About Those SS Concentration Camp Guards

From the April 2022 World War II magazine "Stopped Dead on the Tracks"  mail.

Christopher Hoffmann of Colorado Springs, Co. wrote that his uncle was a member of the 41st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron of the 11th Armored Division when they opened the gates and liberated the Mauthausen slave labor camp in western Austria they had no idea what they were walking into.

He remembered that during the cleanup of the corpses, as SS officer-turned-prisoner had refused to work, declaring to a British sergeant that officers could not be forced to work under the Geneva Conventions.  The sergeant pulled out his pistol and told him to shut up and get back to his job.

The SS office continued to refuse, at which point the sergeant shot him dead between the eyes  My wide-eyed uncle recalled that all SS members were highly motivated for the remainder of the day.

Work Will Liberate You.  --GreGen

WW II Sergeant Laid to Rest 80 Years After His Death: Harold Hammett

From Feb. 20,2024, WECT News (WDAM News Hattiesburg, Ms.) by Jay Harrison and Andrew McMunn.

Sergeant Harold Hammett, USMC, left Hattiesburg for San Francisco in 1940 and later enlisted in the Marine Corps.  Thousands like him were sent to fight in the South Pacific.  In 1943, as a member of the 2nd Marine Division, he landed on the Japanese-held island of Betio

The ensuing fight, called the Battle of Tarawa claimed thousands of lives, including that of Hammett who was just 24 years old at the time and was one of the first killed.  His family was notified a month later.

His remains were declared non-recoverable until they were found recently in  Hawaii's National Cemetery  of the Pacific, known as the "Punchbowl."

Using DNA, his family was found. This past week, he was reinterred at Roseland Park Cemetery in Hattiesburg.

I am so glad our government makes this identification effort.  --GreGen

USS Maryland

From the February 19, 2024, National Interest.

The USS Maryland was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked and sustained damage, but not seriously.  It later played a significant role in the Pacific War.

The battleship featured eight 16-inch guns in four turrets and entered service in 1920.  As such, she was one of America's most modern battleships due to the Washington Naval Treaty's limitations on new battleships.

Post Pearl Harbor, the Maryland underwent a rapid refit to modernize for operations in the Pacific, including improved anti-aircraft capabilities and torpedo protection.

Throughout the war, she served primarily shore bombardment roles, terrifying defenders with her formidable firepower.  Despite taking a torpedo hit and suffering from kamikaze attacks, she continued to support U.S. advances, including the critical Battle of Leyte near the Philippines.

After the war, she was placed in reserve, and, despite her historical significance, efforts to preserve her as a museum ship were not pursued and she was scrapped.

--GreGen

What Did Our WW II Service Men Think?-- Part 3

**  "I'll fight of necessary to prevent racial equality.  I'll never salute a negro officer and I'll not take orders from from a negroe.  I'm sick of the army's method of treating these inferior swine as if they were human."

**  "Why do you induct us in the first place.  Even as a leopard cannot change its spots, neither can we curtail our homosexual inclinations....  I'll just try not to get caught."

**  "I have been in the jungles  26 months.  I was just wondering of they will take us back in the States before thus war is over.  This jungle life will wreck your nerves....  Of the people back home don't think the jungle is hell just let them come over and stay for a few years."

**  "Better food should be considered for men in combat.  Constant diets of Vienna sausage & spam tends to decrease morale, as well as ruin a man's stomach."

--GreGen

What Did Our WW II Service Men Think? --Part 2

Some of their comments:

**  You people can't care for us over here in the jungles ... you folks there at home have a good bed and plenty of chow.  We eat ours out of cans.  Powder eggs & milk.  Give us some of this King's stuff & let us enjoy our life.

**  The Army would be a better place to live in, and the morale higher, if the Officers and many non-coms would not think that they are so high and mighty.  Also that the privates are human.

--GreGen

What Did Our WW II Service Men Think?-- Part 1

From the April 2022 World War II magazine "Soldier Surveys Virginia Tech University has published the transcripts of 65,000 surveys made by American GIs for the U.S, War Department in the early days of the war.  Needless to say, they were anonymous and they didn't hold back with their thoughts.

Many times they were quite patriotic, but lamblasted everything from uninspired leadership to bad food.  Black soldiers complained about discrimination.  Whites often expressed a bitterly racist view as was common back then.

--GreGen

Marietta, Ga. Man Killed on USS Oklahoma to Be Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

From the February 2, 2023, Marietta (Ga) Daily Journal by Jake Busch.

John Donald, Shipfitter 3rd Class was serving on the USS Oklahoma when the attack came and was one of the 429 who died aboard the ship that day.

He was born in Ball Ground, Cherokee County on July 15, 1913, and grew up in Marietta and enlisted in the Navy in Nashville, Tennessee on July 6, 1940.  His duties aboard the battleship Oklahoma included metal work,  pipefitting and  repairing different parts of the ship.

He received three promotions.

His was one of the Oklahoma Unknowns.  After being buried in the Punch Bowl for many years, his body was disinterred and DNA testing done on his remains which resulted in his identification.

Burial will be this month at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Again, So Glad the U.S. Is Seeing to Identifying These Heroes.  --GreGen

New Fees at USS Arizona Memorial

From the March 29, 2023, Beat of Hawaii.

As of April 15, a new visitor fee will be implemented at Pearl Harbor to generate funds for the park's maintenance and provide further exhibits, new technology for visitors and security.

The fee for parking goes from free to $7 a day.  There willstill be no charge for admission and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial and USS Arizona Memorial program will remain free of charge.

To this day, the USS Arizona Memorail remains the number one in-demand destination for Hawaii tourists.

That Is Still Very, Very Reasonable.  --GreGen