January 1945 (2)

Major Thomas McGuire,

As the fighting for the 11th Airborne on Leyte came to a close, the battalions worked their way back to Bito Beach.  The 674th and 675th Glider Field Artillery and the 457th Parachute Field Artillery remained in strategic positions to cover them.

The Luzon Attack Force, commanded by VAdmiral Kinkaid, under MacArthur, was composed of 7th Fleet units and numbered more than 850 ships. This was divided into the Lingayen Attack Force (Vice Admiral Wilkinson commanding), the San Fabian Attack Force (Vice Admiral Barbey), a reinforcement group (R Admiral Conolly commanding), a fire support and bombardment group ( VAdmiral Oldendorf ) and surface and air covering groups (Rear Admiral Berkey and Rear Admiral C.T. Durgin, respectively, commanding). The Luzon Attack Force was to transport, put ashore and support elements of the 6th U.S. Army (Lieutenant General Walter Krueger) to assist in the seizure and development of the Lingayen area.

2→3 January – A military report showed that 111 enemy aircraft were destroyed on and above Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands.  B-24’s bit Haha Jima and Iwo Jima over a seven hour period and areas of Luzon and the Netherland East Indies (NEI) continued to be hit.

In preparation for the upcoming invasions of Iwo Jima, Okinawa and eventually Japan, Gen. MacArthur was placed in command of US ground forces and Adm. Nimitz over all naval forces.

3→4 January – the 3rd Fleet, operating under Admiral Halsey, with its fast carrier task force commanded by VAdmiral McCain, was to cover and protect the operation by air strikes over Luzon.  There was little airborne opposition, but unfavorable weather conditions somewhat reduced the toll of enemy ships, planes and facilities destroyed.

Early in January, Japan’s General Yamashita pulled his Fourteenth Army (260,000 men) back off of Luzon’s beach to conserve them. He was aware of the forthcoming invasions of American troops.  

Japanese division of troops on Luzon

Yamashita divided his men into three defensive groups; the largest, the Shobu Group, under his personal command numbered 152,000 troops, defended northern Luzon. The smallest group, totaling 30,000 troops, known as the Kembu Group, under the command of Tsukada, defended Bataan and the western shores. The last group, the Shimbu Group, totaling 80,000 men under the command of Yokoyama, defended Manila and southern Luzon.

Yamashita tried to rebuild his army but was forced to retreat from Manila to the Sierra Madre Mts. of northern Luzon, as well as the Cordillera Central Mts. Yamashita ordered all troops, except those tasked with security, out of the city.

Almost immediately, IJN RAdm. Sanji Iwabuchi re-occupied Manila with 16,000 sailors, with the intent of destroying all port facilities and naval storehouses. Once there, Iwabuchi took command of the 3,750 Army security troops, and against Yamashita’s specific order, turned the city into a battlefield.

USS Spot

6 January – The naval battle of Lingayen Gulf will be published in a following post.

7 January – US pilot and ace, Mj. Thomas McGuire (38 victories) was killed in a low-level combat with a group of Japanese Zero fighters, led by Shiochi Sugita, the 3rd highest scoring ace of the IJN Air Force, over Negros Island.

USS Spot sank 2 Japanese trawlers with her deck gun in the yellow Sea and US aircraft over the South China Sea sank IJN landing ship No. 112.

Resources: World War II Database; Angels: A History of the 11th Airborne, by Gen. EM Flanagan; US Army Green Books; US Navy reports.

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Military Humor – Private SNAFU and Booby Traps –

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

William Brennan – Manitowoc, WI; US Army, Korea, 25th Infantry Division, Col (Ret.), Bronze Star

Paul Ciccarelli – Monessen, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 188th/11th Airborne Division

Thomas Ender – Diamondhead, MS; US Merchant Marine, WWII

Sixto Fernandez – Las Cruces, NM; US Army, 82nd Airborne Division

Wesley Fox – Blackburg, VA; USMC, Korea, Vietnam, colonel (Ret. 43 Y.), Medal of Honor

Harold “Tidley” Hannon – Scranton, PA; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc, KIA (Tarawa)

Robert Mains – Rochester, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 1st LT, B-24 pilot, KIA

Todd L. McGurn – Riverside, CA; US Army, Iraq, Cpl., 1st Armored Division

Marvin Peters – Longmont, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-17 gunner

David Swidler – Oklahoma City; US Army, Korea

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1 January 1945

5th Air Force strafing Hayabusa Clark Field, 1945

Ringing in the new year 1945 with fireworks had a far different meaning in the Pacific and CBI Theaters than we’re used to.  It began with ______

In the Philippines – bombings of Clark Field on Luzon and Sasa on the island of Mindanao.  Wasile Bay enemy bivouac areas felt the bombardments from overhead B-24’s and B-25’s.  Manila saw the fighter-bombers as shipyards and other airfields and ammunition dumps were blown.  US Air Force planes sank the Japanese ship No. 7, Taiko Maru and No. 3, Taiwan Maru, off Masinloc, P.I.

Philippine Islands

Also in the Philippines – the USS Stingray delivered 35 tons of supplies to Filipino forces on the north coast of Tawi Tawi.   HMS Staesman sank four small Japanese vessels with gunfire northeast of Sumatra.

In the Netherland East Indies – the IJN Kyyokku Maru was sunk by a mine that was previously laif by HMN Tradewind off Mergui.

nose art from the 7th Air Force

From Saipan – The 7th Air Force had 19 B-24’s bomb Iwo Jima.  This was followed by additional bombers during the evening hours in waves.

In China – railroads, warehouses, industry and gun positions were bombed.  Suchow Airfield lost 25 aircraft.  Armed ground reconnaissance units hit between Xiaolan and Hsuchang.

Xiaolan, China indicated

India-Burma – had the tenth Air Force bombing furl dumps, villages, supply areas, tanks and enemy troops at several locations.  Four other targets of opportunity were found along the Irrawaddy River while large-scale transport operations proceeded as planned.

When we last spoke in the war posts, the 11th Airborne Division was on Leyte and still battling a well dug-in enemy in the uncharted mountains of the island.  Despite MacArthur declaring Leyte secure on Christmas Day 1944, even Gen. Robert Eichelberger said in relation to the “mopping-up” his men were left with, “The Japanese Army was still intact.  I was told there were only 6,000 Japanese left on the island…  Soon Japanese began streaming across the Ormoc Valley… well equipped and apparently well-fed.  Between Christmas Day and the end of the campaign we killed more than 27,000 Japanese…”

Col. Shofner

Col. Austin “Shifty” Shofner, USMC, [ the only man to lead a successful escape from a Japanese POW camp (1943)], was assigned to the Army’s 37th Division as an observer and boarded the USS Mount McKinley at New Guinea and sailing for Luzon.  Within a week, he would witness the onset of the Kamikaze Special Attack Force aiming their aircraft at the US Navy in Lingayen Gulf.  The future Brigadier General would assist in the planning of the rescue plans of the Cabanatuan POW camp where over 500 Allied survivors of the Bataan Death March were being held.

References used: “Pacific War” by John Davison; Pacific Wrecks; “The Pacific” by Hugh Ambrose; WW2 Timelines, World War 2 Photos and “Our Jungle Road To Tokyo” by Gen. Robert Eichelberger.

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Military Humor – 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Matthew Chialasti – LA; US Navy, Airman, LT.,KIA (Philippines, C-2A crash)

Steven Combs – FL; US Navy, LT., Aviation Boatswain’s Mate, KIA, (P.I. C-2A Greyhound crash).

Bryan Grosso – FL; US Navy, Ordnance Airman Apprentice, KIA, (P.I. C-2A Greyhound crash)

Jim Louvier – WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Lt., Fighter pilot

Greg Miller – Long Beach, CA; Utah National Guard

Delbert Nash – Tewksbury, MA; USMC, WWII, PTO, pilot

Robert Plant – ME; USMC, Korea

Robert Sellers – Dayton, OH; US Army

James Woodward – Covington, GA; US Navy, WWII

“Red” Veazey – Plainview, TX; US Navy, WWII

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Thanksgiving – Then and Now

I wish to express my thanks to each and every one of you !!

For those of you living where there is no official Thanksgiving Day – look around – family, friends, Freedom and life itself – all enough to give thanks for each day !

Thanksgiving during WWII…

They’re celebrating Thanksgiving on this very day,

My thoughts are at home, though I’m far away;

I can see everyone, eating dinner deluxe,

Whether it be chicken, turkey or even duck;

The fellows over here won’t whimper or moan,

They’ll look to the next one and hope to be home.

 

Truly and honestly, from way down deep,

They want you to be happy and enjoy your feast.

These holidays are remembered by one and all,

Those happy days we can always recall.

The ones in the future, will be happier, I know

When we all come back from defeating the foe.

_______Poem by an Anonymous WWII Veteran

Please remember the troops that gave you freedom and those that protect it each day !!

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… and please be considerate to those who may not be celebrating…

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Military Thanksgiving Humor – 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Shirley Baltz – Hammonton, NJ; US Navy WAVES, WWII

Sam Cartner – Asheville, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-24 tail gunner

Edward Ferguson – Petersburg, IL; US Army, WWII, Korea

courtesy of Cora Metz poster designs.wordpress.cm/, US Army

William Gray – Kent, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, LT., 391/366th Fighter Group. KIA

Charles ‘Hap’ Holladay – Cookeville, TN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, meterologist

Henry Karwas – MI; USMC, WWII, PTO

William Richardson – Ivey, GA; US Army, WWII, 95th Division

Melvin Stone – Portland, ME; US Army, WWII, ETO, 187th Combat Engineers

Mel Tillis – Pahokee, FL; US Air Force

Harold Tor – Huntington Beach, CA, US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division, Purple Heart

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General Joseph May Swing – Intermission Story (30)

Major General Joseph Swing

As the intermission period closes, it is only fitting that I introduce the man who lead the 11th Airborne Division.  Many called him “Uncle Joe”, but on the back of this photograph, Smitty wrote “My General.”

“A hero is a man noted for his feats of courage or nobility of purpose—especially one who has risked his life; a person prominent in some field, period, or cause by reason of his special achievements or contributions; a person of distinguished valor or fortitude; and a central personage taking an admirable part in any remarkable action or event; hence, a person regarded as a model.”

Joseph May Swing was born on 28 February 1894 in Jersey City and went to the public schools there, graduating in 1911 and entered West Point Military Academy directly.  He graduated 38th in the class of the star-studded class of 1915, famously known as “The Class the Stars Fell On.”

The 5-star generals were Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley.  The four-star (“full”) Generals in the class of 1915 were James Van Fleet and Joseph T. McNarney. The three-star (Lieutenant Generals) Generals were Henry Aurand, Hubert R. Harmon, Stafford LeRoy Irwin, Thomas B. Larkin, John W. Leonard, George E. Stratemeyer, and Joseph M. Swing. This view was taken facing south around noon on May 3, 1915.

In 1916 Lieutenant Swing was part of the punitive expedition to Mexico against Francisco Villa under the leadership of General John J. Pershing. In 1917, shortly after the US entered the war in Europe, Major Swing joined the artillery of the 1st Division in France. When he returned to the US in 1918, he became an aide-de-camp to the Army’s Chief of Staff, General Peyton C. March. On 8 July 1918, he married Josephine Mary March, the daughter of General March. Later that year, he joined the 19th Field Artillery at Fort Myer, Virginia, and in 1921 sailed for Hawaii to command the 1st Battalion of the 11th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks.

In 1925, he returned to the States and assumed command of the 9th Field Artillery at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.  He graduated with honors from the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, and in 1927 he graduated from the Command and Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. For the next four years, he was on duty in the Office of the Chief of Field Artillery in Washington, DC, and in 1933 he became chief of its war plans section. In 1935, he graduated from the Army War College in Washington and then joined the 6th Field Artillery at Fort Hoyle, Maryland.

Next, he went to Fort Sam Houston where he was the chief of staff of the 2d Division from 1938 to 1940. Later, he commanded the 82d Horse Artillery Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss, Texas and then commanded its division artillery. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1941 and at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, organized the division artillery of the 82d Division, a move which was to project him into the brand new field of “airborne.”  In Camp Claiborne, General Omar Bradley was the 82d Division commander. General Ridgway was the assistant division commander, and Colonel Maxwell D. Taylor was the chief of staff.

General Joseph M. Swing

In February of 1943, as a newly promoted major general, General Swing was assigned the task of activating the 11th Airborne Division at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, the Army’s third airborne division. Thus began for General Swing a tenure of service which was unique then and still remains a record: division commander of one division for five years, during which he activated the division, trained it, and commanded it in combat and during its subsequent occupation of Japan. During this period, General Swing and the 11th Airborne Division became synonymous; the man was the division and the division was the man.

General Swing made his mark on the Army and on the thousands of men who passed through the 11th Airborne Division in a way which those of us who were fortunate enough to serve with and have known him will never forget. His subordinates and superiors have described General Swing with numerous adjectives: forceful, energetic, courageous, self-disciplined, purposeful, farsighted, innovative, just, sentimental, short-tempered, forgiving, sincere, considerate, demanding—and with it all, handsome, erect, prematurely gray, with a lean, tanned face from which steely-blue eyes focused with incredible sharpness either to find a mistake or an accomplishment of a subordinate. General Swing fitted all of those descriptive adjectives to one degree or another; illustrations to exemplify each trait abound, particularly in the lore of the 11th Airborne Division. And as the years go by and as the men of the 11th gather at reunions, the stories about the “old man” increase and take on a sharper and more pungent flavor.

Leyte, Gen. Swing and staff on Mt.Manarawat

There is no doubt that General Swing was demanding in training, insisting on excellence, and setting and requiring the highest of standards for the 11th Airborne Division so that when it entered combat, after months of grueling training in Camp MacKall, Camp Polk, and New Guinea, the division was ready to take on the Japanese in the mud and rain across the uncharted central mountains of Leyte. Early in its combat career, it was ready to thwart a Japanese parachute attack on the division command post and nearby San Pablo airfield at Burauen, Leyte.

General Swing demonstrated his courage and vitality on that occasion by personally leading a Civil War-like attack across the airstrip with engineers, supply troops, and a glider field artillery battalion armed with carbines and rifles against the dug-in Japanese paratroopers who had had the audacity to attack the 11th Airborne from the air. In short order, the Japanese paratroopers, the elite Katori Shimpei of the Japanese forces, were routed, and the San Pablo airfield was back in the hands of the 11th Airborne Division.

_____ Condensed from a biographical article written by Edward Michael Flanagan, Jr., Lt.General, Retired

also, “The Gettysburg Daily, Wikipedia and Smitty’s scrapbook.

And this is where we left off the day by day and monthly island-hopping offense of the Pacific War.  You will be hearing often of General Swing, you might even get to admire him almost as much as Smitty did.

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Military Humor – 

‘I think it’s about time McFergle retired — he remembers the Lusitania.’

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Robert Ball – Sterling, AK; USMC, WWII, PTO

Lloyd Crouse – Columbus, OH; US Army, WWII, PTO, 251st Sta. Hospital, combat medic

Charles Dye – Flint, MI; US Army, WWII

Frank Forlini – Yonkers, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 187th/11th Airborne Division. Purple Heart

Richard Gordon – Seattle, WA; US Navy, test pilot / NASA astronaut, Gemini 11, Apollo 12 & Apollo 18

Bill Jo Hart – Fort Worth, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Flight Instructor

Alfred Jeske – Seymour, WI; US Army, WWII

Bill Mesker – Wichita, KS; US Navy, WWII

Myra Mitchell – Upalco, UT; USMC, Women’s Corps, WWII

Sterling Wood – Omaha, NE; US Army, Colonel (Ret. 30 y.), 143rd Transportation Command

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The World of Sci-fi during WWII – Intermission Story (29)

Alex Schomburg artwork

The goings-on at the home front!!

The first Golden Age of Science Fiction—often recognized in the United States as the period from 1938 to 1946—was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide public attention and many classic science fiction stories were published. In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age follows the “pulp era” of the 1920s and 1930s, and precedes New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 1970s. The 1950s are a transitional period in this scheme.

One leading influence on the creation of the Golden age was John W. Campbell, who became legendary in the genre as an editor and publisher of science fiction magazines, including Astounding Science Fiction, to the point where Isaac Asimov stated that “…in the 1940s, (Campbell) dominated the field to the point where to many seemed all of science fiction.” Under Campbell’s editorship, science fiction developed more realism and psychological depth to characterization. The focus shifted from the gizmo itself to the characters using the gizmo.

Most fans agree that the Golden Age began around 1938-39.  The July 1939 issue of Astounding Science Fiction  is frequently cited as the precise start of the Golden Age. It contains the first published story by A. E. van Vogt (the first part of The Voyage of the Space Beagle) and first appearance of Isaac Asimov (“Trends”) in “Astounding”. (Isaac Asimov was first published a few months earlier in the March edition of Amazing Stories.) Science fiction writer John C. Wright said of Van Vogt’s story, “This one started it all.”  The August issue of the same magazine contained the first published story by Robert A. Heinlein (“Life-Line”).

‘Amazing Stories’, April 1926, vol. 1, number 1.

There are other views on when the Golden Age occurred. Robert Silverberg in a 2010 essay argues that the true Golden Age was the 1950s, saying that “Golden Age” of the 1940s was a kind of “false dawn.”   “Until the decade of the fifties,” Silverberg writes, “there was essentially no market for science fiction books at all”; the audience supported only a few special interest small presses.   The 1950s saw “a spectacular outpouring of stories and novels that quickly surpassed both in quantity and quality the considerable achievement of the Campbellian golden age.”

Many of the most enduring science fiction tropes were established in Golden Age literature. Space opera came to prominence with the works of E. E. “Doc” Smith; Isaac Asimov established the canonical Three Laws of Robotics beginning with the 1941 short story “Runaround”; the same period saw the writing of genre classics such as the Asimov’s Foundation and Smith’s Lensman series. Another frequent characteristic of Golden Age science fiction is the celebration of scientific achievement and the sense of wonder; Asimov’s short story “Nightfall” exemplifies this, as in a single night a planet’s civilization is overwhelmed by the revelation of the vastness of the universe. Robert A. Heinlein’s 1950s novels, such as The Puppet Masters, Double Star, and Starship Troopers, express the libertarian ideology that runs through much of Golden Age science fiction.

The Golden Age also saw the re-emergence of the religious or spiritual themes—central to so much proto-science fiction before the pulp era—that Hugo Gernsback had tried to eliminate in his vision of “scientifiction”. Among the most significant such Golden Age narratives are Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, Clarke’s Childhood’s End, Blish’s A Case of Conscience, and Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz.

As a phenomenon that affected the psyches of a great many adolescents during World War II and the ensuing Cold War, science fiction’s Golden Age has left a lasting impression upon society. The beginning of the Golden Age coincided with the first Worldcon in 1939 and, especially for its most involved fans, science fiction was becoming a powerful social force. The genre, particularly during its Golden Age, had significant, if somewhat indirect, effects upon leaders in the military, information technology, Hollywood and science itself, especially biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry.

Information sources: Sci-fi Outpost; Futurism.media; Wikipedia; Null Entrohy.

The idea for this post was contributed by Lavinia Ross of Salmon Brook Farms.  Please visit with her and Rick!

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Military Superhero Humor – 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Johnny Anderson – Keystone, WV; US Army, WWII, PTO

Andrew Babiana – Lincoln, NE; US Navy, WWII, SeaBees

William Dickens – Palm Beach, FL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Montepelier

John Gregory – Niagara, CAN; RC Army, WWII, ETO, 10th Battery / RCAF

Robert Frances – Conshocken, PA; US Merchant Marine, WWII / US Army, Korea

Thomas Hudner – Fall River, MA; US Navy, Korea, Vietnam, USS Leyte, pilot, Captain (Ret. 30 y.), Medal of Honor, destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) christened in his honor.

Frank Jordan – Youngstown, OH; US Army, WWII, PTO

Ann Mushet – Papakura, NZ; WAAF LACW, WWII # 433027

Anthony Stefanac – Yonkers, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, Engineers

Mark Weiss – MI; US Navy, Iraq, Zanzibar, Special Warfare Lt., Bronze Star

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Drones are not a new idea – Intermission Story (28)

The Reaper Global Hawk RQ-4

Unmanned aerial vehicles, popularly known as drones, are most often associated with airstrikes in modern warfare, but their history goes much further back than that. While drones came into the spotlight during the early years of the 21st century the idea of a remotely-operated flying machine was developed much earlier. A forerunner of what we consider today to be an unmanned aerial vehicle was an Austrian balloon used during the siege of Venice in 1849.

During WWI many eccentric weapons were developed on all sides of the conflict. One was the pilotless aircraft that operated with the help of Archibald Low’s revolutionary radio controlled techniques.  The Ruston Proctor Aerial Target represented the cutting edge of drone technology in 1916. Low, nicknamed “the father of radio guidance systems,” was happy for the project to be developed further and used in kamikaze-style ramming strikes against Zeppelins.

The Kettering Bug

Another project led the way for further research of UAVs.  The Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, also known as the “Flying Bomb,” or the “Aerial Torpedo,”  went from Britain to the USA in 1917, resulting in an upgraded American version named the Kettering Bug.  Although it was considered to be a large success, the war ended before it could be utilized.

Cruise missiles, which perform under similar principles as unmanned aerial vehicles, are single use weapons. Drones are carriers and users of armament, or other equipment, depending on their given role.

After WWI there was a lot of interest in producing and improving remote-controlled flying weapons. The US Army took the initiative in further exploring such concepts.

RAE Larynx on destroyer HMS Stronghold, July 1927

After the war, three Standard E-1 biplanes were converted into UAVs. While the Americans were laying the groundwork for drones, the British Royal Navy conducted tests of aerial torpedo designs such as the RAE Larynx. In 1927 and 1929 the Larynx was launched from warships under autopilot.

DH-82 Queen Bee

Pilotless aircraft were also made as aerial targets. Among the projects used for target practice was the “DH.82B Queen Bee”. It derived from the De Havilland Tiger Moth biplane trainer which was adapted to new radio technology.  She was the first returnable and reusable.

The name “Queen Bee” is considered to have introduced the term “drone” into general use. During the 1930s the term specifically referred to radio-controlled aerial targets. Once World War II broke out, it started to represent any remotely-controlled pilotless aerial vehicle.

Reginald Denny Hobby Shop

Reginald Denny went from England to the United States in 1919, intending to become an actor in Hollywood, but he also pursued another dream. Together with his partners, he opened Reginald Denny Industries and a shop that specialized in model planes, called the Reginald Denny Hobby Shops.

OQ-2A Radioplane

The business evolved into the Radioplane Company, and Denny offered his target drones to the military. He believed the drones would be very useful, especially for training anti-aircraft crews. Denny and his company produced 15,000 target drones for the US army just before and during WWII. His most famous model was called Radioplane OQ-2.

Curtis N2C-2 target drone 1938/39

Around the same time, during the late 1930s, the US Navy developed the Curtiss N2C-2. This unmanned aerial vehicle was remotely controlled from another aircraft, which made the design revolutionary. The US Army Air Force (USAAF) also adopted this concept and started improving it. The primary use of the technology was still as target practice for AA gunmen. However, as America was preparing for war, the UAV experiments were being redirected for combat use.

In 1940 the TDN-1 assault drone was capable of carrying a 1,000-pound bomb and was deemed fit for service. It was easy to produce and passed on tests. However, the drone was too hard to control, and as complications were expected once it entered combat conditions it never saw action.

During Operation Aphrodite in 1944, some modified B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers were used as enormous aerial torpedoes, but they also failed to see wider service. They proved to be ineffective. One of the reasons why the concept was abandoned was the death of Joseph Kennedy Jr, brother of the future president, who died alongside his crewmember during one of the raids as part of Operation Aphrodite.

Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy

TOP SECRET [DECLASSIFIED]:: ATTEMPTED FIRST APHRODITE ATTACK TWELVE AUGUST WITH ROBOT TAKING OFF FROM FERSFIELD AT ONE EIGHT ZERO FIVE HOURS PD ROBOT EXPLODED IN THE AIR AT APPROXIMATELY TWO THOUSAND FEET EIGHT MILES SOUTHEAST OF HALESWORTH AT ONE EIGHT TWO ZERO HOURS PD WILFORD J. WILLY CMA SR GRADE LIEUTENANT AND JOSEPH P. KENNEDY SR GRADE LIEUTENANT CMA BOTH USNR CMA WERE KILLED PD COMMANDER SMITH CMA IN COMMAND OF THIS UNIT CMA IS MAKING FULL REPORT TO US NAVAL OPERATIONS PD A MORE DETAILED REPORT WILL BE FORWARDED TO YOU WHEN INTERROGATION IS COMPLETED :: TOP SECRET [DECLASSIFIED]

The development of pulsejet engines enabled the Germans to produce the fearsome V-1 Flying Bomb which at the time represented the pinnacle of guided missile systems. The Americans also introduced the pulsejet engine during the war, but once again only to produce target drones like the Katydid TD2D/KDD/KDH. The real boom in the UAV industry was yet to come, during the troublesome years of the Cold War.

Sources of information:Fly Historic Wings; Reuters; Nova; War History online; and Ctie.monash.edu.au “The Pioneers”

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Military Humor – 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Juan Alvardo – Pawnee, TX; US Army, WWII

Harold Biebel – Belleville, IL; US Navy, WWII, USS Frybarger

Arthur Fain – Chicago, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Trinidad Gameroz – Lincoln, NM; US Navy, WWII, ETO

John McNulty – Vancouver, CAN; RC Air Force, helicopter pilot

Donald Percy – Adams, NY; US Navy, radioman

George Purves – W. AUS; RAF; WWII, / RA Air Force, Mid-East & Vietnam

Norman Silveira – Alvarado, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 2/187th/11th Airborne Divison

William Walker – Hawkes Bay, NZ; RNZ Navy # DJX569685, WWII, ETO

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Veterans Day – 2017 – Thank You

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National Veterans Day Ceremony

The Veterans Day National Ceremony is held each year on November 11th at Arlington National Cemetery . The ceremony commences precisely at 11:00 a.m. with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns and continues inside the Memorial Amphitheater with a parade of colors by veterans’ organizations and remarks from dignitaries. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all who served in the United States Armed Forces.

National Veterans and Military Families Month – November 2017

For 98 years, Americans have remembered those who served our country in uniform on 11 November – first as Armistice Day, and then, since 1954 as Veterans Day. In this 99th year of commemoration, the Department of Veterans Affairs is broadening that tradition of observance and appreciation to include both Veterans and Military Families for the entire month of November.

• President Donald J. Trump Proclaims November 2017 as National Veterans and Military Families Month

Veterans and Family Month Calendar 2017

For more information on Veterans Month acitivtes in your area – check out the calendar below or visit your local VA facility.

• Veterans and Family Month Calendar 2017
• Veterans and Family Month Calendar 2017 — Online accessible version

 

 

Remembrance Day around the world!

Remembrance Day (sometimes known informally as Poppy Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Following a tradition inaugurated by King George V in 1919,^[1] the day is also marked by war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November in most countries to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”, in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. (“At the 11th hour” refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am.) 

Information here today is from the US Veteran’s Administration and Wikipedia.

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Military Humor – 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Albert Cheese – Hampstead, NC; USMC, 1st Sgt. (Ret. 20 y.)

Stephen Cribben – Rawlins, WY; US Army, Afghanistan, Sgt., 10th Special Forces Group, KIA

Norman Dyke – Warwickshire, ENG; RAF, WWII

Adrien Einertson – Camas, WA; US Navy, WWII

Jack Gustafson – Athabasca, CAN; RC Army, WWII, ETO

Edward Keane – Warwick, RI; US Army, 11th Airborne Division

Louis Manci – Scranton, PA; US Army, Korea, 187th ‘Rakkasans’

Charles O’Neill Jr. – Cleveland, OH; USMC, WWII, PTO

John Trudden – Broad Channel, NY; US Air Force, Korea

Tony Victor – Huntsville, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-17 gunner/radioman

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242nd USMC Birthday Message – 2017

10 November 2017 is the 242nd birthday of the United States Marine Corps, please listen to the message delivered from Guadalcanal by General Robert Neller, Commandant of the USMC and Sgt.Major Ronald Green as they address all Marines and Sailors around the world….

Click on images to enlarge.

 

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Marine Humor – 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Thomas Barclay – Duxbury, MA; USMC, Korea, 1st Marine Division, Silver Star

Robert Palmer Coles Jr. – Bronx, NY; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Chief Petty Off. radioman (Ret. 30 y.)

James Conard – Lexington, SC; USMC, Vietnam, Major (Ret. 20 y.), Purple Heart

Ray Fenstemaker – Whitehall, OH; USMC, WWII & Korea

Orlis Kennicutt – Orange Park, FL, USMC, Captain (Ret.)

Nicholas Newell – Oceanside, CA; USMC, Sgt.

James Reynolds – Savannah, GA; USMC, SSgt. (Ret.)

Eric Thomas – Portland, ME; USMC & US Coast Guard

Carroll Vorgang – Jeffersonville, IN; USMC, Korea & Vietnam, Colonel (Ret. 29 y.)

Hank Williams – Princeton, WV; USMC, GySgt. (Ret.)

Kenneth Young – Tucker, AR; USMC, WWII, PTO, Purple Heart

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WWII German POW returns to say Thanks – Intermission Story (27)

In an Oct. 3, 2017 photo, Günter Gräwe, a German POW held in Washington during World War II, bids farewell as he finishes touring a former barracks with Deputy Joint Base Commander Col. William Percival at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. (Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times via AP)

By HAL BERNTON, Seattle Times

SEATTLE (AP) — Gunter Grawe spent three years as a German prisoner of war in western Washington, a World War II incarceration he recalls not with rancor, but gratitude for the chance to “live and learn in America.”  Grawe always thought about returning to the state to say thank you.

In early October, the rail-thin veteran, now 91, did just that during a brief visit to this base, where guard towers and barbed-wire fences are long gone but some of the two-story wooden barracks that once housed German prisoners still stand.

He declared his capture by the Americans at the age of 18 “his luckiest day,” and reminisced about camp life that included English, French and Spanish classes organized by other POWs and a commissary stocked with chocolate, ice cream and Coca-Cola.

“I never had anything to complain about,” Grawe said. “No guard called us nasty names. I had a better life as a prisoner than my mother and sister back home in Germany.”

In a global conflict that resulted in the deaths of more than 60?million people — including 6?million Jewish Holocaust victims — Grawe was indeed fortunate to live to an old age denied so many others. Grawe was filled with patriotism as he went to serve in the German army but now denounces Adolf Hitler as “one arrogant, hypocritical dammed liar” who led his nation into disaster and shame.

Grawe’s trip to Joint Base Lewis-McChord was arranged with the help of HistoryLink.org, a Seattle-based online encyclopedia that chronicles the state’s past.   “We have a list of those who were pro-Nazi, and he was not on it,” said Duane Denfield, a historian who works as a JBLM contractor.

Grawe’s military career started in Latvia, where he went through training for what appeared to be an assignment to the Eastern Front to fight a resurgent Russian army. If Josef Stalin’s forces had captured him, he likely would have been sent to a labor camp, where harsh conditions killed many.

But then Allied forces invaded France, and the Germans scrambled to try to slow their advance toward Paris with fresh reinforcements.  Grawe was transferred to Normandy, where he served in a tank unit that was quickly overwhelmed by the U.S. and British armies.

“It was a terrible fight in Normandy — it wasn’t what we expected, and we were young and inexperienced,” Grawe said.

Grawe said he realized how well things had turned out as he was put on the ocean liner Queen Mary for the voyage to America. He had comfortable quarters and most important — ample meals — served on metal trays.  Next, he took a train ride across America to what was then Fort Lewis.  At the Army post south of Tacoma, barracks vacated by U.S. troops were turned into prison quarters for some 4,000 German POWs at five locations.

Fort Lewis (now part of the joint base) was part of a much broader POW prison-camp network of some 500 sites across the country that held 400,000 Germans. Overall, historians say these prisoners were treated well. Some Germans even referred to their camp as a “golden cage,” according to Michael Farquhar, who wrote a 1997 article about the POWs for The Washington Post.

German POW’s work on a farm.

 The POWs’ relative comfort angered some wartime Americans who had lost their loved ones to German troops. But they did have to work, providing labor at a time when the massive troop mobilization made it hard to find enough people to bring in the nation’s crops.

Grawe traveled by truck from Fort Lewis to help in apple, sugar-beet and potato harvests.  Later, he was transferred to Arizona to bring in cotton.  He recalled his farm labor as a real adventure that earned him an 80-cents-a-day salary to buy things at the commissary.

Through his years as a prisoner, Grawe says he came to love America.

But his first loyalties were to Germany. As a boy, he participated in Hitler Youth.  He joined the army as what he calls a “young idealistic soldier” who thought it “right to fight for an honest and upright fatherland” just like his father, a plumber turned soldier who died in the war in 1940.

Grawe says he first learned of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps while a prisoner in America. He initially brushed off the news as propaganda because it was conveyed by a U.S. officer. When he wrote home to his mother and sister, they replied it was true.

In 1947, two years after Germany’s unconditional surrender, Grawe was released.  In the postwar era, as the German economy surged, Grawe prospered.  Through the decades, he returned to the U.S. several times to vacation. But only after his wife died in 2016 did he make up his mind to return to Washington state.

On Oct. 3, a brilliant fall day, Grawe arrived at JBLM. He brought his electric bike, determined to ride the final distance — a little over a mile — to the old camp site. On each side of his bike’s rear wheel hung a sign: “USA, the country and its people, you are my first and final love!”

At the blacktop by the barracks, he looked around somewhat uncertainly. He recalled a barren site. This place was full of fir trees that had grown up in the seven decades since the prisoners had gone home.

Gunter Grawe

He was greeted by the base’s deputy joint commander, Col. William Percival, who offered a handshake, and later a hug inside a building now empty and bare of furniture.

 “You remind us that . how you treat somebody defines who we are,” Percival said. “There are times, even today, when we may want to forget that.  And you let us know that’s a lesson not to be forgotten.”  Grawe then went for lunch at a base dining hall.

He piled his plate full of a noodle casserole, and sat down to eat one more ample meal served up by the U.S. Army. This time, as a free man.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Military Humor – by: Bill Mauldin 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Michael Aiello – St. Louis, MO; US Army, WWII, SSgt., KIA

Robert Blakeley – Jacksonville, FL; USMC

Vincent Burns – Athol, MA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO

Richard Cavazos – San Antonio, TX; US Army, Vietnam, BGeneral

Walter Hackenberg – Middleburg, PA; US Army, Korea, POW, KIA

Duane Hackney – Flint, MI; US Air Force, Vietnam, (most decorated airman in U.S. history)

Charlie Laine – Broad Channel, NY; US Navy, WWII

David McElroy – Brookline, MA; US Coast Guard, WWII, Yeoman

William Parham – Bedford, IN; US Navy, WWII, PTO

Jacob Sims – OK & Juneau, AK; US Army, Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer, KIA

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