[Nancy]

You might enjoy this from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Ret and history buff. You would really have to dig deep to get this kind of ringside seat to history:

1. The first German serviceman killed in WW II was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937), the first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940); highest ranking American killed was Lt Gen Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps. So much for allies.

2. The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. His benefits were later restored by act of Congress.

3. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced 'sink us'), the shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th Infantry division was the Swastika, and Hitler's private train was named 'Amerika.' All three were soon changed for PR purposes.

4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%.

5. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance, Japanese Ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.

6. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round with a tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a mistake. Tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. This was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.

YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE THIS ONE........

7. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).

8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but they decided it wasn't worth the effort.

9. German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

10. Among the first 'Germans' captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were captured by the US Army.

AND I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST....

11. Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 United States and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. 21 troops were killed in the assault on the island. It could have been worse if there had been any Japanese on the island.

[From Nancy: I have not tried to verify any of these "facts."]

[sabaue]

Well, that sounds like something General Patton would have done.

[David A]

Originally Posted by sabaue

Well, that sounds like something General Patton would have done.

That Patton story is very true. Several biographers cite it as fact. And his motivations were simple: William the Conqueror did the same thing several hundred years before him.

[ARIES3032]

I have heard the story of Iwo Jima, Guam, and know much of WW11, because that is where my brother served in the marines, enlisting at age 17, my parents had to sign for him. We had a special code since mail was censored. Uncle George meant that Marvin was on Guam. I believe my brother learned quickly to fire a gun, rifle, or whatever, and I know he learned to drive in the Marines. Rest in peace, Marvin, I miss you so already.

[Gregory]

Interesting stuff.

[voice1]

Stranger than fiction...

[angel0528]

Yes, my Uncle George served with the 45th Infantry Division. The Swastika was always considered to be a magical and mystical symbol. The 45th Infantry Division chose this symbol in 1923. They were not happy that they had to change their symbol. They had no choice because of the evil now associated with the Swastika. They chose the Thunderbird, which is an ancient southwestern Indian symbol of good luck.

The 45th Infantry Division is a National Guard Unit based in Oklahoma. In anticipation of this country's preparation for war, this national guard unit was called to national service in 1940 until the end of the war. It originally consisted of cowboys and Indians. The 45th Infantry Division lost so many men in the Anzio Campaign, they were forced to add many replacements in February and March 1944. The replacements came from everywhere. My uncle was one of those replacements in February. The only way my uncle a young Italian American from Philadelphia would ever had been in that unit.These replacements were not welcomed by most of the men.

[Mel B]

Dear Nancy, thanks for all that info. One of my hobbies is military history, though my main area of study is the civil war, although I have read some about the second world war. My father was short (5'5") so they made him a gunnery corporal and he would sit in that bubble under the plane to fire the, I think it was 50 mm anti-aircraft rounds. And since you're absolutely correct that the U.S. Army Air Corps (there was no Air Force back then) suffered more casualties than anyone else (partly because they flew daytime missions while the British did the night work) it's amazing that he made it back in one piece and that I'm alive. I'm 1 inch taller than my dad, so had I been in WWII, I would have ended up doing the same job. And I know that your Dad tried to get in the service because of his pre-existing (an eardrum) injury, but was turned down for that reason. Of interest to music lovers is that Glen Miller probably died over the English Channel, either because he was shot down or foggy weather caused the plane to crash. His body was never found.

[Mel B]

And I also wanted to add that General Patton went to VMI at one point during his life. My friends mother worked at the museum there and she put into my hands, his pearl handled pistols.

[voice1]

Mel...another theory surrounding Glenn Miller's death centers around Allied bombers returning to England and releasing their payloads into the Channel. The theory is a bomb literally hit Miller's small prop plane from above in the fog.

the theory has always been that his plane was hit by a bomb jettisoned by an RAF Lancaster travelling back to England after an aborted bombing raid. The Lancaster's navigator recalled seeing the bomb hit a small plane - 'I remember seeing it spiralling out of control towards the water.'

[NickfromPhilly]

When I completed basic training at Ft. Jackson, SC, I was then transferred to Ft. Hood, TX for AIT (Advanced Individual Training). I was assigned to the First Armored Division (Old Ironsides), as a part of the 2nd Battalion, 13th Armor. This unit was originally a part of Patton's Third Army. Our post commander (was later), George S. Patton III.

When first assigned to a unit, troopers are shown films detailing the history of the outfit, to which you now belong, in an effort to build "Esprit 'De Corps." Our films began with footage from World War II. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was shown in a War Room with a group of subordinates, moving tanks and troops around on a table top map, pushing them around with "stick pointers." General MacArthur was shown in the now famous clip of him coming ashore out of his landing vehicle. General Omar Bradley was shown high atop a hill, during a heated, pitched battle (down below in a valley), looking through his binoculars. George Patton was shown charging up a hill, at top speed, in his tank, at the commander's position in the tank cupola. He was holding on, while firing one of his pearl handled pistols. A staged performance? I don't think so, judging from the hell that was bursting all around them. He was simply amazing - a leader in the truest sense of the word. His purported action, of peeing in the Rhine, would fit his personality profile - exactly!

Back then, whenever we had to march to the parade grounds for some ceremony or festivity, we had more battle ribbons (signifying victories), on our guide-on (that's a forward banner, for all non-military personnel), than any other outfit. We were surely proud of that fact. The method used to build "Esprit 'De Corps," for our unit certainly succeeded in its mission. We wouldn't have rather been assigned to any other outfit, at that time.

[johnofphilly]

Nick, I remember visiting my buddy from Olney when he was stationed at Fort Hood in 1974. I really enjoyed the bus ride from Waco to Killeen on a late 1940s bus with wooden venetian blinds. I remember out in the middle of a field a little old black lady flagging the bus down with a hankie. It was April and blue-bonnets (wild flowers) were in bloom everywhere.

Nancy, those ironies all sound very credible to me. Thanks for sharing - many of them are hilarious.

When I worked at the Youth Guidance Center in San Francisco, one of the classy steel magnolias I worked with was born in '22 and her husband, of course, was a veteran. I told her about how my father bullsh*++ed me about what he actually did during his tour of duty, making it sound heroic, when in truth, he was never assigned to anything near any danger.

Well, I loved this retirement aged woman's expression in her sweetly condescending eyes when she told me, "Well, John, many of them did that." (told fish stories). I felt so naive and dumb, thinking that my father being a bullsh*++er was the rarest of exceptions.

[NickfromPhilly]

So true John! Back then, compared to Killeen, Waco & Temple, TX, were the "big towns." Dallas, Houston, Gavalston, and Mexico was where we'd run to whenever we got passes. They sure were long drives, but pretty short flights.

Most people, except, perhaps, the natives, and those who've made those treks, have no idea how large Texas is. I remember driving East to West, through the state, from Texarkana to El Paso. We stopped to eat and sleep each day, but the trip took the better part of 4 days. Some highways, back then, however, had no speed limits in the really rural areas. Straight and flat landscape saved many a soldiers' lives, when they sometimes fell asleep at the wheel. That's why I always believed in stopping for the night.

[johnofphilly]

In '98 when I bought my '88 Toyota in Berkeley and drove it home via I-5 to L.A., then I-10 to Jacksonville then I-95 home, Texas was huge. It took a whole day to get from Fort Stockton to Beaumont driving steadily. I guess Fort Stockton is about a hundred miles or so east of El Paso, and of course Beaumont is east of Houston up by Port Arthur. I guess I didn't really push the speed limit. I really wanted to make it to the Louisiana state line by the end of the night, but I was just too tired.

[Ace917]

When you take off from Houston to fly to LA, when you're half-way there, you're still over Texas!

[Tricia]

Thought you might enjoy this. I had chills from beginning to end.

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 on Vimeo

[ARIES3032]

I got chills reading this. I wanted to tell my brother, but he is gone!!

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by Tricia

Thought you might enjoy this. I had chills from beginning to end.

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 on Vimeo

Tricia, that is heartbreaking and breathtaking. A war hard fought and hard won with huge losses and unmitigated joy at the end of it. Thank you so much for sharing Richard's film.

[Rhodalee]

I remember that day well. Block parties all over New York. I was a kid, walked in the middle of the night with my friends to my eldest aunt's home. We weren't afraid to walk in the dark those days.

[Nick_Bradley78]

German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but they decided it wasn't worth the effort

That one isn't strictly true - the 264 could reach New York, but not back, the only one that could cover both there and back in theory was the ME261, with a theoretical range of nearly 7000 miles, but this would be much less with a full payload of bombs. Quite the contrary to Germany deciding bombing the US "wasn't worth the effort" they spent a lot of time and money on the "Amerika Bomber" even drawing up a lengthy list of targets, the science didn't match the ambition, fortunately. So us Brits got bombed for 6 years instead. Even more depressingly, the Kiska "invasion" actually killed 313 people as a result of friendly fire.