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Posts Tagged ‘Bellinger’

Listening to Art Punk

Posted in music, tagged , , on August 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

No-Age-An-Object
Sorry friends, I’ve been away from the blog. I fractured a bone in my arm last week… I thought I was skateboarder, turns out I’m not.  It made typing not enjoyable, so outside of work, I tried to stay off the computer.  Feeling a bit better today and I feel like a tool for not blogging (I don’t know why, not too many people read the blog…but it is such a habit I guess).

My song today is a nice trippy one from No Age. Their record An Object is out tomorrow…this one I might pick up. The video for the song “An Impression” was bouncing around the internet tubes today.  They call it “punk” which is cool… art-punk?  Its a thing.

I am constantly of the mindset that I am going to start a band, and the band was ALWAYS going to be called Bellinger…until this weekend when I heard the story of Len Bias on The CBC.  Then I thought, cool band name.

To me, the two are weirdly connected.  Henry Bellinger was one of the first Canadians killed on the Western Front.  And I always think of him in the sense of, here’s a guy that had so much potential, probably had some plans, probably thought he was gunna get the job done in France, and before it really started, first battle… he is dead.

Len Bias is a going to be a basketball star.  Gets drafted by the Celtics, signs a million-dollar shoe endorsement deal, leases a sports car and two days later, he dies of a drug overdose.  Never plays an NBA game.  Strange.

Go with yourself.

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first time a former colonial force pushed back a major European power on European soil

Posted in history 101, tagged , , , , , , , on April 8, 2010| 2 Comments »

I don’t know why, but the other day I was thinking about the Canadian generally regarded as the first to die during World War One.

I remember watching a documentary about the war sometime ago and they mentioned him.  I thought it would be a cool name for a band or something… then I thought, maybe that will be my DJ handle.

I was waxing about it on my radio show a couple weeks ago and I got this email from Jeff at CFB Esquimalt:

Jeremy;

I can’t remember when but one afternoon, I think last week you were talking about the first Canadian war dead from World War I.  The first Canadian war dead were actually sailors not soldiers and they died nowhere near the shores of Europe, they actually died in the Pacific.

The German squadron leaving Valparaiso on 3 November 1914 after the battle.

The first Canadian casualties of the war occurred before these troops arrived in Europe. Sir Christopher Cradock’s squadron was sunk at the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile, claiming four midshipmen who became Canada’s first war dead.

We sailed past Coronel last year and paid our respects by dropping a wreath in their honour.  A moving moment for our ship’s company.

Hope that helps.  Best Regards,

Jeff McCartney
Petty Officer 1st Class | Maître de premier classe
Senior Naval Communicator | communicateur naval Superieure
Information Systems Security Officer | Officier de securite des systemes informatiques
Chief of Maritime Staff | Chef d’état-major des forces maritimes
HMCS CALGARY | NCSM CALGARY
Canadian Fleet Pacific | Flotte Canadienne du pacifique
Department of National Defense | Département de la Défense Nationale

***

Now that is an interesting piece of historic knowledge.  The first Canadian casualties of the war were likely reservists serving Cradock.

The story of this early navel battle is a decent read if you like your War History.

These men were not who I was thinking of.  It took some digging, but the man I was looking for was a soldier named Bellinger.

German barrage on Allied trenches at Ypres. Probably Second Battle of Ypres, 1915

The Canadian Army at the beginning of World War was tiny.  At the start, a new regiment was formed called the Princess Patricia’s and they became part of the 1st Canadian Division.  They first dug into the trenches at a place called Dickiebush (France) on January 6th, 1915.  By the 8th, the first two Canadians of the war were dead, Norman Fry and Henry Bellinger.

The name Bellinger has always stuck with me.

Go with yourself.

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