Birth of a nation

Well my attempt to do an entry a week has fallen by the wayside what with one thing and another. Still no takers for my flat but on the other hand no real spark for any of the prospective places weve seen so far. Add to this two trips so far this year and the end to a tumultous footy season not no metion what can only be descibed as getting my fat lazy arse in gear means less typing time. Our long weekend was a success - caught up with the American portion of the family. Ed and Anna got in the day before we did and were off for a couple of days in Sweden on the day when we left. We got in in the middle of the day and after dumping our chattels at Rebecca's abode nestling in the shadow of the Petersen paper mill - all very Twin Peaks and along with Ed and Anna we crossed the Oslofjord to Horton. It was quickly noticed that there were a number of rather nice blue and white plaques affixed to prominent buildings in town. The closest to Rebeccas place happened to be the most significant. Marking the site of the Convention of Moss. The treaty gave birth to the modern Norwegian state marking the dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian nation in 1814 once Denmark put its hat into the ring in the Napoleonic wars (only after it should be said Britain attacked Copenhagen not once but twice). As a provision of the peace of Kiel Norway was ceded to Sweden which had sided with Britain as part of the sixth Coalition. Norway had other ideas and declared independence and fought a short and less than successful war with Sweden a war that ended with the signing of the Convention of Moss by King Christian Frederik for the Norwegians. It was incidentally the last war fought by Sweden. The peace was an interesting one granting Norway its own constitution and its own institutions barring the foreign service and policy.

Wing Commander F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas (1902-1964)

A new addition to the legion of blue plaque holders (in fact there have been two in the last month) Wing Commander F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas. As I type I'm watching a documentary about orphan survivors of the holocaust. As far as I'm concerned anyone who fought in the conflict against the Nazis deserves recognition. It's amazing to think of the "last good war" in a world where the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are viewed with a jaundiced eye by those who see the Halliburton contracts and where that money is ending up. Thats not to diminish the heroism of those engaged in those conflicts of course but such stories from the wars of the last century are commonplace.

Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas was educated in France after his family moved when he was a child, he fought with the Poles against the Russians in the First World War, was captured by the Russians and escaped execution only by strangling a guard. Between the wars he worked in a Paris Fashion House fleeing to Britain wheew he worked in intellegence for a while before joining the SOE, the Special Operations Executive who supported and coordinated resistance efforts against the occupying Nazi forces. Yeo-Thomas parachuted into occupied France three times, twice in 1943 where he aided the orgainisation and supply to arms and equipment to the resistance and then again in 1944. He was captured at Passy Metro station after being betrayed and was taken to the Gestapo Headquarters in Paris where he was tortured, including being water-boarded (which as we all know is not torture at all, just a excuse for a quick wash for the prisoner or am I perhaps being a tad cynical here?) He was transported to Buchenwald concentration camp where he met the officer in charge of 168 allied prisoners being held at the notorious concentration camp. He escaped and reached American lines. I would say that that was where his war ended but he also was a prosecution and a defence witness during the Dachau War Crimes Trial. He died in 1964 after returning to civilian life, working for a French fashion house. A truly astonishing life and one that deserves to be celebrated. The irony of a secret agent being celebrated in such a public manner is not entirely lost here I have to say.