Life On Board the USS Oklahoma Before That Day-- Part 1: Stay Up Late

From the December  12, 2020,  Examiner-Enterprise  "Goodyear served as signalman on USS Oklahoma"  by Joe Todd.

This was from the second installment of an interview Joe Todd did with Pearl Harbor survivor Paul Goodyear in 2002.  He was aboard the USS Oklahoma in the attack.

It was interesting to find out what life was like aboard the ship before.  His rating was 3rd Class Signalman.

QUESTION:  WHERE WERE YOUR QUARTERS ON THE OKLAHOMA?

ANSWER:  Turret Number 2 came  into our compartment just a couple of feet and we were below the armored deck.  The compartment went from port to starboard.

Radio One was on the port side where the radiomen stood their watches.  It was about ten feet wide and the signalmen had the starboard side of the ship, but we all berthed together in the same compartment.

Since we were below the armored deck, we didn't have darkened ship while at sea.  We could stay up late, write letters, play Acee Deucee or read because we could keep our lights on.

--GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: She Sells Celery and Game Night

January 15, 2017--  SHE SELLS CELERY: 1942--  November 1942"  Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  "Mennonite farm woman at her stall in the Central Market."  Marjory Collins, OWI  She is standing under a sign for Millers Celery.

January 14, 2017--  GAME NIGHT: 1942--  October 1942.   "New York.  Dr. and Mrs. Winn with daughters Janet and Marie, a Czech-American family, playing Chinese checkers while the grandmother knits."  Marjory Collins, OWI

Comment:  John A. Winn, his wife Hanna and daughters came to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia in 1939.  he became a well-known psychiatrist and died in 1983.

--GreGen

Looking Back: Even As War Clouds Mass on the Horizon, a Hop Scotch Tournament

From the April 27, 2016, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois) :Looking Back."

"Little Janet Coan, age 12, of 422 Park Avenue, won the hop scotch tournament which was held on the sidewalk in front of the Sycamore Community Center."

--GreGen

Top Ten Naval Warfare Movies of All Time-- Part 1

From the May 22, 2012, Moviefone "Battleship, Memorial Day and the Top 10 Naval Warfare Movies of all-time" by Jason Apuzzo.  This got me to do yesterday's blog entry because of its mention of the movie "Battleship" being such a bomb.

And, best line from the movie:

1.  THE ENEMY BELOW (1957)--  "I don't want to know the man I'm trying to destroy."

2  DESTINATION TOKYO  (1944)--  "Congratulations, Wolf...It's been an hour since anything reminded you of a dame."

3.  TORA! TORA! TORA!  (1970)--  "I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

4.  THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)--  We will pass through the American patrols, past their sonar nets, and lay off their largest city and listen to them rock-and-roll...while we conduct missile drills."

5.  SINK THE BISMARCK (1960)--  "We are unsinkable...and we are German!"

This is one that I saw a whole bunch of times at the theater.  Afterwards, my friends and I came up with a game called "Sink the Bismarck."  The idea was to put your arms in defensive position up by your chest and run into everyone else as hard as you could and try to sink them by knocking them down.  Lots of fun. but mighty painful.  Our parents would wonder why we were so sore.

--Cooter

How Monopoly Games Helped the Allied War Effort

From the Jan. 9, 2013 Atlantic Magazine "How Monopoly Games Helped Allied POWs Escape During World War II" by Megan Garber.

British airmen shot down over Germany and captured and then taken to prisons.  The Geneva Convention allowed the Red Cross and other groups to distribute care packages to prisoners.  Some items that could be included were "games and past times."

Some groups like Licensed Victuallers Prisoners relief Fund sent hidden items in the games like compasses, money and maps to be used in escape attempts.

These were prepared with assistance from MI9, the British secret Service.

When Go to Jail Really Meant Break Out of Jail.  --GreGen