Ten Little Known Facts About WW II-- Part 2: Tsars, Missing Nazi Uranium, a Volcano and the French Bretons

Remember, if you want to know more, go to the ListVerse site.

7.  TSAR BORIS III OF BULGARIA DIED

But the question is, who killed him?   Tsar Boris III had done a lot for Bulgaria, rebuilding it after World War I.  He kept his country neutral during WW II.  But, he died in 1943, apparently poisoned.  

6.  MISSING NAZI URANIUM

The Nazis were getting close to harnessing nuclear energy.  But, no one today knows exactly what happened to several hundred Nazi uranium cubes.

5.  THE US AIR FORCE VS. AN UNDEFEATABLE ANCIENT ENEMY

And that ancient foe was none other than Mt. Vesuvius.  The Allies occupied the region around it in mid-March 1944, when it erupted again.

4.  BRETON SEPARATISTS WERE NAZI COLLABORATORS AND RESISTANCE FIGHTERS

From the French region called Brittany near where D-Day took place.

--GreGen

Ten Little Known Facts About World War II-- Part 1: American Soil, Fought Together and an American Massacre

From the October 13, 2020, ListVerse by C.J. Phillips.  I am just going to write a little bit about each one.  For the complete story, go to the site.

10.  A BATTLE ON AMERICAN SOIL

Japan actually invaded U.S. territory in Alaska.

9.  THE GERMAN ARMY AND AMERICAN ARMY FOUGHT TOGETHER

At the Battle for Castle Itter.  It wasn't a big battle, but the two sides did fight together.

8.  THE MIDNIGHT MASSACRE

On July 7, 1945, an American soldier opened fire on German and Italian prisoners in Salina, Utah, with a machine gun, killing nine.

--GreGen

10 Odd Jobs of World War II-- Part 3: Field Artillery Sound recorder and Airplane Woodworker

9.  FIELD ARTILLERY SOUND RECORDER

Until the development of radar, sound ranging was one the most effective ways to locate enemy artillery, mortars and rockets.  The process was first developed in World War I, and then continued being used through the Korean War.

From a forward operating post, a field artillery  sound recorder would monitor  an oscillograph and recorder connected to several microphones.  When the sound of an enemy gun would reach a microphone, the information would be recorded on sound film and the data from several microphones could be analyzed to locate an enemy gun.

The technology is still in use today by many countries, which often use  sound ranging in concert with radar.

10.  AIRPLANE WOODWORKER

Although wood was largely phased out and replace by tubular steel in airplane construction by the time World War II started, there was still a need for airplane woodworkers to repair and maintain existing aircraft-- especially gliders and some training aircraft.

Wooden gliders like the Waco CG-41--  the most widely used American troop/cargo glider of the war--  played critical parts in the action.  The CG-4A was first used in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943.  They most commonly flew airborne troops into battle, most famously on the D-Day assault on France on June 6, 1944 and in Operation Market Garden in September  1944.

They were also used  in the China-Burma-India Theater.

--GreGen

 

10 Odd Jobs of World War II-- Part 2: Coopers, Model Makers, and Pigeoneers

6.  COOPER--  Built and repaired wooden buckets, barrels, casks, kegs used to pack, store and ship supplies and equipment.  Wood was used for much of WW II, but improvements in cardboard and metal packaging  marked the beginning of the end for wooden transport items.

7.  MODEL MAKER--  Created scale models of military equipment, terrain and other things used as training aids and operational planning.

One of their proudest moments came in Operation Fortitude which was aimed at fooling the Germans as to where Allied troops would be landing on D-Day.  Dummy buildings, aircraft and landing craft were constructed by modelers and positioned near Dover causing the Germans to withhold reinforcements to the Normandy beaches.

This was the famed "Ghost Army."

8.  PIGEONEER--  Responsible for all aspects of the birds' lives.  They would breed, raise, train and care for their birds which were used to deliver messages.  Birds would be trained to fly at night and that food and water would be located at different locations.

According to the military, some 90% of their messages were delivered successfully.

--GreGen

10 Odd Jobs of World War II-- Part 1: Blacksmiths and Those "Foxhole Radios"

From Dec. 28, 2019, World War I

From Department of Defense.

1.  BLACKSMITHS

Made items to repair machinery and make horseshoes for the tens of thousands horses and mules still used in the military.

2.  MEAT CUTTER

Hey, the troops ate meat.  Somebody had to carve it up.

3.  HORSEBREAKER

Train horses and mules to do their job.  Horses and mules not used as much as in WW II as WW I, but still around.  For example, the 5332nd Brigade in Burma  had 3,000 mules assigned to it.

4.  ARTISTS AND ANIMATION ARTISTS

Maps, illustrations, film,

5.  CRYSTAL GRINDER

Many radios required crystals to operate.  Personal radios not allowed on front lines, but crystal sets lacked power to be detected by the enemy.  So those on front lines improvised crystal radios.  These were known as "Foxhole Radios."

--GreGen

New Aircraft Carrier to be Named After Doris Miller

It was announced that a future Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier will be named after Pearl Harbor  hero Dorie Miller.  It is the first aircraft carrier ever to be named after a black sailor or an enlisted man because of heroic actions.

He was ship's cook on the USS West Virginia when the attack came and manned a .50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft gun until he ran out of ammunition and then helped other sailors.

Later,he died on the USS Liscome Bay when it was hit by a torpedo and sank in 1943.

This is the second Navy ship named for him.  The other one was the USS Doris Miller (FF-1091) which served 1973-1991).

A Well-Deserved Honor.  --GreGen

Winston Churchill & Barbara Frietchie-- Part 2; "Shoot If You Must"

In May 1943, in the midst of World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited President Franklin Roosevelt in Washington to firm up the Allied alliance.  For a weekend break, President and Mrs. Roosevelt, Churchill, and presidential aide Harry Hopkins journeyed to Shangri-La, the presidential retreat in the Catoctins in Maryland (now Camp David).

As they drove through Frederick, Maryland, Churchill, a close student of American history, inquired after the house of Barbara Frietchie.  That moved Harry Hopkins to quote the famous line, "Shoot if you must, this old gray head...."

"When it was clear that no one else in the car could add to this quotation," Churchill recalled, "I started out."  He proceeded to recite, from memory, in those resonant Churchillian tones, the 30 couplets of Whittier's "little ballad," to the astonishment and delight of his audience.

All pitched in when he got to "Shoot, if you must...."

Wonder if they took a detour by Barbara's place?

--GreGen

Winston Churchill and Barbara Frietchie-- Part 1

Here is a story that goes between two wars.

The Winter 2019 issue of Civil War Monitor had an article titled "The Barbara Frietchie Caper" by Stephen W. Sears, which in effect debunked the whole story of the famed Barbara waving the U.S. flag at Confederate troops passing through her Frederick, Maryland, on their way to the Battle of Antietam in 1862.

You know, the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier that had the couplet:

"Shoot if you must, this old grey head,
But spare your country's flag."

Well, that story gets another line during World War II with that great English statesman Winston Churchill.

Wonder What It Was.  See the Next Post.  --GreGen

Dutch Taking Care of American Graves in Their Country-- Part 3

The American Cemetery in Margraten put out a call put out a call to local residents to see if they would like to adopt the grave of an American soldier.  Harrie's grandmother called and found out that William Herron's grave had not been adopted.  She immediately adopted it.

"Often I bring her by car from Beek to Margraten, "Harrie said, "She did this for 42 years."

In 1986, I took it over with love and passion, he said.  "I feel it as a duty, a desire  to take over what my grandmother started.

The family has adopted the graves of three other American soldiers and have photographs and addresses for Darrell M. Tranbarger and Garland W. Monzingo, but not of Jerome R. Lane or William Herron.

There is a waiting list to adopt a grave, and all 8,301 graves there have been adopted, according to Harrie.

"We must never forget the brave people from another country who died for our freedom." he said.

--GreGen

Bits of War: A Congressional Gold Medal and Two More Remains Identified

**  Nicholas Robolino awarded Congressional Gold Medal posthumously.  He was a member of a top secret air group of B-24 bombers in the 492nd Bombardment Group called "The Carpetbaggers" tasked with dropping supplies and spies behind German lines.

**  Marine killed at Betio, Tarawa, identified and buried in Iowa.  Marine Corps Reserve Pvt. Channing Whitaker.  He was only 17 when he enlisted in 1942 and was killed Nov. 22, 1943.  Many Marines killed there were not identified at the time and DNA is being used.

**  U.S. Army Air Forces Tech Sgt. Max W. Lower was on a B-24 when it was shot down during Operation Tidal Wave on August 1, 1943, over the oil fields at Ploiesti, Romania.  Some 310  died that day but his body was not identified and buried in Romania and then in a U.S. military cemetery in Belgium.

His body was identified using DNA.  He is now buried in Utah.

--GreGen

Dutch Taking Care of American Graves in Their Country-- Part 2

The Dutch family, however, is missing a photograph of William A. Herron and would like to have one.  Harrie Visschers discovered that William was born August 19, 1924 in  Keokuk, Iowa.  He wrote to the City of Madison in hopes of finding  a descendant with a picture to place on his grave.

The library found a death notice, but no photo with the obituary.

STORY FROM A CAFE

During the war, German soldiers would look for places .  Cafe owners had to take them in or risk being shot. Harrie's grandmother and grandfather had a cafe  and said that the Germans were polite and "normal young people."

"Nearing the end of the war, the liberators -- American and Canadian soldiers passing through to the front lines -- also found shelter in the cafe of my grandparents,"  Harrie said.  "Grandmother was a great cook, and so she indulged the boys, their heroes.  But with one soldier she had a special mother-son relation."

That was William Herron.

After he left town, he sent her another letter asking her that if he was killed in Germany that Tina should send the letter to his parents, who lived in Ohio.

Once Tina discovered that William had been killed in the town of Wesel on March 24, she mailed the letter.

--GreGen

Private Tranbarger's Grave Is Cared For By Netherlanders-- Part 1: Also Take Care of Grave of William A. Heron of Keokuk, Iowa

From the December 8, 2016, Daily Gate City (Keokuk, Iowa)  "Netherlanders care for American graves" by Chis Faulkner.

In April 1945, Tina Visschers-Cleuskens of Beek, Limburg, Netherlands  adopted the grave of an American soldier who died there in World War II and is buried in the town of Margraten.

His name was William A. Herron, a private first class from Iowa as the war was nearing its end and Americans were in the process of  liberating their country from the Germans.  William Herron died  on March 24, 1945, just a few days before the end of the war.

Every year, on March 24, Tina visited his grave, and also on Christmas and Memorial Day, and placed gladiolas on his grave.

She died in 1988 at the age of 91, but her grandson, Harrie Visschers, has continued the tradition.

The family also takes care of Darrell M. Tranbarger's grave at the cemetery.   Darrell's brother Orval was killed on the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, and his remains just identified this year.

--GreGen

World War II on April 14, 1945

The death of Darrell Tranbarger came on April 14, 1945 when I read that 338 U.S. military personnel also died.  So, I decided to look up what was happening that day and which one he might have been involved in.  

From HistoryHowStuffWorks site

Things Happening on April 14, 1945.

APRIL 14--  Allies march through the center  of encircled German troops in the Ruhr Pocket, taking prisoners and splitting German ranks.

APRIL 14--  The Allies launch Operation Teardrop to locate German U-boats in the North Atlantic rumored to be carrying V-2 Rockets to be used against New York City.

*****************************

Events around April 14.

APRIL 12--  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies suddenly after suffering a stroke at his Warm Springs, Georgia, vacation home.  Vice President Harry S. Truman is sworn in as president.

Most likely, he was involved in the battle known as the Ruhr Pocket.

--GreGen

Private Darrell M. Tranbarger, Orval's Brother, Killed in 1945

In my April 8, 2020,  blog entry, I wrote about Seaman 1st Class Orval Austin Tranbarger's remains from the USS Oklahoma being identified.

I came across his name in Find-A-Grave and see that his poor family lost a son not only in the opening minutes of the war, but also another one in Europe on 14 April 1945.  Germany's official surrender came on May 7, 1945.  His parents most likely didn't find out until after Germany's surrender.

The sorrow they had to feel had to be indescribable.  Losing sons at the beginning and end of the war like that.

PRIVATE DARREL M. TRANBARGER

Born:18 Mar 1923 in Missouri

Died:  14 April 1945  (age 22)  in the Netherlands

Burial:  Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, Netherlands.

He was the family's second-born.  Orval was the first-born.

--GreGen

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