Birth Locations – Page 128 – The Exasperated Historian

153) Pingyang

153) Pingyang

Chinese General who led 70,000 soldiers to topple one of the worst a**holes to ever proclaim himself Emperor of anything

Born: c598, Most Likely Modern Day China

Died: 14 March 623, Modern Day China

She was the daughter of a military general and a doting wife in her younger years.

The emperor ordered her father to be thrown in prison and then taken back out because he needed her dad to protect him from some other people trying to kill him—you can imagine why Pingyang’s dad suddenly had the urge to kill him too. Slight problem though—Pingyang’s husband was the leader of the palace guards.

Her husband decided to join his father-in-law leaving Pingyang in a precarious position—the logic was they couldn’t both leave the castle at the same time, it would be too obvious what was going on. So Pingyang stayed behind while her husband escaped to join the rebellion.

Soon after she did manage to escape and made her way to her family’s homelands where she found her people suffering from a drought and being ignored by the government. Pingyang distributed food from her family’s own stores and the people were so thankful they pledged their fealty to her.

While her husband and father openly rebelled against the Emperor Pingyang plotted silently from the background and made allegiances—swelling her people to that 70,000 number; all under her banner.

She quickly put out a code her soldiers had to stick too: no looting, pillaging, or raping, whatever they took they had to pay for and any food they came across they had to distribute to the people whose villages they had just taken over.

In just around a year she overtook the palace and the old emperor fled—opening the path for her father to take the throne and start the Tang Dynasty.

Pingyang was made a princess and a marshal but she sadly passed away soon after, possibly in childbirth.

Badges Earned:
Rejected Princess

Located in My Personal Library:

Rejected Princesses by Jason Porath

Princesses Behaving Badly by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

Sources:

https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/pingyang

152) Boudica

"It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. In this battle, you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live or be slaves."

(Attributed to but not definitively proven to have been spoken by Boudica. No quotes can be directly attributed to her)

152) Boudica

She Burned London to the Ground and Enjoyed Every Minute of It

Birth Date Unknown for Certain (Possibly around 30 AD), Briton, Modern Day United Kingdom

Died: 60 or 61 AD, Briton, Modern Day United Kingdom

Alternate Spellings: Boadicea or Boudicca

Queen of the Iceni—an ancient Celtic Tribe.

All the written information known about her comes from Roman Scholars (unfortunately).

She was married to the king of the Iceni around the age of eighteen and they would have two daughters together. Their tribe was “lucky” in that they weren’t completely taken over by the Roman occupation and instead only became a forced ally of Rome.

However, when the king died without a male heir that all changed.

The Romans took everything and declared the land and the wealth of the tribe now belonged to the Empire. Then they flogged Boudica publicly and raped her daughters.

This pissed Boudica off (obviously) and she swore vengeance against Rome.

Boudica had been trained as a warrior and so when the provincial governor was off pillaging Wales Boudica struck. She led her people and other tribes who hated Roman rule. They quickly destroyed the Ninth Legion and burned the capital to the ground—massacring the inhabitants. Her soldiers went on to sack two more towns—one of which is modern-day London.

The Roman big bad guy returned and managed to put a stop to her revolt but not before she deeply wounded the Roman presence in Briton.

Tacitus—a Roman writer—claimed Boudica had slaughtered some 70,000 Romans in all.

Rather than being captured it is said Boudica and her daughters poisoned themselves.

Personal Note:
I first learned of Boudica’s story in my eighth grade Latin class (yes really—that’s Charter Schools for you).

Anyway, long story short, that year we were reading about the Roman occupation of Briton and in the textbook was a photo of the statue of her that now stands in the UK. I was so inspired by her story I named one of the characters in a book I wrote Boudica. Maybe someday if I ever get a publishing deal, you’ll be able to read about her too.

Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked

Rejected Princess

Located in my Personal Library:

The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes, and Female Firsts by Becca Anderson

National Geographic History Magazine Article “Big Bad Boudica, Britain Rebels Against Rome” (September/October 2019 Edition)

National Geographic History Magazine Article "Letters From the Roman Frontier, Life at Vindolanda" by Adrian Goldsworthy (May/June 2023 Edition)

Powers & Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones

Rejected Princesses by Jason Porath

Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki León

The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

Who Knew? Women in History: Questions That Will Make You Think Again by Sarah Herman

Sources:

https://www.history.com/news/who-was-boudica

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6497/boudica

151) Trưng Nhị

151) Trưng Nhị

Vietnamese Rebel Leader who briefly created and controlled an autonomous state free from Chinese Oppression

Birth Date Unknown, she may have been born in Northern Vietnam

Died: 43 AD, Vietnam

Trắc, Nhị, and other members of the aristocracy succeeded, for a few years in any case, of creating a free Vietnamese State, and the sisters were declared co-queens of the state, the name of which is unknown today.

Nhị was the more aggressive fighter between her and her sister Trắc, who was more of a politician.

Once the Chinese had defeated them, it is said they decided to commit suicide by drowning rather than be taken captive.

Notes:

Sources differ on, well, most of the details. So, here are some of the other versions of the story.

In some tellings, Trưng Trắc took the throne independently.

In others, the sisters were killed in battle rather than commit suicide.

Some of the versions say they fought with other women, including Le Chan, whose family was murdered after she refused to marry a Chinese man, and Phung Thi Chinh, who gave birth on the field of battle, strapped her baby to her back, then leapt back into the fray.

Also Note, Nhị and her sister have separate Google Pages. Trắc’s has zero personal information. Nhị’s Google page lists her birth date as 14 AD. I have found zero sources to corroborate that date or even explain where it came from, so please do not use it unless you can find a source yourself.

Badges Earned:

Rejected Princess

Located in my Personal Library:

Rejected Princesses by Jason Porath

The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki León

National Geographic History Magazine Article "The Trung Sisters" by Nhung Tuyet Tran (July/August 2021 Edition)

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trung-Sisters

https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/trung-trac-and-trung-nhi

160) Martin “Marty” Sklar

160) Martin “Marty” Sklar

International Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering

Born: 6 February 1934, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America

Died: 27 July 2017, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Disney Imagineering is a Subsidiary Company that designs and constructs Disney Theme Parks and Resorts Worldwide.

Marty worked Personally with Walt Disney as his right hand for many years, writing many of his scripts and promotional pieces.

Marty has a window dedicated to him in Disneyland’s City Hall and was named a Disney Legend in 2001.

He attended the Opening of Every Single Disney Park worldwide and was the Co-Founder of Ryman Program for Young Artists which teaches traditional drawing and painting skills.

Two weeks before he died, Marty attended the annual D23 Expo and was talking with fans.

Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2017/07/legendary-disney-imagineer-marty-sklar-dies-at-83/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181868219/martin-a_-sklar

159) Sergeant Charles Floyd

159) Sergeant Charles Floyd

The Only Member of the Corps of Discovery to Die on the Expedition

Born: 1782, Present-Day St. Matthew’s, Kentucky, United States of America

Died: 20 August 1804, Present-Day Sioux City, Iowa, United States of America

He was a non-commissioned Sergeant and One of the first to volunteer for the Corps of Discovery.

Charles kept a daily record of the excursion from May 14^th to August 18^th and died two days later.

He was the only fatality on the journey and passed away from a ruptured appendix.

On Memorial Day, 1901, the people of Sioux City erected a 100-Foot-Tall Sandstone Memorial to Charles, making his grave the most prestigious of any of the Corps members.

Badges Earned:
Find A Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.nps.gov/people/sergeant-charles-floyd.htm

https://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/cfloy.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2346/charles-floyd

158) Ruan An

One of the lead architects of the Forbidden City

Born: 1381, Present Day Vietnam

Died: 1453

Original Name: Nguyễn An

He was a Ming Dynasty Eunuch, Architect, and Hydraulics Specialist whose true ethnic identity was hidden by Chinese Historians for centuries.

He was a Vietnamese Man captured by the Chinese and brought back to work for the Empire.

That's about the extant of what we know about this man, but his existence in history is of astronomical importance for the Vietnamese People.

Sources:

https://freedomforvietnam.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/the-man-who-built-the-forbidden-city/

157) Father Suitbert Mollinger

157) Suitbert Godfrey Mollinger

Founded St. Anthony’s Chapel in Pittsburgh, which is Home to 5,000 Catholic Relics

Born: 19 April 1828, Antwerp, Kingdom of Belgium (Present-day Antwerp, Belgium)

Died: 15 June 1892, Troy Hill, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Father Mollinger came to America in the 1850’s and managed to settle in the Pittsburgh area. Outside of collecting his relics and ministering to the church not much else is known of his life.

There are over 5,000 Relics in the chapel today. According to the chapel itself, they are presented in over 800 cases but only have 525 documents to go alongside them (that information is courtesy of the Chapel’s website, however another source says they have verification for nearly ever relic in the church). Today, St. Anthony’s Chapel holds the largest collection of Catholic Relics outside of Rome.

The website for St. Anthony’s Chapel itself has a profile on Father Mollinger, but if you read it for yourself you will hopefully see the problems I do. It states that Father Mollinger was both the sixth and the eighth child born into his family, and the grammar is…bad to say the least.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://saintanthonyschapel.org/the-life-and-times-of-fr-mollinger

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-bizarre-tale-of-5000-relics-finding-a-home-in-a-pittsburgh-chapel-92933

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52423120/suitbert-godfrey-mollinger

156) Sergeant-Major András Toma

156) Sergeant-Major András Toma

The Last World War II Prisoner of War to Be Released (in 2000)

Born: 5 December 1925, Újfehértó, Kingdom of Hungary (Present-day Újfehértó, Hungary)

Died: 30 March 2004, Nyíregyháza, Hungary

He was a soldier in World War II; captured by the Red Army in 1945.

András was discovered and Released from a Mental Hospital in 2000; making him most likely the last POW to be repatriated.

He spent fifty-three years in a Russian mental hospital, and reportedly never had a single conversation with the others there. The reason why? He didn’t speak Russian, and they didn’t speak Hungarian.

András was dropped from POW records in 1947, after being transferred to the psychiatric hospital, meaning the Russians lost contact of him and the Hungarians had no way of tracking him or finding out what had happened to him. He was declared dead in 1954.

The tiny town the hospital was located in had no reason to understand Hungarian. Therefore, the other patients and staff assumed he was just an oddball who spoke a made-up language.

He was originally taken prison at the age of nineteen, and finally returned to his native Hungary at the age of seventy-five.

When he did finally come home, András lived with his half-sister and his brother. He was also paid his full soldier’s salary from all the years he’d been held and was promoted to Sergeant-Major by the Hungarian government. Whether he was actually mentally “insane” or not is still up for debate.

Though his story initially inspired hope for eighty-two other Hungarian Families, who had family members who were never accounted for at the end of the war, András was the last Hungarian soldier to be located thus far, and the last living World War II soldier to be accounted for.

Sources:

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/last-wwii-soldier-repatriated.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/sep/19/1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A1s_Toma

155) Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill

155) Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill

He Fought in World War II Armed With a Longbow, Bagpipes, and a Scottish Broadsword. Hell Yeah.

Born: 16 September 1906, Colombo, Ceylon (Present-day Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Died: 8 March 1996, Surrey, United Kingdom

His nickname was Mad Jack, and let's just say there's a reason why when you start to type his name into Google the top result is Memes.

Before the war, he served with the Manchester Regiment stationed in Burma (Today Myanmar). Leaving the army in 1936, he next worked as a newspaper editor in Kenya.

Jack also holds the distinction of being the only World War II soldier to kill a German with a longbow. This event occurred during the Dunkirk Evacuation, and its said he hit the German straight in the heart.

He is credited with saying, “Any officer who goes into battle without a sword is improperly dressed.”

He was captured on the isle of Brac. After losing consciousness after being hit with shrapnel, he was taken by the Germans and sent to Sachsenhausen A Camp, meaning he was one of Hitler’s VIPs (Very Important Prisoners, in this case). Evidently the Germans thought they had captured a nephew of Winston Churchill (In reality the two men held no relation).

Soon after being imprisoned though, Jack and some fellow prisoners escaped via a tunnel they dug. The Germans launched a massive search effort to track him down, which occurred soon after. Then Jack escaped again, this time from a camp in Tyrol.

After the war, he became a surfer, but stayed out of the spotlight for the most part.

To watch a great YouTube video about his life, click the link to the left of this article.

Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked

Located in My Personal Library:

Hitler’s Last Plot: The 139 VIP Hostages Selected for Death in the Final Days of World War II by Ian Sayer and Jeremy Dronfield

Sources:

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/jack-churchill-carry-a-sword.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/139828224/john-malcolm_thorpe_fleming-churchill

154) Captain Witold Pilecki

154) Captain Witold Pilecki

He Volunteered to Become a Prisoner in Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Born: 13 May 1901, Karelia Republic, Russia

Died: 25 May 1948, Ostrów Mazowiecka, Poland

Witold was a Polish Army Officer & Intelligence Agent during World War II. He also founded the Secret Polish Army resistance group.

During World War I, Witold worked with the Polish Army to disarm retreating German forces.

Today, he is recognized as the only known person to have volunteered to become a prisoner in Auschwitz. In 1940, Witold entered Auschwitz under an assumed name and immediately began building a resistance movement and smuggling information on the Shoah out.

The information he smuggled out still exists in Archives today, which once again highlights the fact that the Allies, despite knowing the Final Solution was in place, did nothing out of the already in place war effort to stop the atrocities being committed against the Jews, Poles, Political Prisoners, members of the LGBT+ Community, Catholics, and others killed during the Shoah.

In 1943, Witold and two others escaped Auschwitz after spending two and a half years there. The reason why they escaped? The men had gathered information on the existence of the gas chambers, but realized the Allies had no plans to do anything about it.

Witold was captured in 1944 while participating in the Warsaw Uprising. He spent the next year as a Prisoner of War.

After the war, he agreed to work to gather intelligence against the Communists who had taken over Poland. After being captured by pro-Communist forces, Witold underwent torture, a farce of a trial, was given three death sentences, and was executed.

Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/witold-pilecki

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/books/review/the-auschwitz-volunteer-by-witold-pilecki.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/140987866/witold-pilecki