80 Years Ago—November 11, 1939: Queen Elizabeth calls on British women to participate in the war effort.
Movie premiere of historical drama The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, starring Bette Davis & Errol Flynn.
75 Years Ago—Nov. 11, 1944: In Italy, First Brazilian Fighter Group begins operations with US Twelfth Air Force in P-47 Thunderbolts.
In Japanese convoy to Luzon, US Naval Task Force 38 aircraft sink all 4 Japanese transports and 4 of 6 destroyers (Hamanami, Naganami, Shimakaze, and Wakatsuki).
RCA Victor and Columbia Records settle with the musicians’ union, allowing recording after two years of striking.
Americans destroy Hengyang Airfield in China as Japanese advance, June 1944 (US Army Air Force photo)
80 Years Ago—November 10, 1939: “The Venlo Incident”—Germans kidnap two British agents in Dutch town of Venlo to accuse them of the previous day’s assassination attempt on Hitler.
75 Years Ago—Nov. 10, 1944: Japanese take US Fourteenth Air Force air bases at Kweilin and Liuchow in their drive through southern China.
SS Red Oak Victory at Rosie the Riveter National Park, Richmond, CA, May 2014 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)
80 Years Ago—November 9, 1939: Adolf Hitler survives assassination attempt at the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich; bomb planted by communist Georg Elser.
Nobel Prize for physics is awarded to Ernest Lawrence for the cyclotron.
Movie premiere of Ninotchka, Greta Garbo’s first comedy.
Damage in the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, Germany after the failed assassination attempt on Hitler, 9 Nov 1939 (German Federal Archive: Bild 183-E12329)
75 Years Ago—Nov. 9, 1944: Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the International Red Cross.
Victory Ship SS Red Oak Victory is launched in Richmond, CA, christened by the wife of the mayor of Red Oak, IA, Permanente Shipyard’s 558th ship (currently a museum ship in Richmond, CA).
After a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Australia in 1877, midshipman Tom Darley rescues passenger Ada Carmichael. They are the only survivors.
As Ada deals with the crushing loss of her entire family, she’s drawn to Tom’s kindness and strength. The newspapers whip up a frenzy of interest in the young couple and promise riches in exchange for stories and photographs and statues for the wax museum. For Tom, this would be the fulfillment of his dreams. Raised on the rough streets of Melbourne, he longs to start a hotel for weary travelers – and to marry the lovely Ada.
However, for Ada, the publicity promises to fulfill her worst nightmares, the very reason her family fled England in the first place. Now she flees to Phillip Island, to the home of newlyweds Shadrach and Finella Jones, a place to heal. But Tom follows. Can the press – and Ada’s greatest fears – be far behind?
Gorgeous and gripping, Carry Me Away is a novel you won’t forget. Ada and Tom’s deep attraction and clashing needs create a poignant love story, and Dorothy Adamek writes about grief and love in a way that is palpable and heartfelt. But the ending – oh, the ending! So sweet and triumphant and affirming that I want to tell everyone – except I want you to discover it for yourself. Let the lovely writing carry you away to picturesque Phillip Island, and be swept away by Tom and Ada’s tale.
This is the second novel in the Blue Wren Shallows series, but it stands alone. However, please don’t miss the first book, Carry Me Home, for Shadrach and Finella’s romantic and muddy tale (trust me, it works). See my review here.
Japanese heavy cruiser Nachi under aerial attack, Manila Bay, Philippine Islands, 5 Nov 1944 (US National Archives: 80-G-287018)
80 Years Ago—November 5, 1939: Plot by senior German officers under Gen. Franz Halder to arrest or kill Hitler collapses; the officers are appalled at Hitler’s decision to invade Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.
75 Years Ago—Nov. 5, 1944: US B-29s bomb Japanese-occupied Singapore for the first time.
US Navy Task Force 38 carrier aircraft strike Luzon, sinking Japanese heavy cruiser Nachi and shooting down 97 Japanese aircraft.
80 Years Ago—November 4, 1939: US Neutrality Act of 1939 becomes law, repealing the arms embargo in the Neutrality Acts of 1935 & 1937 and renewing the expired “cash & carry” clause to allow the sale of arms to Britain & France.
Packard exhibits first air-conditioned automobile in Chicago.
75 Years Ago—Nov. 4, 1944: Liberation of Greece is complete as final German troops evacuate.
Japanese bomb-carrying balloon reinflated at Moffett Field, CA after it had been shot down by a US Navy aircraft January 10, 1945 (US Army photo)
80 Years Ago—November 3, 1939: Royal Navy chases Nazi-captured US freighter City of Flint into harbor at Haugesund, Norway, where she is seized by Norwegian sailors.
Movie premiere of John Ford historical drama Drums Along the Mohawk, starring Henry Fonda & Claudette Colbert.
75 Years Ago—Nov. 3, 1944: Canadians clear Breskens Pocket on the Scheldt Estuary in the Netherlands, taking 12,500 POWs.
Japanese begin releasing 9000 bomb-carrying balloons to float to the US (about 300 will arrive).
After a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Australia in 1877, midshipman Tom Darley rescues passenger Ada Carmichael. They are the only survivors.
