Tin Soldiers, Toy Soldiers, Wartime Toys

He was only a little tine soldier then,
To be used as a battering ram;
Today he’s the pride of a nation wide —
He’s the nephew of Uncle Sam.

Edwardsville Intelligencer (Edwardsville, Illinois) Dec 6, 1941

THE Toyville army, marching
Into billets ‘neath a chair,
Discovered two tin soldier spies
Beneath the carpet there.

The captain sternly marched them out,
Their case and fate to settle.
They stood at ease with steady knees,
For they were men of mettle!

I’m glad Ted chanced to pass just then
And took a hand. He thrust
The two spies in his pocket,
To the captain’s great disgust!

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) May 12, 1918

THE Toyville army bravely marched
Across high table land,
Upon the table edge, some one
Forgot the right command!

No welcome “Halt!” to bid them stay,
So like the gallant host of yore,
Theirs not to question, but obey,
They fell in companies to the floor.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) May 19, 1918

Reno Evening Gazette (Reno, Nevada) Nov 16, 1942

LITTLE TIN SOLDIER.

Little Tin Soldier, how stiff you stand
With your sword buckled on and your gun in your hand.
Would you hear aright should your captain say,
“Fall out, dismissed, well done — let’s play!”

Or would the Something that comes with drill
O’ershadow you, follow you, hinder you still —
And you hear like the beat of a distant tattoo,
“Count off, front and rear, one two .  .  .  one two?”

Time was, I am sure, though you look so grim
There’s a gleam in your eye, though ’tis often dim,
When your memory quickens and troubles you
As you quick-step, march — one two, one two.

Little Tin Soldier, how stiff you stand
With your sword buckled on and your gun in your hand.
Would you hear aright if I said what is true,
“I love you, my darling — I do, I do?”

— Ann Drew.

Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, New York) Jul 4, 1926

Billigns Gazette (Billings, Montana) Jul 8, 1945

Gunboat Plymouth’s Gallant Death

[Excerpt]

Submarine and Destroyer Among 6 U.S. Ships Lost

WASHINGTON. — (AP) — Six U.S. warships, battling the Axis throughout the world, have gone to the bottom in the last two months, the Navy reported yesterday.

The submarine Pickerel and destroyer Maddox topped the list of lost vessels which also included the gunboat Plymouth, submarine chaser PC-496, mine sweeper Sentinel, and submarine rescue vessel Redwing.

…..

Another underwater explosion sent the gunboat Plymouth to the bottom of the Atlantic off the North Carolina coast Aug. 5. Whether she was torpedoed or struck a mine was not disclosed. Her commander, Lt. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel Jr. was wounded.

St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, Florida) Aug 16, 1943

St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, Florida) Aug 16, 1943

The Once Over
By H.L. PHILLIPS

LINES TO THE ALVA

(“The gunboat Plymouth, torpedoed off the Carolinas, was formerly the Alva, $3,000,000 Vanderbilt yacht.” — News item.)

Once gleaming beauty of the peaceful seas,
Pristine and regal, born for soft, smooth ways;
A flashing symbol of great luxuries —
A yacht designed for tranquil lazy days. . .
And now a shattered thing with ghastly wounds —
A battered hulk upon the ocean floor —
A mild, great lady who went out of bounds
And died a gallant scrapper in a war!

II.

The Alva! . . . How her name shown in the news
When all the world was free from slimy hate!
How oft we read of some gay, carefree cruise
When no one dreamed of her impending fate!
She was the glamour girl of yachting magazines;
Society observed her every move;
The newsreels played her up mid tropic scenes. . .
Before she died, a scrapper “in the groove”!

III.

To cruise a tranquil world in style deluxe —
To ring with merry laughter and with song —
To know the duchesses and all the dukes —
And hear the rhumba dance tunes linger long. . .
For this was she turned out a few years back,
The dream ship of a famous millionaire;
None sensed the lady would a wallop pack
And go down fighting in a wolf-packs’s lair.

IV.

To take her leisure on far waters blue;
To give some time to scientific aims —
(This, too, the lady found the time to do;)
But all such stuff was just like playing games
Compared to what her destiny decreed. . .
Bold sorties out where dark assassins lay —
Long nights with death about on every watch. . .
Then frightful sounds where once was oh, so gay —
And finally a bloody, spar-strewn patch.

V.

The Alva! I remember her so well.
Each Winter by Miami’s causeway fair. . .
I see her shining  now, and hear her bell. . .
And note the whiteness of her flashing there!
Immaculate, unscratched from stem to stern,
Aloof and with much hauteur in her eye. . .
Yet waiting for Ol’ Davie’s dice to turn
And call on her to battle and to die!

VI.

Now much through every stateroom leaves its mark
And through the portholes puzzled fishes play —
And there’s a gaping wound through which the sharks
Have ample room to weave and twist and sway;
Here’s to you, Alva, game, bold fighting lass —
A heroine, not just a glamour gal!
The men on fighting ships all lift a glass
And say, “Here’s to a sweetheart and a pal!”

Kingsport News (Kingsport, Tennessee) Aug 20, 1943

Coast Guard Rescues 60 Members of Crew Of Gunboat Plymouth

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Coast Guard rescued 60 members of the crew of the gun boat Plymouth, sunk off the North Carolina coast on August 5, the Navy reported yesterday.

Loss of the gun boat previously had been reported by the Navy in a communique which said the vessel sank after two violent underwater explosions.

Members of the crew, the Navy said yesterday were picked up from stormy waters by the Coast Guard cutter commanded by Lieutenant Woodward B. Rich, Baltimore, and by a life boat crew from the cutter who volunteered to search for survivors.

Gazette and Bulletin (Williamsport, Pennsylvania) Oct 8, 1943

“If You See General Ike, Tell Him We’re The Boys Who Can Do It.”

Mason City Globe Gazette (Mason City, Iowa) Jun 6, 1944

D-DAY — from History.com

During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

Delta Democrat Times (Greenville, Mississippi) Jun 6, 1944

First Wave Of Assault Troops Mowed Down

By James C. McGlincy
United Press War Correspondent

LONDON, June 7. — Some of the first assault troops who stormed the French beaches were mowed down by German crossfire but succeeding waves climbed over their bodies until a foothold was established, an eye-witness who returned from the beachhead reported today.

Bert Brandt, 28, an Acme News photographer, spent a half hour on the beach yesterday and several hours more cruising within gunshot of the landing scene.
“It was hotter than hell over there,” Brandt said. “I was at Anzio but Anzio was nothing like this.”

He said the Germans laid down intensive fire on the beaches with well-emplaced machine-guns. American casualties were spotty, heavy on some beaches and light on others.

On one beach, Brandt reported, the German machine-gunners waited until the landing craft lowered their ramps and then poured deadly fire into the barges. The opposition met by the first wave delayed the landing of demolition parties scheduled to follow with heavy equipment.

The German defenses finally crumbled under the weight of attack and by the time Brandt left the beachhead at 3 P.M. yesterday, the Americans were firmly ashore and beginning to advance inland.

“The whole thing was an unbelievable sight,” Brandt said. “Planes criss-crossed overhead constantly. You never could look up without seeing a formation of planes somewhere, P-38s and P-47s zoomed right overhead all the time blasting the German defenses.

“Some boats were burning and a pall of smoke hung over the beach. I saw some of the bodies of our soldiers who had been killed in the first landings floating in the water. Some of the boats were swamped in the choppy seas.

“There were tremendous rafts just floating offshore jammed with trucks, tanks and ambulances. On one beach we landed tanks from LCT’s. Then some waves of Infantry went in, followed by engineers and then more Infantry.

“On the beaches the men crouched behind jeeps, tanks, anything they could find for cover. At one point they made their way to the German concrete defense wall, and that was the first cover they found.

“Right off the beach were tall cliffs which were scaled by the rangers. They captured gun positions within 15 minutes after they went in.”

Despite fierce resistance, Brandt said, everyone was calm and the operation was well organized. On the landing boats going over, the troops were so confident, Brandt was worried. He saw Pvt. Charles Blackledge, Columbia, Miss., sitting amid bangalore torpedoes, bazookas, TNT and other deadly weapons reading a little black-covered Bible.

Daily News (Huntingdon, Pennsylvania) Jun 6, 1944

He snapped a picture of one boy asleep on top of a jeep five minutes before landing. As the troops went overside into smaller boats for the assault, one yelled: “If you see General Ike, tell him we’re the boys who can do it.”

Two negro jeep drivers stood at the rail looking at the looming continent.

“Yassuh,” one laughed, “theah she am!”

One small boat which supported the landing was commanded by Lt. Richard Margetts, San Diego, Cal. Its crew included Lt. ?g? Chester Hendrickson, Grove City, Minn., Cox. Robert Jaggers, Stantonville, Tenn., Seaman 1c Gilbert Aguilar, Houston, Tex., and Seaman John Hornyal, Bridgeport, Conn.

After piloting an assault craft ashore and back to the larger ship, Seaman 1c Forrest Hillegas, Allentown, Pa., called: “Anybody got a cigaret? I think I’ve got one coming after that.”

Daily News (Huntingdon, Pennsylvania) Jun 6, 1944

Brandt hitch-hiked back on a boat returning with wounded in order to get his pictures out. In a corner of the returning craft a wounded boy sat sobbing. He told Brandt:

“For three years I’ve been training for this and what happens? As soon as I get off the boat I get hit. I didn’t even get a chance to fire a shot at a German.”

Anniston Star (Anniston, Alabama) Jun 7, 1944

Battle of Midway – Japs Caught By Surprise

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Jun 9, 1942

Japs Caught By Surprise, Report American Fliers

Young Airmen Grin As They Describe Raid

—–

Flying Fortresses Bomb Big Jap Transport And Two Heavy Cruisers In Battle Of Midway

—–

(By FRANK TREMAINE)
United Press Staff Correspondent

At an army air base, Hawaii. —
(UP) — Sprawled around their “Yankee Doodle” flying fortress under the palm trees of this air base, army aviators talked today about the battle of Midway.

They grinned like school boys on commencement day.

Capt. Paul Payne, 25, Des Moines, Iowa, who studied banking at the University of Illinois, answered for all of them when in reply to a question he said:

“We we scared? Gosh! To tell the truth I don’t know. But come to think of it, I guess we were all scared as hell, now that you mention it.”

Most of them had had the first taste of fire in the battle of Midway. They went in boys and came out veterans. They had fought off the attack of Japanese planes, and had hit a big Japanese transport and two heavy cruisers, scored a near miss which probably damaged a carrier and shot down a zero fighter.

“We came out of the mess unscratched simply because we caught the Japs by surprise the first time and were just gosh awful lucky other times,” Payne said, propping himself against the massive wheel of the Yankee Doodle.

Spotted Them First

“We spotted them long before they spotted us. It was a pretty sight to look down on those columns of ships. I don’t want to guess how many there were, but there were plenty.

“Our three flying fortresses picked the biggest one in the bunch, a battleship or a big cruiser, and we saw bombs of all three planes strike on or alongside it. Then they gave us the book.

“Then we had a piece of luck that seemed bad at the moment but turned out to be a break. One of the doors of the bomb bay stuck and we couldn’t release all our eggs. Finally we worked it open and looked for a target.”

“An d we didn’t have to look far,” said Lieut. Gone Wills, Petersburg, Tenn. “There below us was a big transport.

“I heard Payne say, ‘Let’s go get the big one,’ and got her we did. We unloaded our last bombs squarely amidships. Flames enveloped the whole superstructure and smoke, that black, oily kind, gushed from every part of her.”

“And that was our first day’s work completed,” Payne said. “We high-tailed it home and arrived right on the nose at nightfall. We didn’t have a mark on us.”

The next day the three planes in Payne’s element attacked a carrier.

“All the time it was going around like a dog chasing its tail, and it and its escorts were peeling shells at us from all directions,” Payne said.

“They had our altitude but they couldn’t get the range. The shells exploded beside us and behind us. Some came so close that the concussion slapped

Bargdill to the floor when he stuck his head out of the window of the gunner’s compartment.
(Bargdill is Coroporal Don C. Bargdill, 27, Hutchinson, Kans.)

“Just then Karotsky hollered over the phone:

“‘Three zeros from the carrier are coming after us.'”
(Zarotsky is Corporal Alexander Zarotsky, 20, Cincinnati, Ohio.)

“Bargdill, you pick it up from here. That Jap was your baby.”

Bargdill scratched at the back of his neck.

“The tracers were scooting overhead as I looked out the window,” he said. “One zero came up as fast as lightning. In a few seconds he was heading right for my side of the ship, throwing plenty of lead. And I was throwing plenty right back on him.

Plummets Into Sea

“I didn’t bother to use the sights. I just followed the tracers. They practically cut him in two. I saw the first burst hit his cowling and watched the tracers move down his fuselage. He seemed to hang in the air just a fraction of a second. Then he slid off into an uncontrolled dive. He plummeted straight down to the sea.

“He was so close when he got my last burst that I could make out his facial features. It’s the gospel truth. That Jap looked just like the cartoons. He had goggles on and he had buck teeth.

“He also had guts. He came right on into the face of that fire until it got him.

“Did he hit me? Shucks, no. He ought to have practiced more. He didn’t even come close.”

On the way back Zarotsky hurt his little finger in closing the bomb door, but it didn’t rate as a casualty.

They refueled and went back.

“Every once in a while we would see a burning ship as we flew toward the Japanese fleet. It was ample evidence that the torpedo planes and the dive bombers were having a field day of their own,” Capt. Payne said.

This time they attacked a cruiser, flying high above 25 Japanese fighters which did not rise to challenge them.

“The cruiser was zig-zagging around but we crossed its stern and the bombs fell right across it,” Payne said. “As we swung around I could see we had hit it badly. It was burning amidships and aft.”

With Payne and the others mentioned were Sergt. Barney Ford, Sergt. R.L. Pleky, Rear Gunner Leonard Hendry, Brentwood, Md.; and Corporal J.J. O’Brien, Jermyn, Pa.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Jun 11, 1942

Ogden Standard Examiner (Ogden, Utah) Jun 12, 1942

Cinco de Mayo, 1945

The free world had cause for celebration on May 5, 1945.

Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona) May 5, 1945

Nazis Whipped – Burma Japs Gone!

Yanks Down 154 Nippon Aircraft

Germans in North Quit

San Antonio Express (San Antonio, Texas) May 5, 1945

Nazis Give Up Southern Germany

Patton Tries for a Knockout

The Fresno Bee (Fresno, California) May 5, 1945

1,000,000 Nazi Soldiers Laid Down Their Arms

Continued Fighting Against West Allies Senseless

Air Power Prime Factor in Defeat

Indiana Evening Gazette (Indiana, Pennsylvania) May 5, 1945

Major German Resistance at End

Desperate Foes Fights Grimly

Denmark Celebrates End of Five-Year Nazi Rule

The Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton, Ohio) May 5, 1945

Women Everywhere Taking to Slacks

(With women, everywhere taking more and more to slacks, overalls, halter-alls and similar garb formerly associated only with males and publicity-minded feminine movie stars, a man offers some advice to the opposite sex about wearing pants. He happens to be so expert on women’s styles, whose famous comic strip character, “Tillie the Toiler,” was one of the original factors in popularizing slacks among working girls. This is the first of a series of articles written especially for The Light.)

By RUSS WESTOVER

Famous Cartoonist – Creator of
“Tillie the Toiler”

I find that among women the question no long is, “Shall I wear trousers?” but “What kind of trousers shall I wear and when?” Slacks for women have passed the fad stage; they are every day garb for hundreds of thousands of them and are actually mandatory in numerous industries from coast to coast. In the machine shops of the naval station at Alameda, Calif., at the Pan American Airways base at New York, the rule is: all women employes wear pants.

However, the utility of slacks, halter-alls and such as feminine garb in war work doesn’t mean that skirts are going to be, or should be, abandoned altogether. It isn’t necessary, and it is undesirable, both from the standpoint of expediency and feminine attractiveness. Slacks designed for all hours of the day are available now, but as a uniform to replace skirts in public, they are affected and in bad taste. Furthermore, to abandon all skirts and dresses in favor of mannish attire would be wasteful of materials urgently needed for the war effort.

It’s my opinion that the less women wear slacks or other forms of pants when their work doesn’t require it the better for their appearances. Slacks are really becoming to but few adult women. However, if a girl’s job must be done in slacks, she need not dress at home in skirts and change at the plant, unless her travels to and from work wearing slacks would make her unpleasantly conspicuous. On the other hand, work which requires halter-alls accompanies a mechanical career, and men at such jobs shirt to overalls at the plant.

—–

Tomorrow: Helpful hints on slacks for office wear.

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) May 18, 1942

By RUSS WESTOVER

“Tillie the Toiler”

No woman thinks in terms of glamour, of course, in buying trousers or pants for factory wear. Glamour doesn’t mix with safety and safety must set the style for women workers. However, for the sake of uniformity in appearance, many concerns are requiring women office help, as well as feminine machine operators, to wear pants. The office worker can safely give more thought to good appearance.

Most women to whom slacks now occur as revolutionary garb for everyday wear, will probably have to go through the novice coyness about them, or they think they will. One group will get too mannish and look like fools; the other will go too far in the opposite direction.

The best advice is to get full cut garments, with correct waistline measure. Good fabric, good fit, good lines, the right color, determine the figure you cut in slacks. They should be more a tailoring job than a dressmaker’s creation. Don’t choose slacks that have too deep a crotch and wide, flapping legs.

As a man in public unless he is a slum vacationer at a resort seldom wears a shirt and pants without a jacket, the woman doomed to slacks will find her looks bolstered if she wears a coat when not on the job in the office or shop with her slacks. Her tailored suit jacket or tweed sports coat will be proper with them.

The strictly tailored blouse, the knit pullover, the bellhop jacket, are appropriate with slacks as the working garb at typewriter, desk or counter.

Stockings beneath slacks are uncomfortable; wearing socks to protect the feet from the shoe-lining is the sensible thing, besides saying wear and tear on more expensive hose.

Proper underwear is, of course, essential to the fit and comfort of slacks. Women need no advice from a man about the proper panties, girdles, etc., which every shop, from dime stores up, now stock. The combination one-piece streamlined shorts and slip-like middles, seems to be a good idea.

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) May 19, 1942

By RUSS WESTOVER

Famous Cartoonist-Creator of
“Tillie the Toiler.”

Any job, from making a bed to constructing an airplane, is easier done in slacks or overalls than skirts. Stooping not only wipes the floor with your skirt, but creates a real accident hazard. You stumble and trip over the spread skirt, if it’s full. If it’s tight you can’t stoop in it without appearing obscene. So it’s natural that more and more women should be taking to slacks for home tasks.

However, slacks should be considered primarily as working clothes and not as round-the-clock garb. A woman with any sense would never deliberately wear slacks to a home wedding or a funeral; or, unless at a nobody-cares resort, to a dining or lunching date in public. Even dinner pajamas are restricted by usage to your own home, or the home of a neighbor or close friend whose home you visit by automobile.

You may have seen photos of Paulette Goddard, the film star, wearing short slacks as evening garb at a resort some time ago. Well, as Paulette told me a few days ago,  she’s had a change of mind about slacks. She’s decided that they’re not becoming to a feminine figure. She’s adhering to the conventional evening gown now.

Paulette told me, by the way, that there was a howl of protest from the soldiers when a contingent of Hollywood feminine entertainers showed up at an army camp in slacks or uniforms. The soldiers made it plain they wanted the femmes who visit them to look feminine. So now the stars wear their prettiest frills and furbelows when they go to the camps to contribute their bit to morale.

For dress-up slacks, if you do choose to wear them, frilly blouses, sheer shirts, costume jewelry, etc., are part of the costume, the more feminine the better the effect. Low heels are always the correct item with slacks, unless the evening variety; replacing the teagown or dinner gown, are the slacks in question.

Tomorrow: Helpful hints on accessories for the slacks costume.

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) May 21, 1942

By RUSS WESTOVER

Famous Cartoonist – Creator of
“Tillie the Toiler”

The girls appear to be winning their battle for the right to wear slacks to school. In Pittsburgh, for example, the superintendent of schools approved, provided, however, the girls do not take to any outlandish fashions that will create a distraction and a disturbance. In New York, when Beverly Bernstein was forbidden to wear slacks to Abraham Lincoln High School, she and fellow students staged a strike for the emancipation of women from skirts. They got up a petition which school authorities couldn’t talk down:

“The undersigned want official permission for girls to wear slacks to school for the following reasons:

(a) the United States government advocates slacks for school, because they are better than skirts in the event of an air raid; (b) they conserve silk stockings; (c) they curb sexy clothes such as short skirts.

Note: Boys also wish the girls to wear slacks and are signing this petition.”

It isn’t exactly true the government is advocating slacks for school. In fact, it’s fearful that unnecessary adoption of the style will aggravate the shortage of wool. However, in scores of other cities, girls have donned pants for school hours, and they’re on their honor not to let the fashion get beyond conservative bounds.

The least captious girls hate their beaux to present a rumpled, unpressed appearance. Let them take this tip unto themselves and keep slacks in press. Washable slacks should be kept at least as fresh as a girl keeps her blouse, her handkerchief. If the tailor stitches down the crease of wool pants, pressing them neatly is then an easy home job, and the crease doesn’t get out of line between pressing.

There has been a great spurt of publicity to get hats onto heads above slacks. And the long-visored cap, the cocoanut straw hat and the felt fedora type have been advocated for the slacks ensemble. The scarf or handkerchief turban is very popular. Another suggestion is the worsted snood.

Tomorrow: Practical hints on getting the best fit in slacks.

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) May 22, 1942

By RUSS WESTOVER

Famous Cartoonist, Creator of “Tillie the Toiler.”

Even if you do not have an ideal figure like Film Stars Hedy LaMarr and Peggy Diggins, there are a number of things you can do to look your best in slacks.

First of all, choose slacks of a masculine cut — the straight-hanging style helps a lumpy figure a lot. You can add a jacket capable of concealing average figure faults. Slacks tailored of dark, substantial material flatter heavy figures.

Be sure, in fitting your slacks, to study the back view in a long mirror. Avoid slacks with too deep a crotch, and wide, flopping legs.

Prefer high-waisted lines; instep-length, tapering at the ankle; no pleats or bunchiness about the waist.

I find some good advice to women on this subject in Good Housekeeping magazine:

“Consider slacks as part of an ensemble — not just a pair of trousers. Complement them with the right accessories — low-heeled shoes, tailored shirts or blouses, right-length coats, informal hairdos, appropriate headgear. Follow masculine preference in fabrics and colors. Determine which becomes you most — fly-front or side-closing. Be sure slacks have well-pressed creases.”

Don’t be afraid to wear slacks. Any objectionable points will not be seen once the novelty wears off. Tillie the Toiler is no slacker when it comes to slacks. You shouldn’t be either, if by wearing them you can do your war-time job better.

—–

(This is the last of a series in which a man who is an expert on women’s styles gives some advice to the opposite sex on wearing slacks.)

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) May 23, 1942

Below are two examples showing Tillie in slacks, the first one also has her mom wearing them:

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) Apr 11, 1942

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) May 8, 1942

Brother, Can You Spare a Tube?

Image from Gallery of Graphic Design

A SONG FOR TODAY

(To the tune of “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”)

Once I had some toothpaste, long ago,
Gosh, I sure was a boob!
Now I’m out of toothpaste, moanin’ low —
Brother, can you spare a tube?

Used to have my whiskers shaved each day,
Now I look like a Rube;
Shaving cream costs more than I can pay —
Brother, can you spare a tube?

I’m all-out for Vict’ry, beard and all,
Let’s slice those Japs into cubes!
Meanwhile, can’t you hear me sadly call —
Brother, can you spare some tubes?

— Frank M. Schmitt.

Boyden Reporter (Boyden, Iowa) May 14, 1942

Pearl Harbor Pays Homeage To Victims Of 1941 Attack

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

TEN YEARS AFTER the treacherous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the scars are gone — but not the memory of “the day that will live in infamy.” In the photo at top, made on Dec. 7, 1941, the battleship California hit by two torpedoes and several aerial bombs, is wrapped in flames as it sinks. In the background other vessels are fire-swept. At bottom is the same locale as it looks today after extensive salvage and reconstruction operations. We now have a peace treaty with Japan and our one-time enemy is our ally. (International)

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Sunken Ship Is Tomb For 1,000

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Pearl Harbor pays homage today to the men who died in the sneak attack that plunged America into World War II.

At 7:55 a.m. — 10 years to the minute after the first Japanese raiders struck — three chaplains will pray for the dead.

These include 13,000 buried in the National Cemetery and another 1,000 still trapped in the steel tomb of the sunken battleship Arizona.

Barkley, Chapman There

Vice President Alben W. Barkley and Interior Secretary Oscar Chapman will preside at a ceremony. In the wooden office buildings of the Naval Base a few men who remember when the Japanese attacked will go on working.

A few miles away a launch will chug across the harbor to a flagpole rising from the Arizona’s hulk.

Today Pearl Harbor echoes to the sound of war practice, 10 years after 360 Japanese planes streaked out of the northwest and pounced on the helpless outpost.

Not far from the spot where the Japs turned “Battleship Row” into an inferno, the battleship Iowa fires shells onto a target island to sharpen its gunners for combat.

Submarines Busy

Eighteen hours a day gray submarines slip through the breakers and try to elude practicing pilots overhead.

At Hickman Field, where sitting American planes were strafed and blasted, big military transports rumble in and out. They carry 110 pounds of war supplies a minute to Korea.

The big workshops of the sprawling Naval Base hum with the chatter of riveting machines and the clang of hammers — activity brought about by the need to speed men, ships and ammunition to the Korean war front.

On the hill above the harbor unbelieving islanders scrambled to see the columns of black smoke Dec. 7, 1941, trade winds ripple the green grass on the cemetery graves. To the Hawaiians, it is the “Hill of Sacrifice.”

The Chronicle Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) Dec 7, 1951

The Generals, Buckner and Buckner

Eighty-eight, poor and living in a log cabin in Hart county, Kentucky — the cabin he was born in — General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Confederate commander, former governor of Kentucky and running mate of Palmer on the Gold Democrat ticket in 1896, swears he is the happiest man alive.

“The cabin is 103 years old,” he says, “I raise my own tobacco, have a fine mint bed and my old dog General wags his tail every time I come in sight. I have a fine spring just outside the cabin door — this water, a little mint and a little of Kentucky’s best spirits in conjunction would make anyone happy. I wouldn’t give up my log cabin home for a palace — Rockefeller or Vanderbilt couldn’t buy my cabin.”

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 10, 1910

GEN. BUCKNER JOINS MAJORITY

*****
Death Ends Distinguished Career As Soldier and Political Leader

*****

LEXINGTON, Ky., Jan. 8. — General Simon Bolivar Buckner, former governor of Kentucky, and candidate for vice president on the gold democratic national ticket in 1896, died at his home tonight.

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General Simon Bolivar Buckner had a long and distinguished career as a soldier, having served in the Mexican and civil wars, in both of which he was promoted for bravery and soldierly qualities. He was born on a farm in Hart county, Kentucky, April 1, 1823, and graduated from the United States military academy in 1822. [1844]

During the Mexican war, he was brevetted for bravery at the battles of Contreras, Churubusco and Molino Del Rey. He remained with the army until 1855, when he resigned. When the civil war broke out he joined the confederate army with the rank of brigadier general. He was successively made major general and lieutenant general.

He was governor of Kentucky from 1887 to 1891, and served as a member of the Kentucky constitutional convention in 1891. After being a candidate for vice president on the gold democratic ticket in 1896, he retired to his farm in Hart county, but continued to take a lively interest in public affairs.

General Buckner had been in ill health, due to his advanced age, for about a year. He died at 9 o’clock tonight at his home, “Glen Lily,” near Munfordville.

The body will be buried in the state cemetery at Frankfort Saturday.

General Buckner was the last surviving lieutenant general of the confederacy.

Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada) Jan 9, 1914

GENERAL SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER

Times have changed, and so has the attitude of the Buckner family toward unconditional surrender. Lieut. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner today is doing a great job in leading our new Tenth army in Okinawa in its drive to force unconditional surrender upon Japan.

General Buckner is the son of Lieut. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner of the Confederate States of America, who was the first to be forced to yield to the “unconditional surrender” demands of U.S. Grant.

In February, 1862, General Buckner sent a note to Grant suggesting an armistice for the purpose of discussing the terms upon which he would surrender Fort Donellson, Tennessee, then under siege. Buckner and Grant had been classmates at West Point and Buckner once loaned Grant money to get home on vacation but despite this, Grant replied, “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.”

The Lowell Sun (Lowell, Massachusetts) Apr 9, 1945

10TH AVENGES DEATH OF LEADER

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Gen. Buckner Killed in Okinawa Battle

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Death Comes Almost at Moment of Final Victory By His Tenth Army

Ironwood Daily Globe (Ironwood, Michigan) Jun 19, 1945

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More about General Buckner, Jr. at Remember the Deadeyes – In Honor of General Buckner

D-Day from Dixon

Announcement
(By The Associated Press)

A dramatic 10-second interval preceded the official announcement today that the invasion had begun.

Over a trans-Atlantic radio-telephone hookup direct from supreme headquarters, allied expeditionary force, to all major press services, and broadcasting networks in the United States came the voice of Col. R. Ernest Dupuy, Gen. Eisenhower’s public relations officer.

“This is supreme headquarters, allied expeditionary force,” Dupuy said. “The text of communique No. 1 will be released to the press and radio of the United States in 10 seconds.”

Then the seconds were counted off — one, two, three . . . and finally ten.

“Under the command of General Eisenhower,” slowly read Col. Dupuy, “allied naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.”

Thus, officially, the world was told the news which it had been awaiting for months.

Dupuy began reading in Britain at exactly 7:32 a.m., Greenwich Meridian time (2:32 Central War Time.)

Dixon Evening Telegraph (Dixon, Illinois) Ju 6, 1944

D-Day images from the Boston Globe online article, Remembering D-Day, 66 Years Ago (2010) See photo article (42 images) at the link.

Chronology
(By The Associated Press)

12:37 a.m. (Eastern War Time) German news agency Transocean broadcasts that allied invasion has begun.

1:00 a.m. German DNB agency broadcasts Le Havre being bombarded violently and German naval craft fighting allied landing craft off coast.

1:56 a.m. Calais radio says “This is D-Day.”

2:31 a.m. Spokesman from Gen. Eisenhower in broadcast from London warns people of European invasion coast that “a new phase of the allied air offensive has begun” and orders them to move 22 miles inland.

3:29 a.m. Berlin radio says “first center of gravity is Caen”, big city at base of Normandy peninsula.

3:32 a.m. supreme headquarters, allied expeditionary force, announces that allied armies began landing on northern coast of France.

3:40 a.m. Shaef announces Gen. Sir Barnard L. Montgomery is in command of assault army comprising American, British, Canadians.

Dixon Evening Telegraph (Dixon, Illinois) Jun 6, 1944

Disciplined

Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, June 7 — (AP) — One of America’s best known major generals was demoted to lieutenant colonel and sent home for indicating in advance the time of D-Day.

The supreme command allowed this information to be cabled abroad today after holding it up several weeks for security reasons.

Supreme headquarters would not permit the officer’s name to be cabled. He was one of the commanders of the U.S. Air Force. An Army man of long standing, he swiftly felt the supreme axe after talking indiscreetly at a London cocktail party.

The conversation was said to have taken place almost two months ago when the invasion was expected almost daily. The general was reported to have said in the presence of several persons:

“On my honor the invasion will take place before June 15.”

His action was reported to security police by a woman guest and Gen. Eisenhower immediately ordered him reduced to  permanent rank of lieutenant colonel and sent home after an investigation.

Dixon Evening Telegraph (Dixon, Illinois) Jun 7, 1944

California Leads in Draft Dodgers
San Francisco, June 7 — (AP) —

California has more draft dodgers than any other state, one sixth of the known total for the nation, reports Lt. Col. Edward S. Shattuck, general counsel for the Selective Service, Washington, D.C.

Shattuck said yesterday that California’s total delinquencies were 5,000 out of 30,000 for the country.

Dixon Evening Telegraph (Dixon, Illinois) Jun 7, 1944

2010 D-Day post at the link — D-Day: Give Us Strength