You probably think of it as a childrens' rhyme.. but nothing, Dear Readers, could be further than the truth. For it is the famous Rifleman song. And was sung by the 95th Rifles as they engaged the French troops at the Battle of Waterloo.
This battle ended Bonaparte's despotic charade in Europe. He'd caused the death of tens of thousands of French, Spanish and Portugese ~ read history to learn about the Napoleonic Wars ~ and had marched his troops into Russia, with no thought about back-up supplies OR the weather, poor men and horses.
We then had peace in Europe for nearly one hundred years until the outbreak of WW1 in 1914. She's been reading a lot of history ~ modern ~ recently. Few people realise, unless you are Italian or know your history, that in both the UK and the USA Italians not born in that country were considered to be, like the Japanese and Germans, undesireable aliens.
There were families who had come to the UK after WW1, during which war Italy was an ally, only to be classied as aliens at the start of WW2. They were rounded up and shipped off and out. It is NOT a pretty story. Likewise in the USA.
So you had the situation of compulsory active service duty for all UK and USA men of Italian origin born in those countries but whose own Italian born parents were imprisoned.. OI VEY.
Years ago, she used to get beautiful plants from Rochfords at Crew's Hill. This is a truly wondrous place. There are acres upon acres of glasshouses! At Rochfords, in charge of the greenhouse was an elderly Italian who had been a prisoner of war on the Isle of Man.
He was asked what did he do before the war, he told the camp authorities that his family grew plants, primarily orchids but also salads and grapes for the family. The next thing he knew, he was on a bicycle with a map with instructions of how to get to ...
And there, he found a sad sight! Going around the large house to the back door, he saw a huge old greenhouse with nobody taking care of an enormous vine and lots of half dead orchids. He had been told to knock on the back door and to give them the note explaining them who he was.
He knocked, a very elderly gentleman came to the door to whom he handed over the note, upon reading it the elderly man greeted him but you can imagine his surprise when he was greeted in Italian and not just Italian but fluent Turinese. The owner of the greenhouse with the sad orchids and vine had studied for years in Turin.
Out of a sad situation there came great joy for these two men. The elderly man had arthritis and could no longer tend his vine, the orchids had been his wife's and she was no longer alive but here, like a gift from God, there was this lovely man who, through no fault of his own, was considered to be undesirable!
He spent the rest of the war years working at the greenhouse, he supplied the local store with salads and vegetables, the grapes were bartered with the Officers' Mess in exchange for vegetable seeds. He revitalised the orchid collection and after the war, he married a Manx girl and stayed on the island.
They moved to Crews' Hill when his Italian family moved to England in the early seventies. He was a charming man whose knowledge of plants was stupendous! The elderly man had taught him English and he had read voraciously everything in the extensive library.
It was an extremely sad day when one of the hothouse 'girls', who knew she adored him, called to say that he had died.. he'd done his Friday walk-about, sat down to take off his gloves and gone.. it was a hell of a shock for his team, his family and friends of which there were legions but for him, it was the best way to go.
"If I should fail to rise
no more, as many
comrades did before, then
ask the fife and drums
to play, o'er the
hills and far away".
GeeGee Parrot.
June 21st, 2015.
This battle ended Bonaparte's despotic charade in Europe. He'd caused the death of tens of thousands of French, Spanish and Portugese ~ read history to learn about the Napoleonic Wars ~ and had marched his troops into Russia, with no thought about back-up supplies OR the weather, poor men and horses.
We then had peace in Europe for nearly one hundred years until the outbreak of WW1 in 1914. She's been reading a lot of history ~ modern ~ recently. Few people realise, unless you are Italian or know your history, that in both the UK and the USA Italians not born in that country were considered to be, like the Japanese and Germans, undesireable aliens.
There were families who had come to the UK after WW1, during which war Italy was an ally, only to be classied as aliens at the start of WW2. They were rounded up and shipped off and out. It is NOT a pretty story. Likewise in the USA.
So you had the situation of compulsory active service duty for all UK and USA men of Italian origin born in those countries but whose own Italian born parents were imprisoned.. OI VEY.
Years ago, she used to get beautiful plants from Rochfords at Crew's Hill. This is a truly wondrous place. There are acres upon acres of glasshouses! At Rochfords, in charge of the greenhouse was an elderly Italian who had been a prisoner of war on the Isle of Man.
He was asked what did he do before the war, he told the camp authorities that his family grew plants, primarily orchids but also salads and grapes for the family. The next thing he knew, he was on a bicycle with a map with instructions of how to get to ...
And there, he found a sad sight! Going around the large house to the back door, he saw a huge old greenhouse with nobody taking care of an enormous vine and lots of half dead orchids. He had been told to knock on the back door and to give them the note explaining them who he was.
He knocked, a very elderly gentleman came to the door to whom he handed over the note, upon reading it the elderly man greeted him but you can imagine his surprise when he was greeted in Italian and not just Italian but fluent Turinese. The owner of the greenhouse with the sad orchids and vine had studied for years in Turin.
Out of a sad situation there came great joy for these two men. The elderly man had arthritis and could no longer tend his vine, the orchids had been his wife's and she was no longer alive but here, like a gift from God, there was this lovely man who, through no fault of his own, was considered to be undesirable!
He spent the rest of the war years working at the greenhouse, he supplied the local store with salads and vegetables, the grapes were bartered with the Officers' Mess in exchange for vegetable seeds. He revitalised the orchid collection and after the war, he married a Manx girl and stayed on the island.
They moved to Crews' Hill when his Italian family moved to England in the early seventies. He was a charming man whose knowledge of plants was stupendous! The elderly man had taught him English and he had read voraciously everything in the extensive library.
It was an extremely sad day when one of the hothouse 'girls', who knew she adored him, called to say that he had died.. he'd done his Friday walk-about, sat down to take off his gloves and gone.. it was a hell of a shock for his team, his family and friends of which there were legions but for him, it was the best way to go.
"If I should fail to rise
no more, as many
comrades did before, then
ask the fife and drums
to play, o'er the
hills and far away".
GeeGee Parrot.
June 21st, 2015.
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