Posts Tagged Military

"Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. John L. Burns, the 'old hero of Gettysburg,' with gun and crutches" Photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, July 1863.

During the Battle of Gettysburg, [John L.] Burns, a 70-year-old civilian living nearby, grabbed his flintlock musket and powder horn and walked out to the battlefield to join in with Union troops. The soldiers took him in, and Burns served well as a sharpshooter. During a withdrawal, Burns was wounded several times and left on the field. he managed to get himself to safety, his wounds were treated, and his story elevated him to the status of National Hero briefly.

The Atlantic

Robert Smalls was born on Ashdale Plantation on Lady’s Island, South Carolina. As a descendent of Guinea slaves, Smalls was hired as a deckhand on the CSS Planter, an armed Confederate military transport in 1861. He served under Brigadier General Roswell Ripley, commander of the Second Military District of South Carolina. Smalls was promoted to pilot of the Planter within a year.

On May 12, 1862, the Planter’s officers decided to have the crew spend the night ashore. In the early morning hours, Smalls, then 23, commandeered Planter. At that time, the ship was loaded with weapons and equipment for the rebel forts. Along with seven of the eight enslaved crewmen, Smalls stopped by a nearby wharf to pick up Smalls’ wife, children and twelve relatives of the other crewmen. They sailed towards the nearest Union blockading ship, Onward, with a raised white flag. Dressed in a captain’s uniform, Smalls reported shouted, “Good morning, sir! I have brought you some of the old United States’ guns, sir!”

Regarded as a national hero in the north, Smalls and his associates were given prize money from President Lincoln for their efforts and information regarding rebel locations. Smalls continued to fight in the Civil War for the Union and became the first black captain of a United States vessel. After the war, he learned to read and write and participated in the drafting of South Carolina’s state constitution. Smalls went on to serve five terms as a U.S. Congressman representing South Carolina. He moved back to Beaufort, South Carolina and served for nearly 20 years as U.S. Collector of Customs and lived, as the owner, in the same house in which he had been a slave.

Further Reading
The Atlantic
Robert Smalls on the Biographical Directory of the US Congress
RobertSmalls.org

Timothy H. O'Sullivan, photographer; printed by Alexander Gardner; negative July 4, 1863; print 1866.

Of the Civil War photographs, the most moving are the inhumanly objective records of combat deaths. Perhaps the most reproduced of these Civil War photographs is [Timothy] O’Sullivan’s A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1863. Although this image could be seen as simple reportage, is also functions to impress on people the high price of the Civil War. Corpses litter the battlefield as far as the eye can see. O’Sullivan presented a scene that stretches far to the horizon. As the photograph modulates from the precise clarity of the bodies of Union soldiers in the foreground, boots stolen and pockets picked, to the almost illegible corpses in the distance, the suggestion of innumerable other dead soldiers is unavoidable. . . . Though it was years before photolithography could reproduce photographs like this in newspapers, they were publicly exhibited and made an impression that newsprint engravings never could.

- Gardner’s Art Through the Ages

Fred S. Kleiner & Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, Twelfth Edition: Volume II, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2005, 850.
Photo via The J. Paul Getty Museum website.

Soldier demonstrates his scar and pierced helmet, during World War I. This photograph would have made ideal propaganda material as its accompanying caption demonstrates. The soldier in the middle of the scene is happy and triumphant. Despite the bandaging on his head, he is still carrying all his equipment and looks ready for action. The story, helmet and resulting scar would probably have provided first rate barrack entertainment! [Original title reads: 'Saved by shrapnell [sic] helmet. This soldier, on the way to hospital after being bandaged at Field Dressing Station, shows the helmet which saved his life.’]

(National Library of Scotland)

“There are no great men, just great challenges which ordinary men, out of necessity, are forced by circumstances to meet.”

- William Halsey, Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy during World War II, stated this after being asked about his contribution and role in the Pacific against Japan.

Keeping a man "in his place" - A WAAF member demonstrates self-defense on January 15, 1942.

Specially chosen airwomen are being trained for police duties in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). They have to be quick-witted, intelligent and observant woman of the world – They attend an intensive course at the highly sufficient RAF police school – where their training runs parallel with that of the men.

(AP Photo/The Atlantic)

(via: the-seed-of-europe.tumblr; original source)

The history of the Pacific war can never be written without telling the story of the U.S.S. O’Bannon. Time after time the O’Bannon and her gallant little sisters were called upon to turn back the enemy. They never disappointed me.

- Admiral William F. Halsey

In 1942 the USS O’Bannon, an American destroyer, was dispatched to the South Pacific to face off against Japan’s naval forces. By the end of the Second World War, the O’Bannon earned more service and battle stars, a total of 17, than any other American destroyer. Additionally, it also participated in one of the oddest and most perplexing incidents during the War.

The USS O'Bannon 450, an American destroyer used during WWII in the South Pacific.

The event, later known as “The Maine Potato Episode,” occurred on April 5, 1943 when the destroyer came across a large Japanese submarine, the RO-35, which was cruising on the surface and oblivious to the approaching ship (someone was obviously neglecting their lookout duty). The O’Bannon decided to ram the sub to sink it. At the last minute, however, they decided against it because some feared the sub was a minelayer, a ship/sub used to lay out sea mines, and if it was rammed it would blow up the destroyer as well.

Because of this quick withdrawal, the O’Bannon found itself moving directly parallel to the RO-35. On closer inspection, Ernest Herr, a sailor onboard the destroyer, stated that the Japanese sailors were sleeping on the deck. The sleeping crew quickly woke up and found themselves directly across from their enemy.  The O’Bannon was at a disadvantage because it was too close to the sub to lower its guns and the sub had 3-inch deck guns at the ready.

Faced with the sub’s guns, the O’Bannon crew began to use whatever they had at their disposal to fight the Japanese. Reaching inside nearby storage bins, the crew began to pelt the Japanese sailors with the barrels’ content. Inside the containers were potatoes and soon an epic potato battle began. Either the Japanese were not used to potatoes or were expecting the worst since they believed the potatoes were actually hand grenades. The sub’s sailors were too preoccupied with throwing these potato “grenades” overboard, or right back at the O’Bannon, that they were not manning their deck guns.

The O’Bannon took the opportunity to gain distance as their enemies were busy handling their potato issue. Once the O’Bannon was far enough away, they properly lower their guns and began firing at the sub, who, by now, started their decent. Before the RO-35 was fully submerge, the O’Bannon damaged the sub’s conning tower. After it disappeared from the surface, the destroyer maneuvered over the sub and delivered a depth charge attack. After the war, information was released that the Japanese RO-35 submarine did, in fact, sink as a result of O’Bannon‘s actions.

Upon hearing about the potato incident, the Association of Potato Growers of Maine sent a plague commemorating the event. It was mounted near the crew’s mess hall, since, as Herr noted, “it was the crew’s battle.”

Prisoner of war picking potatoes at Camp Houlton in Maine around 1945.

Further Reading
USS O’Bannon at the Destroyer History Foundation’s website.
Ernest A. Herr, “The Maine Potato Episode.”
USS O’Bannon‘s website. (Photos & Information)
Photo: Prisoner of War Picking Potatoes, Houlton, 1945 via Maine Memory Network.

“In this Second World War women will be used physically as never before, for production of war materials, for substitute labor in factories and on farms as man power is drained by the armed forces, and for guard and emergency duty of all kinds in threatened areas, and for management of evacuations, if it comes to that. Women by themselves cannot win this war. But quite certainly it cannot be won without them.”

- Margaret Culkin Banning, author, stated this in her 1942 book Women For Defense.

Photo

Say Army: 1940

Washington, D.C., June 1940. “New recruits join up. Kermit Kuhn, 21 years old, of Bayard, West Virginia, being examined by Army doctor Major Seth Gayle Jr.” Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

Shorpy Historical Photo Archive

Old Soldiers: 1913

July 1913. “Gettysburg reunion: Veterans of the G.A.R. and of the Confederacy, at the Encampment.” Harris & Ewing glass negative.

Shorpy Historical Photo Archive

 This photo, in which three American soldiers lie dead in the sand on Buna Beach in New Guinea, was taken in February 1943, but was not published until September. It was the first time an image of dead American troops appeared in LIFE during World War II without the bodies being draped, in coffins, or otherwise covered up. George Strock’s Buna Beach photo — now acknowledged as a war classic — and other equally gruesome and graphic pictures were finally OK’d by the Office of War Information’s censors, in part because President Roosevelt feared that the American public might be growing complacent about the war and its horrific toll.

The German-born Dietrich is surrounded by two sailors, a soldier, and a Marine at a 1942 USO event at New York City’s Astor Hotel. A staunch anti-Nazi, she became a U.S. citizen in 1939 and was one of the first major celebrities to actively support the Allied war effort.

 

“Marlene Dietrich Plans the Next Leg of Her War Tour”

 

Dietrich peruses paperwork related to her wartime efforts in 1943. For the duration of World War II, she would tour relentlessly across the U.S., North Africa, and Europe in support of the troops. It was also during the war that Dietrich, raised in a Protestant household, lost her faith after hearing the “devout” on both sides of the conflict invoking God to aid their cause and destroy their enemies. “If God exists,” she later said, “he needs to review his plan.”

 

“Dietrich Signs Autographs at the Front”

 

Servicemen, like these G.I.s in Germany in early 1945, adored Dietrich — and openly admired her fearlessness when visiting troops far from the safety of Hollywood. A native of Germany, she became an American citizen in 1939. When asked why she had traveled to war zones to entertain and comfort Allied troops, she famously and simply replied, “aus Anstand.” “It was the decent thing to do.”

At an evacuation hospital near the Italian front lines, Marlene Dietrich sits on a piano while wounded troops gather around to listen to her sing, May 1944.

 

“Just After D-Day, Marlene Dietrich Invades France”

 

Dressed in a U.S. Army Air Force uniform, Dietrich waits to entertain American troops in France on June 10, 1944, four days after the Normandy invasion.

 

“Marlene Dietrich Swaps G.I. Boot for Gold Pump”

 

Dietrich pulls an awed serviceman on stage during a performance near the European front in February 1945, one of 500 USO appearances she’ll make during the war.

 

“Marlene Dietrich Gets a Hero’s Welcome in New York Harbor”

 

Sailors help Dietrich disembark the Queen Elizabeth liner upon her return from her USO tour in August 1945. For her war efforts, she would receive the Presidential Medal of Honor.

The world recognizes him as the charismatic young American president struck down in his prime by an assassin’s bullet, but the early chapters of John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s life are often overlooked. In particular, the courage — what Hemingway famously characterized as “grace under pressure” — that kennedy exhibited more than once while serving in World War II is especially worth remembering. Considering the perils he faced during his naval service in the Pacific, in many ways JFK was lucky to have lived as long as he did. Above: JFK on board the torpedo boat he commanded in the Pacific in 1943.

Both John and his older brother Joseph (right) joined the Navy — John had back problems and needed to use family connections and appeal to the Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence in order to enlist — but otherwise their experiences could hardly be more dissimilar. John eventually served on an 80-foot, 56-ton torpedo boat in the Pacific, while Joseph became an aviator based in Britain.  Above: The two brothers in their naval uniforms, circa 1942.

The Kennedy Curse

 

As John was hailed as a hero, his older brother continued to risk death. Even though Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. completed his designated number of B-24 missions, he declined leave and instead volunteered for more missions involving aircrafts laden with explosives, from which the pilot would parachute before detonation. A premature explosion killed him and his co-pilot. He posthumously received the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal. The death had implications beyond being a family tragedy, as his brother John suddenly replaced him as the focus of their father’s political ambitions. John and their younger brother Robert would also die violent deaths, while sister Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish would perish in a plane crash.  Above: A photo taken not long before Joseph’s death at 29 on August 12, 1944.

Source: LIFE