Belgian Resistance: Andrée Dumon

Andrée Dumon (5 September 1922 – 30 January 2025), codenamed Nadine, was a Belgian member of the Comet Line network of the Belgian Resistance during the Second World War. She was betrayed in August 1942 and captured, spending time in Ravensbrück and later Mauthausen concentration camps, where she was liberated in April 1945. Her elder sister, Micheline Dumon, was a leader of the Comet Line.

In 2018 she published her memoirs under the title Je ne vous ai pas oubliés ("I have not forgotten you"). Dumon died on 30 January 2025, at the age of 102.

Belgian Resistance: Witte-Brigade Fidelio

Witte-Brigade Fidelio was founded in Antwerp by Marcel Louette, a veteran of both 1914-18 and 1940. Louette’s group was particularly active during the occupation, involving itself in both passive and active resistance. Witte Brigade-Fidelio disseminated anti-German propaganda, hid Jews, and other vulnerable people, maintained a list of collaborators, gathered intelligence about German Flak defenses and troop movements, and conducted several high-profile acts of sabotage and vandalism. It was the only major resistance movement headquartered in Flanders and it was particularly active in the Flemish region, though it also had a limited presence in Wallonia.

Witte Brigade-Fidelio members

In May 1944, the Gestapo arrested most of the Antwerp membership, including Louette, and Witte Brigade-Fidelio was decapitated. Once among the most significant resistance groups in Antwerp, Witte Brigade-Fidelio could muster just twenty men to participate in the battle for the liberation of the city, all of whom were placed under the command of local FI/OF and PA leader Edouard Pilaet. Though the national organization was crippled, and the Witte Brigade had been largely rooted out of Antwerp, some local chapters continued to thrive.

Belgian Resistance: Front de l'indépendance/Onafhankelijkheidsfront

Founded in 1941, the FI/OF represented the communist resistance in Belgium. Though officially a national organization, it was strongest in Hainaut, Namur, Brussels, and the major cities in Flanders. It maintained only a limited presence in Limburg and the eastern portions of the country. Like the MNB/BNB, it involved itself in both civil and military resistance, including the sheltering of Jews, clandestine press, forgery, intelligence gathering, and sabotage. The armed wing of the FI/OF was the Armée belge des partisans or Partisans armés (armed partisans). Many other left or far left sub-organizations existed within the FI/OF, among them the Milices patriotiques (patriotic militias), a communist youth movement.

On paper, the Partisans armés (PA) maintained a strict hierarchical organization. Sector commands controlled several corps which in turn were divided into battalions and companies, each with a prescribed allotment of personnel. In practice, PA organization was more flexible, especially during the liberation. Though the Belgian government did not recognize the FI/OF, PA, and other communist organizations, the SOE maintained contact with the partisans and provided them with some equipment.

Belgian Resistance: Mouvement national belge/Belgisch National Beweging

Founded in 1940 by Aimé Dandoy, the MNB/BNB was strongly associated with the center-right Bloc Catholique Belge party and closely aligned with the Belgian government-in-exile. The MNB/BNB involved itself in a wide array of resistance activities, both civil and military. At the height of its operations, it maintained and extensive intelligence network which passed on information to London and ran the Belgian portion of the Comet Line which helped to exfiltrate downed Allied airman. In addition, the MNB/BNB printed the clandestine newspaper Le Voix des Belges and its members hid Jews and other threatened people and conducted acts of sabotage.

Plaque in memory of Aimé Dandoy

Like the AS/GL, the MNB/BNB divided the country into Zones which roughly corresponded to the Belgian provinces. Each zone was subdivided into sectors, and each sector command controlled several local “brigade” commands. Unfortunately, a precise reconstruction of the MNB/BNB’s entire organization is not possible.

In February 1944, the MNB/BNB was compromised, and mass arrests crippled its national leadership. Though it was not dissolved, the organization largely collapsed and was incapable of further coordinated action. In Limburg Province the local MNB/BNB commands were absorbed by the AS/GL. By September, MNB/BNB activities were mostly restricted to the western portions of Hainaut and Flanders where the organization maintained close ties to the FFI. Though only a shadow of its former self, MNB/BNB members were among the first resistance fighters to greet the Allies.

Belgian Resistance: Armée secrète”/”Geheim Leger

The Belgian Resistance consisted of many organizations, some local and some national, with competing ideologies and goals.

Due to sharp political divisions, efforts to unify the various organizations under a single command failed and the Belgian Resistance always remained fractured. Though the various organizations were divided politically, they shared many of the same short goals, adopted similar methods, and engaged in many of the same activities.

Lt. Urbain Reniers of the AS-GL (center) co-chaired the Antwerp Coordinating Committee

The “Armée secrète”/”Geheim Leger “(AS/GL, “Secret Army”):

The Armée secrète/Geheim Leger was by far the largest and most capable resistance group in Belgium during the liberation. The AS/GL’s origins date to late 1940 with the formation of the Légion belge and the Armée belge reconstituée. These two organizations, both led by veterans of the 1940 campaign and dedicated to the continuation of the war, merged in 1941 and, after a couple of name changes and significant reorganization, became the AS/GL in early 1944. The AS/GL was a strictly military organization dedicated to preparing for a guerrilla war. True to its name, the AS/GL was to remain largely invisible until ordered into action.

AS/GL Squad posing with a German prisoner

The AS/GL was not politically affiliated and much of its membership had no political agenda other than the overthrow of the occupiers, but it always remained associated with the far right, royalist politics of one of its predecessor Légion belge. Due to its perceived support of the monarchy, a certain mistrust always existed between the Belgian parliament in London and AS/GL. Nonetheless, British military authorities recognized that the AS/GL was the organization most capable of taking military action and chose to support it.

Canada’s National Memorial at Vimy Ridge

 Unveiling of Canada’s National Memorial at Vimy Ridge, July 26, 1936.

Close-up of Mrs. C.S. Woods of Winnipeg, Manitoba, mother of twelve sons who served in the war, five of whom were killed. She represented the Silver Star Mothers of Canada at the Ceremony.

The Pot of Gold Buried at the End of the Rainbow

Legends about pots of gold buried at the ends of rainbows originate from long ago. Vikings invaded Ireland in 795 AD, and were known for looting and burying gold and other treasures in undisclosed locations. The legend of pots of gold began when they eventually departed the shores of Ireland, leaving some of their stolen gold behind.

Folklore depicts leprechauns as mistrustful creatures who detest humans. According to legend, leprechauns found the abandoned gold and buried it again so no human could ever find it. The old folktales tell us that there is a pot of gold hidden where the end of any rainbow touches the earth. Unfortunately, science tells us that rainbows do not have an end since their arch shape is an illusion...

 

Walking Ships

 

O Father Dear

         do ships at sea

have legs way down below?

Of course they do,

                Little goosie, you!

                For how else could they go?

8 March - International Women's Day

 

Maori party co-leader Tariana Turia

Madonna

Rita Angus (self portrait)

Carice van Houten - Dutch actress

Marlene Dietrich

Traci Bingham

Beyoncé

Elijah Zachary Lemein Simel

From a time that USAID was still providing aid to victims of HIV: 

"I think people are afraid of HIV but now I'm here to tell them not to be afraid," says 11-year-old from Nairobi, Kenya. Elijah's mother unknowingly transmitted HIV to him when he was a baby, but through treatment and a supportive environment at school, Elijah is living a full and happy life. Wise beyond his years, Elijah is just one of the many extraordinary 2.1 million children living with HIV around the world who rely on access to life-saving medication to reach adulthood.

Vintage French Photos

Ilse Bing, Paris 1952

Vintage photos from France by famous photographers; times when berets were omnipresent.

Vivian Maier, les Champsaurins

Jean Philippe Charbonnier

Robert Doisneau, Kids 1947

Jean Dieuzaide

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

The story has varied considerably in different versions over the centuries, translations, and as the subject of numerous modern adaptations. 

The Town Musicians of Bremen

The "Town Musicians of Bremen" (Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819.

It tells the story of four ageing domestic animals, who after a lifetime of hard work are neglected and mistreated by their former masters. Eventually, they decide to run away and become town musicians in the city of Bremen. Contrary to the story's title the characters never arrive in Bremen, as they succeed in tricking and scaring off a band of robbers, capturing their spoils, and moving into their house.

The Brothers Grimm first published this tale in the second edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1819, based on the account of the German storyteller Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1815).

The Ant and the Grasshopper

 The Ant and the Grasshopper is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 373 in the Perry Index.

The fable describes how a hungry grasshopper begs for food from an ant when winter comes and is refused. The situation sums up moral lessons about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future.

Even in Classical times, however, the advice was mistrusted by some and an alternative story represented the ant's industry as mean and self-serving. Jean de la Fontaine's delicately ironic retelling in French later widened the debate to cover the themes of compassion and charity. 

Since the 18th century the grasshopper has been seen as the type of the artist and the question of the place of culture in society has also been included. Argument over the fable's ambivalent meaning has generally been conducted through adaptation or reinterpretation of the fable in literature, arts, music and berets.

Gary Smulyan

Gary Smulyan (1956) is a jazz musician who plays baritone saxophone. He studied at Hofstra University before working with Woody Herman. He leads a trio with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Kenny Washington.

Smulyan has played with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and its previous incarnation, the Mel Lewis Big Band. He has played with the Dave Holland Big Band and Octet, the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, and he has performed and recorded with Carla Bley's Big Band.

Smulyan's biggest influence is Pepper Adams. When Adams died, Smulyan recorded an album entitled Homage, which featured eight pieces composed by Adams. He has recorded for Criss Cross Jazz and Reservoir Records, including the critically acclaimed High Noon: The Jazz Soul of Frankie Laine, featuring arrangements by Mark Masters.

Smulyan has consistently been ranked best baritone saxophone player in the annual Down Beat magazine readers' and critics' polls.

Eberhard Lauer

Eberhard Lauer, born in 1956, is musical director at the Cathedral of St. Marien in Hamburg and professor for organ music at the Academy of Music in Lübeck, being engaged as organist, choir master and teacher.

He studied the organ and church music at the universities of Aachen, Düsseldorf and Amsterdam, musicology and philosophy in Hamburg and French organ music in master-classes with Marie-Claire Alain, André Isoir and Xavier Darasse.

He gives concerts in his home country Germany and abroad, and recorded organ recitals for radio, disc and television.

Al Fusco (#3)

 

J.C. Duffy is an American cartoonist. He made the "Go Fish" comic strip from October 8, 2002 to October 8, 2007, and currently creates "The Fusco Brothers." 

He also writes and draws cartoons that appear in The New Yorker and other magazines.

And best of all, a bit of reflection for us boineros. 

Yakiv Tkachenko

South Pacific Berets does continue to support Ukraine! And donations don't need to be paid back...

Yakiv Tkachenko, a theater and film actor from Dnipro, was killed in action while serving on the front line with Ukraine's 128th Territorial Defense Brigade, his friends and colleagues reported on Dec. 14.

Tkachenko was known for his roles in Ukrainian films such as "Chervonyi" ("Red"), "Dovbush," and "Pryputni" ("The Strayed"). He also appeared in "Mr. Jones," a high-profile film about the man-made Holodomor famine, directed by Agnieszka Holland.

Film director Oles Sanin announced Tkachenko's death on his Facebook page: "One of the most talented Ukrainian actors," Sanin said. "A true knight. A true friend."

According to a March 2024 report from PEN International, at least 102 Ukrainian cultural figures, including writers, artists, translators and historians, have been killed since the beginning of the invasion.

Al Fusco (#2)

More cartoons by J.C. Duffy, portraying boinero Al Duffy.

NAZI Female Postal Worker's Beret

From the Gettysburg Museum of History: a NAZI era postal worker's beret (Baskenmuetze), that was brought home by a US soldier after the war. 

During the Third Reich period the DRP, Deutsche Reichspost, was under the governmental control of the Reichspostministerium, (National Postal Ministry), which was originally commanded by Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach as the Post-Master General until he was replaced in February 1937 by NSKK-Obergruppenführer Dr. Karl Wilhelm Ohnesorge, an avid supporter of Hitler and the NSDAP.

 With the outbreak of WWII and further man-power requirements needed for military service, additional females were drawn into service with the DRP. Uniforms for the DRP female employees were introduced in 1940 and consisted of a coordinated dark blue jacket and matching skirt or pants and a beret. Insignia utilized by female DRP employees consisted of the national eagle and orange piping on the headgear and an identifying sleeve badge.