On May 5, 1893, The Panic of 1893 caused a large crash on the New York Stock Exchange.

May 5th is the birthday of Adrian Carton de Wiart, known as Britain’s “Unstoppable Soldier.” This eccentric Belgian-born soldier served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War; was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; survived two plane crashes; tunneled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and bit off his own fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them.

This is also the birthday of Pat Frank (1908-1964). This was the pen name of newspaper journalist Harry Hart Frank. His 1959 novel Alas, Babylon is a survivalist classic. His personal life was marred by alcoholism, but his writing is admired and still surprisingly popular, today. (Alas, Babylon is still in print, after 65 years!) As an homage to Pat Frank, one of the settings in my novel Expatriates is Mt. Dora, Florida, which was fictionalized by Pat Frank as Fort Repose in Alas, Babylon.

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Today’s feature article was too short to qualify as an entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.