Jeep Carriers: "Combustible, Vulnerable and Expendable."

I think sometimes resources can be overlooked because they are so common. Does that make sense? The upshot is I was reading some National Geographics last night. I had previously rescued these from a death in the dumpster, but that's another story. Anyway, I was reading the November 1943 issue and came across a full color article on the escort carriers in use by the Navy. I think one often does not hear them mentioned as much as the more glamourous full-size carriers such as the Lexington, Saratoga, Yorktown.

(Source: Naval Historical Center)

Some facinating facts I've found about these escort carriers:

• Mostly built on converted hulls of cruisers, oilers, merchant ships. They were never intended from the ground up to be carriers.
• Their origins can be traced to Halsey and Roosevelt. In particular the need to transport planes to Britain before the war. It seems at this point, the big carriers couldn't get the training in they needed because they were too busy ferrying planes back and forth.
• Used extensively in anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic as well as landing operations in Europe and the Pacific.
  

(Source: Naval Historical Center)

All in all, it seems these workhorse ships are very often overlooked in the vital role they played in World War II. Take a moment to check the links as there is much more information that what I could put out on this blog post.

(Source: Naval Historical Center)

Have a great day, and see you tomorrow!


Links:

Emergence of the Escort Carriers (PDF link)

Escort Carrier Listings

Royal Navy Escort Carriers

The Carriers (online article)

Navsource Naval History

Escort Carrier Designation and Names

Taffy-3 (Wikipedia) Battle information

PhotoMail! Otherwise known as V-Mail

(Source: National Archives)

Next to chow, a letter from home is one of the best things a soldier can get. However, getting mail to the soldier is not easy, particularly in times of war. The question becomes, what gets to the soldier? Is it bullets, beans, or mail? During World War II, this question was of the utmost importance, especially considering the amount of manpower deployed by the United States overseas and remote corners of the world.

The solution was V-Mail (Victory Mail) or as the Army called it, "Photomail."

(Source: US Army FM 11-150, Photomail Operation)
(Online Source of Manual: Army Heritage Collection Online)

Technically speaking the process was fairly simple. Using required forms, the letter would be photographed, placed on a roll of microfilm and then shipped overseas. Once arrived, the microfilm would then be printed out on special paper and shipped to the soldier. This also worked in reverse, that is the soldier's letters to home would be converted to V-Mail and then shipped back to the States for processing back into printed mail.

Some interesting statistics can be gathered:

• Mail weight was reduced by up to 98%.
• The printed out letters were approximately 1/4 the size of regular letters.
• During the war over 500 million V-Mail letters were shipped overseas!
  

I've found some good links below that will give you background as well as the actual field manual describing the daily operations of photomail. Have a great day!

See you tomorrow!

Links:

Duke University Libraries Digital Collection (Advertising)

National Postal Museum: V-Mail

Army Heritage Collection Online (search for V-Mail)

Wikipedia link: V-Mail

Not that way Private!

I stumbled across this website last night in doing some further research and wanted to do a quick post to share with everyone what I had found. Southern Methodist University is on a mission to save original documentation from the World War II era.

(Source: SMU exhibit-link to pdf of above guide)

The site itself is great, and one of the best things I found was the soldier guides. Printed to help the individual soldier who knew little or nothing about the country they were invading and/or landing upon, these little manuals were similiar to the one I got in Desert Storm.

Just remember, if you are looking for these guides in particular, and not the whole exhibit, then you will need to do a title word search for best results. Here's a screenshot to help:




Have a great Saturday! I will probably not be posting tomorrow, but see you first thing Monday morning!


Links to SMU Collection

Get the Ack Ack Jack!

After posting up the UFO story with Jack Webb and others, I heard from some folks about my mentioning the Battle of Los Angeles. It's a facinating story, so I'll post up an abbreviated version and some links so that everyone can get the backstory on it. I'll leave it to your best judgement on what actually happened!

It's early 1942 and America has been at war for a bit. The east coast is awash in U-boats and sunken merchant ships, while the west coast stirs and fumes, waiting for the shoe to drop on them. (1) Everyone is nervous and this can especially be seen in Life, for the last of February and early March of 42. Articles on barrage balloons and the shelling of the west coast by Japanese submarines fills the pages.

Suddenly, it's the night of February 25, 1942!

All heck breaks loose in the skies over California! From Santa Monica to Long Beach the scream of air raid sirens, thumping artillery and searchlights break up the night sky! It's an AIR RAID!

The next day, with two conflicting stories from the government, 2 dead civilians, and homes and vehicles destroyed, the truth is an elusive answer. Stimson proclaims it was a raid by at least 15 aircraft while the secretary of the Navy says it was nothing. For Hugh Landis, one of the civilians caught in the uproar, it meant a lot of damage to home and car. (1)

Ok, so big deal, war nerves, right? Yes and no....

According to UFOologists, what actually happened was a raid or visit by aliens of unexplained origins!

Says Wikipedia:

"...A top secret document of questioned authenticity (see Majestic 12), dated March 5, 1942, from Gen. Marshall to President Roosevelt, says that the Army had supposedly recovered an unconventional craft east of Los Angeles and Rear Admiral Walter S. Anderson, chief of Naval intelligence, had also informed the War Department..."

The reality is, as usual, that the actual truth may never be known!

In looking some source material (Life Magazine), I can't really make out anything. However, some of the links at the bottom seem to point out something that could be unexplained. Hard to say, but for whatever reason, it's still neat to read and think about! Enjoy the links and see you Monday!

Battle of Los Angeles (Wikipedia)

The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco

Da** Interesting Web Page Article (Great Links to source material)

225th Searchlight Battalion--the Skylighters!

Time Magazine entry

(1) Life Magazine, Feb.-Mar. 1942

Ernie Pyle....War Correspondent. NEWS FLASH!

(Source Photo: PBS/Reporting America at War)

I had just finished my post on Elvis and was floating across Yahoo when I saw the notice about Ernie Pyle's death photo had been released by a Richard Strasser (source: Yahoo news). Evidently, from what I can gather from the story:

"...That photo, of unknown origin, appears to be an amateur snapshot, said Katherine Gould, assistant curator of cultural history at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, which acquired it and Bannan's photo last year from the Dana historic site...." (Source: direct quote from Yahoo news. See link for complete story)

I guess, in the defense of history, the photo must be shown, but part of me probably wishes it hadn't....

Wars seem to take the brightest.....

See the links below for more information:

Yahoo News Link

Some World War II articles from Ernie

Wikipedia entry

Indiana Historical Society

Controversial....but very, very useful!

Some folks feel threatened, others are glad. As a librarian and historian, access to history is always important. I guess that's why I absolutely love Google Books. In fact, it's one of the few places that heads the top of my list when doing historical research.

For example, I was doing some research on Ernie Pyle recently and just flipped to Google books and started looking up World War II themes, just to see what was there. Here's a short list (with links) of some of the good stuff I found:

"Okay Girls, Man Your Bunks"

Personal biography about life in the WAVES during WW II.

Green Light!: Men of the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron Tell Their Story

Lots have been written about the paratroopers themselves, what with Band of Brothers, etc. However, they did have to get to the drop zone somehow. This book tells you how.

Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team

Written by the great author Steinbeck, this books details the trials and tribulations of flying the heavies during WW II.


Now some of the books are previews but many are the entire book. With the option to create your own personal library as well as links to where the books can be bought, this historical research options cannot be overlooked.

Here's the link directly to Google Books as well as the post about it on Wikipedia. Have Fun!!

Google Books

Wikipedia's entry