My 85 year old father broke both hips (seriatim) because that thought never occurred to him.
Interesting. In looking through the history of my Dad's unit (244th FA Battalion). I realized that the battalion was totally reorganized after VE Day, Perhaps in preparation for reassignment to the Pacific. He was age 24 just before VE day with four years of active duty and would have been scheduled for additional combat duty had Japan not surrendered. He did fortunately have points necessary to avoid being called up for Korea.By "green," I was Thinking specifically of the pix of the youth and oldsters marching in civvies with dummy guns. OTOH, Roman soldiers had an obligation of 25 years or 16 campaigns. With a life expectancy of early-mid 40s, that was essentially a lifetime commitment. They weren't even allowed to marry until around 200 AD...
I can't promise that I won't do it again. I may do a little more conditioning beforehand. One hip's been replaced, anyway. That surgeon said, five years ago, that I had strong, sound bones. In fact, a year or so back, at my annual checkup, my family doc's nurse asked me if I'd had a bone scan lately. I said I'd had something better. She huffed up and asked what could be better. I said that the surgeon who'd cut off the top of my femur had held it in his hand and pronounced it good...My 85 year old father broke both hips (seriatim) because that thought never occurred to him.
Where the heck were the 1st Army’s horizontal construction engineers?December 6, 1944:
.; A ‘sea of mud’ in the Hurtgen.; A Heinkel He-162.; The underground facility located in Hinterbrühl, Austria that produced 40-50 He 162s per month.
A wooden jet. Way to go Jerry.December 6, 1944: ... The underground facility located in Hinterbrühl, Austria that produced 40-50 He 162s per month.
I wish more people understood (I know you do) the damage these constant bombing runs (made possible by Allied air superiority) meant regarding the Allies winning the war. We absolutely crushed their manufacturing infrastructure.A wooden jet. Way to go Jerry.
On continued service, many troops came home, joined the reserves or the guard and, after a five year break, found themselves freezing their asses off in Korea. We knew quite a few of them, even went to church with them. The idea was that the reserve and guard were good free money because there wouldn't be another world war anytime soon. Of my two older brothers, the split was interesting. The younger, Eddie, stayed stateside and ran sub patrol off the south Florida coasts. He opted to stay in the ** reserve and finally retired as a Lt.Col. He avoided Korea through divine intervention from Senator Sparkman.* The older, Harvey, who'd spent the war in SE England in the 8th AAF, wanted nothing ever to do with flying again. He didn't even fly civilian for many years...I read that the army for the invasion of Japan was going to come from three sources: troops already in the Pacific, units sent from Europe (some with a month’s leave between, some not; the latter were to go straight from Europe to the Pacific), and draftees called up to finish business in the Pacific.
From the perspective of units in Europe on VE Day, some units (a small number) would remain on occupation duty, some would go home and disband, some would go home, take a month’s leave before continuing to the Pacific and some would go straight to the Pacific.
The guys in the latter category were probably the angriest.
An interesting topic.I wish more people understood (I know you do) the damage these constant bombing runs (made possible by Allied air superiority) meant regarding the Allies winning the war. We absolutely crushed their manufacturing infrastructure.
Every facility built to manufacture every little thing they needed - from steel to oil to ball bearings - was targeted.
Stupid Army tricks.*Senator Sparkman also had to help Eddie out during the Lebanon crisis in 1958. Eddie had picked up an addition occupational number after he became a CPA. There was only one digit difference between that and helicopter pilot at the time. He received letter starting out "Dear Captain Self, we see that you are classified as a helicopter pilot." It went on to give him a date to report to Dothan. He told me that he knew, if they got him down there, they'd make him a helicopter pilot, whether or not he wanted to be. As I said, the senator came to his rescue again...
I well understand your point. I first saw what appeared to be a crater when I scanned the photo. The photo does offer an on the ground view of the damage that was inflicted on German rail lines.Artillery batteries when firing were generally laid out in a “W” pattern. The distance between guns on the ground predicated on the blast radius of an HE round, so when the battery fires a salvo of one HE round, in theory, the rounds will land in the same pattern and give the battery the maximum killing for that one-round salvo.
Hitting the exact same point on the ground, however, is difficult, because every cannon will have to fire slightly different deflect and elevation.
Well, technically, by then "Air Force Major," but, yes, same story. They'd be blinded by those hundreds of hours in ASW. Helicopter pilots were in short supply and, if he accidentally picked up that skill, he could see endless activations in the future, probably dead in the middle of tax-filing season. (The ** didn't care about April 15.)Stupid Army tricks.
I can picture the scene:
Army Major at Ft. Rucker: “It says here you are a helicopter pilot.”
CPT Self: “Uh, no. I’m a CPA. That’s a typo.”
Major: “Well, you’re here and we need helicopter pilots. Guess what? You’re going to be a helicopter pilot with an accounting degree.” (The Army is never wrong, you see?)
I went to the selection course with a Staff Sergeant named Morse. After selection, every NCO gets assigned to a specialty: weapons, engineer, medic and commo. Guess which specialty SSG Morse got?Well, technically, by then "Air Force Major," but, yes, same story. They'd be blinded by those hundreds of hours in ASW. Helicopter pilots were in short supply and, if he accidentally picked up that skill, he could see endless activations in the future, probably dead in the middle of tax-filing season. (The ** didn't care about April 15.)
Well, that took stones, after Market-Garden.December 7, 1944: ... Dwight Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, Omar Bradley, Arthur Tedder, and other Allied military leaders convened to discuss strategy. Eisenhower transferred US 9th Army to Montgomery's army group, but rejected Montgomery's notion that the southern army groups should be halted in order to make Montgomery's army group the sole attacking force.
Well, he had stones for brains, for starters. IIRC, he had multiple scenarios he proposed, all of which starred him at the head of the sole thrust into Germany...Well, that took stones, after Market-Garden.