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John Kenneth Macalister
John Kenneth Macalister (July 19, 1914 – September 14, 1944) was a Rhodes Scholar and a Canadian hero of World War II. Biography Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Ken Macalister graduated from the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI) and from the University of Toronto, then as a Rhodes Scholar studied at Oxford University. He was expanding his education further at the Institute of Corporate Law in Paris, France when World War II began in 1939. When he took the bar exam, Macalister placed first among over 150 candidates in the British Empire. Macalister tried to join the infantry but his eyesight was such that he needed thick glasses and as such could not be placed on active duty. However, fluent in French, Macalister volunteered for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) F Section where as an agent in France, his thick glasses would actually add to his disguise. Together with fellow Canadian, Frank Pickersgill, Ken Macalister was parachuted into occupied France on ...
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Capt John MacAlister
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, etc. In militaries, the captain is typically at the level of an officer commanding a company or battalion of infantry, a ship, or a battery of artillery, or another distinct unit. The term also may be used as an informal or honorary title for persons in similar commanding roles. Etymology The term "captain" derives from (, , or 'the topmost'), which was used as title for a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the late Latin "capitaneus" (which derives from the classical Latin word "caput", meaning head). This hybridized term gave rise to the English language term captain and its equivalents in other languages (, , , , , , , , , kapitány, K ...
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Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentration camp. Initially this was an "exchange camp", where Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas. The camp was later expanded to accommodate Jews from other concentration camps. After 1945, the name was applied to the displaced persons camp established nearby, but it is most commonly associated with the concentration camp. From 1941 to 1945, almost 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war and a further 50,000 inmates died there. Overcrowding, lack of food and poor sanitary conditions caused outbreaks of typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever and dysentery, leading to the deaths of more than 35,000 people in the first few months of 1945, shortly before and after the liberation. The cam ...
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Romorantin-Lanthenay
Romorantin-Lanthenay (), commonly known as Romorantin, is a commune and town in the Loir-et-Cher department, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the capital city of the natural region of Sologne. History The current commune is the result of the merger, on 29 May 1961, of the former communes of Romorantin and Lanthenay. Transportation Romorantin is served by the A85 autoroute and the TER Centre-Val de Loire regional rail network ( Chemin de Fer du Blanc-Argent). Population The population data given in the table and graph below for 1954 and earlier refer to the former commune of Romorantin. Personalities * Martha Broissier was made famous around the year of 1578 for her feigned demonic possession. * Nassira El Moaddem, journalist, TV presenter and writer. Sites and tourism The city hosts the Museum of Sologne. Sologne is a region in North-Central France, well known for its forest. Sport Between 6 July and 22 July 2007 Sologne Aerodrome was used for ...
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Indre
Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire and is bordered by the departments of Indre-et-Loire to the west, Loir-et-Cher to the north, Cher to the east, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne to the south, and Vienne to the southwest. The préfecture (capital) is Châteauroux and there are three subpréfectures at Le Blanc, La Châtre and Issoudun. It had a population of 219,316 in 2019.Populations légales 2019: 36 Indre
INSEE
Scobedos.


History

Indre is one of the original 83 departments created during the

Valençay
Valençay () is a commune in the Indre department in the administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. Geography Valençay is situated in the Loire Valley. It sits at the end of a plateau. on a hillside overlooking the River Nahon. Valençay is part of Berry. History The commune was formed by the union of three settlements: the "Bourg-de-l'Eglise", the "Bas-Bourg" and what is called the "old quarter." The chateau is a part of the Loire Valley by virtue of the date of its construction and its dimensions, which give it a similar appearance to Chambord. A 12th century castle existed on this site, was demolished and construction of its replacement began in 1520, albeit slowly. The chateau was born in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Estampes family. Louis of Estampes, governor and baillif of Blois, undertook the building of the large round tower at the end of the entrance wing. He died in 1530, leaving the tower unfinished. The tower rises above the entry. Work on Val ...
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Valençay SOE Memorial
The Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument in France to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives working to liberate the country during World War II. The memorial was unveiled in the town of Valençay, in the department of Indre, on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the despatch of F Section's first agent to France. Former SOE agents Pearl Witherington Cornioley and her husband Henri, who lived nearby, promoted the establishment of the memorial. Witherington had worked in the area as a SOE agent during World war II. The monument was designed by Elizabeth Lucas Harrison, herself a former Resistance member, who originally gave it the name "Spirit of Partnership". Dedicated by the Minister of Veterans Affairs for France and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the memorial's ''Roll of Honour'' lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom. Valençay Memorial Roll of Honour (fro ...
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France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its Metropolitan France, metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Due to its several coastal territories, France has the largest exclusive economic zone in the world. France borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra, and Spain in continental Europe, as well as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the Americas via its overseas territories in French Guiana and Saint Martin (island), ...
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England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and Engli ...
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Brookwood, Surrey
Brookwood is a village in Surrey, England, about west of Woking, with a mixture of semi-rural, woodland-set and archetypal suburban residential homes. It lies on the western border of the Woking Borough, with a small part of the village in Guildford Borough. As part of the 2016 boundary review, Brookwood became part of the Heathlands ward which comprises Brookwood, Bridley, Hook Heath, Mayford, Sutton Green and Barnsbury and Wych Hill. The village is known for the 500-acre Brookwood Cemetery, also called the London Necropolis. The village also gave its name to the former Victorian Brookwood Hospital, once the leading mental institution in Surrey. Since its closure in 1994, it has been redeveloped as housing. Geography The village borders Knaphill, on the other side of the main A322 road, which is home to Brookwood Manor. The village also borders the Basingstoke Canal which has a flight of locks there. Pirbright Camp is a short distance to the west, with the decommissioned Pr ...
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Brookwood Cemetery
Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. History Background Brookwood Cemetery was conceived by the London Necropolis Company (LNC) in 1849 to house London's deceased, at a time when the capital was finding it difficult to accommodate its increasing population, of living and dead. The cemetery is said to have been landscaped by architect William Tite, but this is disputed. In 1854, Brookwood was the largest cemetery in the world but it is no longer. Its initial owner being incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1852, Brookwood Cemetery (apart from its northern section, reserved for Nonconformists) was consecrated by Charles Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, on 7 November 1854. It was opened to the public on 13 November 1854 when the first burials t ...
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Robert Benoist
Robert Marcel Charles Benoist (20 March 1895 – 14 September 1944) was a French Grand Prix motor racing driver and war hero. Early life Born near Rambouillet, Île-de-France, France, Robert Benoist was the son of Baron Henri de Rothschild's gamekeeper. As a young man, Benoist served during World War I in the French infantry, then as a fighter pilot in the new ''Armée de l'Air'' and ultimately as a flying instructor. Grand Prix driver Looking for excitement in the post-war world, Benoist joined the ''de Marçay'' car company as a test driver. He then moved on to Salmson and was very successful in cyclecar races before being signed to drive for Delage in 1924. The next year, teamed with Albert Divo, he won the French Grand Prix in the race that claimed the life of Italian racing star Antonio Ascari. In 1927, driving a Delage 15-S-8, he won the French, Spanish, Italian and British Grand Prix races, earning the season championship title for the French manufacturer. When ...
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Concentration Camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply mean imprisonment, it tends to refer to preventive confinement rather than confinement ''after'' having been convicted of some crime. Use of these terms is subject to debate and political sensitivities. The word ''internment'' is also occasionally used to describe a neutral country's practice of detaining belligerent armed forces and equipment on its territory during times of war, under the Hague Convention of 1907. Interned persons may be held in prisons or in facilities known as internment camps (also known as concentration camps). The term ''concentration camp'' originates from the Spanish–Cuban Ten Years' War when Spanish forces detained Cuban civilians in camps in order to more easily combat guerrilla forces. Over the following ...
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