01/22/2014
Twelve Odd WWII
Facts
You might
enjoy this from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Retired and a history
buff. You would really have to dig deep to get this kind of ringside
seat to history:
1. The
first German serviceman killed in WW II was killed by the Japanese (China,
1937), The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians
(Finland 1940); The highest ranking American killed was Lt Gen
Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.
2. The
youngest US serviceman was 12 year old: Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded
and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. His
benefits were later restored by act of Congress.
3. At the
time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS
(pronounced 'sink us'); The shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th
Infantry division was the sw****ka. Hitler's private train was named
'Amerika.' All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
4. More US
servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps. While
completing the required 30 missions, an airman's chance of being killed
was 71%.
5.
Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot.
You were either an ace or a target. For instance, Japanese Ace
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a
passenger on a cargo plane.
6. It was
a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round with a tracer
round to aid in aiming. This was a big mistake. Tracers had
different Ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the
target 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet tracers instantly
told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of
all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt
to tell you that you were out of ammo. This was definitely not something
you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their
success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.
7. When
allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was p*e in
it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston
Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself
photographed in the act).
8. German
ME-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but they decided it
wasn't worth the effort.
9. German
submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.
10. Among
the first 'Germans' captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They
had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by
the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were
captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they
were captured by the US Army.
11.
Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 United States and Canadian
troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. 21 troops
were killed in the assault on the island... It could have been worse if
there had actually been any Japanese on the island.
12. The
last marine killed in WW2 was killed by a can of spam. He was on the
ground as a POW in Japan when rescue flights dropping food and supplies
came over, the package came apart in the air and a stray can of spam hit
him and killed him.
