One of the more interesting parts of genealogical research is reading about the experiences of our ancestors during major events that took place during their lifetime. Historical events such as the Western Migration and the Civil War (here in the United States), World War I or II and the London Blitz (for those in Great Britain), to name a few, are made much more real and personal when we read our ancestors' accounts of their lives during those events.

This section provides two kinds of historical accounts. One is the more detailed personal account of already known historical events. For example: we may already know that someone fought in the Civil War; this section provides more detail on what that actually meant: where did they go? In which battles did they participate, where were those battles, who were their leaders? If you enjoy researching military history, here's your chance to grab a Chute at random - doesn't even have to be YOUR Chute relative - and research the details of his military service. It goes without saying that contributions to this section by Chute veterans themselves would be invaluable.

We'd like to begin collecting such an account for our descendants. Obviously, the attack on September 11th is an historical account geared more for Chutes in the United States - although certainly everyone can contribute to that section - but other, equally powerful historical events have touched people in other countries as well: the underground bombings in London, the tsunami in Asia, military coups in South America, or any other event that touched you deeply, that people might wish to contribute: the deaths of leaders such as Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy, even John Lennon, space exploration moments - do you remember where you were when man first walked on the moon? - the Falklands War, the huge summer of tornados in Canada, other weather disasters ... whatever event you would like to recall would be welcome.

The recollections will be collected here and in your family records, in the Chute Family Records.

Captain Rowland John Chute (or John Rowland Chute) was identified in The County Families of the United Kingdom as "formerly Captain 58th Foot". The 58th Regiment of Foot (Rutlandshire Regiment of Foot), part of the Royal Anglian Regiment, has a long history of service and was utilized in many of Britain's colonies as well: the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland, and India. This entry did not specify the period of time Rowland Chute served as a Captain in the 58th Foot, so until records identifying his specific time and nature of service are found, it is impossible to provide a military history of his involvement.

There are some resources available:

At least one Chute may have been within hearing distance the first time “Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” was spoken: Captain Daniel Chute of Newbury was reimbursed on April 15, 1777 “for losses at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.” The story behind that famous saying stemmed from the Americans being short of ammunition when they faced a much larger British army at Bunker Hill. (actually Breed’s Hill), north of Boston. In order not to waste an ounce of precious gunpowder, the men were ordered to hold their fire as the British advanced towards them, and only fire their muskets when the British were 40 or 50 feet away. The plan worked. “With magnificent discipline and courage, they waited . . . fired . . . and thus began the War for Independence.” At least 1,000 British troops were killed at the famous opening battle (although not the skirmish) of the Revolutionary War, “The Battle of Bunker Hill”.

Most historians consider that earlier “skirmish” to be the confrontation of American “rebels” and British troops on April 19, 1775, the night of Paul Revere’s famous ride.

The Chute Genealogies records Daniel Merrill Chute as having participated in the "American War" - the War of 1812. Maine at that time was a district of the State of Massachusetts.

"Daniel ... was one in Captain Kilburn's company of militia in the American War."

Deacon Andrew Chute, living in Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada, wrote a letter to his son Alfred dated April 11, 1859, which included his thoughts about the growing unrest in Europe. He also mentioned the Donati Comet, visible in the fall of 1858.

You may wonder why Italian unification would have impacted anyone outside of Italy. Very generally speaking, the area now known as Italy was at that time made up of three large "kingdoms": Sardinia/Piedmont in the north, the two Sicilies in the south and the huge area controlled by the Catholic Church in the middle of the Italian peninsula and separating the other two: the Papal States. Sardinia/Piedmont and the Two Sicilies were controlled by Austria and France respectively; the Papal States were (obviously) under the control of the Pope in Rome. The fourth significant player in the events of this period were the Italian people themselves. From their ranks men like Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giovanni Mazzini rose to become leaders of a growing nationalist movement. Weary of being pawns on an international chessboard, Italians wanted to rule themselves and wanted the French and the Prussians gone. As for the Pope? It was not so much that they wanted him to disappear, but the Papal lands effectively cut Italy in half and prevented unification. They needed Papal lands to ensure the full unification of the peninsula, and they did want to take part in governing themselves: under Catholic doctrine and law at that time, this was not possible. Part of the Nationalist agenda included the retaking of Rome as essentially the heart of the new Kingdom of Italy, and restrictions placed on the power of the Pope over their secular world - in other words, they wanted to join the rest of Europe and the Americas by separating church and state.

Pope Pius IX did not help his own cause by, in response, calling for international military forces to raise arms against the people of Italy, and issuing an encyclical (Quanta cura) with an accompanying "Syllabus of Errors" that basically forbade all Catholics from believing in "freedom of speech, freedom of the press or freedom of religion" ¹. (As you can well imagine, Catholic jaws all over the world dropped in shock). He followed this up with a Jubilee (the highlight of which was a mass book burning), and finally, an Ecumenical Council the object of which was to declare the Pope - that is, himself - infallible. Whatever support he may have had from outside of Italy began to dwindle rapidly; within Italy itself he was mercilessly ridiculed. The Pope's own Secretary of State privately thought this political move was disastrous. The rest of the world - Andrew's letter to his son is an example of this - watched events unfold in Italy with close scrutiny. Andrew, being a Deacon in the Baptist Church, would have been particularly interested. Canada, in fact, had sent several Bishops to the Ecumenical Council.

Despite the Pope's great unpopularity, it would be about 10 years before the Nationalist forces finally entered Roman walls in 1870 and declared Italy a unified nation under King Victor Emmanuel II. The Romans greeted the Nationalist forces as liberators. One of the first things the citizens of Rome - inarguably one of the greatest and most venerated cities in world history - gathered en masse to do was something they had never been able to do before that moment: exercise their right to vote.

During that same year, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave the right to vote to black Americans - and the State of Georgia was readmitted into the Union after the Civil War - the War in which Andrew's son William Edward participated - before he took on the task of writing the Chute Genealogies.

Edward Payson Chute, according to WEC: "Was in Company I, 10th Maine in the war, suffered from sunstroke, fever, a prisoner in rebeldom, but died at home June 29, 1863."

Notes on the 10th Maine: Tenth Regiment Infantry:

"This regiment was organized at Cape Elizabeth, Me, Oct. 4th, 1861, to serve two and three years. Companies D, C, E, F, G, H, I and K were mustered into the United States service Oct. 4th, 1861, to serve two years from May 3d, 1861, and companies A and D to serve three years from Oct. 4th, 1861.

He was taken prisoner either on May 25, 1862, when his unit joined in the retreat of General Banks' forces to Williamsport, Maryland (82 men taken prisoner) or on August 9, 1862, in the battle of Cedar Mountain, Va., in which 1 officer and 3 enlisted men were taken prisoner.

Most of the members of this regiment came from York county and were rendezvoused at Portland, where the regiment was mustered into service Sept. 30, 1862, to serve for nine months. They left on Oct. 20 for Washington, arriving there on the 22nd. On the 26th it marched to Arlington Heights, where it remained doing picket duty until Dec. 12th, when it was ordered to the south of Hunting Creek. Here it relieved a Vermont brigade in the duty of guarding a picket line 8 miles long, extending from the Potomac near Mount Vernon to the Orange & Alexandria railroad, and remained here in the performance of that duty throughout a severe winter until March 24, 1863. It then moved to Chantilly, Va., doing picket duty on the outermost line of infantry in the defenses of Washington. On June 25 it returned to Arlington Heights. The term of service of the regiment had already expired, but 315 of the officers and men volunteered to remain and if necessary assist in the defense of the capital against the forces of Gen. Lee, who had then commenced his great invasion of Pennsylvania. On July 4, after the result of the battle of Gettysburg was announced, the regiment left for Maine and arrived at Portland on the 6th, where the men were mustered out on the 17th. The 27th left the state with 949 men, and lost 82 men by death, discharge and resignation.

William Addison Chute, according to WEC, "Was in Company G, 29th Maine and a prisoner; died at Annapolis, Maryland, Jun 1864."

Military records contradict the date of death.

Notes on the 29th Maine Infantry:

Gilbert Randall Chute, enlisted as a private in the 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment, Massachusetts on 22 DEC 1863, at the age of 43. He was assigned to Company M, Unit 881.

"The recruiting of the 2d Regt. Mass. Vol. Hy. Arty. was authorized by Governor Andrew as early as May, 1863, and Major Jones Frankle of the 17th Regt. Mass. Vol. Inf. was designated as its colonel.

It was originally intended as a veteran regiment to be recruited from the members of nine months organizations whose terms of service were about to expire, but in the end its recruits were gathered from a much wider field. At its rendezvous, Camp Meigs, Readville, recruiting proceeded slowly through the summer and fall of 1863. In July and August, Companies "A", "B", "C", and "D" were enlisted and mustered into the service, and on Sept. 5, these four companies sailed from Boston on the steamer GUIDE bound for Newbern, N. C. Companies "E" and "F" were mustered largely in October and were sent, Nov. 7, to the same destination.

The remaining six companies, "G", "H", "I", "K", "L", and "M", were mustered in December, and were sent to Fort Monroe to report to General Butler. The six companies sent to Newbern were assigned to do guard and garrison duty at various places in eastern North Carolina, while the last six were held during the fall and winter in the vicinity of Norfolk.

The monthly reports for March, 1864, show that Companies "A" and "D" were stationed at Fort Macon, N. C., Company "B" at Newport Barracks, Company "C" at Morehead City, Companies "G" and "H" at Plymouth, N.C., and Companies "I", "K", "L", and "M" at Norfolk, Va.

After a brave resistance Companies "G" and "H" at Plymouth, N. C., were made prisoners almost to a man on April 20 by a Confederate force under General Hoke, about 275 being carried into captivity, a very large majority of whom died in Confederate prisons.

In May, 1864, of the eight companies in North Carolina, all were at Newbern excepting Company "B", which was still at Newport Barracks, while the companies in Virginia were stationed near Portsmouth. The headquarters of the regiment were now at Newbern. In July all the companies with the exception of "B" and "K" were at Newbern. During the months of August and September a large number of recruits arrived, raising the total number of men in the regiment to nearly 2000. By various orders of the War Department, issued during the winter of 1864-65, all the men in excess of the legal maximum standard, about 435 in number, were transferred to the 17th Regt. Mass. Vol. Inf.

In the fall of 1864 an epidemic of yellow fever visited Newbern, and the 2d Hy. Arty. lost a large number of men who contracted the disease while doing guard duty in the stricken city.

At the beginning of the year 1865 six companies, "B", "C", "F", "G", "I", and "M", were in the vicinity of Newbern, N. C., four, "A", "D", "E", and "H", were at Plymouth, N. C., while Companies "K" and "L" were in Virginia. These two companies joined the main body at Newbern in April.

Meanwhile on the 8th of March, 1865, Companies "B", "C", "F", "I", and "M" had participated in the battle of South West Creek, near Kinston, losing five men killed, 20 wounded, and two missing. June, 1865, found the entire regiment at Camp Chattanooga, near Newbern. In July it was transferred to Wilmington, N. C., and during the month of August it garrisoned Fort Fisher and other defenses of the Cape Fear River. On Sept. 2 the regiment was ordered home, and on the following day, Sept. 3, it was mustered out of the service and embarked for Boston. Arriving at Galloup's Island, Boston Harbor, Sept. 15, on the 23d the regiment was disbanded and the members departed for their homes.

Source: Historical Data Systems, comp. Military Records of Individual Civil War Soldiers. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 1999-. Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 - Historical Data Systems Inc.P.O. Box 196 Kingston, MA 02364

Andrew M. Chute, identifying himself as a shoemaker, enlisted in the 23rd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on 18 FEB 1864. Regimental records show that the 23rd Massachusetts had been organized in September of 1861, and were already in the field in Portsmouth, Virginia and at Getty's Station, on the Norfolk & Suffolk Railroad, at the time that Andrew enlisted. He would have traveled to join them there and joined them in these duties, through April 26, 1864.

Following the conclusion of their duties in Portsmouth, the activities of the 23rd Massachusetts in which Andrew M. Chute participated were:

"Drewry's Bluff is located in northeastern Chesterfield County, Virginia in the United States. It was the site of Confederate Fort Darling during the American Civil War. It was named for a local landowner, Confederate Captain Augustus H. Drewry. At Richmond, Virginia, location of the fall line at the head of navigation, the generally east-west course of the James River turns almost due south for a distance of about 7 miles (10 km) before turning eastward again towards the Chesapeake Bay. At this sharp bend, Drewry's Bluff on the west side of the James River rose 90 feet (30 m) above the water, commanding a view of several miles distance downstream and making it a logical site for defensive fortifications."

"On May 5, 1864, Union Major General Benjamin F. Butler and his Army of the James landed at Bermuda Hundred, a neck of land north of City Point at the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers, only 15 miles (25 km) south of Richmond. Marching overland, they advanced within three miles (5 km) of Drewry's Bluff by May 9. While several Union regiments did manage to capture Fort Darling's outer defenses, delays by Union generals spoiled the success. Confederate infantry under General P.G.T. Beauregard seized the initiative and successfully counterattacked on May 16. Once again a Union drive on Richmond had been defeated at Drewry's Bluff."

"Gen. [Charles] Heckman's command was now known as the Star Brigade - 1st Brigade, 2d Division, 18th Corps - and was ordered up the James to Bermuda Hundred. It was in action at Port Walthall Junction, May 6 and 7, and at Arrowfield Church, May 9. At Drewry's Bluff (also spelled Drurys Bluff), May 16, the Star Brigade was outflanked in the fog which enveloped the field, Gen. Heckman was taken prisoner, and the 23d lost 23 killed and mortally wounded, 20 wounded, and 51 prisoners."

[Note: General P.G.T. Beauregard (photo, left) is Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard, born near New Orleans, Louisiana on May 28, 1818. In 1864 he was commanding defenses at Petersburg, Virginia and providing support to General Robert E. Lee near Richmond. Times change. In 2004, he was apparently prognosticating the early arrival of spring in the south ... in the form of the groundhog named after him, "General Beauregard Lee". Because he was also well known for his popularity with the ladies of he south, he was the inspiration for the name of the character Beau/Bo Duke in the "Dukes of Hazzard" television program.]

"The Drewry's Bluff unit of the National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park includes 42 acres (170,000 m²) of this historic land off Interstate 95 south of Richmond. Visitors can stand in the former defense works overlooking what is still a commanding view of the James River.Two Virginia Historical Highway Markers, # VA-012 and # VA-013 are located on Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway (US Highway 1 and US Highway 301) nearby commemorate Drewry's Bluff."

Cornelius Harris Chute, enlisted as a private in the Company D, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Minnesota on 2 NOV 1863, at the age of 30. He mustered out as a corporal from Company D, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Minnesota on 2 DEC 1865.

Second Cavalry. --Col., Robert N. McLaren; Lieut.-Col., William Pfaender; Majs., Ebenezer A. Rice, John M. Thompson, Robert H. Rose. This regiment was organized during the fall and winter of 1863 and was mustered in during Jan., 1864. It was engaged in garrison duty, with occasional expeditions in pursuit of wandering bands of Indians until late in May, when it left Fort Snelling for the campaign against the savages.**

[Note**: By "savages", the United States Army record keepers meant, in actuality, the Sioux, who no doubt were posting similar claims against the United States Army of the time. Nonetheless, this record is interesting for several reasons: in the battle of Tahkahokuty Mountain (Killdeer Mountain) in August of 1864, Cornelius would have encountered (in reputation, if not in actual fact) Inkpaduta, the famous chief of the Wahpekute Dakota Indian tribe, who may have participated in this battle - or if not, was one of the reasons for it. This band of the Sioux was located in the prairies of South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, and certainly had their own legitimate reasons for feeling backed against the wall by the U.S. Government.

As a settler in Minnesota Cornelius would have certainly heard of Inkpaduta already. "Inkpaduta's extreme hatred for whites seemed to be derived from the senseless murdering of his family in 1854 by Henry Lott ... after 1857, Inkpaduta became a legend among settlers, a storybook monster who was often rumored to be somewhere nearby, lurking. Relations between Dakotas and whites staggered on, finally exploding in 1862 with a massive uprising in Minnesota, which claimed the lives of nearly five hundred white settlers and an unknown number of Dakotas. Inkpaduta was there, but his role--if any--is unclear.

As the uprising collapsed, he fled westward onto the plains, eventually falling in with the Lakotas and becoming friends with Sitting Bull. Lakota holy man Black Elk lists Inkpaduta as one of the great men present at the Little Bighorn in 1876, when Custer was "rubbed out." As Lakota resistance disintegrated the following year, Sitting Bull and his people fled to Canada. Inkpaduta, old and increasingly nearsighted, went with them. Unlike Sitting Bull, he never returned to the U.S., never surrendered, was never captured. He died in Manitoba in 1881."]

Details on the Mauvaise Terre and Blue Earth River battles are still being researched.

Another reason this record is interesting is that it reflects the use of the military on two distinct fronts during the Civil War: while most Union army units were engaged with battles against the south, they were also needed in the west. Cornelius's unit is an example of a cavalry unit that fought on both fronts.

Historical Data Systems, comp. Military Records of Individual Civil War Soldiers. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 1999-. Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 - Historical Data Systems Inc.P.O. Box 196 Kingston, MA 02364

This is one of those rare historical events without a link to a specific Chute, which is not to say that Chutes were not impacted, but rather that no one with the surname of Chute is recorded as having died in this explosion. There may have been impacted Allied families, as yet unidentified, who were lost or injured on that day.

On the morning of December 6, 1917 a French munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, on its way east providing munitions supplies for combatants in the First World War collided with a Belgian Relief ship, the Imo, in the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia and caught fire. About twenty minutes after the initial collision, the Mont Blanc exploded. What no one knew was that the Mont Blanc's cargo hold was packed with high explosives to be used in World War I and that she was about to be escorted across the Atlantic by a military convoy.

It was the largest man made explosion in history at that time, surpassed only by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima some thirty years later. The north end of Halifax adjacent to the explosion was simply wiped clean of everything: photographs after the blast reflect a bleak and barren landscape where buildings and roads and homes - and people - had once stood. Far beyond the barren wasteland were piles of wood and stone where once there had been buildings set further away from the shoreline. The ruins of collapsed schools, churches, factories and homes lay across the landscape as far as you could see.

The huge explosion was heard and felt as far away as 225 miles; and the ground shook, homes shook, windows rattled, plaster cracked and glass broke as close as 100 miles away. The sound carried as far away as Boston, and would have been recognizable as a sonic boom, had anyone ever heard a sonic boom before (they hadn't, unless you counted thunder). What people heard was the sound of a superheated, supersonic air blast that killed 2,000 people outright, injured about 8,000 more and left anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 people homeless in December. The intense heat vaporized the water in the bay for a diameter of 20 feet around the Mont Blanc and caused a local tsunami that was also responsible for numerous deaths of people who hadn't died in the explosion. Because it was winter, many of the homes and offices which collapsed on top of stoves caught fire and couldn’t be extinguished – the city’s lone fire truck, “The Patricia” had been at the shore trying to put on the fire on the Mont Blanc. Some who had survived the blast and the tsunami died in these numerous building fires. And if all of that weren’t bad enough, a dangerous blizzard, hampering rescue and relief efforts, rolled up the eastern seaboard and hit Halifax that same night. Those caught under rubble died from exposure.

At that time, Chutes for the most part resided in the Bear River, Truro and Digby areas. Along with everyone else, they would have heard and felt the initial explosion, and their homes and offices may have suffered some minor structural damage – but they wouldn’t have known what had caused the unexpected sonic boom and ground shaking until a short time later. Certainly they would have been as startled and uneasy at the boom and ground shaking as everyone else. Communication in Halifax itself was broken, but some wires had been sent before the explosion, warning that a munitions ship was on fire and was expected to explode. At least one train, originating in the United States and notified ahead of time, stopped well outside of Halifax, and managed to pass the news back home to Boston and New York, but was caught in the air blast. Its passengers did survive, but might not have been so lucky had they been any closer.

News traveled fast, especially in Nova Scotia. Halifax was their province’s major port. Everyone would have known people living and working in Halifax, but initially, all they did know was that something horrible had happened there, but had no idea of the extent of it. Rumors spread as quickly as the legitimate news: one of the first rumors was that the Germans had crossed the Atlantic and bombed the harbor; terrifying everyone when they heard it. One of the very first relief trains carrying medical supplies and personnel had originated out of the Truro area and arrived the same afternoon, so Chutes may have been involved in contributing supplies for that first train: blankets, food, and whatever else they thought might be needed – at that point, all that anyone knew was that people might need medical aid. Almost immediately, the train was re-packed with the seriously injured and sent off to hospitals along the train’s route that hadn’t been damaged. As that first train departed Halifax, more accurate news went with them. The horror that had taken place in Halifax was front page news around the world in a matter of days.

People all over Canada and the United States were involved in contributing supplies to Halifax in the aftermath. Boston’s aid was such that the people of Halifax gift the city of Boston with an annual Christmas Tree, even today. Chutes in Nova Scotia and Boston would have been called upon to contribute clothing, food and building supplies (i.e., all of the glass in the city had shattered and the people of Halifax had no protection against the winter cold) to people who were left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, and an ongoing stream of medical supplies, bandages and disinfectants. Chutes might have also been involved in the rebuilding efforts afterwards; some of the homes that were salvageable but needed structural repairs were the first to require builders and carpenters and anyone that could help.

Every Chute or Allied family member living in Nova Scotia on that day would have been impacted by the Halifax Disaster, in some fashion. If anyone recalls any family story of what took place on that day that has been passed down through the generations, please feel free to contribute your story to this section.

For a multi-media presentation on the disaster, visit http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/index.html.

Lieutenant Frederick Russell Chute, son of Edward Russell Chute and Mary Nina Chute died on August 14, 1917, at the age of 47. Although British, he was a member of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, the 17th Motor Machine Gun Coy (Army). He is buried in the Witley (Milford) Cemetery in Surrey (United Kingdom). His grave reference is listed as D. 28.

The date of his death suggests that he was one of the many casualties of the Third Battle of Ypres. Allied commanders had decided that they could not win the war without disabling the German submarine bases. According to General Sir John Davison,

"The objects before the British in delivering the offensive in Flanders were briefly, from a strategical point of view, to pin the German Army to the British front in the North and draw in their Reserves; and from a tactical point of view:

  (a) To free Ypres by gaining the Passchendaele ridge which lies in a semi-circle round the eastern side and dominates the town and surrounding country.
  (b) To gain the Passchendaele ridge, thereby commanding with long-range gunfire the enemy's communications through Roulers and his submarine bases at Ostend and Zeebrugge.
  (c) To exploit to the full any tactical success gained (for this special preparations were made).

This offensive was hampered by the late arrival of necessary equipment, the reluctance of the French in joining the Allied offensive and extraordinarily bad weather: the heaviest rainfall that the area had seen in years. The photos of World War I soldiers up to their hips in mud would have been taken during this period.

"The Third Battle of Ypres - commonly referred to simply as a 'Passchendaele' - is commonly cited today as an example (along with the July 1916 Battle of the Somme) of British Commander-in-Chief Sir Douglas Haig's enormously costly attritional war strategy. In heavy rain and glutinous mud predominantly British troops eventually succeeded in capturing the small village of Passchendaele in the autumn of 1917, often regarded as a minor gain albeit achieved at heavy cost in casualties.

The word "Passchendaele" was and has been used as a reproach to British generalship, and as a symbol of waste and useless suffering. To the men who actually fought, such an attitude might be intelligible, for their horizon was limited by the expanse of mud and waste on every hand, by the incessant fire to which they were subjected, by the comparatively insignificant gains of ground at great sacrifice, and by the abnormal fatigue and hardship.

Similarly to the wounded and to those who had lost their husbands, sons and brothers it appeared that heavy suffering had been inflicted and limbs and lives lost with little or no result so far as winning the war was concerned. To the gunner during the latter period of the offensive, day in and day out handling his mud-spattered ammunition with unspeakable fatigue, constantly endeavouring to save his guns from disappearing into the morass, serving his pieces clustered round the only solid means of approach, the duckboard pathway, under a concentrated and almost continuous hail of enemy projectiles; to the infantryman heavily equipped staggering through an interminable sea of mud towards what appeared to him as certain death, the physical and mental strain was well-nigh unbearable. A blank wall on every side and no apparent end to the misery." General Sir John Davison

Sergeant Herbert Alvin Murray Chute, son of Henry Chute and Martha Hagan Chute, and husband of Althea S. Bethel Chute of Lockeport, Nova Scotia, Canada, Service Number: 282507, died on September 27, 1918 at the age of 38. He is buried in the Quarry Wood Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Grave Reference: III. B. 36. He was a Sergeant in the Canadian Infantry (Nova Scotia Regiment), in the 85th Bn. Division.

The date of his death points to participation in the taking of Bourlon Wood by the Allies:

"On September 3, 1918, the day after the Canadian Corps breached the Drocourt-Quéant Line, a directive was issued for a general Allied offensive on the entire front from the Meuse to the English Channel, with four great hammer-strokes to be delivered at crucial points. The timetable for these blows called for striking the enemy on four successive days. The second of these assaults was to take place on September 27, and was a joint attack by the First and Third British Armies in the general direction of Cambrai to capture the northern part of the Hindenburg Line. Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig ordered the First Army to seize Bourlon Wood and cover the Third Army's left flank as the latter advanced on Cambrai and subsequently on to Valenciennes. The capture of Bourlon Wood was assigned to the Canadian Corps, which would then push forward to establish a defensive flank northeast of Cambrai. Farther south the British Fourth Army, supported by the French First Army, would join the battle on September 29 in an assault on the main Hindenburg position.

The first obstacle General Sir Arthur Currie's forces had to overcome was the Canal du Nord. Because the Canal du Nord was impassable on the northern part of his front, General Currie had his boundary with the Third Army shifted 2,377 metres to the south, and proceeded with preparations for the Canadian Corps to make its initial attack through a dry area between Sains-lez-Marquion and Moeuvres. It was an intricate operation introducing the difficult problem of moving the whole Corps through a narrow opening before fanning out with four divisions engaged on a battlefront that would rapidly expand to over 10,000 metres.

In the dusk of the evening of 26 September the Canadians moved forward. By midnight they were assembled opposite the dry section of the canal, huddled together for warmth, and for the most part in the open. The night wore on and there was no evidence of enemy counter-preparation. Suddenly, as dawn was breaking, the opening barrage flashed out, shocking the enemy into action. Be-fore they could retaliate, the initial waves had crossed the canal and were fanning out from the bridgehead. Nevertheless, the follow-up troops suffered casualties as the enemy, alive to the danger, subjected the canal bed to a violent bombardment. The results justified Currie's generalship. He acquired the canal at relatively light cost, but more than that, Bourlon Wood the essential objective, was also taken.

The Canadians then went on to free Cambrai. After leaving the Amiens front the Corps had liberated 54 towns and villages standing on more than 300 square kilometres of French soil. In its hard fighting the Corps suffered more than 20,000 casualties. On the night of November 10-11 the Canadians entered Mons. The return had been long and arduous and the hard years of the war a bitter experience. Then, on November 11 at eleven o'clock the Armistice was in effect, and hostilities ceased."

There is a memorial dedicated to the Government of Canada in Bourlon Wood. "The Canadian Bourlon Wood Memorial commemorates the attack across the Canal Du Nord on 27 September 1918. It is erected on ground donated by the Comte de Franqueville, who was Mayor of Bourlon at that time."

The Bourlon Wood memorial website provides several photographs of the surrounding area, and inadvertently also provides one of the more amusing warnings you'll read in a website about war memorials:

"Please be aware that there is a school at the bottom of the hill and therefore the danger of young children."

Gee, who knew that young French schoolchildren could be so dangerous?

Many historians see the Spanish Civil War of the 1930's as one of the many build-ups to the Second World War, as some of the same combatants, such as Hitler and Mussolini, supported various factions within Spain, and Hitler, at least, used the Spanish Civil War as a proving ground for many of the military tactics and machinery he later used in World War II.

The forces which led to the war within Spain were, at its most basic level, a struggle for power of monarchists and conservatives/clergy on the right, against Liberals and Nationals on the left - although the addition of, for example, Basque Separatists to the mix, as well as a large number of non-Spanish troops and soldiers made the conflicts more multi-faceted than usual.* The shifting alignments of numerous political parties within an unstable Spanish government made the climate even more volatile.

Irish Catholics' involvement is almost strange, because they identified with elements of both sides: given their ongoing battles in Ireland against English Protestants, their call to defend Catholicism in Spain would have them supporting the right; as Irish nationals fighting to regain power and control in their homeland, many would have also identified with the Spanish nationals on the left. (Many Irish refused to fire on the Basque separatists for that very reason.) And in fact, the Irish did fight on both sides: the Irish "Blueshirts", formed by Eoin O'Duffy, and those who fought for the Popular Front (the left), organized by Peadar O'Donnell.

Fionnán de Tiúit wrote:

"I was in a pub in Blackrock in Dublin a few weeks ago and on the walls they had front pages of Irish newspapers from the 1930s. The front page story on The Irish Press from a day in the 1930s was about the death of a man called Chute during the Spanish Civil War. He was a Lieutenant. I don't know any more but I'm certain a bit of research will add some more colour to the family history."

Fionnán de Tiúit, via e-mail, 16 JUL 2003

Lieutenant Dan Chute

That Chute was "Lieutenant Dan" Chute, whose tale was told in an article by James McCarthy writing in the Evening Echo, Cork, Monday, 11 Sept. 1967. Dan Chute was killed on 17 FEB 1937:

"Our destination, Ciempozuelos, lay straight ahead, but there was no direct road because a range of hills intervened. Our route was via the Toledo road for some miles, then we were to turn left, on a main road heading to Ciempozuelos, a recently captured town, which we were appointed to garrison. The town which lay some 15 miles south-east of Madrid and on the west or right bank of the Jarama river, was close to the enemy lines and was constantly being shelled, with aircraft paying occasional visits.

In Single File

In moving along we were told to keep in on the grass margin of the road as there was a danger of spotter aircraft coming over and seeing us if we marched in formation. So we travelled in single file, on both sides of the road. Having travelled some distance in this fashion, we were ordered to leave the road and we then branched to the left along a farm highway. Having covered only a short distance, we spread out in battle formation, extending to the left with the old roadway on our right to direct us as we made a beeline across country towards our destination.

An officer party composed of Capt. O'Sullivan, Sergeant Major Timlin, a Spanish officer, Lieut. Bove, two Spanish sergeants and a runner, Legionnaire McMahon kept to the old railway and travelled a little ahead of the leading section. It was difficult ground and sometimes the adjoining columns were lost to view of each other because a hillock or a grove separated them. Sgt. Lee led No. 1 platoon of the first section, close to the road, while Sgt. Levey, with whom was Lieut. Hyde, had charge of No. 2 platoon, some 20 or more yards behind and to the left.

In this order we trudged along, leisurely, for miles without incident. Then, when we were ascending a ridge of going through an olive grove, a shouted warning was passed back which brought all sections to a halt, and everyone lay down and awaited orders.

Lieut. Hyde's Order

We were not, as yet, aware of the reason for the warning, and the order to halt, so Lieut. Hyde instructed Sgt. Levey to get him a runner. The first and second platoons of Lieut. Hyde's section were at this stage, because of the nature of the terrain, at least 100 yards apart and out of sight of each other. Sgt. Levey, as requested, asked Cpl Sheehy, whose squad was nearest to Sgt. Lee's platoon, to send up a man. I was sent, and hurrying up to Lieut. Hyde, he instructed me to go to Sgt. Lee and inquire what was amiss, or why the Brigade had been halted. I found Sgt Lee on the near side of his platoon, which was in a prone position on the crown of a ridge beyond the olive grove and about 300 yards from Lieut. Hyde. Sgt. Lee informed me that there was a body of troops in front which was coming in our direction and that an officer of ours had gone forward to ascertain who they were.

I returned with this information for Lieut. Hyde, who, in the meantime, had gone forward to the summit of the hill to obtain a view of the position ahead. As I came in view he shouted to me to call out my information, which I did. He then told me to remain where I was and to keep him in touch. I crouched beside a tree from where I could view and hail both Lieut. Hyde and Sgt Lee. Presently I heard a voice in the distance, shouting a call, followed immediately by another voice, as if in answer. I listened intently and wondered what this meant; then I heard a shot, followed immediately by a number of voices shouting. I was watching Sgt. Lee, who was on his knees, looking ahead, when a few shots rang out in quick succession.

Sgt. Lee lay flat as I heard he shots and a Spanish sergeant rose from the right and came running towards me shouting: "The enemy, the enemy". I called Lieut. Hyde repeating the Spaniards words.

Bullets Whistle Overhead

The firing had by now grown in intensity as the Spanish sergeant reached me, and ordered that I go forward to the crown of the ridge and open fire also. I ran forward to the point he had indicated, crouching low as bullets whistled back overhead. He hurrying on to the rest of the platoon. I commenced firing in the direction of where I heard the shots coming from for, as yet I had not a clear view of the attackers positions. No. 1 platoon was already replying to the fire as I came up and having fired a round I looked in Lieut. Hyde's direction to see a man on his back being hauled by the shoulders of the ridge.

This I learned later was Lieut. Hyde who had got a burst of fire in the neck and it was Sgt. Levey whom I saw attending to him. Sgt. Levey ordered his platoon to advance to the top of the height and to join in the fray. The whole section was now in action with machinegun and rifle fire. The attackers were in concealed positions on a lower level while we were lying on bare ground, but had the advantage of the elevated position. We kept our heads down and poured rapid fire into their positions, the flash and smoke from their weapons being guides to our targets. We soon noticed the volume of their fire diminishing and saw a few retreating figures. Eventually the shooting from the opposing force ceased and we got the order to ceasefire.

First Causality

I murmured a fervent prayer of thanksgiving to God for having escaped death or injury. It was my first time under fire and the same was true of most of my comrades. As I relaxed in the moments of peace and quiet which followed the cease-fire I heard my name called. I raised my head and looked to my left the direction from which the voice came to see our gunner, McLoughlin of Donegal, looking in my direction. It was he who had called and as I looked he said in a broken voice, "Chute is dead."

I was shocked by this news, as there had not been a more popular man in our section and I had regarded him as my dearest friend. He was assistant gunner with McLoughlin, his duty being to feed the machine-gun and to replace the gunner if he happened to be incapacitated. It was when reloading the gun that he received a fatal wound. He was a personality of whom Kerry, of which county he was native, could be proud. His fine qualities shone out among us and we loved him for his sincerity and for his good-natured friendly manner.

When I found my voice after hearing the sad news I enquired where his body lay, to be told he had been taken back by our ambulance men, 'Bazzy' Gibbons and Jerry Mac. I raised myself to a knelling position and looked back to a sheltered spot about 50 yards behind where the Red Cross men were attending to him, but he was beyond their aid. I regretted that discipline did not permit me to go back to embrace him, I could only weep and say a prayer for his soul.

I turned again to McLoughlin whose face I now noticed was smeared with blood. I asked him if he was wounded, to which he replied that he did not know, but that his head was sore. I crept across to him and found he had a gash on his temple from which blood trickled down his face. I got a dressing in McLoughlin's kit and staunched the flow from his head and proceeded to dress his wound. We both felt inconsolable as we reflected that we would never again enjoy Dan Chute's companionship.

We were hailed by Captain O'Sullivan who had come along to see how our section had fared in the conflict. Seeing me dressing McLoughlin's head, he asked me if he had been wounded, to which I answered that he had got only a slight cut from something, adding that a man had been killed and was lying on the slope behind us.

I indicated the spot as I spoke and we watched as the captain went in haste to where the ambulance men were bending over Dan's body. He knelt down and seemed to be making inquiries of the ambulance men as I continued the dressing of Mick's head.

"Lieut. Hyde is Dead, Sir"

The Captain remained a few minutes with the ambulance men them, having gone a few paces further along our line, he called towards the ridge where the remainder of our section was, saying: "Lieut. Hyde, how are you over there?"

A hollow separated this position from ours and it was slightly more elevated and the summit was more a hundred or more yards from where the Captain stood. McLoughlin and I, hearing the Captain's words, were eager to hear the reply so we were all attention. An answer came immediately, but it was Sgt. Levey's voice which said; "Lieut. Hyde is killed, sir." The Captain, with quick strides, made his way towards the point from where the answer had come, while we stared, dumbfounded, in that direction.

Our section had lost in Tom Hyde a kind, fatherly commander and in Dan Chute a loyal, loveable comrade. There were other causalities among us: Cpl. John Hoey, a Dublin man, had his wrist shattered by a bullet. While two Spaniards, a lieutenant and a sergeant, who were in our advance party, were killed. We were surprised and grieved to learn later that both forces in the conflict were Nationalist troops. The mistake happened through an omission on the part of the Area Command and a misunderstanding by the commanding officer of the force which met us. The precaution omitted was the practice that when two units of troops were to travel towards each other, an officer of each was with the advance party of the other column. It seems that neither body expected to meet any other troops on this journey; possibly it was intended that we would travel via the road on which we at first set out.

The misunderstanding occured between two Spanish officers who as they approached each other failed to identify their respective units. When our liaison officer advanced towards the other party their officer came forward and called out inquiring who we were. Our officer answered: "Bandera Irelandese El Tercio", whihc in English meant an Irish Brigade of the Legion. The officer on the other side opened fire on our officer immediately and he then ordered his troops to attack us. Our liaison officer and the officer who fired on him were killed in the ensuing battle. The possible explanation of the hasty action taken by the officer of the opposing force was that he inferred from our officer's words that we were the Irish unit of the International Brigade and it is possible that their commandant did not know that an Irish unit was serving in General Franco's army.

The ambulance unit attached to Number 2 section was called up to attend to Lieut. Hyde as our unit was engaged with Dan Chute. Both bodies were later taken back to Caceras, where they were interred in vaults side by side. They were accorded full military honours by Spanish units who attened at the cemetery.

There are a lot of entries to be made to this section; as soon as their military records can be re-created, many, many more Chutes will be added to this section, and this should be considered as "under construction" at the moment. As official military records for the World War II veterens are not available online yet, I am using unofficial, veteran and family records; any contributions made to this section will be greatly appreciated.

Major General Thomas Sarns Bishop.

At this time, General Bishop, the husband of Elizabeth Marie ("Betty") Chute, was a Captain in the 99th Infantry Division: "During the Battle of the Bulge, in the Ardennes forest, the 99th Division distinguished itself in the critical fighting to hold the Eisenborn Ridge - the gateway to Belgium. At the time of the Allied counter attack to close the Bulge, Gen. Bishop became the Operations officer of the 99th Infantry Division. He was now well prepared for this assignment. The Allied forces, led by the American GIs halted then reversed the enemy. The 99th Division was the first complete infantry division to cross the Rhine River at Remagen. They fought fiercely in the Ruhr pocket, crossing the Danube and continued fighting across Germany."

Source: Texas State Cemetery Records, Austin, Texas

It is quite possible that this is where Clinton Melville Chute died.

A quick scan of World War II Italian battles didn't turn up anything specific for that day, beyond the general position of the Allied front in Italy. At that time, the Allied front was pushing its way north, having liberated Rome on June 4, 1944 and Florence on August 10, 1944. Hitler, meanwhile, had pulled most of his own German troops out of Italy (D-Day had occurred in Normandy on June 6, 1944, and they were needed elsewhere, obviously) and had replaced them with Cossack troops, which were at this time hunkered down farther north of the line, in Fruili.

Unless an expert on Canadian military activities in Italy in July-August 1944 has other ideas about this notation - or better yet, knows anything about Donald William Chute - at the moment, I can only guess that he died in a battle with retreating German troops, or arriving Cossack troops somewhere north of Florence, Italy,

"As Hitler's armies advanced on Stalingrad they overran the Cossack regions of the Don, Terek and Kuban. Hundreds of thousands of Russians willingly enrolled in the German army to form a Cossack Army under the Russian General Krasnoff. Hitler promised that they would be settled in 'lands and everything necessary for their livelihood in Western Europe'. Their new homeland was to be in north-east Italy in the valley of Carnia and the plain of Undine where they would live their national life free from the confines of Bolshevism.

Italian families in the area were ejected from their homes which were then used to house the Cossack soldiers and their families who had arrived in fifty trains during July and August 1944. To the Cossacks this was paradise far removed from their dreary life in the Ukraine. Hitler had named this new independent state 'Kosakenland'. Many atrocities were committed by these Russians against the Italian civilians, particularly the women, causing one Archbishop to write to Mussolini "It is terrible to think that Friuli will be governed by these illiterate savages". Discipline was soon restored when General Krasnoff himself arrived. Cossack officers were under no delusions, they knew they were there to shed blood for the Nazi cause. With the Allied armies approaching from the south and Tito's IX Yugoslav Corps approaching from the east, the 'Free Republic of Carnia' soon disintegrated and the Cossacks and their followers forced to trundle north towards Austria and internment by the British."

The date of Lloyd Chute's death (18 SEP 1944) and the location of his burial (near Rimini, Italy), most likely places him in the the Canadian Corps of the Eighth British Army, which at this time consisted of the 1st Infantry, 5th Armored and 21st Tank Brigades. This same area had also claimed the life of Donald William Chute (see above) of Montreal on 23 AUG 1944 (buried in Ancona, Italy). The two men were 5th cousins, but, given the infrequency of finding other people named Chute, no matter where you are, it is possible that they ran across each other within the Eighth British Army.

At the time of Donald William Chute's death, the Allies had been moving north through Italy, pursuing the retreating Germans, after having liberated Sicily, Rome and Florence. By the time of Lloyd's death, a little less than a month later, the Germans had backed into the Appenine Mountains in northern Italy. The line between the advancing Allies and the retreating Germans as they reached the Appenines was labeled the "Gothic Line".

One of the difficulties facing the Allies on the Italian side of the Gothic Line was that troops and weaponry had been pulled from their ranks to support the D-Day Invasion on 6 JUN 1944, 3 months earlier. While the much larger Allied force was battling their way across France, the smaller Allied force fighting their way north through Italy remained to battle the Germans, now defending their homeland while entrenched in the natural land barrier of the Appenine Mountains.

"This fighting was described as an all up-hill battle as several large peaks had to be assaulted. Both the 5th & 8th Armies were drained of men as units were pulled out for the invasion of Normandy and southern France. Without sufficient reserves, the fighting drew to a stalemate as the second winter in Italy set in." ¹

The most brutal attacks by the Allied forces on the Gothic Line took place from September 10 - 18, 1944, making this in all likelihood the general area where Lloyd Chute died on 18 SEP 1944.

¹For a map of the Gothic Line at this time, see http://members.aol.com/Custermen85/Units/BritishOrg.htm. Note that I've placed Lloyd in the 8th British, as by this date, the 1st Canadian, which had participated in the invasion of Sicily, had been reconfigured - portions of the 1st Canadian, now with the 8th British, would have fought in the assault on the Gothic Line.

"I would like to tell you a little bit about how 9/11 affected me. I am a full-time F-15 fighter jet crew chief with the Massachusetts Air Guard at Otis ANGB. As you may know, our alert jets were the first on the scene after the towers were hit. It wasn't long before we were very busy getting all the jets on the base loaded and ready for war. We began flying Combat Air Patrols over NYC, Boston, and DC that very day, and continued to do so through the holidays, into Feb. We worked 12 hour or better days, 7 days a week during that entire time, with only sporadic, single days off. We were activated about a week after the attack, and remain so now. Thank Goodness that we are at least still Stateside!!!!!!

"Crew Chief" is the Air Force term for a mechanic who "owns" his own jet, and is responsable for it's airworthiness. My jet is F-15A s/n 77-105, aka "War Pig" (a nickname I picked - not the pilot). In spite of the horrible events of that day, it felt GREAT for the Guard to finally be doing what it was designed for - defending America at HOME. We worked our you-know-whats off for a long time, but we'd have done more and longer if called to. It was indescribable to watch the jets take off and head south, fully loaded with missiles. Those were grim days, but we felt proud to serve, and it felt good to be doing SOMETHING.

The response of the local population was terrific, and I'm sure was a reflection of the public response across the country. We were rolling in more donated coffee and home made foods and desserts than we could handle. It was wonderful."

"I was reading what you had to say about the Sept. 11th attacks and I thought I would share with you my personal experience. I work on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, and live less than a half mile from the Pentagon in Arlington, VA and I can say it was a terrifying experience. I was sitting at my desk in Senator Tom Carper (D-DE)'s office when it came on CNN that the WTC had been attacked. I was also sitting there when we were notified of the Pentagon attack. We were evacuated from the Capitol and I spent the afternoon at a fellow staff member's house with the majority of my coworkers. Given the location of my apartment building in Pentagon City, VA, I returned home that evening to realize that my 14th floor apartment looks right out on the section of the Pentagon where the plane hit. I can still see into the side of the building. In addition to the attacks on the 11th of September, I have also been effected by the Anthrax problems on Capitol Hill. My Senator's office is in the Hart building, right across the hall from Senator Daschle's office, so I am one of the 400 hill staffers taking Cipro for 60 days. This is a lot to handle for all of us, but after living in DC for the past 4 years (I went to George Washington University), I am still not ready to leave.

Thanks so much, glad to hear that all is well in the family and that we have managed to survive tragedy once again.

"On Tuesday morning, I was on an express bus, on the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel; this places us directly across the Hudson River and slightly north of the Towers. For a few minutes already we could see a fire in one tower and were already aware that some disaster had taken place, but did not know what had happened; certainly we were all upset and horrified about seeing the first tower on fire and hoping people had gotten out safely - we had no idea a plane had hit the first tower at this point, nor were we aware that it had been caused by terrorists. As we watched, a jet plane passed overhead, with a huge roar. We all knew immediately that it was way too low for a jet of that size to be flying, and the noise it made was horrible. Everyone's first thought was that we were witnessing two disasters simultaneously: a fire in one tower, and a jet crashing into the Hudson River. Everyone began to cry out, "It's too low, it's too low", and then we all realized that it was going to fly into the second tower. It was like a slow-motion horror that you could not imagine witnessing in a million years. In videos shown on CNN you've seen other angles of that second airplane striking the second tower and heard people screaming: that is what I remember first about that morning, except on our bus, everyone was screaming before that horrible fireball went up, because the airplane had passed over us and we saw where it was going before the impact.

Tuesday - a combination of many emotions: the smell of the burning, the dust clouds rolling up Broadway after the collapse, everybody screaming as the Towers collapsed (have you ever heard an entire city scream at the same moment?), and feeling the faint thunder through the soles of your feet when the Towers collapsed, fifty blocks south of me - a 2.4 earthquake rolling through New York City as those towers came down. Thinking for a few seconds that there would be a domino effect of collapsing buildings as a result. Learning that a plane had also crashed into the Pentagon and thinking this was some mass wave of suicide plane crashes ... terror at the sound of any airplane in the sky, expecting more planes to crash into buildings at any moment. It was obvious that New Yorkers had never needed to become familiar with the sounds of our own military ... for most of that morning we kept hearing the roar of planes and were all expecting to die in particularly gruesome fashions - not realizing until later that the sounds we were hearing were the roars of our own F-16's flying overhead, protecting the Eastern seaboard and New York City.

We had only one way to get out of the city, by ferry over the Hudson, as every other bridge and tunnel was closed. A large group of us walked 30 blocks to the ferry at around noon. Lines and lines and lines of people trying to get out of Manhattan, and through these lines, rescue workers were bringing shell-shocked and dusty, blood-streaked people from south Manhattan. They just threw us blindly across the Hudson by boatload - our ferry ended up in Weehauken, a shuttle bus took busloads of silent, shell-shocked people to Hoboken and the train station - during that silent ride, all eyes were fixated on the still burning towers across the River, and no one was speaking. One of our own home-grown criminals decided this was the perfect moment to call in a bomb scare to the now packed Hoboken Train station ... I finally got home nine hours later ... without a complaint, because I was alive and coming home, and so many people would never come home.

Phone lines were down, and I was finally able to contact my family from the train itself that evening - I finally was able to get a cell phone connection. My parents had two family members to worry about - me in New York, and my nephew, Jim Jr., in Washington, D.C., working as an electrician in a government building near the Pentagon. They couldn't find either one of us for most of Tuesday. (Jim Jr., was okay also). The effect of the stress of Tuesday on my mother hit her in the form of a stroke the following Friday night. My brother Jim Sr., and I, spent this past weekend with her in Newport, until she was transferred to a bigger hospital in Providence. She is slowly improving; we're considering her one of Bin Ladin's lesser known and still surviving victims."

As a public outreach effort, over 1 million names were collected and placed on the STARDUST spacecraft,which will visit Comet Wild 2 in 2004. Among the names:

From NASA: "The Stardust spacecraft was launched on February 7, 1999, from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, aboard a Delta II rocket. The primary goal of Stardust is to collect dust and carbon-based samples during its closest encounter with Comet Wild 2 - pronounced "Vilt 2" after the name of its Swiss discoverer - is a rendezvous scheduled to take place in January 2004, after nearly four years of space travel.

Additionally, the Stardust spacecraft will bring back samples of interstellar dust, including recently discovered dust streaming into our Solar System from the direction of Sagittarius. These materials are believed to consist of ancient pre-solar interstellar grains and nebular that include remnants from the formation of the Solar System. Analysis of such fascinating celestial specks is expected to yield important insights into the evolution of the Sun its planets and possibly even the origin of life itself.

In order to meet up with comet Wild 2, the spacecraft will make three loops around the Sun. On the second loop, its trajectory will intersect the comet ..."

Historical update: the Stardust spacecraft completed its mission and returned to earth in early 2006. Its collection grid was placed in confinement and is awaiting approval to be examined for further study. For those interested in following the mission flightplan and details, check out the NASA "Stardust" mission.

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