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U.S. Air Force 72nd Birthday
The official birthday for the US Air Force is 18 September 1947 as enacted under the National Security Act of 1947.
HIGH FLIGHT
by: John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed
and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of –
Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flug
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delicious burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
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Military Humor – Air Force Style –
They won’t be singing “Love Shack”!
Maybe “What ya gonna do, send me to McMurdo?” wasn’t the best comeback to the Colonel.
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Farewell Salutes –
Akika A. Abe – Oakland, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, G-2, 11th Airborne Division
Charles Brannan (103) – Meade, KS; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-24 pilot / Korea & Vietnam, Lt. Col. (Ret. 31 y.)
Michael Dux – Denver, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-25 flight engineer / State Dept.
‘Last Flight’, by Rhads
Jeremy Griffin – Cristobal, PAN; US Army, Afghanistan, 3/1st Special Forces Group, KIA
Carl Kalwaitis – Elkton, VA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
Robert McClelland – Gilmer, TX; US Air Force, surgeon
Auburn Smith – Picayune, MS; US Army Air Corps, WWII, paratrooper
Robert Werschey – Licoln, NE; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Charles Whisenant – Washington D.C.; US Navy, WWII, aircraft mechanic
John Yaeger (100) – White Sulphur Springs, WV; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Captain
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79th U.S. Airborne Birthday
16 August, National Airborne Day
The history of United States Airborne Forces did not begin on the training fields of Fort Benning, Georgia, as some believe. In fact, the origin of Airborne Forces in the U.S. military began with a familiar name to American military history, Brigadier General William L. “Billy” Mitchel (1879-1936).
As well as being considered the spiritual father of the United States Air Force, which he advocated for fiercely during his tenure in the military, BG Mitchell was the first to imagine airborne tactics and sought the creation of U.S. Airborne Forces.
BGeneral Billy Mitchell, the father of the U.S. Airborne
It is not recorded exactly when he organized a demonstration of Airborne Infantry for U.S., Russian and German observers. However, according to records at Ft. Benning, Georgia, it is confirmed that BG Mitchell held the demonstration “shortly after World War I” at Kelly Field, in San Antonio, Texas. During the demonstration, six soldiers parachuted from a Martin Bomber. After landing safely, the soldiers assembled their weapons and were ready for action in less than three minutes after they exited the aircraft.
11th Airborne Division, 1943 Yearbook
Reprinted and broadcast countless times, High Flight is regarded as one of the world’s great war poems and the greatest anthem of aviation. It is the official poem of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force. First year cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy are required to memorize it. Extracts have been quoted in a variety of occasions. The most famous example occurred on Jan. 28, 1986, when President Ronald Reagan, speaking of the Challenger, Space Shuttle disaster, closed his address with the sentence: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of Earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”
11th A/B trooper Wiiliam Carlisle on the cover of “Yank”
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air . . .
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew –
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
– Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
11th Airborne Division Chapel
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Military (Airborne) Humor –
ATTA BOY!!
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Farewell Salutes –
John Astin – Mise, MS; US Army, MSgt. # 39111 (Ret. 21 y.), 82nd & 101st Airborne, 187th RCT Airborne
Ronald Boyd Sr. – Massillon, OH; US Army, 82nd Airborne Division, Green Beret
Booby Frier – Lubbock, TX; US Army, Vietnam, 82nd Airborne Division
James Glidewell – Springfield, MO; US Army, Korea, MSgt. 187th Regimental Combat Team Airborne
William Herring – Woodville, FL; US Army, 173rd Airborne Division
Scott A. Koppenhafer – Mancos, CO; USMC, Iraq, GySgt., Force Recon Marines, KIA
Frank Krhovsky – Grand Rapids, MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 511/11th Airborne Division
Archie McInnes (100) – UK; RAF, WWII, ETO, 601 & 238 Squadrons, pilot
Michael Wood – ID; US Army, MSgt., 7th Special Forces, Afghanistan / FBI
Thomas Yarborough – Jacksonville, FL; US Army, Korea, 187th Regimental Combat Team Airborne
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The U.S. Marine Corps in China – part II
China 1945
In the meantime, the 29th Marine Regiment, 6th Division was supposed to have landed at Chefoo, but plans had to be changed. The communists had already seized the city, and they were extremely uncooperative. And so it was that young private Stevens and the 29th Marines found themselves at Tsingtao (now Qingdao), a port on China’s Yellow Sea coast.
In the early afternoon of October 11, 1945, the first Marines landed at Tsingtao. When the main body arrived on October 15, they were given a tumultuous welcome by the Chinese population. Private Stevens tried to learn a few words of Chinese on the trip. When Colonel Roston, the battalion commander, heard that Stevens “knew Chinese”—a great exaggeration —he appointed the young leatherneck as official interpreter. Stevens did his best, even though all he knew were a few stock phrases like, “Do you have your own rice bowl?”
Marines in China
Tsingtao was a fascinating city, but some aspects took some getting used to. Ragged beggars swarmed through the streets, a number that included many impoverished children. In fact, Private Stevens’ own outfit, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 29th Marines, unofficially adopted a little Chinese beggar who they nicknamed “Little Lew.” He was cleaned, fed, and dressed in cut-down Marine uniform items.
But elsewhere in China the news was not so heartwarming. Chiang had made a major tactical mistake that would ultimately cause his regime to collapse. The generalissimo concentrated on winning back Manchuria, in the process withdrawing many of his troops from northern China. This created a power vacuum that the communist Chinese were all too happy to fill. Tsingtao became a Nationalist “island” in a communist-dominated Shantung Province “sea.”
Even in Hubei Province the communists were suspicious and generally uncooperative. Marine Brig. Gen. William Worton had a meeting with Zhou En-lai, later famous as Mao’s right hand man and foreign minister for the People’s Republic of China. Zhou was a brilliant diplomat, and he made it clear that the communists would fight hard to prevent the Marines from entering Peiping.
Worton was not intimidated, even after a stormy hour with Zhou. He pointed out that the IIIAC was a battle-hardened unit with superior air power support. He was not looking for trouble, but his Marines could push through any opposition if they had to. Zhou En-lai had met his match, and he withdrew after insisting he would have Marine orders “changed.” The Marines arrived in Peiping without major incident.
American Marines armed with a Browning .30-caliber water-cooled machine gun and other light weapons pose during efforts to evacuate former Japanese Army personnel after their surrender in China following World War II.
The formal surrender of the 10,000-man Tsingtao Japanese garrison took place on October 25, 1945. The whole Marine 6th Division was on hand for the ceremony, conducted by division commander Maj. Gen. Lemuel Shepard and Chinese Nationalist General Chen Chao-Tsang. However, some Japanese troops were still needed to help keep the major rail lines open in Shantung. There were not enough Marines or Nationalist troops to guard all the railroads.
Even so, Marines often found themselves in the role of train guards, one of the most dangerous assignments in China. Winters were bitterly cold in China, and the great city of Shanghai, a metropolis of three million souls, needed a constant stream of northern coal to keep it going. Shanghai needed 100,000 tons of coal a month, so Marine riflemen, shivering from the icy blasts than swept in from the Gobi Desert, stood guard to keep the trains running.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Jacob Alphen – Green Valley, AZ; US Navy, WWII
Gerald Bruno – North Andover, MA; US Army, Korea, 82nd Airborne Division
Greg Farison – Columbia, SC; US Army, Vietnam, 1st Cavalry Division
John Gill – Huron, OH; US Navy, WWII & Korea, Lt. Commander
Charles Jackson – Camillus, NY; Merchant Marines, WWII / US Army, Korea
Cecilia Krulikowski – Yeadon, PA; US Army WAC, WWII, Medical Tech, ETO
Ervin Licko – Chicago, IL; USMC, WWII & Korea
Ian Michie – Toronto, CAN; RC Navy, WWII & Korea
Allen Penrod – Dunmor, KY; US Air Force, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, CMSgt. (Ret. 29 y.)
Richard Wenneson – Fredericksburg, VA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/511/11th Airborne Division
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11th Airborne – Movin’ On
Smitty in Japan
This photograph was signed by two of my father’s buddies, John S. Lodero and Phil Martorano, both of Brooklyn, New York. Smitty (Everett Smith) is circled, but which two men are John and Phil is unknown.
When the SCAP Headquarters was set up in Tokyo, MacArthur was determined to create a “Peaceful and responsible government…” He also had to administer to a nation with nearly 70 million near-starving civilians and a constantly growing population of soldiers. The Japanese made the transition of being under one totalitarian rule to another quite easily and the general proceeded to supervise the writing and implementation of a new constitution. This was adopted in 1947, retaining the Emperor as a constitutional monarch and reestablished the primacy of the Diet. The zaibatu industrial combines were broken up and women were given rights.
Smitty’s brochures
The 11th Airborne was amazed by the change of attitude of the populace; without ever having actually been invaded, the Americans were being accepted. It made their future missions so much easier to accomplish. The Americal Division relieved the 11th Airborne on 14 September at their present locations and the following day, they began moving out by truck and railroad to their newly assigned zones in northern Honshu. Gen. Swing requested Gen. Dorn, who had served with Gen. Stilwell in China, to head the convoy.
In the Sendai area and billeted at the Japanese arsenal [name to be changed to Camp Schimmelpfennig, [named after the chief of staff who was killed in combat] were the – Division Headquarters, 127th Engineers, 408th Quartermaster, 711th Ordnance, 511th Signal, 221st Medical, Parachute Maintenance and the 187th and 188th regiments. The 511th went to Morioka [ name would be changed to Camp Haugen, for their leader killed in combat], the 457th and the 152d moved to Akita, the 472d went to Yamagata, the 674th was divided and sent to Jimmachi and Camp Younghans and the 675th went to Yonezawa.
In the Sendai area, Japanese authorities turned over hotels in the Matsushima area for officer’s quarters and their staff, which explains how Smitty came home with these beautiful brochures you will see pictured here. If you click on and enlarge the photo, you can see where Smitty pointed to the sort of room he was given.
Smitty’s room (bottom-right)
At one point while moving supplies, Eli Bernheim (S-4 Section of the 187th reg.), remembered the convoy of 40 Japanese charcoal burning trucks always breaking down and they became lost. The interpreter and Eli took out their map and became surrounded by curious townspeople. Eli slung his rifle over his shoulder and they scattered. The interpreter suggested laying the weapon down, the civilians regrouped and began touching his hair – turns out they had never seen an American before.
I suppose the word must have spread, because after that incident, the convoy was warmly greeted in every town they passed through. Once in their respective areas, the first priority was living conditions and the Japanese barracks were primitive with ancient plumbing and sewage deposited in reservoirs to be picked up later by farmers and used as fertilizer. The division historian recorded that of all the traffic accidents within the 11th A/B’s zone, NO trooper was ever guilty of hitting one of those “honey carts.”
General Swing made General Pierson commander of the 187th and 188th joint group which became known as the Miyagi Task Force. They set up their headquarters in an insurance company building in Sendai. The principle responsibility of the Miyagi Task Force was to collect and destroy all arms, munitions and armament factories. They were also charged with seeing that General MacArthur’s edicts were all carried out. Many of the military installations had underground tunnels filled with drill presses and machine tools of all types. The entire zone needed to be demilitarized and equipment destroyed. Colonel Tipton discovered a submarine base for the two-man subs and a small group of men still guarding them. They told the colonel that they just wanted to go home.
Smitty’s next move
Inside this brochure my father wrote, “No liquor here so didn’t have to go behind the bar, we drank our own. This is where I had my first real hot bath since coming overseas.”
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Vernon Bly – Beaver Creek, MN; US Navy, WWII, / USNR, Lt. Comdr. (Ret.)
Charles Byers – Santa Barbara, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, TSgt., 385/551 Bomb Squadron, Purple Heart
Francis Cooney – Providence, RI; US Army, WWII, PTO, SSgt.
Nick Frank – Canton, OH; US Army, 11th Airborne Division, Armed Forces Press
John Hall – Natick, MA; US Merchant Marines / US Navy, WWII, Pto, Midshipman, USS Brill
Gregory Kristof – ID; US Navy, USS Rankin
Byron Otto – Bradenton, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/457 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Michael Stickley – Broad Channel, NY; US Army, Vietnam
James Thornberry – TN; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Elmer Upton – Port St. Lucie, MD; US Navy, WWII
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September 1945 in Japan
Dai Ichi Building in Tokyo flying both the American and United Nations flags
Soon after the official surrender of Japan, General MacArthur moved his headquarters into the Dai Ichi building in Tokyo. At noon, 8 September 1945, on the terrace of the U.S. Embassy, he met an honor guard from the 1st Calvary Division; they held the Stars and Stripes that had flown over the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. on 7 December 1941 – Pearl Harbor Day. As the red, white and blue began to rise… MacArthur said, “General Eichelberger, have our country’s flag unfurled and in Tokyo’s sun let it wave its full glory as a symbol of hope for the oppressed and as a harbinger of victory for the right.”
Hideki Tojo
Immediately after the ceremony, Major Paul Kraus and his MPs and a throng of reporters, (including George Jones of the New York Times) surrounded the home of Hideki Tojo. The general shot himself in the chest before anyone could enter his office. The bullet missed his heart. At the 48th Evacuation Hospital, he told Gen. Eichelberger, “I am sorry to have given General Eichelberger so much trouble.” The general asked, “Do you mean tonight or the last few years?” The answer was, “Tonight. I want General Eichelberger to have my new saber.”
Prince Konoye – 3 times Premier of Japan lies dead
The night before Prince Konoye was to be sent to Sugamo Prison, he drank poison and died. (I personally feel that the prince might have been acquitted of war criminal charges at the trials. He had tried for years to bring peace, his mistake being, his having chosen the Soviets as mediators and Stalin blocked him at every step.)
In reply of Allied and liberated Japanese press opinions of the Emperor, MacArthur was determined not to humiliate him: “To do so,” the general said, “would be to outrage the feelings of the Japanese people and make a martyr of the Emperor in their eyes.” As a student of Asian cultures, he proved to be correct. It would take two weeks, but the Emperor requested an interview with the general himself.
MacArthur and Hirohito meeting
His Majesty arrived in his ancient limousine with Grand Chamberlain Fujita and was met with a salute from General Bonner F. Fellers. When Fellers’ hand dropped, the Emperor grabbed it. An interpreter quickly explained that the Emperor was happy to see him. Fellers replied, “I am honored to meet you. Come in and meet General MacArthur.” Nervously, Hirohito allowed himself to be escorted up the staircase to the general’s office.
Trying to ease the tension, MacArthur told him he had been presented to his father, Emperor Taisho, after the Russian-Japanese War and offered Hirohito an American cigarette. The Emperor’s hand shook as it was lit and the general then dismissed everyone except the interpreter. The conversation before an open fire was observed, unknowingly, by Mrs. MacArthur and their son, Arthur who hid behind the long red drapes.
Emperor Hirohito rides at the imperial palace in 1940 wearing the uniform of commander in chief of Japanese forces. Associated Press
The emperor had been forewarned not to assume any responsibility for the war, but he did just that.”I come to you, General MacArthur, to offer myself to the judgment of the powers you represent as the one to bear sole responsibility for every political and military decision made and action taken by my people in the conduct of this war.”
MacArthur freely admitted being moved “to the marrow of my bones. He was an Emperor by inherent birth, but in that instant I knew I faced the First Gentleman of Japan in his own right.”
The Japanese acknowledged, without reservations, the temporal power of the current shogun, but revered what was eternal. (The Imperial Palace)
Resources: U.S. Signal Corps; “The Rising Sun” by John Toland; Gene Slover’s US Navy Papers; historyinanhour.com
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
“Cover me Johnson… I’ve got to Tweet this.”
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Farewell Salutes –
Elton Barber – Buckley, WA; US Navy, WWII, ETO, USS Chester
Robert “Sam” Carlson – MS; US Army Air Corps, WWII
THANKS Veterans for walking the walk!
Eugene Duffy – Beach Grove, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. A/127 Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Willard Dykes – Meridian, ID; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Albert Green – Sandy, OR; US Army, Korea, Co. G/187th RCT
James Heflin – Memphis, TN; USMC, WWII, PTO
Alice Jefferson – Stoneham, MA; US Coast Guard SPAR, WWII, Commander (Ret. 25 y.)
David Kesler – Berthoud, CO; US Navy, WWII, Baker 2nd Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA, (Pearl Harbor)
Robert Spence – Montreal, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII
Benjamin Starr – Montgomery, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII
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D-Day from a different view
German POWs
On 6 June 1944, Milton Roger Sosin, a seasoned reporter, took a ride up the south shore of Lake Okeechobee, Florida. Overnight, the long anticipated invasion of Europe had begun.
The Miami Daily News was in search of local reactions from people in Florida – Sosin was assigned to talk to Germans. Not German-Americans, and some weren’t too far away.
Milton Sosin, Miami Herald reporter
In May of 1943, Allied forces had begun to ship German POWs to the United States, more than 9,000 were sent to Florida’s 22 prisoner of war camps. Near Clewiston, FL, was Liberty Point and Sosin was on his way.
On that warm day, he drove up U,S. 27, past pastures and farm land. When he got to Liberty Point, prisoners were marching in from the fields, in formation, their shovels slung over their shoulders like rifles.
The draft had decimated the American labor force and disrupted the usual flow of Caribbean workers, so the Germans were put to work planting and harvesting sugar cane.
The Germans were happy to talk. Yes, they had heard of the invasion, on radios the camp commander had bought them from what they earned running a canteen at the camp. Enough of the POWs spoke English to translate the broadcasts to the rest.
June 1944 Headlines
The POWs told Sosin the reports were propaganda. Germany, they said, surely would prevail. Sosin’s story headline read, “Arrogant Nazis still laud Hitler. Der Fuehrer’s Forces Think Germany Will Win The War.”
Sosin described the prisoners as “jaunty, confident and arrogant members of Der Fuerhrer’s forces – not cowed and beaten soldiers of a nation being pushed into a tighter and tighter circle.”
But their Glade home was no picnic for the fair-skinned men. When the American Red Cross showed up, the temperature was 103°F and it had not rained for 6 months. Prisoners worked long, hard hours, but the Americans could feel no sympathy for them – they knew what U.S. POWs in Germany were going through.
German prisoner buys candy at the canteen
The prisoners were paid 80 cents a day in coupons which they traded for cigarettes and beer. Barracks held 6-men each and had mosquito netting. They were served the same meals as their American camp guards. Nearly 300 POWs fished in the local canals, saw films twice a week and assembled a band using instruments bought with their canteen money.
German POWs play chess
Prisoners had newspapers, took educational courses, played soccer and volley ball at a nearby school and competed against a local softball team. But when the POWs went on strike whining over a cigarette ration cut – the army handed down a “No Work – NO Eat.” policy.
The prisoner’s had a social structure loosely split among the elite Afrika Korps captured in 1942; troops in Italy ’43-’44; and those captured after D-Day. The Afrika Korps officers refused to believe what the new arrivals reported about the Normandy beaches and believed they were spies trying to demoralize them. The korps prisoners would lord over the other POWs, doling out discipline and punishments.
Escaped German POW
Some tried to escape, but Florida was not the easiest place to go on the lam. Most did not go very far.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Ralph Brown – Maori Hill, NZ; RNZ Air Force # 424421, WWII
Paul ‘Bud’ Erlacher Jr. – Milford, CT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Sgt. Medical Corps
Lee Holstein – Laguna Woods, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. B/187/11th Airborne Division
Durwood Johnson – Cravens, LA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-17 tail-gunner
John Knaur – Des Moines, IA; US Navy, WWII, steamfitter, USS Amycus
Jack Maddox (100) – GA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, crew chief, 62 FS/56FG/8th Air Force
Newton Nelson – River Falls, WI; US Navy, WWII & Korea
Harry Siria – Thompson Falls, MT; US Navy, WWII, PTO, fire ship
Otho ‘Coke’ Wiseman – NM; US Army, WWII, ETO, Purple Heart
Elvin Zipf – Pompton Plains, NJ; US Navy, WWII, air corps
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Armed Forces Day – 18 May 2019
18 MAY, 2019, BEING ANOTHER PART OF MILITARY APPRECIATION MONTH, IS CALLED ARMED FORCES DAY.
THE FIRST ARMED FORCES DAY WAS CELEBRATED 29 MAY 1950 (one month before the start of the Korean War). ARMED FORCES WEEK BEGINS ON THE 2ND SATURDAY OF MAY AND ENDS THRU THE 3RD SATURDAY. Due to their unique schedules, the NATIONAL GUARD & THE RESERVE units may celebrate this at any time during the month.
18 May 2019
PRESIDENT DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER, 1953 – “Today let us, as Americans, honor the American fighting man. For it is he or she – the soldier, the sailor, the Airman, the Marine – who has fought to preserve freedom.”
If you do NOT normally fly your flag everyday, make this day one that you do! Even a small one 
sitting in your window shows your heartfelt feelings toward our troops.
If you are not from the U.S., tell us about the days you honor your military in the fight for freedom – help us to learn by sharing.
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Military Humor –
‘Every war game scenario I’ve run has you picking up the check.’
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Farewell Salutes-
Michael Andrews – Altoona, PA; US Navy, WWII
Charles Drapp – Piqua, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQ Co/511/11th Airborne Division
William Dunn – Dunning, NE; US Army, Korea
Gerald Golden – Graceville, FL; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division
Orville Levengood – Lewiston, MO; US Navy, WWII
Sam Mitsui – Sky Komish, WA; Tule Lake internee / US Army, 4th Infantry Division
Mary Olson – OH; US Navy WAVES, WWII, Instrument Flight Instructor
Frank Perkins – Farmer’s Branch, TX; US Army, Vietnam, 82nd & 101st A/B divisions, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, 1st Sgt. (Ret. 20 y.)
William Schmatz – Bronx, NY; US Army, Korea, 82nd Airborne Division
Russell Tetrick – Redwood Falls, MN; USMC, WWII, PTO
Wibert Woolard – Gastonia, NC; US Army, WWII
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Home Front – Wartime Recipes (3)
We discussed rationing and we’ve discussed just how well our parents and grandparents ate – despite the rationing and time of war when all the “good” stuff was going overseas to the troops! So …. as promised, here are some more of the wonderful recipes from the 1940’s.
Please thank Carolyn on her website for putting these delicious meals on-line!
Recipe 61: Chocolate biscuits & chocolate spread
Recipe 62: Curried potatoes
Recipe 63: Vegetable pasties
Recipe 64: Wheatmeal pastry
Recipe 65: Homemade croutons
Recipe 66: Quick vegetable soup
Recipe 67: Fruit Shortcake
Recipe 68: Cheese potatoes
Recipe 69: Lentil sausages
Recipe 70: Root vegetable soup
Recipe 71: Sausage rolls
Recipe 72: Eggless ginger cake
Bubble n’ squeak #78
Recipe 73: Mock duck
Recipe 74: Cheese sauce
Recipe 75: Duke pudding
Recipe 76: Potato scones
Recipe 77: Cheese, tomato and potato loaf/pie
Recipe 78: Bubble and squeak
Recipe 79: Belted leeks
Recipe 80: Lord Woolton Pie- Version 2
Recipe 81: Beef and prune hotpot
Recipe 82: Prune flan
Recipe 83: Butter making him-front style
Recipe 84: Mock apricot flan
Recipe 85: Corned beef with cabbage
Recipe 86: Oatmeal pastry
Apple brown Betty # 90
Recipe 87: Gingerbread men
Recipe 88: Carolyn’s mushroom gravy
Recipe 89: Jam sauce
Recipe 90: Brown Betty
Recipe 91: Middleton medley
Recipe 92: Rolled oat macaroons
Recipe 93: Anzac biscuits
Recipe 94: Beef or whalemeat hamburgers
Recipe 95: Lentil soup
Recipe 96: Welsh claypot loaves
Recipe 97: Chocolate oat cakes
Recipe 98: Wartime berry shortbread
Recipe 99: Oatmeal soup
Recipe 100: Mock marzipan
Click on images to enlarge.
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Home Front Humor –
“I understand you’ve been riveting in your name and address.”
“Father, would not the best way to conduct the war be to let the editors of the newspaper take charge of it?”
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Farewell Salutes –
John Albert – So. Greensburg, PA; US Navy, WWII, air patrol
Phillip Baker – San Marcos, TX; US Army Pvt., 101st Airborne Division
The Old Guard
George Carter – Crete, IL; US Navy, WWII & Korea, SeaBee
George Ebersohl – Madison, WI; US Army, WWII, ETO, medic
Hugh Ferris – Muncie, IN; US Army, WWII, ETO, 99th Infantry
Ambrose Lopez – CO; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Wake Island
Robert Parnell – Hampshire, ENG; British Army, WWII, ETO, 6th Airborne Division
James Swafford – Glencoe, AL; US Army, WWII, Purple Heart
Floyd Totten – Umatilla, FL; US Army, Korea, Co. B/187th RCT
Louis Ventura – Turlock, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 188th/11th Airborne Division
Dexter – The Last US Naval Horse
Naval Square, Philadelphia, PA, the 24-acre plot of land on Grays Ferry Avenue has been associated with the Navy since 1827 and has the unusual distinction of being the final resting place of Dexter, the Navy’s last working horse.
The Philadelphia Naval Asylum, a hospital, opened there in 1827.
From 1838 until 1845, the site also served as the precursor to the U.S. Naval Academy, until the officers training school opened in Annapolis with seven instructors, four of them from Philadelphia.
In 1889, its name was changed to the Naval Home to reflect its role as a retirement home for old salts, as they used to call retired sailors.
It was in the service of the Naval Home that Dexter came to Philadelphia.
Originally an Army artillery horse foaled in 1934, Dexter was transferred to the Navy in 1945 to haul a trash cart around the Naval Home.
Despite his lowly duties, the men — only men lived there — loved him.
“That horse was more human than animal,” Edward Pohler, chief of security at the home, told the Inquirer in 1968. “He had the run of the grounds and would come to the door of my office every day to beg for an apple or a lump of sugar.”
The chestnut gelding was retired in 1966 and sent to a farm in Exton, but that did not last long. Naval Home residents who missed him committed to paying the $50 monthly bill for his feed and care.
For two years he grazed on a three-acre field that residents dubbed Dexter Park.
But on July, 11, 1968, Dexter, who had stopped eating and was not responding to medication, died at the age of 34 in his stall with a little human intervention to make it pain-free.
The next day, 400 people, including Navy men in dress uniform, turned out for a burial with full military honors.
Dexter was placed in a casket measuring 9 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, with an American flag draped on the top. Retired Rear Adm. M.F.D. Flaherty, the home’s governor, offered final words, saying, “Dexter was no ordinary horse.”
As the casket was lowered by a crane into the 15-foot-deep grave, Gilbert Blunt rolled the drum and Jerry Rizzo played “Taps” on his trumpet. Members of the honor guard folded the flag into a triangle of white stars on a blue field and presented it to Albert A. Brenneke, a retired aviation mechanic and former farm boy from Missouri who was Dexter’s groom.
Brenneke recalled Dexter fondly, saying the horse was “very gentle and playful” and “liked to nibble on you,” according to news coverage of the funeral.
Three acres of the grounds were designated “Dexter Park” and Dexter was buried there. The naval home was re-located to Mississippi in the 1970’s.
According to the December 1968 issue of the Navy magazine All Hands, a retired 16-year-old Fairmount Park Police horse named Tallyho took up residence at the Naval Home after Dexter’s death.
But, unlike Dexter, Tallyho, a bay gelding, was a gift to the home’s residents and did not receive an official Navy serial number.
“As was the case with Dexter, Tallyho’s only duty will be to contribute to the happiness of the men who share their retirement with him at the U.S. Naval Home,” the magazine said.
What happened to Tallyho after he went to the Naval Home is not clear.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
UH_OH !!
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Farewell Salutes –
Howard Acord – Frankfort, OH; US Navy, WWII, PTO, LST-1135
T. Moffit Burris – SC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
William Davis – Scottsdale, AZ; US Army, WWII, ETO
Lawrence Greenhouse – Syracuse, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Alva Jackson Cremean – Madera, CA; USMC, WWII, KIA (Pearl)
Charlene Kelly – Spokane, WA; Civilian, aircraft dispatcher, Spokane Army Air Field
Willie Lawrence – Camden, AL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS St. Louis, (Ret. 20 y.)
Joseph Pigeon – Wausau, WI; US Army, WWII, ETO, 555th Heavy Pontoon Batt/Corps of Engineers
Sheldon ‘Mike’ Rosenkranz – Miami, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Dorothy Weichman – Plainfield, NJ; Civilian, Red Cross, WWII
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Havoc on the Home Front Impacted Christmas
Female Santa of the 1940’s
From: “The Voice of the Angels”, 11th Airborne newspaper, vol. 201
Fewer men at home resulted in fewer men available to dress up and play Santa Claus. Women served as substitute Santas at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City and at other department stores throughout the United States.
During WWII Christmas trees were in short supply because of lack of manpower to cut the tress down and a shortage of railroad space to ship the trees to market. Americans rushed to buy American-made Visca artificial trees. The electric lights that were designed in the 1940’s are still in use today.
Artificial tree in 1942 Sears catalog.
Travel during the holidays was limited for most families due to the rationing of tires and gasoline. Americans saved up their food ration stamps to provide extra food for a fine holiday meal.
Vintage Christmas
Many ornaments were made with aluminum and tin, a highly rationed item. As a result, families opted to make their own ornaments. Magazines provided ideas and patterns especially designed for non-priority war materials, such as paper, string and things found in the backyard.
Popular hand-blown German-made ornaments, as well as exotic Japanese-made ornaments, were thrown away with the outbreak of the war in support of their soldiers. The Corning Glass Company, out of New York, started to make ornaments in response to this occurrence.
Unsilvered Corning ornaments.
Not only did the population feel better about using American-made decorations, but also Corning could make more ornaments in a minute than it would take a German glass blower in one day.
Vintage tree turner
These 1940’s unsilvered glass Christmas ornaments were made for a less than 3 year period during WWII, when silvering agents were unavailable for consumer products. The box itself is the earliest Shiny Brite red and tan version. Many war ornaments had paper caps due to metal shortages.
Some people wanted a snowy look on their trees so their solution was to mix LUX soap powder with water and then brush the branches with the concoction.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
Helicopter-reindeer season!
Barbara Haddock Taylor} [Sun Photographer] #9306
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Farewell Salutes –
Lemuel Apala – Wilson, OK; US Army, WWII, ETO, Sgt Major
William Bluhm – Chicago, IL; US Army, WWII, Signal Corps, Bronze Star
“Man at the Wall”
James Bray – Huntsville, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co C/457 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
“Tony” Louviere Sr. – Norco, LA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 101st Airborne Division
Avis McCormick – Auckland, NZ; WRNZNS WREN # 511, WWII
Michael Norelli – Albany, NY; US Navy, WWII, PTO, SeaBee
Dillard Pierce – Louisville, KY; US Army, WWII, Tech 5, 313th Combat Engineer Battalion
Fulton Singleton – Parsonsburg, MD; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. F/127th Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Robb Travis – Peoria, AZ; US Navy, WWII, USS Hollandia
Jim Wilson – Corriganville, MD; US Air Force, Vietnam, MSgt., (The Man at the Wall)
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