The Postcard
A postcard that was published by G. Réant of 15, Rue de l'Aqueduc, Paris. The photography was by Mage, and the image is a glossy real photograph.
The card was posted in Wimereux on Wednesday the 30th. August 1961 to:
Mrs. Woolwich,
28, Seymour Place,
London W1,
Angleterre.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"We are having quite a
good time here. This is
a good view of today on
the front.
It is a little dull but fine
and warm.
J. K."
Wimereux
Wimereux is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
It is a coastal town situated some 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Boulogne on the banks of the river Wimereux. Farming and tourism are its principal activities.
In 1899, the first radio link between France and England was established at Wimereux in March by Guglielmo Marconi.
In the First World War, Boulogne and Wimereux formed an important hospital centre, and until June 1918, the medical units used Wimereux communal cemetery for burials.
Lady Hadfield set up and ran a Red Cross hospital here at her own expense for the treatment of wounded and sick servicemen.
Wimereux was the headquarters of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps, and In 1916, Solomon J Solomon set up a Royal Engineers establishment, the Special Works Park, in a disused feldspar factory.
Here were developed new military camouflage techniques and equipment for the British Army. In 1919 it became the General Headquarters of the British Army.
During the Second World War, German Naval Headquarters were situated on the northern side of the town. After D-Day, as Allied forces moved northwards, the town was shelled from Cap Gris Nez, and was re-taken by the Canadian 1st Army on 22 September 1944.
The seaside development was started during the Second Empire, resulting in a remarkable architectural ensemble of houses and buildings typical of the Belle Époque, which are still very well maintained to this day.
Originally the secondary residence of wealthy families of Lille and Paris, Wimereux has become a residential suburb of Boulogne and also attracts Britons and Belgians who come to buy holiday homes or settle permanently.
Wimereux Communal Cemetery
In Wimereux Cemetery, among the graves of the 3,000 soldiers and nurses who died in the British Army field hospitals, lies the final resting place of Lt.-Col John McCrae.
A Canadian doctor, McCrae was the author of the famous poem 'In Flanders Fields', which he dedicated to those who fell in the Great War.
The subsequent popularity of his poem contributed greatly to the poppy being chosen as a symbol of remembrance:
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row“.
The cemetery is located in the Rue Jean Moulin, Wimereux.
An Underground Missile Launch
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 30th. August 1961, the first launch of a missile from an underground missile silo ended in failure.
A Minuteman left the silo at Cape Canaveral, then veered out of control and crashed back down into the launch area. An investigation was conducted as a result of the premature activation of the Mercury-Redstone 4 explosive egress hatch.
Tests were initiated in an environment more severe than had been conducted in pre-launch activities and tests, but no premature firings occurred.
As a backup, McDonnell was asked to design a mechanical-type hatch. The model weighed some 60 pounds (27 kg) more than the explosive type, so other methods had to be sought to prevent any recurrence of the incident.
A procedure was initiated which stipulated that the firing plunger safety pin would be left in place until the helicopter hook was attached to the spacecraft and tension was applied to the recovery cable.
School Segregation in Atlanta
Also on that day, school segregation in Atlanta ended after more than a century, and without serious incident, as nine African-American students enrolled in four previously all-White schools under the supervision of city police.
There were 48,000 students in five Negro other schools, and 69,000 in the 17 White schools. Atlanta's 73 White and 41 Negro elementary and middle schools remained unintegrated.
