THE PASSING OF A HERO

Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, we tend to focus on our own once young men and women of The Greatest Generation who are leaving us so rapidly now.  We owe them so much.  But it was a World War, so many countries banding together to fight a common evil. So many countries losing some of their best.  We owe all of them so much. 

This past Saturday  Oct 4th, 2008.  We lost  Ted Briggs.  Most of you have probably never heard of him.  He was an 18 year Signalman on the HMS Hood. He was one of three survivors from the Hoods crew of 1,418 souls, when she was sunk by the KMS Bismark.   He was the last survivor of the Hood.  I have seen several interviews with him on various programs, PBS, History, Discovery, also such a low key gentle man, humble, always giving credit where credit was due. Like so many vets, he still chokes up when talking about that day, and his friends, crewmen, officers.  I think one of his quotes sums Mr Briggs up.  Many times people would come up to him, and say "You are a hero", to which he would reply, "No, I am not a hero, I am a survivor."  I think he was a hero, anyone that was pulled away from home and loved ones, sent who know where, and put in harms way, is a hero.  God bless you Ted, God bless you all.  Thank you. --   JohnOh

LAST SURVIVOR OF HOOD SINKING DIES

BBC News

The last remaining survivor of the sinking of WWII battle cruiser HMS Hood in May 1941 has died at the age of 85, his naval association has said.

Ted Briggs, from Hampshire, was one of just three survivors out of more than 1,400 crew after an exchange of fire with the German battleship Bismarck.

When asked about the sinking he said: "I was not a hero, I just survived."

Mr Briggs once said a sighting of HMS Hood as a boy had inspired him to join the Royal Navy as a signalman

The teenager was assigned to HMS Hood, the Royal Navy's flagship, in 1939.

When Bismarck was spotted in the Denmark Strait in May 1941, HMS Hood was sent in pursuit.

During the Battle of Denmark Strait it was bombarded with shells, one of which caused a huge explosion that ripped through the ship, sinking it in less than three minutes.

HMS Prince of Wales passing sinking HMS Hood

 

In 2001, the wreck of HMS Hood was found 3,000m below the surface of the sea between Greenland and Iceland.

Mr Briggs, who was 18 at the time of the sinking, said he had survived because he was caught in an underwater air pocket.

After a short period of leave following the loss of the ship, Mr Briggs was assigned to another vessel to continue his naval career.

 

4" Gun Crews Circa 1940/1941

He served for another 30 years before retiring, later becoming president of HMS Hood Association and an MBE.

Mr Briggs died at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth on Saturday, his friend and the chairman of HMS Hood Association, Peter Heys, said.

Mr Heys described him as a "perfect gentleman".

He added: "He was a humorous man but he did not like to be reminded of the sinking as he had to be pulled out of the freezing water."                                   

                                                                       HMS HOOD CREWMEN 1940 - 1941

Mr Briggs is survived by his wife Clare.

Midshipman William Dundas, who died in 1965, and able seaman Bob Tilburn, who died in 1995, were the other survivors of the sinking.

 

Here is a link to the HMS HOOD Foundation if you find yourself interested in more of the story.

http://www.hmshood.com/

 

 

THE HISTORY LESSON -- WRITERS' BLOCK #24

  THE HISTORY LESSON

It was far too nice of a day to spend in school. So the guys decided to cut school. Of course we headed to the beach, thinking we could scope out the babes. But it turned out that evidently babes do not cut school and go to the beach. Mark, who was the oldest of us and a bit wiser in the ways of babes told  us: "of course they aren’t here, when they cut class they go to the mall". We had no idea if that was true or not, but we all nodded in agreement.

We walked down the beach, enjoying the sun and breeze, jumping in the water to cool off. Finding gross things like boys do and trying to decide what it was, and which find was the grossest. We rated them by looks and smell, though not neccessarily in that order.

Timmy suddenly stopped and stared at a pile of driftwood. Timmy had a habit of stopping and staring at things, he was the nerd of the group. You could hear his mind working on what ever ideas were spinning around in his head.

"Guys!!! Come ‘ere" he said. "Do you remember the lesson in history class yesterday?"

Like who pays attention in history class we all answered in one form or another.

"We can do it!" Timmy exclaimed. "We can built it!"

He got our attention with that statement. No babes in bikinis around so what else do red blooded American boys like to do–Build Things!!

"Build what?" We asked almost in unison if not in harmony.

"Here let me show you!", and with that he bent down with a stick and proceed ed to draw diagrams in the sand and explain to us what it was. Timmy took charge and sent some of us down the beach, to find more drift wood, rope, line, anything that might be of use. The other group he had tear into the drift wood pile and start laying out usable wood.

We pulled and lifted, moved and shoved. Splinters were the norm but we did not care. We had a mission. We tied pieces of wood together with old rope and dried bull kelp. Found rocks for weights, even an old float bouy for a cushion, and an old rusty door hinge for a trigger. Timmy’s creation rose out of the sand, higher, and bigger, larger and taller. Until finally, sweaty hours later, we stood back in amazement at our creation, at Timmy’s creation.

Timmy jumped up on top of the main timber arm, and proceeded to explain what we had done. It sounded like the history class we did not pay any attention to, but we did not care, we cheered, and yelled at Timmy’s speech. The more we cheered, the louder Timmy spoke, the more we yelled the more excited Timmy got, until he was jumping up and down on the main timber.

In mid sentence, and in between cheers we all heard the loud click.

We did not find Timmy at first, just his shoes which had tangled the  laces in the rough wood.

We all agreed though, Timmy could build one heck of a catapult.

 

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