Donkeys and minefields

[Andy Smith]

 

A photograph of a soldier carrying a donkey has been circulating during this COVID-19 thing. It includes the caption – “What’s happening is that the field is mined and that if the donkey was free to wander as it pleased, it would likely detonate a charge and kill everyone.” The message for readers is that we have to keep the jackasses who don’t understand the danger of COVID-19 under control.

 

Well, one mine would “kill everyone”? But anyway, that’s not what the picture shows. First published in the Daily Mail in UK in 1958, it was taken during the fight for independence against French forces in colonial Algeria and it shows a starving donkey that was rescued by the French Foreign Legion (it was lighter than usual, and presumably too weak to object to being carried, but that soldier was still impressively strong). The group carried it back to base where the animal recovered, was named “Bambi” and then adopted as a unit mascot, as described by the author Douglas Porch in his 1991 history of the Foreign Legion.

 

Hey, why spoil a good story with the truth? Speaking of which, can anyone explain what is really going on with COVID-19? Thought not.

 

Stay safe - and virus free,

Andy

 

 

www.nolandmines.com

www.ddasonline.com

Virus-free. www.avg.com