scrapbook 1 (ww2)

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The Manila Cathedral is inside Intramuros and this is the second most visited sight in for those embarking on Manila travel. The Cathedral is a working place of worship today and though it has had to be rebuilt and refurbished many times over the centuries it remains a beautiful and very historical building.
before ww2

after ww2

now


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the threat of sabotage leads to Executive Order 9066 is signed by Roosevelt which authorized the transfer of more than 100,000 German, Italian and Japanese-Americans living in coastal Pacific areas to internment camps in various inland states. Those interned lose an estimated 400 million dollars in property when their homes and possessions are confiscated.

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page 42&43

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Confederate Flag

The 9th Battalion Louisiana Infantry, like most Confederate units, probably had several different types of battle flags during its operational existence. The flag used by the battalion in the Battle of Baton Rouge was captured by the 6th Michigan Infantry. That flag survived the war and was returned by the State of Michigan to the State of Louisiana on 21 September 1942. Unfortunately the current location of the flag is unknown and no description of it has been found. No other flags used by the 9th are known to have survived the war.

The 9th Battalion Louisiana Infantry was formed when Companies A, B, and C and Jones' cavalry company were mustered into service as part of Stewart's Legion. They moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where General Mansfield Lovell ordered them to Camp Moore in Tangipahoa, Louisiana. There the companies were organized as the 9th Battalion on 15 May 1862. In early July, Company D was added to the battalion but remained in Ponchatoula. The other companies of the battalion fought in the Battle of Baton Rouge on 5 August 1862. Their casualties were five killed, 27 wounded and 17 missing in action. The 6th Michigan Infantry captured the battalion's colors during the fighting. After the battle, the men camped on the Comite River. They occupied Baton Rouge when the enemy evacuated the city last in the month. Company D joined the battalion around this time, When the Federals reoccupied the town in December, the battalion moved to Port Hudson. There the men did guard and picket duty and assisted in the construction of earthworks. One source says they battalion was stationed at Clinton, Louisiana for a brief period in early 1863. In early May 1863, the battalion left Port Hudson on its way to Jackson, Mississippi, but returned when the Federals began moving against Port Hudson. Then men fought in the siege, 23 May-9 July 1863 and occupied part of the trenches on the Confederate right flank, a position known as The Citadel. After the surrender, the men went home on parole. The cavalry company had remained outside the lines during the siege, and it became part of a temporary cavalry battalion commanded by Captain John B. Cage. In early 1864, the remnants of the battalion were consolidated into one company, mounted, and attached to Gober's Louisiana Mounted Infantry.

Companies and Officers:

LIEUTENANT COLONEL. Samuel Boyd, retired because of wounds received 5 August 1862.
MAJORS. Thomas Bynum, resigned 2 May 1863; Bolling R. Chinn, acting.
Companies and Their Commanders
Company A, Campaigners (Baton Rouge). Thomas Bynum, promoted major 13 September 1862; William L. Burnett, died 7 August 1863; T. Winthrop Brown.
Company B, Baton Rouge Invincibles (East Baton Rouge). Thomas J. Buffington, appointed surgeon 15 September 1862; B.F. Burnett.
Company C, Lemmon Guards (East Baton Rouge). Bolling R. Chinn.
Company D, Caruthers Sharpshooters (Livingston). William D.L. McRae, resigned November 5, 1862; Alfred Bradley.
Cavalry Company, Plains Store Rangers (East Baton Rouge). John W. Jones, resigned 30 October 1862; Gilbert C. Mills
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Withdrawal to Bataan and Corregidor

By 23 December 1941, General MacArthur clearly understood the impending disaster. MacArthur had about 60,000 unreliable Philippine troops, 11,000 better trained Philippine Scouts, and 19,000 Americans against Homma's hardened and well equipped force descending upon them. MacArthur notified all force commanders on the night of 23 December that "WPO-3 is in effect," a return to the original Plan ORANGE concept. To deny the Japanese victory over his troops, he ordered the withdrawal of forces on Luzon to the Bataan Peninsula, a tongue of land in southwest Luzon forming the northwestern boundary of Manila Bay (See map at top of page). Manila was declared an open city on 26 December to spare its destruction, but the Japanese bombed and shelled it anyway.
MacArthur's headquarters was transferred to the tiny fortified island of Corregidor, south of Bataan in Manila Bay, on Christmas Eve. Next morning, Christmas Day, Headquarters USAFFE opened on Corregidor and MacArthur reported his new position to Washington. Maj. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright remained on Luzon, commanding the ground force.
The withdrawal to Bataan proceeded quickly and in remarkably good order, streaming in from all parts of Luzon. Near the town of San Fernando, all forces had to pass through a single intersection and down one narrow road to reach the Bataan peninsula. By sheer good luck, the Japanese failed to take advantage of their air superiority to attack the defenders at this vulnerable choke point. Wainwright staged a tough ground defense at San Fernando, holding the line to allow an orderly movement of all troops into Bataan by 6 January 1942.
The hasty withdrawal left most supplies and equipment behind, supplies that had been dispersed from their original depots in Bataan and Corregidor to support MacArthur's broad defense plan. Now with trucks in short supply, roads congested, and time short, resupply of the Bataan and Corregidor strongholds was impossible. The resulting lack of food, ammunition, weapons, and medical supplies would prove to be the critical factors in the coming months.

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page 44&45

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Although General Douglas MacArthur was informed of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor nine hours before Japanese bombers struck at the Philippines, the commander of the United States Army and Air forces in the Philippines was paralysed by indecision and failed to bring his command to a state of readiness to meet the clear threat of a Japanese attack. His air power was destroyed on the ground by Japanese bombers. With no air support, the United States Asiatic Fleet was forced to withdraw from Philippine waters. The inexcusable neglect of his duty by MacArthur compromised the defence of the Philippines from the first day. His troops were left in a hopeless position without air or naval support. Although many would believe that he deserved to be removed from command for grave neglect of duty, MacArthur was able to arrange for the President of the United States to transfer him to a new command in Australia before his exhausted and starving troops were forced to surrender to the Japanese. When safe in Australia with his staff officers, MacArthur refused to allow his abandoned troops to surrender, and ordered them to fight to the end.
page 45 (clipping1)

A change occurred in 1917, when the United States entered World War I. After declaring war, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the American Red Cross to raise funds to support its aid to the military and civilians affected by war, as Congress had mandated. In response, the Red Cross held its first national War Fund drive in June 1917 and set as its goal $100 million, an astoundingly large sum at the time. The public response was immediate and overwhelming.




After the War, the Red Cross decided to make the Roll Call an annual membership and fundraising drive. In addition, it conducted special appeals from time to time in response to major disasters. In November 1941, with war in Europe, the Red Cross conducted a highly successful 25th Annual Roll Call. A few days later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. The American Red Cross responded immediately by declaring a War Fund campaign. By June 1942, it had raised more than $66 million.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the month of March 1943 as “Red Cross Month.” The Red Cross set a goal of $125 million, the largest amount ever requested in one campaign by any American organization. Again, the response was overwhelming. It took less than six weeks to reach the target. By June 1943, donations totaled nearly $146 million. Roosevelt called it "the greatest single crusade of mercy in all of history."


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page 46&47

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On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise attack destroyed much of the United States' fleet

page 47

The nine crewmen to die in the five midget submarines that attacked Pearl Harbor were the first members of Japan's Special Attack Forces. The phrase "special attack" in Japanese indicates the suicidal nature of their mission, and much later in the war the Special Attack Forces included other suicidal weapons such as kamikaze planes, kaiten human torpedoes, and explosive motorboats. Admiral Yamamoto wanted provisions to be made for the rescue of the midget sub crews, and the mother submarines that carried the midgets were to wait at a rendezvous point seven miles west of Lanai. However, the designation of the five midget subs as a Special Attack Flotilla and the crewmen's writing of last letters to their families showed that they had almost no hope of survival.
Kazuo Sakamaki felt that he had failed in his responsibilities. Upon his capture, he said that he wanted to commit suicide as the honorable act for a Japanese Naval officer, and he wrote on December 14, 1941, as part of a long letter, "Thus I betrayed the expectations of our 100,000,000 (people) and became a sad prisoner of war disloyal to my country." Before getting his POW photograph, he pressed a lit cigarette into his cheeks and branded six small circles on his skin making the shape of a triangle on each cheek. He stayed in various POW camps on the mainland U.S. until the end of WWII. After the end of the war, Sakamaki joined Toyota as a clerk and eventually became an executive and the head of Toyota's subsidiary in Brazil.
The nine midget submarine crewmen who died were promoted two ranks and were honored as war gods. The Japanese propaganda machine could make public the previously unknown secret weapon since Sakamaki's midget had been captured. Many Japanese Naval leaders had been against deployment of the midget submarines, since they could have alerted Americans of an impending attack. Despite the glory bestowed by the Japanese press on the Special Attack Flotilla members for their heroics at Pearl Harbor, they had little or no battle success even though Japanese propagandists attributed battleship USS Arizona's sinking to a torpedo fired from one midget submarine. In the book's last chapter, Burlingame summarizes the reasons for the midgets' lack of success: "The midget submarines failed at Pearl Harbor due to a triple-punch. Their own inexperience and too-brief training period, Pearl Harbor's difficult waterways and the alert, dogged response of American destroyers mitigated against success."

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page 48&49

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U.S. Personnel Casualties

• Service Killed Wounded Total
  Navy 2008 710 2718
  Army 218 364 582
  Marines 109 69 178
  Civilians 68 35 103
  
  
  

page 48 (clipping 2)

Laid down in December 1919 as a Clemson Class Destroyer, USS Truxtun commissioned into US Navy service in February 1921 and joined the US Atlantic Fleet at Newport Rhode Island. Serving for a just over a year in the Atlantic Fleet, the Truxtun and her Destroyer Squadron were reassigned to the US Asiatic Fleet based at Chefoo China in late 1922, and would spend the next seventeen years operating in Far Eastern and Pacific waters.

The worsening political situation in Europe and in the Far East prompted the Truxtun's return to the mainland US in April 1939, and after steaming through the Panama Canal she rejoined the US Atlantic Fleet at Norfolk and immediately commenced operations as part of the Neutrality Patrol. Following the outbreak of war in Europe and the resultant downfall of much of Western Europe to Nazi Germany, the Truxtun began escorting Allied convoys along the Eastern seaboard and in 1941 she began escorting convoys from New England and Canadian ports via Argentia to Reykjavík, Iceland. Following America's entrance into WWII in December 1941, the Truxtun underwent a hasty refit in Norfolk and departed on her first wartime convoy to Reykjavík on Christmas Day 1941.

Departing Reykjavík on January 19th, 1942 escorting Convoy ON-57, the Truxtun and her fellow escorts saw their charges safely across the U-Boat infested North Atlantic and arrived off Placentia Bay on February 17th. The approach to Newfoundland was hampered by the North Atlantic, as a gale with Hurricane-force winds and enormous waves lashed the ships as they attempted to navigate into the protected waters of the bay. Truxtun and her fellow Destroyer USS Wilkes (DD-441) battled the swell and winds as they guided the empty Stores Ship USS Pollux (AKS-2) towards Argentia through the night and into the early morning of February 18th, but the weather continued to worsen as the ships neared shore. In the darkness, wind and surf the three ships became separated as they turned to enter the bay, exposing their broadsides to the full fury of the storm. With her radio mast carried away by the sea and her and wireless gear barely functioning, the Truxtun's crew relied on dead reckoning to navigate into the harbor as their ship was lashed by the wind and seas and struggled to make headway.

Shortly before 0400hrs on February 18th, lookouts on the Truxtun sighted what appeared to be waves breaking on rocks to her Port side, but could not be certain. Her Captain, LCDR Ralph Hickox was informed and ordered the ships searchlights turned on to verify the reports. Crews labored to climb the ships superstructure to her main searchlights and when they finally flipped on at 0408, the crew was shocked to see the shoreline of Chambers Cove only a few hundred yards away. Her Captain ordered the engines to full reverse, but it was too late; at 0410hrs the Truxtun ran hard aground at this location and was quickly spun broadside to the enormous waves rolling into the shoreline.

Almost immediately the Veteran Destroyer began to break up from the force of the seas and the damage to her hull and the order to abandon ship was quickly passed. Crewmen struggled to launch what remained of the ship's life rafts as her lifeboats had been either damaged or destroyed by the weather and within half an hour of the grounding a group of sailors had made it to shore and then split up and trekked inland to find help. Some four hours later and despite the darkness and terrible weather conditions the people of Lawn and St. Lawrence along with workers of the Iron Springs Mine had erected a breeches buoy to the wrecked Truxtun, which had since split in half on the rocks, and began removing the surviving crew. By this time the cold, foul weather and time had taken its toll on the crew, as 110 men, including her Captain, had either succumbed to hypothermia or died trying to swim ashore.

By noon on February 18th and with the weather still lashing the wreck, the rescue effort was called off and the wreck of the Truxtun left to its fate. Within a month, the North Atlantic had broken the ship to pieces in Chambers Cove where she remains today.

page 48 (clipping 3)


Birth: Sep. 4, 1916
Bladen County
North Carolina, USADeath: Mar. 5, 1943, French Polynesia
Hailing from the tiny community of Ivanhoe in the southern tip of Sampson County, then Ensign Frank Moore "Fuzzy" Fisler served as a navy pilot with patrol squadron VP-51. On December 30, 1941, only twenty-three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Fisler was on patrol in a seaplane when his crew spotted men floating in the rough seas below. Unsure of the stranded men's nationality, and realizing the dangers involved in trying to land in rough seas, Fisler radioed his headquarters at Pearl Harbor requesting permission to attempt a rescue. Due to the risks involved, officials at the base denied permission. Fisler asked his crew members if they wanted to leave the men to drown or risk their own lives in an attempt to rescue them. They wanted to try saving the men. Miraculously, Fisler's plane was not torn to bits or swamped when it landed on the turbulent seas. Using a small rubber boat, the rescuers spent three dangerous hours picking up the nine men, who turned out to be the crew of an American bomber. The weight of the extra men made it a challenge for the heavily overloaded seaplane to take off. By another miracle, it got airborne and landed safely back at base. Thought to have received the first Navy Cross of World War II, Fisler personally received his medal at Pearl Harbor from Admiral
Chester Nimitz. Fisler lost his life on a bombing mission in March 1943. His body was never recovered and a memorial stone is located in Ivanhoe Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Ivanhoe NC



Nimitz having just presented Navy Cross award to Ensign Fisler aboard USS Grayling, Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, 31 Dec 1941; Admiral Kimmel at right


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a surprise attack by four US Navy destroyers on a Japanese invasion fleet off the coast of Borneo. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Makassar Strait, and so it is often confused with another Battle of Makassar Strait that took place in February 1942, though not actually in Makassar Strait. That Battle of Makassar Strait took place in the Bali Sea, so naturally it is also known as the Action of Madura Strait. Or the Action North of Lombok Strait. Or the Battle of the Flores Sea. The obvious confusion in the naming of the battles around Borneo reflects the chaos and confusion in the weeks following the Japanese attacks throughout the Pacific in December 1941. It also represents the widespread lack of knowledge of Pacific geography. Most people couldn’t find Borneo on a map in 1942.
Most people can’t find Borneo on a map today.
The battle came about after a US submarine spotted a Japanese invasion fleet headed towards Borneo, which at the time was a Dutch colony. An American surface force of two cruisers and four destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral William Glassford was dispatched to destroy the Japanese transports, but they immediately ran into trouble. The USS Boise, Glassford’s flagship, hit an uncharted rock and had to turn back. He transferred to the USS Marblehead, but that ship soon developed engine trouble and had to turn back as well. So the destroyers John D. Ford, Pope, Parrott and Paul Jones were left to make the attack on their own.
They caught the Japanese convoy at anchor and completely by surprise. The four destroyers fired all of their torpedoes in a single pass and departed before Japanese escorts could retaliate. At no cost to themselves, the four US destroyers sank four Japanese transports and a patrol boat.
Although the American victory in the Battle of Balikpapan made for uplifting headlines, it was of negligible value. Strategically, it was a loss for the Allies. Although four Japanese transports were sunk, they were all empty, having already landed their troops. Borneo and its rich oilfields fell to the Japanese soon after the battle.
Tactically, the Battle of Balikpapan proved to be a fluke. A victory by US Navy surface forces, at night, involving torpedoes that actually worked was a rare thing in 1942. American training before World War II had put little emphasis on night operations, while the Japanese had refined night combat to an art. Likewise, American torpedoes soon developed a reputation for failure due to faulty components, while the Japanese Long Lance torpedo was unequaled for range and hitting power throughout the war.
The confidence gained in this victory was to be shattered by a string of defeats in night battles at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Navy, culminating in the disastrous Battle of Savo Island in August 1942. Starting from Balikpapan, it would take the US Navy nearly a year to master naval combat at night, and even longer still to produce reliable torpedoes.

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page 50&51

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Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives:
Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And, while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt - December 8, 1941

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On May 3, General Wainwright sent a message to MacArthur in Australia: “Situation here is fast becoming desperate.” It was not long after this message that the Japanese staged their main invasion. On May 5, they began their approach to the shores of Corregidor. They miscalculated which direction the wind and tide would take them, and ended up far from their intended landing area. The Americans gave them hell by firing their rifles, machine guns, and when they got close, delivering point-blank artillery fire. That was, however, only the first wave of Japanese; they had shipped many more men to take over the base. The Americans tried desperately to counterattack, but when Japanese tanks entered the fray, their fate became apparent.
On May 6 at noon, Wainwright made the decision to surrender Corregidor, because of the lack of supplies and the losing battle. Bleakly, the American flag was lowered and replaced with a white flag. He made sure to radio General Sharp of the Visayan-Mindanao Force to let him know he was releasing command of the Visayas and Mindanao islands to him. That made it possible for Wainwright to surrender only Corregidor. That way, the resistance could continue in the south. He conveyed the report to President Roosevelt, “with head bowed in sadness but not in shame,” that he was surrendering Corregidor. The surrender signaled the beginning of the end of organized resistance to the Japanese in the Philippines.


Victorious Japanese troops atop Hearn Battery, 6 May 1942.


Surrender of U.S. forces at the Malinta Tunnel May 6, 1942

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The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world.
First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;
Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;
Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them;
Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;
Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security;
Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want;
Seventh, such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance;
Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measure which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments.
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page 52&53

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Dewey assumed command on 3 January 1898, his flag in the protected cruiser, USS Olympia, Captain Charles V. Gridley, commanding. The Spanish-American War action at Manila, Philippine Islands, 1 May 1898, not only gave birth to the historical expression "You may fire when you are ready Gridley," but also liquidated the Spanish Fleet and installations in the Manila Harbor without loss of men to the US Fleet.

On 10 May 1898, Admiral (then Commodore) Dewey was given a vote of thanks by the Congress of the United States, and three days later was commissioned Rear Admiral, to date from 11 May 1898. That promotion was an advancement of one grade for "highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the enemy as displayed by him in the destruction of the Spanish Fleet and batteries in the harbor of Manila, Philippine Islands, May 1, 1898." He was relieved of command of Asiatic Station on 4 October 1899, and ordered to the Navy Department, Washington, where on 29 March 1900, he was designated President of the General Board.


An Act of Congress, 2 March 1899, created the rank of Admiral of the Navy. It provided that when such office became vacant either by death or otherwise, the office would cease to exist. On 24 March 1903, Admiral Dewey, who held the rank of Admiral since 8 March 1899, was commissioned Admiral of the Navy, with date of rank 2 March 1899, and became the only officer of the United States Navy who was ever so commissioned. He held the rank of Admiral of the Navy until his death in Washington, DC, on 16 January 1917.


The body of Admiral Dewey was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, on 20 January 1917. At the request of his widow, his remains were reinterred in the crypt of Bethlehem Chapel at the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, Mount Saint Alban, Washington, DC, on 28 March 1925. Besides his widow, Mrs. Susan Goodwin Dewey, Admiral Dewey was survived by his only son, George Goodwin Dewey.


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"we'll do it again"

Dion Williams was one of the pioneers in the Marine Corps' development of amphibious assault techniques. Focusing particularly on the establishment and employment of a specialized force for conducting preassault reconnaissance, Williams became one of the strongest advocates of having the Corps assume the amphibious assault role. Career
Born 16 December 1869 in Williamsburg, Ohio, Dion Williams received his early education there until entering the Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 1891. After completing the required 2-year cruise, he was commissioned as a Marine second lieutenant in 1893. He attended the School of Application and then served at Marine Barracks in New York and Mare Island. During the war with Spain in 1898, Williams along with a detachment of Marines from the USS Baltimore raised the first American flag over the Spanish naval arsenal at Cavite in the Philippines. Duty at Marine Barracks Boston followed. Called out for a minor revolt in Panama (1902), Williams commanded a company of Marines sent to disarm Colombian troops threatening the Americans. Leaving Panama his company then participated in the first advanced base exercise on Culebra.
In March 1905 Major Williams reported to Naval War College, where he authored what can be considered the first doctrinal study concerning the importance of amphibious reconnaissance in 1906. The study, which he revised in 1917 to take into account the advent of airplanes and submarines, established the guiding principles for conducting amphibious reconnaissance prior to an amphibious assault. The revised edition also placed greater emphasis on conducting reconnaissance prior to the planning and embarkation of an advance base force. Many of the reconnaissance ideas advanced in these studies survived and were eventually incorporated in the Tentative Manual for Landing Operations developed in 1934.
After a tour of duty at the Office of Naval Intelligence, 1909-1913, Williams served in the Peking Legation Guard and then became the Marine Corps' representative to the General Board of the Navy, 1915-1918. Assigned as the commanding officer, 10th Marines, Williams remained at Quantico preparing that regiment for combat duty in France during World War I (1917-1918). After the armistice, Williams then served as commanding officer, 2d Provisional Brigade, on pacification duty in the Dominican Republic. Returning to the Quantico in 1921, he assumed command of the 4th Marine Brigade as part of the the East Coast Expeditionary Force participating in the ongoing advanced base exercises held by the Navy's North Atlantic Fleet. He commanded this force during the 1924 Winter Maneuvers that witnessed the first use of an experimental amphibious tank mounting a 75mm gun, as well as the "beetle boats" uses as amphibious transports. In a March 1924 Marine Corps Gazette article, Williams recounted the problems and successes of this first major exercise since the end of World War I. Williams likewise participated in the joint Army-Navy landing exercises off Oahu, Hawaii, in January 1925. He incorporated many of the lessons learned in another Gazette article in June 1926, outlining what he considered the proper organization for a fleet landing force.
From 1906 onward, Williams was a prolific writer and an innovative thinker contributing to the evolution of the Corps and the refinement of its missions and doctrine. After his tour of duty with the 4th Brigade ended, Williams became assistant to the Major General Commandant (1928), whereupon he became editor of the Gazette. He remained on duty at Headquarters Marine Corps until his retirement in 1934. Despite his retirement, Williams remained active, authoring several articles on officer professional education and the curriculum at Marine Corps Schools, and participating in Marine Corps affairs. He died on 11 December 1952 at the age of 83 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEJFUk6Z8JQ
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The Ciltvaira was the third ship attacked by the U-123 in short period of time. The first was the city of atlanta, then thirty minutes later the tanker Malay which lost five men and others injured.

The Ciltvaira was heading from Norfolk to Savannah with a load of paper. The ship was moving at a slow pace down the coast. At 5:00 A.M. the ship was struck on the port side of the engine room, pierced the boilers, and flooded the boiler room and No. 2 hold. There was a four foot in diameter at the water line. Killed instantly were two firemen: Carl Gustaefssen and Rolf Semelin. Radio Operator Rudolph Musts was left stuck in his room due to the door being after the hit.

Captain Skarlis Kerbergs ordered the ship to be abandoned. At seven o'clock came the northbound passenger liner Coamo. The Ciltvaira was badly wounded but still afloat. The ship continued on its way at full speed afraid that the same fate might await them. Two hours later, the Brazilian freighter Bury came into view. The Bury attempted to tow the Ciltvaira but were making little headway. She continued onto New York with some of the crew of the Ciltvaira. About nine o'clock, the remaining crew, along with two pets (a cat named Briska and a puppy named Pluskis) were picked up by the tanker Socony Vacuum, which took the remaining crew to Charleston, South Carolina.

The USS Osprey (AM-56) arrived and stood by until the ocean-going tug USS Sciota (AT-30) could resume the tow. What happened next is somewhat sketchy. One report indicates it remained afloat and drifting for two days. Another report states a number of different variations from it be torpedoed a second time to ship while being towed lost in heavy seas.
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B24
Consolidated B-24 Liberator-- Most-produced heavy bomber; most-produced multi-engine aircraft.
Number Produced 18,482
Length 67 ft 8 in (20.6 m)
Wingspan 110 ft 0 in (33.5 m)
Wingtip to Wingtip Square Area 690.1 square meters
All in One Ground Formation Area
12.7544282 (square kilometers) = 4.92451226 square miles
12 square kilometers or 5 square miles of B-24s!

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page 54&55

page 54 (clipping 1)

The French Line’s Normandie is one of the relatively few legitimate contenders for the title “Greatest Liner Ever”. She was a ship of superlatives: the largest ship in the world for five years, more than 20,000 tons larger than White Star’s Majestic; the first liner to exceed 1000 feet in length; the first liner to exceed 60,000 tons (and 70,000 and 80,000, for that matter); the largest turbo-electric powered liner; and the first to make a 30 knot eastbound Atlantic crossing. All told, Normandie earned the Blue Riband for five record-breaking crossings; twice westbound and three times eastbound, including both legs of her maiden voyage. And yet, all these technical qualities are only part of Normandie’s greatness; her design and decor were equally innovative, distinctive and luxurious. All of these factors contributed to her being described as “the ultimate ocean liner—definitely of the 1930s and possibly of the century”. (Braynard and Miller’s Fifty Famous Liners.) And, in the end, her demise was as ignominious as she herself was glorious.
Built by Chantiers et Ateliers de St. Nazaire and launched in 1932, Normandie made her maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York on 29 May 1935, setting speed records both westbound and eastbound. She was overhauled during the winter of 1935-36 to correct significant vibration problems which were evident from the time of her maiden voyage. (In the process, her gross tonnage was increased from 79,280 to 83,423. This permitted her to remain the largest liner even after Cunard White Star’s Queen Mary, 81,235 tons, entered service in May 1936.)
Normandie’s career as a passenger liner was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. At the end of her 139th Atlantic crossing, she arrived in New York on 28 August 1939, and would never sail again. Mothballed at Pier 88, she was taken into custody by the U.S. Coast Guard when France was occupied in June 1940, and less than a week after Pearl Harbor she was taken over by the U.S. Maritime Commission and was renamed U.S.S. Lafayette.
In January 1942 the U.S. War Department took her over and by 9 February her conversion into a troopship was nearly completed. But on that date, while she was being loaded with supplies, a spark from a welder’s torch ignited a bale of lifejackets. The fire spread rapidly, and a series of mistakes by the ship’s crew and firefighters led to the ship’s turning on her port side and sinking at her berth. The stern slipped under Pier 88, while the bow moved close to the adjacent Pier 90. Refloated in September 1943, she was then towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Plans to convert her into an aircraft carrier were abandoned as too costly, and she remained in Brooklyn for the balance of the war. Unwanted and unusable, she was scrapped in Newark, NJ, in 1946-47, the last pieces of steel being removed by rail on 6 October 1947.

page 54 (clipping 2)

editors note : although that caption suggest at this point in the war the Britts were winning in Africa , the pic is before the u.s. entered Africa and also before Montgomery took over the British 8th army
page 55 (clipping 1)


page 55 (clipping 2 )

The 1st Marine Division was activated aboard the battleship Texas on 1 February 1941. It is the oldest, largest, and most decorated division in the United States Marine Corps, with nine Presidential Unit Citations (PUCs).
The 1st Marine Division is comprised of Headquarters Battalion, the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 11th Marine Regiments, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st and 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalions, 1st Tank Battalion, and 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion. These units represent a combat-ready force of more than 22,000 Marines and Sailors.
Division regiments were in existence as early as March 8, 1911, when the 1st Marines were formed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It saw action in Haiti in 1915, in the Dominican Republic in 1916, and throughout the Caribbean during World War I.

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page 56&57

page 56 (clipping 1)


page 56 (clipping 2&3)


this is what lies ahead for most of these troops


page 56 (clipping 4)

Primary Flying School
The Primary Flying schools were civilian operated under contract for the USAAF. These civilian schools used Stearman, Ryan and Fairchild trainers owned by the USAAF, but their flight instructors were civilian employees. Each cadet received 60 hours of flight training in nine weeks.
RAF trainees had one minor difference to the USAAF, before they were sent from the UK they were given 4 hours on Tiger Moths to weed out those who may not be suitable for reasons such as air sickness, people who may be unusually susceptible to negative G, or simply discover they hate flying.

Basic Flying School
Here the aircraft were changed to BT-9 or Bt-13. Cadets were learned how to fly at night, by instruments, information and cross-country from one point to another. Also, for the first time, he operated a plane equipped with a two-way radio and a two-pitch propeller. This training took 9 weeks and involved about 70 hours in the air. It should be noted that the schools were now under USAAF control and apart from the additional complexity of the training and machinery, there was also the cultural shock as discipline was more rigorous.

Advanced Flying School
Again we have a change in aircraft to the AT-6 for future fighter pilots. The time in training was nine weeks and took about 70 hours flying time. The emphasis was on learning aerial gunnery as well as combat manoeuvres and increasing their skills in navigation, formation and instrument flying.

Transition Training
This is where the cadet was introduced to the aircraft to be used in combat. For a fighter pilot this took two months and about 50 hours, but was more for multi engine pilots.
RAF graduates were sent home at the end of the Advanced Flying School as the aircraft that they were to use were different. RAF graduates would be sent on an acclimatisation course of 2 weeks to get them used to flying in Britain with the weather and crowded skies before being sent to an RAF O.T.U. course. The length of this varied depending on the type of aircraft they were to fly and the time period they arrived in the UK as it constantly changed. For details of this see Training in the United Kingdom.

Other Items
I left the Transition Training in as it was of interest. Personally I was surprised by the lack of time allocated by the USAAF to this vital period. I think that the impact was reduced as most trainees were sent to units in the USA giving them a period of training and adjustment before being thrown into battle. If anyone has more information on this I would appreciate it.
One other item of note was that each level of training Primary, Basic and Advanced was undertaken at different bases.

There were some interesting factors that came to light. It should be remembered that USAAF Graduates were officers; as all pilots in the USAAF were commissioned. All the RAF Graduates were Sergeants, despite having to pass the same course. The better trainees were often offered a guaranteed commission if they stayed in the USA or Canada as Instructors, but the vast majority wanted to go back to the UK.


page 57




Japan had already been at war in Manchuria (1931) and China (1937) long before the Second World War started in Europe when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. By 1941, Japanese military expansion in the Asia-Pacific region had made confrontation and war with the United States increasingly certain.
In preparation for war, on July 26, 1941, General Douglas MacArthur brought the 12,000 strong Philippine Scouts under his command with the 16,000 American soldiers stationed in the Philippines. Even these combined forces were poorly trained and equipped for an adequate defence of the islands against a Japanese invasion.
The attack on the Philippines started on December 8, 1941 ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. As at Pearl Harbour, the American aircraft were entirely destroyed on the ground. Lacking air cover, the American Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines withdrew to Java on December 12, 1941.
Japanese troops landed at the Lingayen Gulf on December 22, 1941 and advanced across central Luzon towards Manila. On the advice of President Quezon, General MacArthur declared Manila an open city on December 25, 1941 and removed the Commonwealth government to Corregidor. The Japanese occupied Manila on January 2, 1942.
MacArthur concentrated his troops on the Bataan peninsula to await the relief of reinforcements from the United States that, after the destruction at Pearl Harbour, could never come. The Japanese succeeded in penetrating Bataan's first line of defense and, from Corregidor, MacArthur had no alternative but to organize a slow and desperate retreat down the peninsula. President Quezon and Vice-President Osmena left Corregidor by submarine to form a government in exile in the United States. General MacArthur escaped Corregidor on the night of March 11, 1942 in PT-41 bound for Australia; 4,000 km away through Japanese controlled waters.
The 76,000 starving and sick American and Filipino defenders in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942. The Japanese led their captives on a cruel and criminal Death March on which 7-10,000 died or were murdered before arriving at the internment camps ten days later.
The 13,000 survivors on Corregidor surrendered on May 6, 1942.

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page 58&59

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page 58 (clipping 3)

this photo is disturbing enough and there is plenty of info and pics about german atrocities so ill let you do your own digging
page 58 (clipping 4 )


Flying at frigid high altitudes called for a special item of clothing to keep American airmen warm. The Army Air Corps designed the A-3 flying trousers, companion item to the B-3 jacket, with this exact purpose in mind. A-3s were actually ordered by the Army Air Force with the B-3 jacket as a two-piece suit, not as a separate item; for every B-3 jacket that was made there was a respective pair of A-3 trousers. Constructed from the same materials as the jacket, they were designed to be worn with the B-3 in extremely low temperatures.


The classic USAAF high-altitude bomber crew jacket of WWII – the type B-3! Inspired by the RAF “IRVIN” jacket, the B-3 was standardized in 1934 and originally produced from unfinished raw-white sheepskin (which has sometimes been erroneously and foolishly referenced as being produced for use in Alaska – dream on!). The B-3 underwent a series of spec. changes over the years, culminating in the much-simplified pattern of late 1943.


here is a pic of changes to come

page 59 (clipping 1)


page 59 (clipping 2)