Smitty and the 11th Airborne Division

The origin of the nickname, “Angels” for the 11th Airborne has always been up for debate.  At Dobodura, New Guinea, while unloading the supplies off the ships that were constantly pulling into port, it became well-known that the troopers of the 11th A/B were a bit more light-fingered than the other units.  The distribution of the food and war materiel was severely unbalanced, with the bulk of it going to the troopers.  It was definitely at this time that they acquired the title of “Swing and his 8,000 Thieves.”  My father and many other troopers believe that the title remained with them up until the release of the internees at Los Baños prison on Luzon, when a nun looked up and said that the parachutists looked like “angels sent to save us.”

One other theory I found, while still on New Guinea, a senior officers questioned General Swing about the uneven delivery of supplies.  Swing , with a rather tongue-in-cheek attitude, replied that it could not possibly be due to his “angels.”

And yet, there is another idea on the subject.  The troopers, with their antics, were often in trouble.  After a rather rough weekend, a senior officer asked just how many of the 11th airborne’s “little angels” were in the stockade.  The reply, of course,  was, “none of my angels are.”

No matter what the reason or nickname, this undermanned and under-equipped division trudged on.

Dobodura, New Guinea, 11th A/B

You may notice in Smitty’s letters that he will not mention his rigorous training or even combat in his later ones.  I am unaware as to whether it was concern for his mother’s feelings or censorship restrictions.  As a child I asked if I would ever catch him in one of the old news reels and he said that he surely doubted it.  He made a point to avoid any photographers in the event his mother caught sight of the pictures of him in combat.  No matter how hard things had become, he found something else to talk about, but he did have a tongue-in-cheek humor that could both amuse someone even while he was complaining.

At this point in time, the jungle war training had live firing and everything was becoming a bit clearer, a bit more realistic.

Major Burgess left the units temporarily to set up a jump school.  This would give the glidermen and Burgess himself an opportunity to qualify as paratroopers.  The parachutists began their glider training at Soputa airstrip that was no longer in regular use.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Military Humor – 

Okay – so now we go to Plan-B…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Max Bolton – Taranaki, NZ; RNZ Navy # N455266, WWII

Carl E. Clark – Columbus, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th A/B Div. & Korea, Sgt., 187th RCT

Elizabeth Dow Crawford (101) – Tomahawk, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII

James Elwood – Wichita, KS; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Richard Gamlen – San Francisco, CA; US Army, WWII, ETO, MSgt.

Peter Kizer – Princeton, IL; US Air Force

Albert Movitz – Brooklyn, NY; US Navy, WWII

Peter Raymond – Norristown, PA; USMC, WWII, PTO

Herbert Stone – Pine Bluff, AR; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI

Lee Travelstead – Holland, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 101st & 82nd A/B, Silver Star

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