THE memory of a pair of Bolton brothers who died for their country at The Battle of the Somme is being preserved as part of a restoration project. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is undertaking large-scale restoration to the Thiepval Memorial - the monument in Northern France that bears the names of more than 72,000 missing men of the First World War. It commemorates British and South African forces killed in the area and is one of the most visited CWGC sites in the world. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1, 1916) almost 20,000 men under British command died. By the time the battle was over, 141 days later, more than a million people on all sides were killed, wounded, or went missing.
A railway worker alleging BNSF Railway Co. retaliated against him for reporting an eye injury on the job has been handed a win in a second retrial, with a jury finding there was no proof the company would have taken the same actions if he had never reported the injury.
Former Palm Beach Post editorial writer and columnist Tom Blackburn wore casual leather shoes, short-sleeved dress shirts, snacked on Kit Kat bars and was fond of Slivovitz plum brandy. He enjoyed bluegrass music and strummed the banjo.
“He was missing part of an index finger. He said he had shortened it on a lawn mower,” said his former colleague, Jac Wilder VerSteeg.
“He was an old-school guy with a new-school mind,” said Randy Schultz, who was editorial page editor at The Post for more than two decades.
And what a mind. Stephen Blackburn said his dad could discuss subjects as wide-ranging as aeronautic engineering and Civil War strategy. “He read about everything.” Because of that, he knew a lot about everything.