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James Mason | all galleries >> Galleries >> The Brits in Vitez > Break out the champaign
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93 James Mason

Break out the champaign

Vitez, Central Bosnia

I don't recall the occasion, but the British were celebrating. I was invited for champaign. Another time I was headed for breakfast when the soldier on duty at the gate blocked my entrance. "No Americans on the base!" I was surprised. It turned out that they were commemorating the Battle of Bunker Hill that day, the fight in Boston in which more of the unit's officers had been killed than on any other day in its history.


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Roy Hunter 17-Nov-2010 14:36
The houses in the background behind the lorry were held by the HVO. This parking area was for volleyball when not being used by aid convoys staying overnight. About this time a HVO mortar dropped short here on its way to BiH positions out of shot to the left. No one was injured.
Roy Hunter 16-Nov-2010 20:28
The 15th certainly fought at the Battle of Brandyhill in 1777. They ran short of ball, so only the best shots fired it, the rest firing small powder charges as a bluff. This apparently worked. The 15th thereafter were nicknamed the Snappers.
I can find no record of them (or the 14th) at Bunker Hill, but it is true that this very expensive British victory resulted in 10% of the casualties being officers, roughly 3 times more than you would expect as a proportion.
Maybe we were just having a super-duper breakfast and didn't want to share it with you? I'm the poseur on the right.
Roy Hunter 16-Nov-2010 19:00
The 15th certainly fought at the Battle of Brandyhill in 1777. They ran short of ball, so only the best shots fired it, the rest firing small powder charges as a bluff. This apparently worked. The 15th thereafter were nicknamed the Snappers.
I can find no record of them (or the 14th) at Bunker Hill, but it is true that this very expensive British victory resulted in 10% of the casualties being officers, roughly 3 times more than you would expect as a proportion.
Maybe we were just having a super-duper breakfast and didn't want to share it with you? I'm the poseur on the right.
Guest 16-Nov-2010 14:34
Imphal Day 22 June 1944, Far East War.