Blog Archives
Emperor Hirohito
Emperor Hirohito, on white horse, January 1940
Japanese public broadcast service, NHK has obtained documents showing that former Emperor Hirohito repeatedly felt sorry about World War II and tried, unsuccessfully, to express his feelings by using the word “remorse” in a 1952 speech.
The records of conversations with Hirohito spanning several years were kept by Michiji Tajima, a top Imperial Household Agency official who took office after the war.
Although it’s not surprising that Hirohito had deep regrets about the war, the documents highlight how painfully strong such emotions had been.
Journals and notebooks kept by Michiji Tajima, a former top Imperial Household Agency, are seen in Tokyo on Monday, Aug. 19, 2019.
KYODO NEWS VIA AP
The Imperial Household Agency declined to comment on the report.
As he was preparing his 1952 speech at a ceremony to commemorate Japan’s return to independence with the end of the U.S. occupation, Hirohito insisted to Tajima that he “must include the word remorse” in his speech, according to NHK.
That wish was relayed to then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who advised against it, NHK said.
Yoshida’s views were that people needed to look to the future and any reference sounding like an apology would give the wrong impression.
World War II, which ended with Japan’s 1945 surrender following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was fought in the name of the emperor. The man who had wanted nothing more out of life than to be a Marine Biologist, was considered divine.
After the war, the U.S. occupation allowed the emperor to stay on, although without any political powers but as a symbol of the state.
In this Jan. 26, 2016, file photo, Japan’s Emperor Akihito, right, and Crown Prince Naruhito, left, walk at Haneda international airport in Tokyo. Emperor Akihito, abdicated on April 30, 2019, in the first such abdication in about 200 years. The emperor will be 85. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
The documents show that Hirohito felt that, instead of surrender, he wished he had been able to end the war earlier. He also privately expressed horror at the atrocities committed by the Japanese military, according to the documents. But he also told Tajima that the military was so powerful that he couldn’t influence it.
Hirohito died of cancer in 1989 at age 87. He was succeeded by his son Akihito, who recently abdicated, passing the Chrysanthemum Throne to his son Naruhito. Both Akihito and Naruhito have publicly expressed remorse for the war.
From: Stars and Stripes magazine, YURI KAGEYAMA | Associated Press | Published: August 20, 2019
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
K. Beltz – Villas, NJ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQ Co./674 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Wallace Crane – Manchester, NH; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Robert Felton – Green Bay, WI; US Army, WWII, ETO, Bronze Star
Lewis Gentry – Cookeville, TN; US Army, WWII, PTO, C/O cook, medic & Chaplin’s asst.
Mohammed S. Haitham – US Navy, KIA (Pensacola, FL)
George Kessel – Fargo, ND; US Army, WWII, ETO, 26th Infantry Division, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
James Masters – Bourne, MA; US Air Force, Vietnam, SSgt., radioman, Bronze Star
Victor ‘Pat’ Tumlinson – Raymondville, TX; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Cameron Walters – GA; US Navy, KIA (Pensacola, FL)
Joshua C. Watson – AL; US Navy, US Naval Academy graduate, KIA (Pensacola, FL)
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Pearl Harbor is remembered
Crew of the USS Arizona
When diplomacy failed and power and greed survived – the Pacific skies went dark….
Hickam Field
Aerial view during the attack
Battleship Row, as seen by Japanese pilot during the attack
From the Smithsonian Museum……
USS Oklahoma stamp
This relic marks the movements before the U.S. was launched into WWII….To record when a piece of mail was processed aboard ship, the Navy used wooden postmark stamps. This one bears an ominous date: 6 December 1941 PM. It was recovered from the battleship Oklahoma after it was hit by several torpedoes, listed to a 45-degree angle, capsized and sank in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship lost 429 sailors and Marines; one-third of its crew.
For a different view on the Pearl Harbor “surprise”……..
https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/the-other-pearl-harbor-story-kimmel-and-short/
For a wonderful Pearl Harbor poem, by Lee…..
https://mypoetrythatrhymes.wordpress.com/2018/08/
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Farewell Salutes –
William Barnes – Brookston, IN ,& Lake Worth, FL; First Cavalry Division, Korea
John B. Coffey – Johnstown, PA & Miami, FL; Lt. Colonel (Ret.), US Army Air Corps, WWII ETO, 35 B-17 missions; B-52 crews in
U.S. Marine Mounted Honor Guard
Korea
James “Harp: Gerrity – Milford, CT; US Army Staff Sgt., WWII ETO, Bronze Star & 8th Army African Star
Leo Keninger – Ackley, IA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Fireman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Robert Frank Rolls – Napier, New Zealand; 4th Field Regiment, WWII Sgt.
Oscar J. Tenores – Lemoore, CA; US Navy, Master-at-Arms
Orval Tranbarger – Chapel, MO; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Seaman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Robert Wade – Van Nuys, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII ETO, (Ret. 22 yrs. Major)
Otto Wilner – Chicago, IL; US Army, WWII
James Wilson Jr. – Decatur, GA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Sgt., radioman
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Wartime Football
One of the Sports Facts newspaper of April 25, 1950 with photos of Bronko Nagurski.
What many people today don’t know is that professional football went through many of the same trials and tribulations that baseball did during the war years. Making matters even worse for the owners and fans of the sport was the fact that even in the 1940s, professional football was not as popular as its college counterpart.
Adding to the wartime troubles for football was the fact that college football remained somewhat unaffected, as the players were mostly younger or exempt (at least temporarily) from the military draft. That meant that star college players kept playing, but star professional players found themselves in uniform.
American footballer Tuffy Leemans
To keep people interested in the game, the National Football League (NFL) came up with sort of a gimmick, much like their baseball counterparts – they re-signed older, retired stars. The most famous of the returning players was Bronko Nagurski, who had played for the Chicago Bears and had retired in 1937. Nagurski, who became famous in college and the pros as a fullback, returned to football as a tackle.
Other (future) Hall of Famers included Green Bay quarterback Arnie Herber, who had retired in 1940, and halfback Ken Strong. Herber signed with the New York Giants and Strong returned to that team.
Steagles starting line-up
Teams as a whole went through hard times because of the war. The Cleveland Browns suspended play for 1943. Many people would be surprised to hear that the two Pennsylvania teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles, actually merged for 1943, and played in both cities. People dubbed the team “the Steagles.”
The “Steagles” only lasted one year, but in 1944 Pittsburgh combined with another struggling team, the Chicago Cardinals. The official name of this team was the catchy “Card-Pitt Combine” and they were so bad they went winless that year. Opposing teams ran over them so much that sportswriters and fans began calling the team “the Carpets.”
The year 1945 saw the end of the “Combine,” but two teams that do not exist anymore, the Boston Yanks and the Brooklyn Dodgers (yes, football “Dodgers”) merged at that time and played as the “Yanks,” but left a city tag off the name.
During the war, a surprisingly large number of NFL players were killed overseas. Many of the players went into combat roles – their athletic prowess and toughness made it almost inevitable, and the death toll reflected that. Nineteen active or former players were killed in action, as was an ex-head coach and a team executive.
Al Blozis, Giants tackle, died in World War II. According to Mel Hein, “If he hadn’t been killed, he could have been the greatest tackle who ever played football
Of those NFL players killed in action, probably the best-known was Al Blozis, who played tackle for the New York Giants and had been “All-League” (the early NFL’s “All-Pro”). Blozis was 6’6” tall and weighed 250 lbs. Blozis was in the Army, and actually could have claimed exemption from front-line infantry duty because of his size and instead put into the artillery or a support branch, but he would not take the exemption.
During basic training, he set the Army record for a grenade throw – he had been a varsity shot-putter at Georgetown University. In the winter of 1944, just six weeks after playing in the 1944 NFL Championship Game, Blozis was killed by German machine-gun fire as he helped look for some missing men in the snow-covered Vosges Mountains of eastern France.
Three men who had played in the NFL or pro football or later had connections to it were awarded the Medal of Honor during the war, one of them posthumously.
Joseph Jacob Foss wearing the highly prized Medal of Honor bestowed upon him by President Roosevelt for outstanding gallantry against the Japanese in the Solomons.
The most famous of the three was fighter pilot Joe Foss, who was the leading Marine ace of WWII with 26 victories. He later was commissioner of the AFL from 1960-66 as well as being governor of South Dakota.
Maurice Britt briefly played end for the Detroit Lions before the war. He fought in North Africa and Italy and was the first man in WWII to be awarded all four of the top medals of valor: the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Bronze Star. He also received four Purple Hearts. Football was easy compared to all that.
Jack Lummus, USMC, Medal of Honor recipient; Battle of Iwo Jima
Andrew Jackson “Jack” Lummus played with the 1941 New York Giants and received the Medal of Honor for actions taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. He destroyed many Japanese positions single-handedly, despite being wounded multiple times, before being killed by a land-mine.
Tom Landry, USArmy Air Corps / Coach Landry
Perhaps the most famous of them all, at least in regard to football, was legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. At 19, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and flew 30 missions in a B-17 over occupied Europe, surviving a crash in Belgium on his way back from bombing a German armaments plant in Czechoslovakia. He was on the real “America’s Team” long before he coached the other one.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor –
‘These military teams really take their defence seriously…!’
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Farewell Salutes –
Stephen F. Ambrose – Trumbull, CT; US Army, WWII
Francis Behrendt – Charleroi, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Co. E/188/11th Airborne Division
V. Herbert Brady Jr. – Macon, GA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
Peter Corchero – Mayfirled, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Michael Howard – South Kensington, ENG; British Army, WWII, ETO, Lt., Coldstream Guards. Military Cross / Military Historian
Evelyn Owens – Harlan, KY; Civilian, “Rosie” @ Willow Run, B-24 riveter & crane operator
Thomas Parnell – Somerset, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, gunner
David Ridley – Brockville, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII, 514th Squadron, Lancaster navigator
Jerome Thomas – Chicago, IL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, LST # 991
John Weatherly – Grand Island, NE; US Army, WWII, ETO, 349th Infantry Regiment “Blue Devils”
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How Capitalism helped to win the war
The Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, MD – cargo vessels in 24/7 production
“We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible.” ___ William Knudsen, Pres. of G.M.
William ‘Bill’ Knudsen’s story is detailed in the video Capitalism in World War II: The Arsenal of Democracy.
Capitalism in WWII: Andrew Higgins “The Man Who Won WWII” covers Andrew Higgins, whose landing craft designs, based on his own experiences building shallow-water boats in New Orleans, dramatically shaped the way the U.S. military fought World War II. With its enemies oceans away, the U.S. military relied on these small, purpose-built crafts to put boots on the ground.
Rob Citino
Rob Citino:
Well first of all, what America was able to do as a result of individuals like Bill Knudsen and Andrew Higgins, and also as a result of our social economic system and as a result of our fantastic material wealth (much of which was lying fallow during the depression) was to mass produce and employ an economy of scale on a way that was just unheard of to the other countries, with the possible exception of the Soviet Union. If you look at others, another name that has to be mentioned up top is Henry Kaiser. He was the master builder of the war. Kaiser was an energetic and hard driving guy, he was always going in all directions at once. Kaiser would help build the Hoover Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam.
One of many Rosie the Riveters
Kaiser went from construction to shipbuilding, having never built a ship before in his life, during World War II in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon. They were Liberty Ships, a kind of a floating train car, the most ungainly think you could ever imagine, and he banged them out with abandon.
It used to take months to build a ship. Kaiser’s company could bang them out in 10 days. A ship is a funny thing to build because for most construction projects you speed up at the end. You’ve done all of the heavy lifting in the beginning and at the end it really goes quickly. Shipbuilding goes slowly at the end because you have to put the deckhouses on, but you can clamp together the hull fairly quickly. Kaiser was the one who hit on the notion that you can prefab these things, preassemble the deckhouses and then use a crane to put them on top of an already full constructed ship. I think that was a real breakthrough in shipbuilding.
tank mass production
If we were going to come to grips with our enemy in the Pacific, Japan, an island nation all the way across the Pacific, or in Europe, Germany, we had to get across the Atlantic to get there. We had to form and deploy gigantic forces in a short amount of time, and the only way to get them there is by sea. You can air transport light forces into a theater, like paratroopers and light vehicles perhaps, but in order to bring the heavy metal (the way the United States fights wars is with a lot of materiel, a lot of ammunition, and a lot of heavy artillery) if you’re going to get these things to theater, the only way you can do it is by sea.
The real peak of that achievement is June 1944: spearheading an alliance, the United States landed a massive force in Europe, tens of thousands on the first day and millions of follow-on forces, and literally within weeks launched a gigantic landing on the island of Saipan in the Marianas. There has never been a military power before, and maybe there never will be again, with that kind of global reach. And it’s things like being able to build a Liberty Ship faster than the Germans could torpedo them in 1942 that enabled this. It’s nothing romantic, it’s a battle of attrition.
Higgins boats at Saipan
You have to produce more than you’re losing. And, by and large, that is the margin of victory across all fronts for the Americans in World War II. So it is someone like Knudsen, an expert on production and the assembly line, someone like Higgins, building a little shallow draft boat for river traffic down here in the New Orleans swamps and bayous, someone like Kaiser, figuring out a way to build a big transport ship in an ungodly short amount of time, that allows America to fight the war of the rich man.
There’s a famous book, Arthur Herman’s Freedom’s Forge, which attributes the entire success of the World War II economy onto a handful of these Knudsens and Higgins’ and Kaisers that you and I have been talking about. They brought their patriotism forward, the innovation, the entrepreneurial skills that U.S. workers on all levels enabled.
aircraft mass production
I don’t deny any of that, but the portrait has been overdrawn. Cost-plus contract gave every World War II contractor a guaranteed 8 percent profit, more or less. A guaranteed 8 percent profit is a lot of money for a $10 billion industry. Things like Cost-plus contract, a five-year amortization rather than 16, and letters of intent that could be used for borrowing [also impacted the success of the World War II economy]. Henry Stimson who was Secretary of War at the time said “you have to let business make money, otherwise business won’t work.”
Robert M. Citino (born June 19, 1958) is an American military historian and the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National WWII Museum. He is a leading authority on modern German military history, with an emphasis upon World War II and the German influence upon modern operational doctrine.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Daryle E. Artley – Maywood, NE; US Navy, WWII, Quartermaster 2nd Cl., USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Riley Burchfield – Cleveland, OH; US Army, Korea, Sgt. 1st Cl., Co. D/1/24/25th Infantry Division, POW, KIA
Roy Christopher – Fort Lawn, SC; US Army, WWII, POW
James Dunn – Larkhall, SCOT; RAF, WWII, ETO
Harold Graver – Victoria, CAN; Royal Canadian Engineers, WWII
George Kimberly – Blunt, SD; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT
Tom Luey – Oakland, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, 14th Air Service Group
Steve Nagy – Lorain, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 1st Lt., pilot, 407/92/40/1st Air Division, KIA (Germany)
Louis Schultz – Ottawa, IL; US Merchant Marines, WWII
Frank Williams – Dumas, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO, communications
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Veterans Day 2019
For each and every veteran – Thank You!!
For All Our Todays and Yesterdays
Armistice Day Becomes Veterans Day
World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany, however, had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans.
For their loyalty…
War Dog Memorial on Guam.
US Military dog insignia
The Things That Make a Soldier Great
The things that make a soldier great and send him out to die,
To face the flaming cannon’s mouth, nor ever question why,
Are lilacs by a little porch, the row of tulips red,
The peonies and pansies, too, the old petunia bed,
The grass plot where his children play, the roses on the wall:
‘Tis these that make a soldier great. He’s fighting for them all.
‘Tis not the pomp and pride of kings that make a soldier brave;
‘Tis not allegiance to the flag that over him may wave;
For soldiers never fight so well on land or on the foam
As when behind the cause they see the little place called home.
Endanger but that humble street whereon his children run–
You make a soldier of the man who never bore a gun.
What is it through the battle smoke the valiant soldier sees?
The little garden far away, the budding apple trees,
The little patch of ground back there, the children at their play,
Perhaps a tiny mound behind the simple church of gray.
The golden thread of courage isn’t linked to castle dome
But to the spot, where’er it be–the humble spot called home.
And now the lilacs bud again and all is lovely there,
And homesick soldiers far away know spring is in the air;
The tulips come to bloom again, the grass once more is green,
And every man can see the spot where all his joys have been.
He sees his children smile at him, he hears the bugle call,
And only death can stop him now–he’s fighting for them all.
by: Edgar A, Guest
For All Those In Free Countries Celebrating Remembrance 0r Poppy Day
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Current News –
In honor the Veterans who are in hospice, there is a drive for Christmas cards, and if possible, small gifts for those who are about to go on their final mission. Please do your best for them – they did it for you!
Veteran’s Last Patrol; attn: Holiday Drive, P.O. Box 6111, Spartanburg, SC 29304
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Willard R. Best – Staunton, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, SSgt., 40th/1st Air Div./8th Air Force, gunner, KIA (Germany)
Leon E. Clevenger – Durham, NC; US Army, Korea, Cpl., Co. K/3/21/24th Infantry Division, KIA (Kalgo-ri, South Korea)
Harry Dexter – Davenport, IA; US Army, MSgt., 11th Airborne Division
Herbert B. Jacobson – Chicago, IL; US Navy, WWII, Pearl Harbor, KIA, USS Oklahoma
Servando Lopez – Alice, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Purple Heart
Ralph Nichols – Dawson, GA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 551/82nd Airborne Division
Robert Register – Jacksonville, FL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, minesweeper USS Notable # 267
William Timpner – Stamps, AR; US Army, WWII
Frank Wills – Columbus, OH; US Navy, WWII, PTO, submarine service
Peter Zemanick – Pittsburgh, PA; US Army, 504/82nd Airborne Division
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U.S. Marine Corps Birthday – 10 November 2019
What does the celebration mean to Marines across the globe? To General John Lejeune it meant a great deal. On 1 November 1921, he issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921, which provided a summary of the history, mission and traditions of the Corps and directed that the order be read to every command each subsequent year on 10 November.
The reading of Order 47, Series 1921
To read Order 47 please click HERE!
USMC Birthday Cake
At the Marine Corps Ball, one key piece of the ceremony is to present the first piece of cake to the oldest Marine in the room, who in turn gives the next to the junior Marine. This symbolic gesture is the passing of experience and knowledge from the veteran to the recruit. We should all emulate their example and take part in history.
To all those who are able – Enjoy the fruits of your labor and revel in the spectacle and unabashed camaraderie that is the U.S. Marine Corps!!
Click on images to enlarge.
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Current News – Charly Priest Review
As I explained to Charly Priest, I am the farthest thing from a poet that anyone could meet, but I am attempting a review of his Kindle/Paperback book. I hope everyone bears with me.
Priest is an unusual sort, and his poetry bears witness to this statement, but he’s humorous, serious and down-right confusing at times. There is no clearer explanation of him than that which is written at the end of the book by himself.
There are some that make you think, such as his poem “The Priest”, but I think he hunkers down and shows more of his true self in Chapter 4, and I was impressed. Such as “Land of the Killers” you can hear his own experiences in the Spanish Legion during deployment. “In Warfare”, that with all said and done, boils down to the last line, “where it’s a day-to-day reality of the insane.”
“Invisible People”, we’ve either known one of these or were one ourselves; “Seven Sins”, he expresses the human condition as he sees it and “After the End” with great advice to all.
To find his book, Click Here!
To locate his blog, Click Here!!
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Marine Humor –
“Somebody stop that guy and give him a piece of cake!!!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Rudy Boesch – Virginia Beach, VA; US Navy, Vietnam, Master Chief SEAL (Ret. 46 y.), Bronze Star
Larry Brown – Columbus, OH; USMC, Vietnam
Thomas H. Cooper – Chattanooga, TN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Cpl. # 295826, 2nd Amtrac Battalion, KIA (Tarawa)
Glen “Bud” Daniel – Belleville, KS; USMC, WWII, 2ndLt., pilot, Purple Heart
Darryly Fleming – Orange Park, FL; USMC, Chief Warrant Officer-5 (Ret.)
Harry C. Morrissey – Everett, MA; USMC, WWII, PTO, Co. B/1/7/1st Marines, KIA (Guadalcanal)
Paul Plasse – Waterville, ME; US Navy, WWII, ETO
Kenneth Ross – Mosinee, WI; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Thomas Walker III – Gadsen, AL; USMC, WWII, Sgt.
Jack Van Zandt – Danville, IL; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc, Co. A/1/6/2nd Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
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No Hallowe’en in the early ’40’s
WWII put quite the damper on any activity as chaotic as Halloween was back in those days … according to history war shortages made everyone edgy, and towns clamped down on Halloween pranking with both curfews and notices sent home from principals and police. There was a national plea for conservation: any piece of property damaged during Halloween pranking was a direct affront to the war effort.
In 1942 the Chicago City Council voted to abolish Halloween and institute instead “Conservation Day” on October 31st. (This wasn’t the only attempt to reshape Halloween: President Truman tried to declare it “Youth Honor Day” in 1950 but the House of Representatives, sidetracked by the Korean War, neglected to act on the motion. In 1941 the last week of October was declared “National Donut Week,” and then years later, “National Popcorn Week.”)
Editorial pages coast to coast filled with warnings to young people and their parents, such as this one from the Superintendent of Schools in Rochester, NY in 1942: “Letting the air out of tires isn’t fun anymore. It’s sabotage. Soaping windows isn’t fun this year. Your government needs soaps and greases for the war…Even ringing doorbells has lost is appeal because it may mean disturbing the sleep of a tied war worker who needs his rest.”
SO, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE OUR OWN FUN TODAY!!
C’mon!!!
Military Pumpkins
To find templates for your own pumpkin carvings – CLICK HERE !!
Click on images to enlarge, have fun, but be safe!!
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Edwin Benson – W. Newton, MA; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pvt., Co. L/3/2nd Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
Leo Cohen – Far Rockaway, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, 11th Armored Div., tank operator, Purple Heart
Porfirio C. Franco Jr. – Albuquerque, NM; US Army, WWII, PTO, Pvt., POW, KIA (Manila)
Howard ‘Mike’ Hunt – Plok City, IA; US Army Air Corps, WWII & Korea
Billy E. Johnson – White Oak, TX; USMC, Korea, Pfc, KIA (Chosin Reservoir)
Russell Lubbers – Bozeman, MT; US Army, Korea
John Moro – Columbus, OH; US Navy, WWII, USS Hancock
Sam Storms – LaFeria, TX; US Army, Korea, Major, Silver Star, Purple Heart, KIA (Chosin Reservoir)
Grady Trainor – Clarksville, TN; US Army, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, Sgt. Major (Ret. 31 y.), Silver Star, Bronze Star,
Raymond Wallace – Dexter, ME; US Army, Vietnam
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Ted Nelson – Stud Welder / Anne Clare, Book Review
Ted Nelson
Eighty years ago, many rural homes weren’t electrified, nor did they have indoor plumbing. Glenn Miller and Billie Holiday were at the top of the charts. A brand-spanking-new car could be yours for well under $1,000. And the state-of-the-art battleships — whole floating cities unto themselves — were that era’s equivalent of the Space Shuttle. While working at Mare Island Naval Shipyard Ted Nelson had his big idea. And what an idea! Ultimately, Nelson’s advancement helped save the Navy so many man-hours that he earned top-of-the-line commendations and set in motion a legacy of excellence that remains on the leading edge of the industry to this very day.
Mare Island Shipyard, WWII
The Mare Island Naval Shipyard, where Nelson worked in the years leading up to and during World War II, was the Navy’s first base on the Pacific Coast, located just north of San Francisco and now a California Historical Landmark. In its day it was the United States’ controlling force in the area’s shipbuilding efforts – at least 89 seagoing vessels were constructed onsite before its closure. During its World War II years, the Mare yard specialized in submarines, making it something of a hotbed of innovation, and young Ted Nelson, working on both repairs and new construction, fit right in.
“Prior to World War II, the Navy was attaching wood decking on many vessels using through-bolting,’” says John von der Lieth, Senior Nelson Stud Welding Field Sales Representative at Stanley Engineered Fastening. “This often required many levels of scaffolding underneath the wood deck just to install nuts onto threaded bolts attaching the wood to the steel frame below. The nuts were often also then tack-welded to prevent them from vibrating loose.”
“Well, Ted was a real inventor type, and he devised a handheld arc welding gun that looked kind of like a drill press. He would insert a threaded stud into the gun and place that down into a pre-drilled hole in the wood decking, making contact with the steel frame of the vessel below. The stud gun was connected to an arc-welding power source and a timing control device. When triggered, the stud gun coil would energize, lifting the stud off the steel frame just enough to establish an electric arc. Within a split second, the stud was melted (along with the steel base metal) and then was plunged home into the molten pool, establishing a complete joint penetration weld, and all of this was taking place from the topside of the wood decking.”
“The ‘Nelson Stud Welding Process thus eliminated the need for the vast scaffolding below the wood decks, dramatically reducing the time involved to install the decking, and producing a superior quality, full penetration welded connection. Ted also produced a special flanged nut to securely fasten the top side of the wood planks onto the studs, filling the pre-drilled, countersunk holes that were created to install the threaded studs. This also allowed for much easier replacement of any future damaged wood decking,” explained von der Lieth. “It changed the face of the war effort.”
Ted nelson ‘E’ citation
So, with his ingenuity and strong desire to solve a problem, Ted Nelson saved the Navy an estimated 50 million man-hours and the Nelson Specialty Welding Equipment Corp. was awarded two Navy “E” Citations, presented only to companies who met outstanding production criteria during the war effort. Not only did production numbers climb, the stud welding process also saved an unparalleled amount of money with respect to the foregone need for scaffolding, as well as labor and materials cost.
Ted Nelson’s invention was right on time. “The Nelson welding guns, studs, and nuts were used to install wood decking on submarines, battleships, and aircraft carriers. The patent for the decking gun was filed May 31, 1941,” says Clark Champney, Nelson Stud Welding Application Development Manager, and resident Nelson historian at Stanley Engineered Fastening. “Six months and one week later on December 8, 1941, the United Stated entered World War II.”
After the war, Nelson took his invention private, setting up shop in a coastal California garage in Nelson Stud Welding’s first incarnation. “Ted Nelson had the mind-set early on that his invention could be used in a wide variety of industries – he had a real vision,” says von der Lieth. “Although he hadn’t been a part of the company for many years at the time of his death in the 1990s, he was still a very active inventor into his 80s – he’d invented a hospital bed that rotated 360 degrees for hip replacement patients. He invented a glider that had an emergency engine in it – they called it the Hummingbird. He had countless minor inventions, and that’s why he ultimately sold the stud welding business – because he was an inventor type; problem-solving was his first love.”
Story idea from: Koji Kanemoto
Click on images to enlarge.
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Book Review – “Whom Shall I Fear?” by: Anne Clare, our Naptime Author
“Whom Shall I Fear?, by Anne Clare
Without giving readers too much insight and being the cause of stumbling into a spoiler, I shall begin this review by applauding Anne Clare, who has researched her way into creating a lovely romantic tale intertwined with the struggles and pains of war.
Amid the years of WWII bombings, the loss, deprivations and combat, two very different people are seemingly thrown together. Their worries, dreams and realities are shown to you through their correspondence. BUT – behind it all lurks the sinister aspirations of a narcissistic coward and his cohorts.
I found myself thinking about the story long after putting the book down – and to me, that is one major characteristic of an excellent novel.
Thank you, Anne, for granting me the privilege of owning a copy of your creation and for giving me the lingering question in my mind of – who should they have feared the most?
I highly recommend “Whom Shall I Fear?” to all.
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Military Humor –
“These aren’t barnacles. Someone stuck their gum down here.”
Shipbuilding Safety Award – or – Why women live longer than men.
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Farewell Salutes –
Charles Atkinson – Arvada, CO; US Army, Vietnam, Military Police
Eugene Barbezat – St. Johns. AZ; US Army / US Air Force, Vietnam, Lt. Col. (Ret.), Intelligence
Tom Curtsinger – KY; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Warren Eginton – Brooklyn, NY; US Army, WWII, PTO, 716th Tank Battalion
Donald Love – Hamilton, NZ; British Merchant Navy, # R258982. WWII
Lynn McDonald – Rochester, NH; US Army Air Corps, glider pilot
Leon “Jack” Persac Jr. – Baton Rouge, LA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-17 ball turret gunner
Robert D. Sullivan – Fairbury, NE; US Army, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Lt. Colonel (Ret. 27 y.)
Homer Terry – Tahoka, TX; US Air Force, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, pilot/logistics, Colonel (Ret. 32 y.)
Channing R. Whitaker – Granger, IA; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pvt., Co. A/1/6th Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
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U.S. Navy Birthday
The US Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established on 13 October 1775, by authorizing procurement, fitting out, manning and dispatch of two armed vessels to cruise in search of munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. The legislation also established a Naval Committee to supervise the work. All together, the Continental Navy numbered some 50 ships over the course of the war, with approximately 20 warships active at its maximum strength.
In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwait, authorized recognition of 13 October as the Navy’s birthday. Not to be confused with Navy Day (the founding of the Navy Department), the Navy Birthday is intended as an internal activity for members of the active forces and reserves, as well as retirees and dependents. Since 1972, each CNO has encouraged a Navy-wide celebration of this occasion “to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.”
Although written by a Royal Navy Admiral in 1896, “The Laws of the Navy” began to appear in the US Naval Academy’s “Reef Points” Plebe Handbook and is still there today. The sketches were added by Lt. Rowland Langmaid R.N. during WWI.
Beginning of “The Laws of the Navy”
Part 2
Part 3
End of “The Laws of the Navy
Click on images to enlarge!
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Navy Humor –
HAVE A BALL – BUT DON’T ROCK THE BOAT!!
Lady Popeye
for you submariners
for you surface-vessel types.
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Farewell Salutes –
Russell Allen – Lovell, ME; US Navy, Vietnam
Francis Currey – Selkirk, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, TSgt., Medal of Honor
Joseph Gildea – Hollidaysburg, PA; US Army, Occupation, 593rd Ordnance / US Navy, Vietnam, Capt., USS Rush & Hancock, US Naval Graduate
Everett Grabau – Spring Valley, MN; US Navy, WWII
K.Wayne Hays – Van Buren, AR; US Navy, WWII, pilot
Joe Irwin – St. Shelbyville, TN; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Rocco Lombardi – Ivoryton, CT; US Navy, WWII, LST-616
Richard McConville – Teaneck, NJ; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Missouri
Robert L. “Cajun Bob” Thoms – Baton Rouge, LA; USMC, Vietnam, SSgt., Silver Star
Alex Wolffenden – New Smyrna Beach, FL; US Navy, WWII
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The New Boom in the Food Industry
Food has often been an important part of warfare. What is less known is how food developed for warfare changed people’s lives after the war. The most important development happened after World War II, though the canning process has been around for a long time.
Canned food started by using tin cans to preserve various items in the early 19th century. British sailors and explorers found that canned food was a relatively easy way to supplement their rations. For example, the Arctic explorer William Parry took canned beef and pea soup on his voyage. By the middle of the 19th century many of the middle class in Europe bought canned food as novelty items.
The American Civil War, Crimean War, and Franco Prussian War introduced hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the novelty and enjoyment of canned foods, which expanded their consumption even more. Yet at this time they still remained relatively fringe items used by explorers and military.
It was the millions of men fighting in World War I and II that created an explosion in demand for canned food. The American government in particular faced problems connected to supplying troops in multiple theaters of combat around the world. They had to supply and feed millions of men with items that transported safely, survived trench conditions, and didn’t spoil in transport.
Canned foods thus became a pivotal part of the wartime experience. The C rations in particular were pre-made meals that could be eaten either warm or cold, so they often became the main staple of the war weary troops.
Sometimes they got lucky in being able to supplement their canned rations with local foods, and in World War II the rations of Allied servicemen often included M&Ms and Coca-Cola. The M&M candies were particularly liked because their hard outer shell prevented the chocolate interior from melting during transport to hot and humid locations in southeast Asia.
“Coke” became the preferred drink of the troops due to a marketing campaign in the States: any American in uniform could buy a Coke for a nickel regardless of its listed price. But there were few sources of the drink for Americans serving in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Accordingly, General Eisenhower requested 3 million bottles of Coke be shipped to his current location in North Africa, along with the equipment and supplies to refill them as needed so they could maintain a permanent supply of Coke.
Coke machine worked by the refrigeration crew of the 64th Seabees [Naval Construction Battalion] inTubabao, Samar, Philippines. Gift of Joseph Cohen, The National WWII Museum Inc., 2003.083.071
Both Coca-Cola and canned goods remained popular after the war. Coke products inspired a worldwide thirst, and the canned food companies sold their surplus goods on the civilian market. They also developed a marketing campaign to relate the convenience of canned foods to the demands of busy modern life.
WWII Coca Cola ad
Mass production of instant meals in factories extensively lowered their cost and expanded their use across the lower and middle classes. Some of these items included powdered cheeses, instant drinks, and cured meats, which were all developed during World War II but later became staples in the civilian world. These developments in turn changed the palate of the American consumer and much of the world they had touched.
So the next time you don’t feel like cooking and open up a can of soup, or grab some M&Ms and wash them down with a Coke, you’ll appreciate the fascinating history of how your tastes for such foods resulted from developments during wars, and how some of those foods were first experienced by soldiers that were often thousands of miles away.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Current News –
TF – 102 at award ceremony
The Green Berets of the U.S. Army 10th Special Forces Group received 48 combat awards for the action in Afghanistan. Task Force 102 were awarded:
5 Silver Stars
7 Bronze Stars w/ Valor devices
15 Army Commendation Medals w/ Valor
21 Purple Hearts
Unfortunately it cost them 3 KIA and 1 non-combat death.
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Blog News –
Unfortunately, we have lost a wonderful fellow blogger who has been a friend to many of us. Brian Edward Smith, also know
as Beari, ElBob or Lord Beari of Bow, of Australia, passed away on 24 September 2019. He will be greatly missed.
A note from his daughter, Sarah reads:
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Gerald Abel – London, CAN; Merchant Navy / RC Army, WWII
John R. Bayens – Louisville, KY; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pvt., Co. B/1/6th Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
Norman A. Buan – Long Prairie, MN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Co. C/2nd Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
George Clark – Rome, MS; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Astoria
Bill Etherton – Buffalo, IL; US Army, Occupation, 11th Airborne Division
George Flint – Lima, OH; US Army, WWII, 87th Infantry
Morris Maxwell – Gentry, AR; US Army, WWII, PTO
David Pershing (101) – Houston, TX; US Navy, WWII, PTO, pilot, USS Belleau Wood / USNR, Capt. (Ret.)
Clyde Sheffield – Daytona, FL; US Army, Korea & Vietnam, Major (Ret. 22 y.), Bronze Star
Louis Wieseham – Richmond, IN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc, E Co./2/8th Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
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If you fancy taking some time to remember dad I know he would love you to listen to Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. He’d be thrilled to think that was being played around the world for him. He also loved Beethoven s Ninth Symphony or Mozart’s Coronation March. If classical music is not your thing – he loved ol blues eyes – Frank Sinatra!
Sarah’s email is – suzziqqt@hotmail.com