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TIL George RR Martin said that Game of Thrones characters die because ‘it has to be done’ and that it’s dishonest not to show how war kills heroes as easily as minor characters

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99gM TIL During World War II, an RAF gunner Nicholas Alkemade fell through 18,000 feet without a parachute and survived without injuries. He was captured by the Germans, who issued him a commemorative certificate for his miraculous survival after verifying the details of his ‘story’.
VNN4 TIL Zildjian, the cymbal manufacturer, is one of the oldest companies in the world, founded 1623, 393 years ago.
VBJEG TIL Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier from World War 2, was initially turned down from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps for being underweight and underage. He was finally able to enlist after his sister falsified documentation. He ended up playing himself in a movie about him
74oX TIL to get revenge on fellow Boy Scouts who bullied him, a Tokyo resident mailed more than 500 boxes of soggy, smelly garbage including old underwear and rotten tea leaves to his tormentors, writing a random destination as the address with the bully’s return address in order to escape detection.
b9Jwa TIL Wheeling Gaunt, a slave who bought his and his family's freedom in 1845 before moving to Yellow Springs, OH. At the time of his death, he bequeathed a large portion of his land and estate to the village under the condition that each widow be given flour annually, which continues to this day