was Canada's last living link to the Great War.

Just two other veterans of World War I remain alive: American Frank Buckles, also aged 109, and British-born Australian Claude Choules, who is 108.

Source & Full Story

17 February 2010

Red Army Soldier Who Helped Raise Russian Flag Over Hitler's Reichstag Dies

A Red Army soldier who appeared in an iconic photograph of a Soviet flag flying from the ruins of Hitler’s Reichstag has died, aged 93.

Abdulkhakim Ismailov had fought all the way to Berlin from the Battle of Stalingrad three years earlier, where the destruction of the German Sixth Army turned the tide against the Nazi regime in the Second World War.

But he was only recognised half a century later as one of three soldiers raising the Hammer and Sickle flag in a picture that was staged by the Tass photographer Yevgeny Khaldei in May 1945, three days after Berlin fell to the Soviet Army.

Source & Full Story

5 February 2010

Last Speaker Of Ancient Language Of Bo Dies In India

The last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist has told the BBC.

Professor Anvita Abbi said that the death of Boa Sr was highly significant because one of the world's oldest languages - Bo - had come to an end.

She said that India had lost an irreplaceable part of its heritage.

Languages in the Andamans are thought to originate from Africa. Some may be 70,000 years old.

Source & Full Story

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