Military History

[DaCapt]

 

You might enjoy this from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Ret 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);

highest ranking American killed was Lt Gen Lesley McNair,

killed by the US Army Air Corps. So much for allies.

 

 

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 Swastika,

and 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 European bombing missions, the required 30

missions, your 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 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.

 

 

 

 

YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE THIS ONE........

 

 

7. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men

did was pee 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.

 

 

 

 

AND I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST....

 

 

 

 

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 been any Japanese on the island.

[MedicSN6]

The only winning move, is not to play.