Word: meinertzhagen
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Allow me to recall only two of the early adventures of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, D.S.O., featured in your July 2 issue as the world's leading bird-lice catcher...
...Colonel Meinertzhagen was the man who fooled Franz von Papen in Palestine [during World War I], exposing himself to a chase by German cavalry and losing a saddlebag full of carefully prepared misleading information about General Allenby's plans. Meinertzhagen, moreover, is the only living European . . . who has entered the hallowed and mysterious cave of Machpelah* in the tomb of the patriarchs at Hebron...
...Allenby's 1917 offensive, Meinertzhagen was the first staff officer to enter Hebron, from where all the native notables had fled. Looking for some secular or religious dignitary, Meinertzhagen came into the deserted mosque and found a door open, leading into vast, dimly lit souterrains. After a look at the enormous stone cenotaphs buried in dust, the colonel . . . left and finally found a rabbi, from whom to take the town over. Later on, when Meinertzhagen discussed his experience with [Father Hugues] Vincent, the famous Dominican archeologist, it became clear that he had actually been in the mausoleum...
...donor of the collection is 73-year-old Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, D.S.O., late of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, who first took up his odd pursuit in 1928, after more than 25 years spent in fighting the Empire's battles, from skirmishes in India to the trenches of World War I. Instead of retiring to his London town house, which bristles with lion and panther heads, he teamed up with his young cousin, Zoologist Theresa Clay, and mounted an offensive against the Mallophaga. He and Theresa believe that the lice can be used as a small...