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Michael James O'Rourke
Michael James "Mickey" O'Rourke (March 19, 1878 – December 6, 1957), was an Irish-Canadian soldier and dockworker. O'Rourke was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest, most prestigious decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Early life There is little documentation of O'Rourke's life prior to World War I. Born in Limerick, Ireland, he served in the Royal Munster Fusiliers before emigrating to Canada where he joined the Canadian militia in Revelstoke, British Columbia. He also worked as a miner. World War I O'Rourke joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in February 1915. He had already been awarded the Military Medal for bravery at the Battle of the Somme when, as a member of the 7th (1st British Columbia) Battalion, the following action took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. During the period 15/17 August 1917 at the Battle of Hill 70 near Lens, France, Private O'Rourke ...
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Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Burnaby)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a cemetery in Burnaby, British Columbia in Canada. The burial park was founded in 1936 and the funeral home was established in 1965. The cemetery contains the war graves of 37 Commonwealth service personnel of World War II.
CWGC Cemetery Report.


Notable interments

* , Premier of Alberta from 1935 to 1943 * Charles Edwards, journalist and news agency executive * Doug Grimston, president of the Canadi ...
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Canadian World War I Recipients Of The Victoria Cross
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''Canadian''. Canada is a multilingual and multicultural society home to people of groups of many different ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants. Following the initial period of French and then the much larger British colonization, different waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-indigenous peoples took place over the course of nearly two centuries and continue today. Elements of Indigenous, French, British, and more recent immigrant customs, languages, and religions have combined to form the culture of Canada, and thus a Canadian identity and Canadian values. Canada has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic, ...
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1957 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricket), dismissed for having handled the ball, in Test cricket. * January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns. * January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. * January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar. * January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars. * January 15 – The film ''Throne of Blood'', Akira Kurosawa's reworking of ''Macbeth'', is released in Japan. * January 20 ** Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956). * January 26 – The Ibirapuera Planetarium (the first in the Southern Hemisphere) is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. F ...
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1878 Births
Events January * January 5 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. * January 17 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Philippopolis – Russian troops defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 23 – Benjamin Disraeli orders the British fleet to the Dardanelles. * January 24 – Russian revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, Governor of Saint Petersburg. * January 28 – In the United States: ** The world's First Telephone Exchange begins commercial operation in New Haven, Connecticut. ** '' The Yale News'' becomes the first daily college newspaper in the U.S. * January 31 – Turkey agrees to an armistice at Adrianople. February * February 2 – Greece declares war on the Ottoman Empire. * February 7 – Pope Pius IX dies, after a 31½ year pontificate (the longest definitely confirmed). * February 8 & ...
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Irish Winners Of The Victoria Cross
List of Irish Victoria Cross recipients lists all recipients of the Victoria Cross (post-nominal letters "VC") born on the island of Ireland, together with the date and place of their VC action. The Victoria Cross is the highest war honour of the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The whole island of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom until 1922 when it was partitioned into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. On 18 April 1949, the Dominion of Ireland became the Republic of Ireland and left the Commonwealth as a result of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 coming into effect. Despite this, citizens of the Republic of Ireland still enlist in the British Army and thus are eligible for the Victoria Cross and other British honours. Background Established in 1856, the Victoria Cross has been awarded to service personnel for extraordinary valour and devotion to duty while facing a hostile force. Between 1858 and 1881 the Victoria Cross could also be awarded fo ...
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Monuments To Courage
David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a British historian and author. He is notable for his seminal work, ''Monuments To Courage'', which documents the graves of almost all recipients of the Victoria Cross, a task that took him over 36 years to complete. Biography Harvey was born in East Ham, then in Essex but now part of the London Borough of Newham, the son of a grocer, and worked as a salesman after he attended Hinchley Wood School in Surrey. He later joined the Metropolitan Police, where he started the mounted police magazine ''One One Ten'', before he moved to Denver, Colorado, to run an equestrian centre for over a decade. A chance meeting with Canon William Lummis led him to take over his life-work of researching and documenting the final resting places of all Victoria Cross recipients. This task took Harvey to 48 countries over the next four decades. However, an accident during a visit to the Somme in 1992 left Harvey in a wheelchair for th ...
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Ireland's VCs
List of Irish Victoria Cross recipients lists all recipients of the Victoria Cross (post-nominal letters "VC") born on the island of Ireland, together with the date and place of their VC action. The Victoria Cross is the highest war honour of the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The whole island of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom until 1922 when it was partitioned into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. On 18 April 1949, the Dominion of Ireland became the Republic of Ireland and left the Commonwealth as a result of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 coming into effect. Despite this, citizens of the Republic of Ireland still enlist in the British Army and thus are eligible for the Victoria Cross and other British honours. Background Established in 1856, the Victoria Cross has been awarded to service personnel for extraordinary valour and devotion to duty while facing a hostile force. Between 1858 and 1881 the Victoria Cross could also be awarded fo ...
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The Irish Sword
''The Irish Sword'' is the official journal of the Military History Society of Ireland containing articles on the military history of Ireland, book reviews, notes, notices, queries, illustrations and proceedings. It includes information on subjects such as " West Cork and the Elizabethan wars" and the experiences of Irish soldiers in Swedish service. The journal has been published since 1949, normally with two issues a year. The editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ... is Kenneth Ferguson. Gerard Anthony Hayes-McCoy was founder editor, editing the journal for the first ten years to 1959. Kevin Danaher edited from 1960 to 1971. References External links * The Military History Society of Ireland Academic journals established in 1949 Military hist ...
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The Register Of The Victoria Cross
''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' is a reference work that provides brief information on every Victoria Cross awarded until the publication date. Each entry provides a summary of the deed, along with a photograph of the recipient and the following details where applicable or available– rank, unit, other decorations, date of gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ..., place/date of birth, place/date of death, memorials, town/county connections, and any remarks. The book was first published by the quarterly magazine, '' This England'' in 1981, a revised and enlarged edition in 1988 and a third edition in 1997. There is no editor noted on the cover page or the title page, but Nora Buzzell is acknowledged in all three editions, especially in the 1988 and 1997 ...
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Battle Of Ballantyne Pier
The Battle of Ballantyne Pier occurred in Ballantyne Pier during a docker's strike in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June 1935. The strike can be traced back to 1912 when the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), began organizing the waterfront workers in Canada, alongside the Lumber Handlers' Union in Vancouver. Going head to head with the employers association, the Shipping Federation, several strikes resulting in wage increases were won by workers in the coming years. Victories on the waterfront increased over the next decade, and by 1923, the Shipping Federation became determined to break the power of the ILA. A strike broke out in October 1923 which saw 1400 men joining picket lines at the Vancouver waterfront. However, provisions had been made by the Shipping Federation. The dockers were immediately met by 350 men armed with shotguns who had been housed on a nearby ship. This intimidation of the strikers, coupled with the fact that ships were still being loade ...
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