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Current News – Lee Greenwood & the Air Force Band Singing Sergeants
Home Free – Greenwood & the Air Force Band Singing Sergeants
The traditional rendition of country music singer Lee Greenwood’s iconic “God Bless the U.S.A.,” already has a broad appeal as an uplifting song inspiring patriotism and love of country.
It’s likely you have listened to the song in recent days as Americans celebrated the 244th birthday of our nation on Independence Day.
But a stirring new version of the song that features members of the U.S. Air Force Band joining Greenwood and a cappella group Home Free has been produced that might just blow you away.
Recordings were done during the corona virus pandemic in studios in Nashville, Tenn., Los Angeles, Calif., Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis, Minn. There are no guitars, drums, keyboards, but the sound is unbelievably full and strong.
If you like a cappella, and if you’re a fan of military members in uniform with a talent to sing, you will very likely love this new rendition of a song that has been a perennial favorite since 1984.
Give it a listen. We got this article and song from “Stars & Stripes”
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Military Humor – from Stars & Stripes –
“Shape up or ship out …..”
“Snap out of it Ed … other guys have received ‘Dear Johns’.
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert Alleyne – Brooklyn, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, Sgt.
David “Bill” Breen – Elsmere, KY; US Navy, WWII, SeaBees
Mary Cecce – Bath, NY; Civilian, WWII, Mercury Aircraft
Thomas W. Chase (100) – Warroad, MI; US Navy, WWII / Honeywell Aerospace
David Geiser – Waukon, IA; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Richard L. Henderson Jr. – USA; US Army, Korea, Cpl., HQ Battery/57 FAB/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Chosin Reservoir)
William Kovaly – Bound Brook, NJ; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Cabot
William H. Melville – USA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 2nd Lt., P-39Q pilot, 38/8th Fighter Group, KIA (New Guinea)
Francis J. Rochon – Superior, WI; US Army, Korea, Cpl., Co. C/1/23/2nd Infantry Division, KIA (Changnyeong, SK)
Donald Slessler – Belchertown, MA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, Chief Warrant Officer (Ret. 36 y.)
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The Most Dangerous Paper Route in the World
Stars and Stripes, which dates back to the Civil War, has published continuously since World War II. In 2010, the paper won a prestigious George Polk Award for revealing the Defense Department’s use of a public relations firm that profiled reporters and steered them toward favorable coverage of the war in Afghanistan. In 2015, the publication broke the news that NBC anchor Brian Williams had exaggerated a story about his reporting in Iraq. Much of the day-to-day coverage is news of direct concern to service members and their families: pay and benefits, life on base and in the field, the real people behind the global geopolitics.
Central Command Area of Responsibility (Apr. 4, 2003) — Command Sgt. Maj. John Sparks, delivers copies of Stars and Stripes to U.S. Marines from Weapons Platoon, 3-2 India Company. The Marines are part of Task Force Tarawa, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. USMC photo by 1st Sgt. David K. Dismukes.
The paper is a modern multimedia operation with a website, a social media presence and a couple of podcasts, and the print edition reaches troops in parts of the world where Internet access is absent.
“I remember being in al-Anbar and Haditha and picking up Stars and Stripes in the middle of a war zone,” says Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), one of Moulton’s committee colleagues and a fellow Marine veteran. “I didn’t have a cellphone. Access to the Internet was very limited. But with every mail delivery there came a Stars and Stripes, and I was able to keep connected to the world.”
“Stars and Stripes kept our spirits up and kept us informed at some of the most difficult times,” says Moulton, who served four tours of duty in Iraq. “Just knowing they were out there doing their job — looking out for us by doggedly pursuing the truth — gave us more faith in our work and reinforced the values we were literally putting our lives on the line for.”
The paper’s publisher, Max Lederer, said, “You can give a service member the best gun in the world, but if his mind is elsewhere — if he’s worried about things at home — then he’s not going to be as good a soldier, and part of our role is to provide that information to give him a sense of comfort.”
Bill Mauldin
“This service cannot be duplicated in the private sector and should be maintained,” Thornberry said in a statement to The Post. “Ultimately, ‘Stripes’ should be preserved, but the business model will have to change so that the program can be maintained without taxing DOD resources.” But Thornberry concedes the fundamental point: “Stars and Stripes performs a useful function for men and women in uniform, particularly those who are forward deployed with limited access to news.” As Gates puts it, “Nobody else covers the Defense Department schools in Japan.”
Star and Stripes faces challenges, and rewards, every day in producing a newspaper for hundreds of thousands of service members, their families and other DoD employees deployed around the world, and in delivering that paper to its readers, including those in dangerous war and contingency areas.
1945 Stars & Stripes
Stripes’ allegiance to independent news – uncensored by military command influence – has established a unique, trusting relationship between the paper and its readers that is like no other. Readers trust Stripes to tell the truth, even though it has the conflicting challenge of delivering First Amendment-protected news while technically part of the Department of Defense.
If you wish to contact Stars & Stripes – Click Here!
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Military Humor – Stars & Stripes style –
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Farewell Salutes –
Norbert T. Beck – Suffolk, Va; US Army, WWII
Reine Corbeil – MT; US Navy, SeaBee engineer
Iraq
King Dixon – SC; USMC (Ret. 22 y.), Bronze Star / SC football star & coach
E.G. Galarosa – Sta.Magdalena Soraogon, PI; US Army/Philippine Scouts, WWII, POW
Angelo ‘Buck’ Godici – Southington, CT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
Charles Hogan – Vancouver, CAN; Allied International Service, WWII, PTO
Hugh Moore – Tomahawk, WI; US Navy, WWII, USS Wolverine
Frank E. Petersen Jr. – Topeka, KS; USMC, Korea & Vietnam, LT.General (Ret. 38 y.)
John M. Robertson – Camden, AR; US Air Force, Vietnam, pilot, Colonel (Ret. 23 y.)
Robert Sandona – Rockford, IL; US Navy, WWII, USS James C. Owens
Gerald Winters – Glen Falls, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Tower Operator
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JULY 4, For those who sacrifice for the freedoms you so enjoy!
Somehow this post went backwards 8 months, so I’m reblogging it.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S.A.
Let’s show our support!
In Vietnam, Korea and World Wars Past
Our Men Fought Bravely so Freedom Would Last
Conditions Where Not Always Best They Could Be
Fighting a Foe You Could Not Always See:
From Mountain Highs to Valley Lows
From Jungle Drops to Desert Patrols
Our Sinewy Sons Were Sent Over Seas
Far From Their Families And Far From Their Dreams
They Never Wrote Letters Of Hardships Despair
Only Of Love, Yearning That One Day Soon:
They Would Come Home, They Would Resume
And Carry On With The Rest of Their Lives
The P.O.W.¹S Stood Steadfast
Break time for the prisoners.
by: Ben Steele, POW
Against the Indignities And Cruelties Of War
They Could Not Have Lasted as Long as They Did
If They Had Relinquished Their Hope That Some Day:
They Would Come Home, They Would Resume
And Carry On the Rest Of Their…
View original post 396 more words
Smoky and the Army Airborne
SMOKY
At the beginning of of 1944, Smoky, a Yorkshire terrier, was found by an American soldier with a stalled jeep in the New Guinea jungle where she had been abandoned in a foxhole. She did not respond to either English or Japanese commands. After taken to the soldier’s camp, in need of cash for a poker night, she was sold to Cpl. William A. Wynne for 2 Australian pounds. Smoky weighed 4lbs. and stood 7 inches.
Bill Wynne & Smoky
For the next 2 years, Smoky accompanied Wynne on combat fights in the Pacific where temperature and living conditions were deplorable. Smoky shared his C-rations, and fearful of her contracting scrub typhus, was bathed in his helmet daily.
Wynne had a knack for training dogs and taught Smoky tricks like climbing ladders, going down slides, and walking tightropes while blindfolded. She entertained the troops in her spare time. “Yank Down Under” magazine named her “Champion Mascot of the Southwest Pacific” in 1944.
Wynne’s job was to photograph ‘search and rescue’ missions and Smokey slept through 12 combat missions hanging from the ceiling of a Catalina PBY5a. Smoky flew on 22- hour bombing missions so low, they threw grenades down on the Japanese. In all, Smoky survived 150 raids on New Guinea.
She managed to save Wynne and 8 men of the 5th Air Force 26th Photo Recon Squadron from incoming shells on their transport ship. The convoy of 2,300 headed to Luzon when a kamikaze attack destroyed part of the fleet. Smoky led Wynne to a Jeep just as the attack began. The attack went on around them, with 150 men killed, but they were unhurt.
Bob Gapp and Bill Wynne prepare Smoky for the culvert
When the squadron set up in Lingayen, about 80 miles NW of Manila, they asked Wynne if Smoky could pull a telephone line through a 70-foot long culvert under the airfield. After tying the cable to her collar, Wynne coaxed Smoky through the far end. She navigated through muddy, moldy pipes and climbed mounds of sifted sand every 4 feet. She did it in a few minutes. The feat earned her a steak and official “war dog” status.
When Wynne came down with dengue fever, Smoky was so popular, she was allowed to visit him in the hospital. She eventually accompanied the doctors and nurses on their rounds. She is the first recorded “therapy dog” in history.
Smoky parachuted from 30′ many times
Smoky wasn’t just dedicated and brave, she learned numerous tricks, that she performed for the troops of the Special Services in hospitals from Korea to Australia.
When orders came through to ship home, regulations did not allow the animals, but Wynne would not abandon Smoky. He hid her in his oxygen mask’s carrying case and smuggled her aboard the USS William H. Gordon. Sailors stashed larger dogs in a safe compartment. Despite threats from the commander, all the animals did receive permission to enter the United States.
Once at home, Smoky continued to entertain. She did 45 shows around the country without doing any repeated tricks. Cleveland recognized her as a celebrity and ran her 1957 obituary in the newspaper.
HERE – things go beyond coincidence…..
Smoky, the war hero monument
Former Army nurse Grace Guderian Heidenreich read the obit and contacted Wynne. In December 1943, as a LT. stationed in Australia, she received a Yorkshire puppy from her fiance. When the Lt.’s hospital unit was transferred to New Guinea, the Yorkie went with her. Unfortunately, at a USO show, the puppy wandered off.
Given that very few purebred Yorkshire terriers were registered during those years, she believed it was the same dog. After the war Grace married Capt. Heidenreich and they settled in Cleveland, just blocks away from where Smoky and Wynne resided.
SMOKY
Smoky was more than a dog; she was a dedicated soldier, the first therapy dog, a morale booster for injured soldiers, entertainer and what is most important – she was a hell of a friend!
Condensed from a story published in the “Voice of the Angels”, newspaper for the 11th Airborne Division.
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Current News – BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY!!
Help make a D-Day Veteran’s birthday the best yet!!
A Friend Asks For Cards To Make Veteran’s Birthday Special
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Military Humor –
Testing – Even in boot camp!
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Farewell Salutes –
Richard Barkley – Naples, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Matthew Bunker – Delavan, WI; US Army, West Point graduate
Charlie Ferrell – Dallas, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO, 3rd Army
Paul Gaines – Newport, RI; US Army, 2nd Armored Division / Mayor
Cindy Hughes – CT; Civilian, WWII, VA Psychiatric worker
Morris Lupton – Northland, NZ; RNZ Air Force # 431186, WWII, pilot
Raymond Molling – WI; US Navy, WWII, corpsman
Carl Reiner – Bronx, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Cpl., French Interpreter, USO, PTO
Margaret Shinners (100) – Newport, RI; US Navy WAVE, WWII, photographer
William Weidensaul – Eudora, KS; US Navy, WWII, airborne electronics / Boeing
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WWII Canine Heroes
Search and Rescue dogs
U.S. Army launches Canine Units
On March 13, 1942, the Quartermaster Corps (QMC) of the United States Army begins training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, or “K-9 Corps.”
Well over a million dogs served on both sides during WWI, carrying messages along the complex network of trenches and providing some measure of psychological comfort to the soldiers. The most famous dog to emerge from the war was Rin Tin Tin, an abandoned puppy of German war dogs found in France in 1918.
When the country entered WWII in December 1941, the American Kennel Association and a group called Dogs for Defense began a movement to mobilize dog owners to donate healthy and capable animals to the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army. Training began in March 1942, and that fall the QMC was given the task of training dogs for the U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard as well.
The K-9 Corps initially accepted over 30 breeds of dogs, but the list was soon narrowed to seven: German Shepherds, Belgian sheep dogs, Doberman Pinschers, collies, Siberian Huskies, Malumutes and Eskimo dogs. Members of the K-9 Corps were trained for a total of 8 to 12 weeks. After basic obedience training, they were sent through one of four specialized programs to prepare them for work as sentry dogs, scout or patrol dogs, messenger dogs or mine-detection dogs.
The top canine hero of World War II was Chips, a German Shepherd who served with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. Trained as a sentry dog, Chips broke away from his handlers and attacked an enemy machine gun nest in Italy, forcing the entire crew to surrender. The wounded Chips was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and the Purple Heart.
U.S. Marine Corps’ War Dogs!
As early as 1935, the Marines were interested in war dogs. They had experienced the enemy’s’ sentry dogs used in Haiti and in the other “Banana Wars” in Central America where dogs staked around guerrilla camps in the jungle sounded the alarm at the approach of the Marines.
The very first Marine War Dog Training School was located at Quantico Bay, Cuba, on January 18, 1943, under the direction of Captain Samuel T. Brick. Fourteen Doberman Pinschers were donated by the Baltimore, Maryland and Canton, Ohio members of the Doberman Pinscher Club of America. An old warehouse served as both headquarters and kennels.
The school’s location was short lived, however. A week later, the War Dog Training Center had been established at Camp Knox, site of a former CCC camp at Camp Lejeune, NC. They were soon joined by a Boxer named Fritz, the very first dog sworn and signed into the Marine Corp.
Camp leJeune, 1943, Higgins boat training
Dogs For Defense wasn’t the only organization recruiting dogs for the armed services, in 1942 the Doberman Pinscher Club of America was formally approached to procure Dobes for the newly formed Marine Corps War Dog Training Facility at Camp LeJeune, New River, North Carolina.
The Marine dogs were named “Devildogs,” a name, that the Marines earned during WWI, fighting against the Germans. There were also Labs, German Shepherds and other breeds, that were obtained from the Army’s Quartermaster Corps. Actually towards the end of the war, German Shepherds replaced the Dobermans, as the preferred breed. Arriving in Camp LeJeune NC, the new canine recruits were first entered in a forty-page dog service record book. The Marine Corps was the only branch of the service to have such a record for their dogs.
Dobes began their training as Privates. They were promoted on the basis of their length of service. After three months the Dobe became a Private First Class, one year a Corporal, two years a Sergeant, three years a Platoon Sergeant, four years a Gunner Sergeant, and after five years a Master Gunner Sergeant. The Dobes could eventually outrank their handlers.
During World War II, a total of seven Marine War Dog Platoons were trained at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. All of the dog platoons served in the Pacific in the war against the Japanese.
The First War Dog Platoon, was commanded by Lt. Clyde A. Henderson, and served with the 2nd Raider Battalion on Bougainville. From this and other units, the First Marine Brigade was formed and invaded Guam along with the Third Marine Division and the 77th Army Division.
More units were added to form the 6th Marine Division which invaded Okinawa. The First War Dog Platoon saw action on Bougainville, Guam, and Okinawa. The 2nd, commanded by Lt. William T. Taylor and 3rd War Dog Platoons, commanded by 1st Lt. William W. Putney, saw action on Guam (Lt. Putney was also the vet for both the 2nd and 3rd platoon), Morotai, Guadalcanal, Aitape, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok.
Because of the Dobes’ keen sense of smell and hearing, they could detect the presence of men several hundred yards away. In one instance, the dogs detected the presence of Jap troops one half mile away.
The Dobes’ handlers always had help digging their foxholes, the other Marines always wanted the handler and their dogs nearby.
No unit protected by one of the dogs was ever ambushed by the Japanese or was there ever a case of Japanese infiltration.
Putney War Dog Monument
More than 1,000 dogs had trained as Marine Devil Dogs during World War II. Rolo, one of the first to join the Devil Dogs, was the first Marine dog to be killed in action. 29 war dogs were listed as killed in action, 25 of those deaths occurred on the island of Guam. Today, the U.S. Marine Corp maintains a War Memorial (created by former 1st Lt. William W. Putney, who was the veterinarian for the dogs on Guam; and funded by public donation), on Guam, for those 25 War Dogs that served and died there during WW II.
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Current Military Dog News –
Navy working dog donates blood to save Air Force colleague !
For a more modern story, author DC Gilbert recommends:
No Ordinary Dog: My Partner from the SEAL Teams to the Bin Laden Raid
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
John H. Autry IV – Hamlet, NC; US Army, Vietnam, Sgt., 82nd Airborne Division & 75th Rangers, Bronze Star & Purple Heart
Nick Bravo-Regules – Largo, FL; US Army, Jordon, Spc., 2/43/11th ADA Brigade
Okinawa
John Bethea – Sturgis, MS; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division + 173rd A/B Brigade, West Point graduate, Colonel (Ret. 21 y.)
James Cowan – Fort Myers, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI
Arnold Gittelson – CA; USMC, WWII, 1st Sgt.
John Holmes – Selma, AL; US Army, WWII
Francis Kennedy – Pittston, PA; US Army, Korea, artillery spotter, Silver Star, 2 Purple Hearts
Frank Strahorn – Clinto, MD; USMC, Iraq & Afghanistan
Earl Urish – IL; US Army Air Corps, Japanese Occupation, 11th Airborne Division
Phillip “Joe” Woodward – Wabash, IN; US Army, Korea, 37 FAB/2nd Division, 3 Bronze Stars
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Short view of WWII Pacific Army Medicine
Buna casualty arrives at the 171st Station Hospital, at Port Moresby, Papua, Dec 42. This 500-bed Hospital arrived at Port Moresby early December and operated together with the 153d Sta Hosp, the 10th Evac Hosp, and a provisional Battalion of the 135th Med Regt. Because of malaria, those patients who, after treatment, were expected to remain unfit for duty more than 14 days, were usually sent to mainland Australia (Townsville or Brisbane).
Every combat Theater of WW2 had its unique medical history, but nowhere did disease pose a greater threat to the American G.I. and to military operations than in the bitter war against Japan!
US Armed Forces faced the dual challenges of fighting and supporting its troops in primitive, largely tropical environments, burdened by severe logistical problems.
View of one of the early Hospitals, located at the Advance Base, Port Moresby, Papua, Aug 42. As military operations in the region increased, basic medical facilities expanded, and by end of 42, new installations including General Hospitals, Field Hospitals, Portable Surgical Hospitals, and a Medical Supply Depot were built.
The first medical build-up was essentially based on expanding medical facilities and depots, constructing new hospitals, and revising medical contingency plans. The next project called for a more elaborate defense of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, under a new command; the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) under Lt. General Douglas MacArthur.
The war against Japan was fought in an immense area that covered roughly 1/3 of the earth’s surface! Although most of the decisive battles took place on the islands in the Pacific, inevitably bringing American Forces closer the Japanese mainland; fighting also occurred on mainland Asia.
Port Dispensary Tent on Biak Island, New Guinea, Aug 44. The large US Base (Base “H”) opened on Biak in Aug 44 under Col. August W. Splitter, MC. The 28th Hosp Cen operating on the island included 3 Gen Hosp and 1 Sta Hosp. From end Nov 44, evacuation took place by air, and C-54 aircraft carried patients directly to the ZI, via Guadalcanal, Canton Is., and Honolulu.
Distances were enormous, and everything could only be moved by sea or air – climates varied as well as landforms and included cold wind-swept Aleutians, jungle-clad Melanesian islands, palm-fringed Micronesia atolls, damp and tropical heat, volcanic islands, complex landmasses, steep mountain ranges, wooded high plateaus, rain forests, dense jungles – environmental conditions brought its own characteristic medical consequences involving frostbite, trenchfoot, malaria, fever, and jungle rot … All those elements had to be taken into account by the Medical Department, although none of the diseases were normally fatal, they could nevertheless put soldiers out of action as effectively as combat casualties.
36th Evacuation Hospital, at Palo, Leyte, Philippines, October 44. The 36th Evac Hosp (supporting X Army Corps) was set up in the San Salvador Cathedral. It served, together with the 58th Evac Hosp, in the Leyte and Luzon Campaigns.
Until the very last months of the fighting, the US Medical Department faced immense obstacles – supply lines were tenuous and environmental conditions almost intolerable, malaria epidemics broke out, logistical difficulties beset medical planners, diseases took their toll, medical support often broke down, amphibious medical evacuation had to be revised, and yet altogether death rates from disease were only slightly over 1 / 1000 troops / per year!
New methods of preventive medicine were created, logistics were improved, and recent discoveries were now provided on a large scale, such as Penicillin – Atabrine – and DDT. The ultimate lesson may however lie in the flexibility of spirit and organization shown by medical personnel, who were able to save lives and improve general health conditions during those years of bitter and unrelenting struggle for peace – in those harsh times the Medical Department successfully maintained the ‘fighting strength of the Army’.
View of Seagrave Hospital (formally activated as the 896th Med Clr Co in Oct 44) treating casualties in the open, near Myitkyina, Burma. The Hospital in fact operated like a mobile Evacuation Hospital, and whenever feasible, severe medical cases were either evacuated by rail or by air. During the campaign to capture Myitkyina, the Seagrave Hospital, supported by personnel of the 42d and 58th Ptbl Surg Hosp and a surgical team from the 25th Fld Hosp, treated American, British, Chinese, Indian, and Kachin wounded (and later also Japanese PWs). Dr. Gordon S. Seagrave was an American medical missionary running a Hospital close to the Burma Road and the Chinese border, his wide experience and organization were very much appreciated by both British and US authorities, and he was therefore sworn into the US Army as a Major in the Medical Corps on 21 Apr 42.
General Hospitals
1st GEN HOSP – 23 Dec 41 Philippines (also designated General Hospital No. 1)
2d GEN HOSP – 5 Jan 42 Philippines (also designated General Hospital No. 2)
4th GEN HOSP – 23 Jan 42 Australia (ex-56th GEN HOSP, activated 1 Feb 41, supplied cadres for other units, 12 Oct 43)
8th GEN HOSP – 27 Nov 42 New Caledonia
9th GEN HOSP – 31 Jul 43 Guadalcanal – 45 Papua-New Guinea (activated 15 Jul 42)
13th GEN HOSP – 5 Jan 44 New Guinea (activated 15 Jan 43)
18th GEN HOSP – 12 Jun 42 N. Zealand – 3 Oct 42 Fiji Islands – Sep 44 Ledo Road (India) – 12 Mar 45 Myitkyina, (Burma) (activated 20 Apr 42) (closed 5 Oct 45) (return to ZI 24 Nov 45)
18th GEN HOSP – 26 May 42 New Zealand – 45 Burma (ex-222d GEN HOSP, activated 16 Jun 41, supplied cadres for other units, 1 Apr 44, redesignated 134th GEN HOSP)
20th GEN HOSP – 19 Jan 43 India – Dec 43 Burma (activated 15 May 42)
27th GEN HOSP – 5 Jan 44 Australia (activated 15 Jul 42)
29th GEN HOSP – 3 Nov 44 New Caledonia (activated 1 Sep 42)
31st GEN HOSP – 18 Oct 43 Espiritu Santo (activated 1 Jun 43)
35th GEN HOSP – 44 New Guinea – 45 Luzon (activated 21 Mar 43) (inactivated 10 Dec 45 in the Philippines)
39th GEN HOSP – 3 Nov 42 New Zealand – 1 Jan 45 New Caledonia – Jan 45 Saipan (activated 15 Jul 42)
42d GEN HOSP – 19 May 42 Australia (ex-215th GEN HOSP, activated 16 May 41, supplied cadres for other units, 15 Apr 43, disbanded 11 Nov 44)
44th GEN HOSP – 25 Sep 43 Australia (activated 15 Jan 43)
47th GEN HOSP – 11 Jan 44 New Guinea – Burma (activated 10 Jun 43)
49th GEN HOSP – 1 Mar 45 Philippines
51st GEN HOSP – 1 Apr 44 New Guinea
53d GEN HOSP – ETO Sep-Oct 45 embarked for the South Pacific (activated 10 Feb 41, also supplied cadres for other units)
54th GEN HOSP – 30 Jun 44 New Guinea
60th GEN HOSP – 18 Jul 44 New Guinea – 2 Apr 45 Philippines (activated 25 May 43 in the ZI, return to ZI 13 Nov 45)
63d GEN HOSP – (activated 10 Feb 41, supplied cadres for other units, 15 Jan 43)
69th GEN HOSP – 45 Burma
71st GEN HOSP – 5 Jan 44 Australia (activated 10 Jun 43, supplied cadres for other units, 24 Jun 43)
105th GEN HOSP – 19 May 42 Australia (ex-203d GEN HOSP, activated 10 Feb 41, supplied cadres for other units, 29 Dec 43)
118th GEN HOSP – 19 May 42 Australia – 44 Philippines (activated 21 Apr 42)
133d GEN HOSP – 25 Nov 44 Leyte
142d GEN HOSP – 26 May 42 New Zealand – 43 Fiji – Nov 44 India (ex-217th GEN HOSP, activated 1 Jun 41, supplied cadres for other units, 28 Feb 44) (new 142d GEN HOSP activated 20 Apr 42)
147th GEN HOSP – 16 Jun 42 Hawaii – 19 Nov 43 Gilberts – 1 Aug 44 Hawaii (activated 1 May 41)
148th GEN HOSP – 21 Mar 42 Hawaii – 31 May 44 Saipan Is (activated 10 Feb 41)
172d GEN HOSP – 44 India – Burma – 45 China (activated 29 Jul 44) (inactivated 30 Apr 46 in China)
181st GEN HOSP – 43 India
204th GEN HOSP – 8 Apr 42 Hawaii – 28 Dec 44 Guam (activated 10 Feb 41)
204th GEN HOSP – 8 Apr 42 Hawaii (activated 10 Feb 41)
218th GEN HOSP – 8 Jan 42 Panama – 1 Aug 44 Hawaii (activated 6 Jun 41)
232d GEN HOSP – 27 Feb 45 Iwo Jima – Mar 45 Saipan
234th GEN HOSP
247th GEN HOSP – 45 Philippines (activated 15 Oct 44, ex-233d STA HOSP)
263d GEN HOSP – 43 India
307th GEN HOSP
Sternberg GEN HOSP – Philippines
Tripler GEN HOSP – Hawaii
GEN HOSP No. 1 – Limay, Philippines
GEN HOSP No. 2 – Cabcaben, Philippines
Malinta Tunnel GEN HOSP – Corregidor, Philippines
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Current News – 25 June 1950-2020 – Korean War 70 years ago today
News: Governor David Ige proclaimed June 25, 2020 as “Korean War Remembrance Day”
Remains of 147 South Korean Soldiers From the Korean War Return Home
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Military Medical Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Leo Agnew – Clinton, MA; US Army, Korea, RHQ/187th Reconnaissance Combat Team
Stephen Bertolino – UT; US Army, Iraq, SSgt., KIA (Haditha)
Ian Holm-Goodmayes – ENG; British Army / actor
Korean & Vietnam Wars Memorial, Monroe, MI
Jim Jarvis – Uniontown, OH; US Navy, WWII, USS Indianapolis survivor
Carman Kyle – Swathmore, PA; WWII, US Army Air Corps, Co. E/152th Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Dame Vera Lynn – Essex, ENG; Civilian, WWII, ENSA troop entertainer, Egypt & CBI
James L. Quong – OK; US Army, Korea, MSgt., Co. D/1/32/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Chosin Reservoir)
Charles Ridgley – Baltimore, MD; US Army, Afghanistan, Captain, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, KIA (Nangarhar)
Francis J. Rochon – WI; US Army, Korea, Cpl., Co. C/1/23/2nd Infantry Division, KIA (Changnyeong, SK)
Woldgang K. Weninger – Concord, OH; USMC, Raider, Sgt.
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The Great Depression vs Today’s Economy
circa 1937: Four men sitting on a step reading a newspaper during the Great Depression. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
What happened during the Great Depression is very different from what is happening today, but there are some lessons in that history.
We’re starting to see some devastating economic indicators related to the global pandemic. More than 3 million people filed first-time unemployment claims the third week of March. On Thursday, we’ll find out how many people filed for unemployment in the fourth week, and on Friday, we’ll get the first monthly unemployment report since large parts of the economy started shutting down.
One of the big questions on your mind is probably: Just how bad things are going to get? That’s why we asked a few historians to tell us about the economic crises of the past — and in particular, the Great Depression — and what we should be keeping an eye out for today.
“It’s important to distinguish between the stock market crash in October of 1929 that everybody knows about and the stock market itself,” said Eric Hilt, an economic historian who teaches at Wellesley College. “The economy started to contract in probably summer of 1929. But it became a great depression rather than a severe recession probably starting in 1930 when a wave of bank failure started to occur,” he said.
Day labor, Webbers Falls, OK
“The Feds didn’t act as a lender of last resort to many banks,” said Kathleen Day, a professor of finance at Johns Hopkins University and author of a book on the history of financial crises in the United States. “Ten thousand banks failed, which, of course, caused another contraction of credit and contributed greatly to the depth and breadth of the depression,” she said.
“So what we’ve learned from that is that you need to be able to inject liquidity in a moment of crisis,” said Carola Frydman, professor of finance at Northwestern University. “You need to be able to bail out banks so that banks can keep on lending and restore confidence.”
If bailing out banks to keep the economy going sounds familiar, that’s because it’s what former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke convinced Congress to do in 2008.
Depression relief checks, 1937
“One of my very first papers as a young academic argued that one of the reasons the Depression was so deep and so long was because the financial system collapsed,” Bernanke said in a 2018 interview. “I think putting capital in the banking system and making it work again, making it viable so that it can provide credit, was essential.”
Today’s financial turmoil is not the Great Depression, and it is not the Great Recession. “But there’s no doubt that there’s some economic rough water ahead,” Day said.
“If I were concerned about something like a Great Depression recurring, I might think about different warning signs that one might watch for, and one of them is policymakers choosing not to respond to the crisis,” Hilt said.
Chair Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve have taken aggressive actions in response to the COVID-19 crisis, including cutting interest rates to basically zero, buying trillions of dollars in bonds to put more money into the financial system and lowering the rates it charges banks to borrow money.
“So that warning sign is not going off. The historical pattern does not seem to be repeated in this context,” Hilt said.
As for what to watch for to help us understand what kind of crisis this is going to be, Hilt, Day and Frydman all said it’s important to watch unemployment.
Homeless in Phoenix, AZ
“The changes in unemployment during the Great Recession were relatively short lived,” Frydman said. In the Great Depression, on the other hand, unemployment rates remained very high for about a decade. “So I think that is something [to watch] as I look forward trying to understand whether some of the shocks that we’re seeing now are going to be temporary or, or a lot more long lasting,” she said.
Hilt, Frydman and Day said other indicators to watch for include bankruptcies, the inflation rate and signs of distress in the credit markets.
From: “The Marketplace”
Books by Kathleen Day:
- Day, Kathleen. “Broken Bargain: Banks, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street,” Yale University Press, January 2019
- Day, Kathleen. “S&L Hell: the people and politics behind the $1 trillion savings-and-loan crisis,” New York: W.W. Norton, 1993
Click on images to enlarge.
SHOULD YOU WISH MORE ON THIS SUBJECT, PLEASE MENTION THAT IN THE COMMENTS – THANK YOU.
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Military Humor – Humor in Uniform on the Home Front –
‘I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Ruth Bender – Philadelphia, PA; US Coast Guard SPAR, WWII
Kurt Christensen – Sanford, CO; US Navy, WWII
Calvin Horman – Dexter, MN; US Navy, WWII, PTO, radioman Argus # 5
Wilson R. Jerman – Seaboard, NC; Civilian, White House butler to 11 Presidents
Frank O. Klein – Wauwatosa, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, B-24 photo reconnaissance & navigator
Daniel Layman – No. Augusta, SC; US Army, WWII & Korea
Charles D. Miller – Albany, IN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Co. A/1/6th Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
Lock John Quan – brn: Toishan, China; US Army, WWII, ETO, Bronze Star
Louis Torrez – Pauline, KS; US Army, WWII, ETO,Pvt., 318/80th Division
David Williams (100) – Countryside, IL; US Navy, WWII, PTO
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Memorial Day + “You Are Not Forgotten” book review
From Arlington to remote prairie shrines to foreign fields, America provides a resting place for her fallen. Now, on this poignant 25th day of May, we revive the memory of those heroes, though we should honor them every day. Long after the agony of Bunker Hill, Heartbreak Ridge, Normandy, the Chosin Reservoir, the Tet Offensive and Bagdad, the dead lie in peace. They and their comrades have left us names the world should never forget. Make certain they did not die in vain.
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“You Are Not Forgotten”
Two men, their lives separated by over 60 years, became forever intertwined.
“You Are Not Forgotten” shows the inspiration and commitment of the American military. For this nonfiction story, it goes from the Pacific in WWII to a memory and experience of Iraq.
A USMC, F4U Corsair pilot, Major Marion ‘Ryan’ McCown, is lost during a battle over New Guinea and the jungle swallows all trace of him on 20 January 1944.
Over 60 years later, U.S. Army Major George Eyster V, despite coming from a long ancestry of military officers, became disillusioned after serving in Iraq. Instead of ending his career, he joined the JPAC (Joint Pow/MIA Accounting Command), a division whose sole purpose is to leave no man behind. With the author, Bryan Bender, at the helm, he brings these two lives together with researched firsthand information.
Read how facts and clues are pieced together to locate those that have fallen and that we so wish to remember and honor today.
This book was gifted to me from Judy Guion of the Greatest Generation Lessons, who found this book not only fascinating, but educational. Thank you very much, Judy.
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GP Cox’s Veterans
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Farewell Salutes –
Iona Anderson – Garber, IA; Womens USMC, WWII, Sgt.
Trevarius Bowman – Spartansburg, SC; US National Guard, Afghanistan, 1st Lt., 228th Tactical Signal Brigade
Peter Clark Jr. – Menasha, WI, USMC, WWII
Henry Hoffman III – Brooklyn, NY; US Army Air Corps, Japan Occupation, 11th Airborne Division
Charles Jackson – Thackerville, OK; US Coast Guard, (Ret.28 y.)
Moyne Linscott – Sumner, MO; US Army Air Corps, Japan Occupation, 1127 Airborne Engineers/11th Airborne Division
WWII Memorial poem at Arlington Cemetery
John Myers – Toledo, OH; US Coast Guard, WWII / US Army, Korea, mine sweeper
William Opalka – Chicago, IL; US Merchant Marines, WWII
Terrance Plank – Santa Cruz, CA; US Army, Vietnam, medic, 3/506/101st Airborne Division, Purple Heart, Bronze Star
Gene Vance – Garner, TX; US Navy, WWII, PTO / US Army, Vietnam, 11th Airborne Div. & 10th Special Forces Group, Sgt. Major (Ret.) / FAA
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courtesy of fellow blogger, Patty B.
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The Post World War II Boom: How America Got Into Gear
Chrysler tank production
In the summer of 1945, as WWII drew to a close, the U.S. economy was poised on the edge of an uncertain future.
In late 1940 for the United States to serve as the “arsenal of democracy,” American industry had stepped up to meet the challenge. U.S. factories built to mass-produce automobiles had retooled to churn out airplanes, engines, guns and other supplies at unprecedented rates. At the peak of its war effort, in late 1943 and early 1944, the United States was manufacturing almost as many munitions as all of its allies and enemies combined.
On the home front, the massive mobilization effort during World War II had put Americans back to work. Unemployment, which had reached 25 percent during the Great Depression and hovered at 14.6 percent in 1939, had dropped to 1.2 % by 1944 — still a record low in the nation’s history.
Shopping with ration stamps
With the war wrapping up, and millions of men and women in uniform scheduled to return home, the nation’s military-focused economy wasn’t necessarily prepared to welcome them back. As Arthur Herman wrote in his book, Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, U.S. businesses at the time were still “geared around producing tanks and planes, not clapboard houses and refrigerators.”
Veterans had no trouble finding jobs, according to Herman. U.S. factories that had proven so essential to the war effort quickly mobilized for peacetime, rising to meet the needs of consumers who had been encouraged to save up their money in preparation for just such a post-war boom.
With the war finally over, American consumers were eager to spend their money, on everything from big-ticket items like homes, cars and furniture to appliances, clothing, shoes and everything else in between. U.S. factories answered their call, beginning with the automobile industry. New car sales quadrupled between 1945 and 1955, and by the end of the 1950s some 75 % of American households owned at least one car. In 1965, the nation’s automobile industry reached its peak, producing 11.1 million new cars, trucks and buses and accounting for one out of every six American jobs.
Studebaker 1946
Residential construction companies also mobilized to capitalize on a similar surge in housing demand, as Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans and the GI Bill gave many (but not all) returning veterans the ability to buy a home. Companies like Levitt & Son, based in New York, found success applying the mass-production techniques of the auto industry to home building. Between 1946 and the early 1960s, Levitt & Son built three residential communities (including more than 17,000 homes), finishing as many as 30 houses per day.
Levittown, NY 1947
New home buyers needed appliances to fill those homes, and companies like Frigidaire (a division of General Motors) responded to that need. During the war, Frigidaire’s assembly lines had transitioned to building machine guns and B-29 propeller assemblies. After the war, the brand expanded its home appliance business, introducing revolutionary products like clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers and garbage disposals.
Bendix washing machine ad, Jan. 1947
Driven by growing consumer demand, as well as the continuing expansion of the military-industrial complex as the Cold War ramped up, the United States reached new heights of prosperity in the years after World War II.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor – Home Front style
“I understand you’ve been riveting in your name and address.”
“Housing shortage or NO housing shortage – that’s going too far!”
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Quarantine Humor –
‘It’s an ill wind that blows,’
Being as most areas are opening, I suppose this will be the last of the Quarantine Humor! Stay safe and healthy folks!!!
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Farewell Salutes –
Harold L. Barber – McDonough, GA; USMC, WWII, PTO, Cpl., Purple Heart / US Army, Korea. Major (Ret. 23 y.), Silver Star
William C. Clark – Washington D.C.; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 5th Air Force
Roy “Dan” de Rosa – New Orleans, LA; US Army, Korea, Lt., Bronze Star
Mervin D. Galland – Eveleth, MN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pvt., KIA (Tarawa)
Paul Lunsford Sr. – Charlotte, NC; US Army, Korea / Nato / Colonel (ret.)
Derrick Madden – Nadeau, CAN; RC Army, WWII, linesman
Margaret Montgomery – Palestine Township, IA; Civilian, WWII, ammo plant
Margaret Ryan – W. Palm Beach, FL; US Navy WAVE, WWII, Cartographer
Gaylord “Chuck” Taylor – USA; US Army, Vietnam, Ranger, Captain, Bronze Star / Author
Stanley Webb – London, ENG; British Army, ETO
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The New York Times Crossword and WWII
The WWII home front and this generation have something in common, lock-downs. This post seemed appropriate for right about now.
There are plenty of crossword puzzles in publications across the country, but when we think of the pinnacle of puzzledom (Not officially a word, but, perhaps, it should be?), the purveyors of the most preeminent puzzles, we bow to The New York Times (NYT).
For more than 75 years, the NYT crossword puzzle has been stumping readers with its clever clues and then sending them soaring when they finally fill in all the squares.
When did the NYT Crossword begin?
When crossword puzzles first came about in the 1920s, the NYT turned up its nose at them. In 1924, the paper ran an opinion column that dubbed them, “a primitive sort of mental exercise”.
So, what absolved the crossword puzzle in the illustrious publication’s mind and made them eat their words? Reportedly, it was after the bombing of Pearl Harbor that Lester Markel, the paper’s Sunday editor at the time, decided the country could use some levity, primitive or not.
Crosswords became an American craze in the 1920s, but it took the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the urging of The New York Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger, a long-time crossword fan, to convince the features editor to run a crossword puzzle each Sunday. In a memo dated December 18, 1941, an editor conceded that the puzzle deserved space in the paper, considering what was happening elsewhere in the world and that readers might need something to occupy themselves during blackouts. The frivolous” feature, he admitted, would take people’s mind off the war and give them something to do while hunkered down in their bomb shelters.
Seventy-five years later, people continue to turn to crosswords for comfort and distraction. As the first editor of the crossword noted, “I don’t think I have to sell you on the increased demand for this kind of pastime in an increasingly worried world. You can’t think of your troubles while solving a crossword …” — Will Shortz
The first puzzle ran Sunday, February 15, 1942, and it was, in fact, a primitive pursuit, (Dictionary.com’s first definition for the adjective: “Being the first or earliest of the kind or in existence”), as they were the first major US paper to run a crossword puzzle. By 1950, the paper began running a crossword puzzle daily.
Since that time, there have only been four editors of the NYT Crossword puzzle, beginning with Margaret Farrar, who served as editor from the publication of the first puzzle until 1969. Will Weng and Eugene Maleska followed in her footsteps.
To print out a copy of the original crossword – CLICK HERE!
For the solution – CLICK HERE!
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Military Humor –
“Besides that, it ruins on only 2 flashlight batteries.”
SIGN POSTED IN THE ARMY RECRUITING OFFICE:
Marry a veteran girls! He can cook, make beds,
sew and is already used to taking orders!
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Quarantine Humor – THE ECONOMY IS SO BAD THAT….
My neighbor got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
CEO’s are now playing miniature golf. 
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
McDonald’s is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names.
A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.
A picture is now only worth 200 words.
When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
And, finally…
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., that I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.
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Farewell Salutes –
Melvin Askenase – FL; US Army, WWII & Korea
Clarence “Cubby” Bair – Troy, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO,17th & 82nd Airborne Division
Lester Cheary – Havana, AR; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, SSgt., 11th Airborne Division / US Navy, Korea, USS John Pierce
Homer Dunn – Woodrow, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Thomas Falzarano – Colorado Springs, CO; US Army, Iraq, Pentagon, Air Force Academy grad, Colonel, 21st Space Wing Commander
Frank Manzi – New Haven, CT; USMC, WWII, CBI, canine handler
James Mincey – Burlington, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Communications / Western Elec. engineer for antiaircraft & missile guidance radar
Ron Shurer – Fairbanks, AK; US Army, Afghanistan, SSgt., Special Operations Task Force, Medal of Honor
John C. Taylor – Warsaw, VA; US Army, Vietnam, MSgt., 82nd Airborne Division (Ret. 27 y.)
Fred Willard – Shaker Heights, OH; US Army, KY & VA Military Institutes alum / beloved actor
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