Private Darrell Tranbarger

From HonorStates site.

Born Pike County, Missouri.  Private , U.S. Army.   1128th Engineer Combat Group.  Killed in Action.

Service Number:  20540311

Joined Regular Army at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, on December 1, 1941.

Buried and memorialized at Plot K Row 13 Grave 13.  Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands.  This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.

One of 9,880 American Gold Star casualties associated with Missouri with this group.

This covers World War I through the Vietnam War.

Private Tranbarger was one of 338 American servicemen to die on April 14, 1945, during World War II.

--GreGen

Just Sandwiches and Pies at Snack Shack

From the April 8, 2020, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois) "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"DUE TO INABILITY--  To secure sufficient ration points to serve meals, beginning April 2, the SNACK SHOP  will serve only sandwiches and pie until further notice."

--GreGen

Talking About Nazi Spies in the U.S.

From the April 8, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"Those attending the lecture last evening at the high school given by Dorothy Waring were high in the praise of the speaker who spoke on 'Factual Performances of Nazi Spies in the U.S.', a topic which all are interested in  but know little about.

"The speaker was able to give first-hand information as she was an investigator of subversive activities for a former congressional committee and her work as a secret agent brought her into contact with most of the  infamous and dangerous Nazi spies."

Spies Right Here In the Good Old U.S.A.?!!  --GreGen

Hitler Plans to Die in Battle in 1945

From the April 8, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"A captured German general told front correspondents today that Adolf Hitler plans to die in battle at the head of   SS Elite Guard troops especially picked for the honor of dying  with the fuehrer.

"SS units were already being designated for the sacrifice, German Major General Hans Boehlsen said in an interview with a London News-Chronicle correspondent  on the Third Army Front."

Go Down With His Ship.  --GreGen

Sycamore's German POW Camp

From the Sycamore (Illinois) History Museum.

During World War II, German prisoners were sent to POW camps throughout the United States.  Many were sent to Camp Grant in Illinois (outside of Rockford).

During harvest time, many of the POWs from Camp Grant were sent to Sycamore to help with food efforts, including the Sycamore Preserve Company.  They stayed at temporary barracks on Park Avenue (where Upstaging is located today).

They ate their meals in town and worked in the local canning factory and  harvested food at local farms.

During the last year of the war, some 300 Germans were housed here from ages of 16 to 25.  They worked harvesting sweet corn, peas and asparagus.  Then they helped  can vegetables at the Sycamore Preserve Company.

The camp ran from June 1945 to October 1945.

--GreGen

AP's Edward Kennedy Was the Man on the Scene Who Broke the Surrender Story

Same Source as the previous V-E Day entries.

Edward Kennedy, then AP's  chief of bureau in Paris, was present at the surrender and was first to report the end of the war in Europe to the United States and the world, bypassing the Allied political embargo.

The news was broadcast unofficially over German radio, but U.S. President Harry Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had agreed to suppress the news of the capitulation for a day, in order to allow Russian dictator Josef Stalin to stage a second surrender  ceremony in Berlin.

Kennedy published the news anyway, angering U.S. authorities.  The military suspended AP's ability temporarily  to dispatch any news from the European theater, and Kennedy was called home and later fired.

AP issued a statement saying, "Kennedy did everything right," because the embargo  was for political reason, not to protect the troops.

"The world needed to know," AP's  then-president and CEO Tom Curley said.    Kennedy "stood up to the power."

--GreGen

Sgt. Ridolph on Overseas Broadcast

From the April 29, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"Sgt. Sam J. Ridolph, son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ridolph of 901 North Thirteenth Street, will be heard in a special overseas broadcast Friday noon.

"The program was recorded somewhere over in Europe where Sgt. Ridolph  is serving with a ground crew in the First Tactical Air Force."

Good to Hear from Loved Ones at the Front.  --GreGen

About the Submarine Wahoo

From the January 16, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1944, 75 Years Ago.

"Information appearing in one of the picture magazines reveals that the moving picture 'Destination Tokyo' is based upon the exploits of the now missing submarine 'Wahoo' of which Lieut. Comm. Dudley Mortin, well  known in DeKalb, was the commander.

"The 'Wahoo'  has been reported overdue since the first if December by the Navy Department."

--GreGen

LCC 60

I looked up the LCC 60 and found that Lt. (jg) Howard Vander Beek had written a book about the ship's operation on D-Day at Utah Beach.

It is titled "Aboard the LCC 60 Normandy and Southern France, 1944"  published in 1990, 95 pages.

It is offered on Amazon for $245 so must be fairly rare.

--GreGen

A Drive-By Birthday Salute for USS Arizona Survivor Louis Conter, 99: Now Just Two Left

 From the September 14, 2020, Union (California County, Nevada) by Elias Funez.

Grass Valley's WW II hero and USS Arizona survivor, retired Lt. Cmdr. Lou A. Conter, was celebrated Saturday with a drive-by salute for his 99th birthday.

He knew nothing of it, but representatives of nearly every local law enforcement, firefighter and community, including state parks and Forest service took part.

Colter said that he would be missing this year's commemoration at Pearl harbor on December 7, but has plans to go in 2021.

Said Mr. Conter:  "Ken Potts is the only other survivor from the USS Arizona.  I talked to him a couple of weeks ago.  He's in Utah, he and his wife bought that house in '47 when they got out of the service.  And, they're still living there.  He was 99 on April 15, he's five months older than I am.  There's just the two of us left."

He was on board the Arizona that day when it blew up and helped rescue crewmen afterwards and dove into the wreckage  to recover bodies in the days afterwards.

Later in the war, he became a  VP-11 Black Cat pilot and was responsible for helping rescue  over 200 Australian Coastwatchers  stranded in Northern New Guinea.

Happy Birthday Mr. Conter!!  --GreGen

Is the Pandemic This Generation's Pearl Harbor or 9/11?-- Part 4: When We're United...

We agree that we are under attack by the coronavirus.  We agree that it can strike Americans of all personal and political persuasions.  And, not just us, but anyone in the world.

But, while we have taken steps to deal with this medical transgressor, those steps have not been uniform or coordinated, and they often seem to be more about politics than public safety.

The coronavirus is the problem, but as Pogo once put it, the enemy is us.

The world learned from the World War II generation that when we're united no outside force can defeat us.

World War II Veteran Who Brought the USS Batfish to Oklahoma Hopes to See It Restored

From the Nov.19, 2019, Tulsa (Ok) Channel 2 NBC by Chris DiMaria.

World War II submarine veteran Nick Guagliado was instrumental in bringing the WW II submarine USS Batfish to its present home at the Muskogee War Memorial Park on  on May 7, 1972.   On May 23, 2019, it was moved from its hole in the ground by floodwaters from the Arkansas River (the article has video of it being moved by the river).

Now, it is going to need 250 semi-loads of dirt and millions of dollars to repair and the park is calling for help.

--GreGen

USS Oklahoma's Unknowns: Gerald "Gerry" Clayton and Grant C. Cook, Jr.

From November 22, 2019.

As the government continues the process of identifying those among the 429 who died on the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor.

**  GERALD "GERRY" CLAYTON:

Storekeeper 2nd Class.  His parents, Lee and Grace Clayton were first contacted by the U.S. government on December  20, 1941, saying that their son was missing in action.  Then, on Jan. 3, 1942, they received another telegram saying that he had survived with apologies for the first notification.  They received nothing after that.  It wasn't until March  12, 1942 that they received a letter saying their son had perished.

This past July family members held a ceremony  at the Central City Cemetery where he was buried with full military honors.

**  GRANT C. COOK, JR.

Fireman 1st Class.  His remains were identified earlier this year and buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on Oahu.  Cook was from Cozad, Nebraska.  A book on his life has been given to the Cozad Library.

-GreGen

Bits of War: Japanese Aircraft Carriers-- Ernest Childers-- Goldstar Museum in Iowa

From November 22, 2019.

**  Japan is getting aircraft carriers for the first time since World War II.  Two helicopter destroyers are being  modernized into de facto aircraft carriers.

**  Plaque dedicated at Fort Drum (NY) to Lt. Col.  Ernest Childers, the first Native-American to receive the Medal of Honor.  Was a member of Co. C, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division.

From Oklahoma and a member of the Muskogee Creek Nation.  Received Medal of Honor for bravery during combat in Oliveto, Italy, in September 1943.

**  The Goldstar Museum at Camp Dodge in Iowa has a new exhibit on Iowans serving in Europe during the war.  More than 262,000 Iowans served during the war and 8,398 were killed.

--GreGen

Asheville's Fortress of Art: Biltmore Estate

From the 2014 Our State (NC) magazine by Bryan Mims.

During World War II, Asheville, North Carolina's Biltmore Estate became the center of a top-secret scheme to save some of America's most indispensable works of art.  Among them, the classic portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart.

This was, of course, just in case.

Earlier in 1941, that painting had been at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C..  Rumors of Nazi looting of Art had already crossed the Atlantic.

And, also, there was Titian's"Venus With a Mirror" and Raphael's  Portrait of "Bindo Altovitti" and a self portrait by Rembrandt.

Where to safely hide these and other works away, just in case, became of utmost importance.

His long-time friend, Edith Vanderbilt had that huge place in western North Carolina called the Biltmore, a 250 room home.  She agreed.  And, she knew just the room to put this new art.

--GreGen

Is the Pandemic This Generation's Pearl Harbor or 9/11?-- Part 3: The Pandemic Is Not the Same Thing

 A few months back, the writer of the article, E.J. Montini, received a letter from a reader who was describing the difficulties of living through the pandemic.  He related how his 18-year-old son was going off to college not knowing whether he would be able to move into a dorm or participate in sports or even leave his parents' house.

"This pandemic is his generation's 9/11," the man wrote.

Except, it's not.

My parent's generation, the WW II one, recognized a common enemy and came together to defeat it.

Likewise, with 9/11, Americans of all personal and political persuasions united in sorrow and  and in resolve against those who attacked us.

It isn't that way now.

--GreGen

Is the Pandemic This Generation's Pearl Harbor or 9/11?-- Part 2: 'September 11 Is Your December 7'

This encounter between the writer and the old World War II veteran took place on December 7, 2001, on the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

This was just a few months after the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

The old veteran said to the writer,  "September 11 is your December 7."

And, it is.

And, it always will be.

Is the Pandemic This Generation's Pearl Harbor or 9/11?-- Part 1

 From the September 11, 2020, AZCentral "The COVID-19 pandemic is not this generation's 9/11" by E.J. Montini.

On December 7, 2001, E.J. Montini went to the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor held each year at the USS Arizona Anchor Memorial at the Arizona State Capitol where he saw a group of elderly gentlemen, some in suits, some in casual Hawaiian shirts, but all of them wearing blue and white garrison caps with a "Pearl Harbor Survivor's" insignia on one side.  They'd be sitting in a reserved seating area.

After the ceremony, he struck up a conversation with one of them, thanking him for his service.  He then related the tale of how his father was 20-years-old on December 7, 1941, and enlisted soon afterward.  His father was working at a steel mill at the time and crazy for a 17-year-old waitress at a place called the State Soda Grill.

They'd get married shortly before he shipped off to Europe with the Army.

I told the old vet that my parents recalled hearing President Franklin Roosevelt  on the radio saying that that day would "live in infamy."  And, how all the years of their remaining lives the date of December 7 meant something for them.

And, then....

--GreGen

My Friend's Memory of 9/11

 I was with my buddy Dennis today as he was working on putting in a battery in my 1985 Firebird in preparation of starting it for the first time in two years.  To say that effort did not go as planned is an understatement.  Nothing went right with the removal of the battery or the installation of the battery I had bought yesterday.

We finally ended up going to the O'Reilly's in Fox Lake, Illinois, where I bought a battery that could be used on an '85 Firebird.  I sure didn't know that you had to have specific batteries for specific cars.  Foolish ol' me felt that when it comes to batteries, one size fits all.  It sure "don't."

Anyway, Dennis said he sure remembered 9/11.  He said he was working for Jay's Potato Chips and thatthe was on a delivery to a store when he first heard about it.

And, that was the topic of conversation along his route for the rest of the day.

--GreGen

Preparing for the Repatriation of German Prisoners in DeKalb County in 1945

From the September 9, 2020, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

September 9, 1945, 75 Years Ago.

"Col. Forrest W. Edwards, Camp Grant (in Rockford) commander,  is urging all employers of German prisoners of war to take steps toward replacing them with civilian workers (Americans) in anticipation of the gradual  repatriation of the prisoners.

About 2,500 German prisoners are being used by private contractors under supervision of Camp Grant mostly in agricultural and food processing work."

If you had to be a prisoner of war, these Germans by far had it better than anyone else. As a matter of fact, a lot of the Germans returned home, settled their affairs and then moved to the United States where they became American citizens.

Another Way to Tell That the War Was Over.  --GreGen

A POW Camp in Sycamore, Illinois, in 1945

From the April 29, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"At a special meeting of the city council held Monday night, the members by a vote of five to two to provide water and sewage facilities for a proposed prisoner of war camp such labor to be used  this year for the operation of the Sycamore Preserve Works.

"A six inch sewer from 150 feet south of the end of South Avenue, and a three inch  water main from the same point for a distance of about 400 feet to the camp site, which is the old DeGraff farm, was approved by the city."

Using Prisoners to Help With Labor Shortages on the Home Front.  --GreGen

Battleship USS North Carolina Reopening to Full Public Tour

 From the September 4, 2020, Spectrum 1 News

Due to the state going to Phase 2.5 Reopening.  Full tour route will resume Saturday, September 5.   But procedures to  prevent the spread of COVID-19 will continue.

Those procedures include:
**  Offering only self-guided tours.
**  Visitors wear cloth masks.
**  Only non-cash payments (credit cards)
**  Providing hand sanitizer  and hand-washing facilities.
**  Clean high-touch areas and bathrooms often.
**  Using protective barriers at sales desks.

HOURS OF OPERATION:  8 AM TO 5 PM DAILY
Adult admission $14.
I see in the photograph that they have the ship's bell from the USS North Carolina (ACR-12) which was commissioned in 1908 and has that date on it.)
--GreGen

Plans for the End of WW II in Europe Already in DeKalb County in 1945

From the April 8, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back"

1945, 75 Years Ago

"Arrangements were made some time ago by the Ministerial Alliance for holding a united service of thanksgiving and praise when the announcement has been received that the hostilities have ceased in Europe.

"The services will be held at  the First Lutheran Church and all ministers of the community have been invited to participate.  Singing of hymns of praise and thanksgiving and prayers of  gratitude for the ending of this one phase of the war will take place.

"The retailers also have a Victory Day schedule which will be followed by the closing of the stores."

The Expected End of War in the European Theater.  --GreGen

President Trump Visits Wilmington and Recognizes the City's Role in WW II-- Part 2: USS North Carolina 'An Enduring Symbol of American Greatness'

 President Trump gave a 15-minute speech and declared Wilmington, North Carolina, as the nation's first World War II Heritage City.  "With this designation, we proudly declare  that we don't tear down the past, we celebrate our heroes.  We cherish our history, we preserve our history and we build our future."

The North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, based in Wilmington, was the largest employer in the state during the war, with 23,000 workers at its peak and built almost 250 merchant ships (mostly Liberty Ships) for the war effort.

During the war, Wilmington was called "The Defense Capital of the State."  The North Carolina General Assembly passed a resolution in 2017, asking the federal government to recognize Wilmington for its war contributions.

The city became a "wartime boomtown," with its population more than doubling in size.

Wilmington's strategic position and contributions made it a target for attack by German U-boats.  Merchant ships were sunk off the entire Atlantic and Gulf coasts as well as off Wilmington.  One German U-boat reportedly surfaced and fired its deck gun at a chemical plant near Fort Fisher, just south of the city.

Standing in front of the battleship USS North Carolina which fought in WW II, the president called it "an enduring symbol of American greatness."

--GreGen

President Trump Visits Wilmington, NC, Yesterday and Recognizes the City's Role in WW II-- Part 1

From the September 2, 2020, Spectrum News "In visit to Wilmington, president marks city's WW II history, criticizes protesters" by Charles Duncan.

Standing in front of the battleship North Carolina, President Trump recognized Wilmington's role in World War II as the nation marked the 75th anniversary of Japan's signing of the surrender document on board the USS Missouri that ended World War II.

Sadly, the USS North Carolina was not in Tokyo Bay on September 2, but one of the battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the USS West Virginia, was.  Other battleships there were the USS South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, Mississippi, Idaho and the British battleships HMS Duke of York and King George V.

The president said that Wilmington and North Carolina made extraordinary contributions to the war effort.  "Nearly two million American servicemen trained for combat in North Carolina, more than any other state,"  Trump said.  "Over 11,000 North Carolina patriots fought to their very last breath.

--GreGen

President Trump to Visit Wilmington on Wednesday, Sept. 2 to Declare the City the Nation's First World War II Heritage City

From the August 30, 2020, U.S. News & World Report  "Trump to visit Wilmington to declare it WW II 'Heritage City' "The visit is timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Japanese signing of the surrender terms on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

Legislation enacted last year requires the U.S. Secretary of the Interior  to declare at least one American city every year to be a World War II Heritage City.  Wilmington is the first one to receive the honor thanks in large to the efforts of Wilbur D. Jones who worked many years to have cities which had a lot to do with the war so honored.

Wilmington is also the home of the battleship USS North Carolina since 1962.

A great honor for Wilmington

--GreGen