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How America Got Into Gear – Post WWII
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.
Bendix ad, 1947
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.
Levittown, NY, 1947
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.
Studebaker, 1946
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.
Frigidaire, 1946
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 you name and address.”
“Housing shortage or no housing shortage – that’s going too far!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Stephen Bastian – Basking Ridge, NJ; US Air Force, Lt. Colonel (Ret. 35 y.), pilot
Raymond P. Casatelli (100) – Utica, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO
Land of the Free, because of people like these
Byron Davis (100) – Pitsburg, OH; US Navy, WWII
James A. Ehrsam – La Crosse, WI; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Block Island
Russell D. Gula – Dallas, PA; USMC, Vietnam
Nicholas X. Karay Sr. (100) – Detroit, MI; US Army, WWII, ETO
Raymond La Flair – Ogdensburg, NY; US Army, Japanese Occupation
Pearl M. Patterson (102) – Hastings, MI; Civilian, WWII, Willow Run bomber plant
Judith (Scalph) Rich – Scotts Bluff, NE; US Army Women’s Army Air Corps, WWII, medic
Helen L. Uznanski (1oo) – Meridian, CT; Civilian, WWII, made military field telephones
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Crossword Puzzles and WWII
The WWII home front and this generation have something in common, lock-downs. This post seemed appropriate for this day and age.
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 ONLY RUNS ON 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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Farewell Salutes –
Eleanor Rosalyn Carter, nee: Smith – Plains, GA; Civilian, First Lady of the United States, advocate for mental health & Habitat for Humanity
Jacob “Jake” Galliher – Pittsfield, MA; US Air Force, SSgt., 353 Special Op Wing/5th Air Force, KWS (Japan)
Franklin P. Hall – Leesburg, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, SSgt., gunner, 66/44th Bomb Group, KIA (FRA)
Henry (Heinz) A. Kissinger (100) – brn: GER; Civilian, U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. National Security Advisor
Sandra Day O’Connor – El Paso, TX; Civilian, U.S. Senator / Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
Clinton E. Smith Jr. – Wichita Falls, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO, Pfc., Co D/157/45th Infantry Division, KIA (FRA)
MH-60 Black Hawk Crash in Mediterranean Sea
Shane M. Barnes – Sacramento, CA; US Army, 160th Special Op Aviation Regiment, Chief Warrant Officer 2
Stephen R. Dwyer – Clarksville, TN; US Army, 160th Special Op Aviation Regiment, Chief Warrant Officer 3
Tanner W. Grone – Gorham, NH; US Army, 160th Special Op Aviation Regiment, SSgt.
Andrew P. Southard – Apache Junction, AZ; 160th Special Op Aviation Regiment, Sgt.
Cade M. Wolfe – Mankato, MN; US Army, 1/160th Special Op Aviation Regiment, Sgt.
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Courtesy of – Jack Ronald Cotner
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Handling additional Pacific Surrenders
Okinawa surrender
In the Ryukyus Islands, things were far more simple than on the Missouri. The senior officer in the Sakishima Gunto, Lt. General Gon Nomi, Toshiro, whose headquarters was on Miyako Shima, had been given authority to conclude a peace treaty for all Army and Navy forces in the Sakishima Gunto, Daito Islands and the islands in the Okinawa Gunto not already under American control. The official papers were signed on 7 September 1945, with General Stillwell presiding.
Gen. Hata at the Soviet surrender table.
General Shunroku Hata and his Army had taken only three weeks in April-May of 1944 to rout 300,000 Chinese soldiers in Honan to secure the Peking-Hankow railroad. He then moved south and then west to meet up with the Japanese forces in French Indochina. The 14th Air Force and the Chinese Air Force could not stop the offensive and by the end of May, General Marshall and the Joint Chiefs of Staff basically wrote off the Chinese Theater. Yet in the end, Gen. Hata signs the surrender.
Lord Louis Mountbatten with MacArthur
12 September, Lord Mountbatten accepted the surrender of all enemy forces in Southeast Asia in Singapore. Once again, the Union Jack was flying over Government House. But, due to Britain’s overstretched resources, Japanese soldiers were used to maintain law and order in the region. Europe’s colonialism was severely damaged and in 1947, Britain granted independence to India and Pakistan.
17 August, American parachutists landed near Nanking on the Wse-hsien interment camp. The Japanese were forced to protect the troopers from the unrest (actually chaos) erupting in the area between Communist and Nationalist armies. On 9 September, General Ho Chin accepted the Japanese surrender of China (except Manchuria, Formosa [now Taiwan] and Indochina north of the 16th parallel in the name of Chiang Kai. Mao’s forces stayed away even though Allied officials were present. By not being at Central Military Academy in Whampoa, he was in violation of the Potsdam accords and went on to accept his own regional surrenders.
Lt. Gen. Masao Baba at Borneo surrender
The British had been slow in retaking Hong Kong and revolts broke out. The POWs were not receiving food and the Chinese population caused riots in the streets. The British civil servants eventually took over while the Japanese kept the order. 16 September, the official surrender took place, but not until November were all Japanese troops in the New Territories relieved, disarmed and repatriated.
After a meeting in Rangoon, Mountbatten arranged for the Allied forces to enter Siam and Indochina. Thirteen days later, he flew his 7th Indian Division to Bangkok to move onward to Saigon. They were to assist the French in securing the southern half of Vietnam again as a French colony. The Americans felt that the French had already bled the country dry over the past century and so here – the start of the Vietnam War that would last until 1974.
Thailand had survived by playing both sides while attempting to appear neutral. Japanese General Hamada, responsible for heinous POW atrocities, committed seppuku.
Indonesia was grateful to the Japanese for throwing out the Dutch and declared their independence. Although British and Dutch troops made attempts to return them to colonization, they resisted. The Americans moved in with orders to disarm the Japanese and then leave. It would take four years of fighting before the Hague would recognize Indonesia as a sovereign country.
THE JAPANESE SURRENDER IN BURMA, 1945 (SE 4821) Brigadier E F E Armstrong of British 12th Army staff signs the surrender document at Rangoon on behalf of the Allies. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205208318
Burma disliked the Japanese, but they had given them a taste of independence from the British. They took no part in the surrender proceedings. After the Japanese were shipped home and fighting resumed with the British, the independent nation nation was established 4 January 1948.
India had acquired their own army under the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere, but not independence. After the war, the British tried in vain to hold the country, but hostility forced them to grant India their freedom in 1947. The transition was overseen by Governor General Mountbatten.
Korea – September 1945 – being relieved of all weapons
In Korea, the Japanese were ordered to sweep Inchon harbor of mines before the American fleet arrived. The Japanese, here again, were needed to maintain order until Koreans could be trained to contain the mobs. Korea had actually been ignored as far as surrender and removal of the Japanese. The U.S. had gone there to disarm the enemy. The end result of the incompetent handling of Korea during and after WWII attributed to the Korean War.
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Military Humor –
Best Before end of the world
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert M. Abbott – Arvada, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQ Co/11th Airborne Division,
‘Japan Surrender’ by: Howard Brodie
Patrick Blanchard Jr. – Minot, ND; US Army, Operation Iraq & Afghanistan, B Co/2/506/101st Airborne Division
Armada “Joe” Cafazzo – Hartford, CT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Louis J. Demotsis – Talladega, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-17 belly gunner
George “Bob” Gamble – Liberty Lake, WA; US Navy, end of WWII, PTO, bringing troops home
Richard E. Johanson Sr. – Orofino, ID; US Navy, WWII, LST USS Oceanus
Gladys Le Breton (102) – St. Louis Plantation, LA; Civilian, WWII, submarine watch, Gulf of Mexico
Bill Moffett – Shawnee, KS; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO
Edward Puzio – Binghamton, NY US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-17 pilot
Vernon Sommerer – Jefferson City, MO; US Army, Japanese War Trials, MP
May-Blossom Wilkinson (101) – Wahiawa, HI; Women’s Army Volunteer Corps, Army Transport
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The U.S.O.’s 80th Anniversary
“Until everyone comes home” is the motto of the U.S.O., the nonprofit organization has stuck to that motto, doing its best to bring support and entertainment to American military personnel around the world.
To connect to the organization, please click HERE!
Over the course of the USO’s 80-year history, the organization has seen it all: the beaches of France, the jungles of Vietnam, the deserts of Saudi Arabia and the mountains of Afghanistan. But most importantly, the USO has witnessed several generations of service members, military spouses and military families pass through its doors – and has provided them with crucial support by boosting their morale and keeping them connected to one another throughout their time in the military.
Boxing match w/ Sugar Ray Leonard & Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney as referee.
Starting in 1941 and in the eight decades since, the USO has remained committed to always standing by the military’s side, no matter where their service takes them.
Eleven months before the United States’ official entry into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was already creating a support system for the nation’s Armed Forces. Bringing together the Salvation Army, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), the National Catholic Community Service, the National Travelers Aid Association and the National Jewish Welfare Board, these six organizations formed the United Service Organizations (USO) on 4 February 1941. The USO was created specifically to provide morale and recreation services to the troops.
“Until everyone comes home” is the motto of the U.S.O., the nonprofit organization has stuck to that motto, doing its best to bring support and entertainment to American military personnel around the world.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Jesse Anderson – Boise, ID; National Guard, Chief Warrant Officer 4, instructor pilot
Dale F. Bruhs – Milford, MD; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT
Millie Hughes-Fulford – Mineral Wells, TX; US Army Reserve, Medical Corps / NASA, 1st female astronaut- 
Michael Gastrich – Cincinnati, OH; US Navy, Petty Officer 2nd Class, air crew mechanic/flight engineer
Roland Horn – Des Moines, IA; US Army, WWII, Chief Warrant Officer (Ret.)
George Laubhan – Boise, ID; National Guard, Chief Warrant Officer 3, instructor pilot
Charlotte MacDonough – Boston, MA; Civilian, WWII, made B-17 fuel bladders
Ryan Mason – Carthage, NY & TX; US Army, Middle East, Sgt.
Matthew Peltzer – Napa, ID; National Guard, Chief Petty Officer 3, pilot
George P. Shultz (100) – Englewood, NJ; USMC, WWII, PTO / Secretary of Labor, Treasury and State
Julian Vargas – Silver City, NM; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 187/11th Airborne Division
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Home Front – Hard to keep the good times rollin’
[ This post was originally a guest post I wrote for Judy Guion @ Greatest Generation Lessons. Being as times are rough these days, I thought a bit of comparison with what our parents and grandparents went through was in order. ]
Columnist Marquis Childs said after Pearl Harbor: “Nothing will ever be the same.” Thirty-five years later he added: “It never has and never will be.”
We need to remember that in 1941 as much as 40% of U.S. families lived below the poverty level, approximately 8 million worked for less than minimum wage and another 8 million were unemployed. The median income was about $2,000 per year. The government, in virtually fighting two separate wars, entered into civilian lives by raising taxes, rationing, controlling prices and allotting jobs.
Once the war began, truck convoys became commonplace and train depots burst into arenas of activity. The movement was not entirely servicemen as women began to migrate into towns and communities near the military bases and jobs when they entered the workforce. Judy Guion’s Aunt Jean did just that by going to Florida to be near her husband Dick. Minorities headed for higher paying positions in defense plants and shipyards.
The greatest annoyance to civilians was the fact that new automobiles were no longer being produced. The public’s status symbol and route to financial and social activities had been curtailed and this caused boot-leg markets to spring up selling tires and taking their chances with the law. The La Salle Motor Company in Indiana was the first firm to be cited by the government. The Office of Price Administration would regulate everything from soup and shoes to nuts and bolts and was responsible for all domestic rationing. J. Edgar Hoover issued warnings about car thefts; alerting owners to be wary of where they parked their cars, especially during evening hours. In Southwest Harbor, Maine, reports of gasoline siphoning were a constant problem.
The use of taxicabs grew throughout the world in the early part of the 20th century. In the 1940’s, the taximeter was developed and the new two-way radio was a great improvement over the old callboxes. DeSotos, Packards and the GM “General” were the common vehicles utilized for this purpose.
Streetcars were heavily used in the 1930’s, but companies began to fail as gasoline buses (”trackless trolleys”) took their place. The most prominent name was the Greyhound. In 1936, they introduced their “Super Coach” for family travel and it was so well received that within four years, they opened a chain of restaurants called “Post House.” When war began, they became a major carrier of the troops heading to the east and west coasts. Since nearly 40% of their workforce was eventually drafted, women were offered training as bus drivers. Local buses where often late and overcrowded, having standing room only. A person was often unable to keep a reliable daily schedule due to the situation.
Delta Airlines’ ad, 1940’s
Air travel was certainly difficult with a war in progress and the airlines did not have the systems they have now. Case in point: the Hoover Airport (where the Pentagon building is now), had a major highway running smack through it. When a plane took off or landed, the red traffic light was switched on to halt car and truck movement.
Train transport
Trains were the dominate mode of transportation since the transcontinental was completed in 1869 and up until just before the war era when cars and trucks became predominate. The massive movement around the country pressed heavily on the antiquated railroad network. Most of the system had been built in the decades following the Civil War. The Office of Defense Transportation urged people to only travel on “slack days” and take one-day vacations. The Director stated, “Needless passenger movement is getting to the point where it is embarrassing the war effort.” One rail line that came out of Saint Louis, called the “Jeffersonian,” had only reserved seating, but people continued to line up in the aisles.
1944 Arnold Schwinn ad, Chicago, IL
In congested areas, such as N.Y.C., vendors began to spring up to rent out bicycles. In fact, the summer of 1942, when the gas pumps went dry, drivers followed a gas truck to its delivery point, (as many as 350 would line up) so the bicycle business erupted. When walking became more important, leather for shoes became scarce and shoe rationing went into effect February 1943. In the U.S., three pairs per year was the quota and in England it was only one. By 1944, the U.S. civilian ration was dropped to two pair.
Greyhound 1940’s ad
The old saying, “Let the good times roll” proved difficult and often the stories seem to be from another world rather than another decade. Do any of our readers have stories they remember or were told? How would any of you deal with this lifestyle?
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Home Front Humor –
Chattanooga Times, the overburdened railroads
“When you boys finish with your Civil Air Patrolling stuff, I’ll have some iced tea ready for you.”
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Farewell Salutes –
Paul A. Avolese – USA; US Air Force, Vietnam, Major, radar/navigator, 4133 Bombardment Wing, KIA (South China Sea)
Neil Bohner – Des Moines, IA; US Army, WWII & Korea
Bernard Brown – Rutland, VT; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT
Kevin Dobson – NYC, NY; US Army, Military Police / Actor
Fred Ferry – Clarksville, TN; US Army, Co. A/544 Artillery/11th Airborne Division, (Ret. 23 y.)
Rosanna H. Gravely (102) – Camden, NJ & CO; US Navy WAVES, WWII, PTO, Yeoman 1st Class
Joseph W. Hoffman – USA; US Navy, WWII, Navy musician 1st Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
John P. Langan – Columbus, NE; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc., Co. C/1/6/2nd Marine Division, KIA (Tarawa)
Neal ‘Lil Pa’ Stevenson – Houma, LA; US Army, WWII, ETO
Patricia Warner – Lincoln, MA; OSS, WWII, undercover agent
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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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Beer & the Military in WWII
Happy G.I.s w/ their beer!
During WWI, the U.S. struggled to supply “the comforts of home” to the Doughboys. The Red Cross and various other groups helped, but it wasn’t enough. During WWII, the U.S. government was determined to do a better job and reserved a certain percentage of comfort items, such as beer and cigarettes, for the servicemen.
Service members could buy such items, along with gum, pop, candy, books, etc. at a PX. When feasible, small mobile PXs were set up, sometimes in the back of jeeps, to supply such items to those on or near the front.
Breweries were required to set aside a 15% of their production for military use. The prohibitionists were still around and active and tried to convince the military to ban alcoholic beverages totally. Instead the military supplied only 3.2% beer to servicemen instead of the 4-7% alcohol content. Theoretically, servicemen could not get drunk on 3.2 beer, but obviously the person who said that never saw the PX after a long desert march. Not every brewer made the 3.2 being as it had to made separately.
WWII beer cans
During the war, the military used both bottles and cans to send beer overseas. Cans were lighter, more compact and didn’t break as easily as the bottles, but while both glass and metal were rationed, bottles were somewhat easier to replace than cans, so both were used.
At first, the breweries used cans with the same labels as the pre-war cans. All they did was change the tax statement on the label to indicate that the relevant taxes were not applicable. The new statement read, “Withdrawn Free of Internal Revenue Tax for Exportation.” In 1944, the military switched to olive drab cans, apparently in an effort to make the cans more uniform in appearance.
The U.S. began to ease rationing restrictions in late 1945, although it took several years to eliminate all rationing and price controls. Beer cans became available for civilian use again in early 1947, Cab companies began advertising that “the cans are back!”
WWII beer
Beer had long been more popular in the U.S. than ale. Schaefer had been the first brewery to introduce lager beer to the U.S. in the mid 19th Century. By the early 20th Century, only New England drinkers still preferred ale to beer. After WWII, New England tastes switched to match the rest of the country. It is supposed that the returning servicemen developed a taste for beer during the war. The government did not supply much ale as the alcohol content is usually higher in ale than in beer.
Article first appeared in “The Voice of the Angels”, the 11th A/B Division Association newspaper.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
A new War Terror – Beware of Dog on Rations!
G.I. envelope home humor, 1945
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Quarantine Humor –
A Stephen King warning from “The Shining”
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Farewell Salutes –
Kenneth Adams – Des Moines, IA; US Army, WWII / National Guard Reserves (Ret.)
Harvel ‘Jack’ Baines – Oplin, TX; US Navy, WWII, SeaBees, Shipfitter 2nd Class
Michael J. Cox Sr. – Kewanee, IL; US Army, Vietnam, 2nd Lt., 25th Infantry Division
Dale Doran Sr. – Port Angeles, WA; US Army, 11th Airborne Div. / 822nd Aviation Engineer Battalion, Korea
Julius Heins – El Paso, TX; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class
Thomas McCartney – Schenectady, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO
David O’Connor – Capa, SD; US Navy, WWII, PTO, SeaBee / US Army, Korea
Bill Rodgers – Le Flore, OK; US Army, Korea, Sgt., Co. A/1/32/31st RCT/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Chosin)
Samuel Smirna – East Bruswick, NJ; US Army, WWII, ETO
William Waggoner – Patagonia, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO,glider pilot, 440/95th Squadron
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Jump Boots – the Airborne trademark
508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team
Distinctive as Airborne itself, so are the dark, glistening jump boots of a paratrooper. Troopers glory in their significance and only they know the secret pride when they glance down at their boots, polished like glass, and see in them the reflected valorous traditions of AIRBORNE _____ By: Cpl. Jim Ethridge
Jump boots belong to the paratroopers! They are as distinctive as the airborne itself. Others in the armed forces may wear them, but the dark glistening boots are the original trademark of the swaggering soldiers-of-the-sky.
At Fort Campbell, as with other installations were paratroopers are stationed, it is the jumpers’ delight to “fall out” each morning with starched fatigues, blocked hat and the mirrored footwear.
Corcoran Paratrooper boots
This is true of the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat team. The doughty Red Devils flash all the dash and verve that marked the paratroopers of yesterday. Very early paratroopers wore ordinary army shoes and some even used tennis shoes.
Then somebody devised a leather ankle-top boot with a big metal buckle across the top of the arch. but this proven impractical after several paratroopers came down looking like spiders trying to get the suspension line unhooked from the buckle.
Next came the boot called the Corcoran. The most beloved of the several brands of jump boots on the market. These are still the main choice of the airborne warriors.
the boots of a “Flying Tiger”
Another popular, well-appearing boot is the Skymaster, which has the same thick sole and slash heel as the Corcoran, but it doesn’t quite have the snub, upturned hard toe of today’s famed boot.
An early fad was to replace the manufacturer’s eyelets with huge brass grommets. The grommets called for the nightly ritual of removing the 72-inch leather laces and running a blitz cloth through the big eyelets – all 48 of them!
Red Devils and other paratroopers alike take pride in this hallmark of distinction. They glory in its significance. They are proud soldiers when they glance down at their boots, polished like glass, and see reflected the valorous traditions of the Airborne!
This article and pictures below are from: “The Voice of the Angels” newspaper of the 11th Airborne Division Association, Matt Underwood, Editor
paratrooper gear of the Pacific Theater
paratrooper 1
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Joseph Bettin – Milwaukee, WI; US Navy, corpsman, USS Jason
Walter Grisevich – Hartford, CT; USMC, WWII, PTO
Katheryn Hatch Klaveano – Woods Cross, UT; US Navy WAVE, WWII, flight orderly
Fernand “Bucko” Lambert – Artic Village, RI; US Army, Korea
Moises A, Navas – Germantown, MD; USMC, Iraq, Captain, 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Purple Heart, KIA
John E. Nichols – Springfield, VA; USMC; Cuba, Vietnam, Major (Ret. 44 y.)
Diego D. Pongo – Simi Valley, CA; USMC, Iraq, GSgt., 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, KIA
Wayne Smith Jr. – Fort Benning, GA; US Army, Korea, 11th Airborne Div. / Vietnam, adviser, Bronze Star, West Point alum ’49
Max von Sydow – Lund, SWE; Swedish Army, Quartermaster Corps / beloved actor
Ken Wright – Avalon Beach, AUS; RA Air Force, WWII, ETO, Flight Lt., Spitfire pilot
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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.
Click on images to enlarge.
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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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Pacific Paratrooper 