A recent comment here was about how much Guy Gibson had packed in before his death at the age of 26. A more minor example:
Jungius, now a sub-lieutenant, commanded an assault landing craft that in July 1943 took part in the invasion of Sicily, followed in September by landing the first troops on to the European mainland at Messina.
18 when he did that…..
Point of pendantry: Messina is on Sicily. The point where they landed on the mainland would be near Villa San Giovanni
https://kaleistyleguide.com/obituaries/2020/10/28/vice-admiral-sir-james-jungius-took-part-audacious-raid-adriatic/
As both the Telegraph and Times obituaries are behind paywalls here is a presumably legitimate copy of the former.
It doesn’t matter what he did. All that matters is the name of his dog!
Assault boat? Pah. A late starter by most measures. Maurice de Saxe became an officer at the age of 12 and was court martialed for getting local girl pregnant at 13. He fought in the Battle of Malplaquet when he would have been 14. He served in pretty much everyone’s Army – he commanded the Russian, Dutch, and French Armies and was chosen to command the Old Pretender’s attempt at landing in Britain.
He commanded a regiment when he was 17.
Western civilization is really doing the pygmies standing on the shoulders of giants thing to death…..
Pygmies? Giants? You vile somethingist bigot! I am literally shaking right now.