Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

BarnBuster said:

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December 1, 1943, The first operational use of the American P-51D Mustang is in a fighter sweep over occupied Belgium. The P-51 was designed as the NA-73 in 1940 at Britain’s request. The design showed promise and AAF purchases of Allison-powered Mustangs began in 1941 primarily for photo recon and ground support use due to its limited high-altitude performance.

But in 1942, tests of P-51s using the British Rolls-Royce “Merlin” engine revealed much improved speed and service ceiling, and in Dec. 1943, Merlin-powered P-51Bs first entered combat over Europe. Providing high-altitude escort to B-17s and B-24s, they scored heavily over German interceptors and by war’s end, P-51s had destroyed 4,950 enemy aircraft in the air, more than any other fighter in Europe.

The Mustang was the first single-engine plane based in Britain to penetrate Germany, first to reach Berlin, first to go with the heavy bombers over the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania, and first to make a major-scale, all-fighter sweep specifically to hunt down the dwindling Luftwaffe.

One of the highest honors accorded to the Mustang was its rating in 1944 by the Truman Senate War Investigating Committee as “the most aerodynamically perfect pursuit plane in existence.”

Mustangs served in nearly every combat zone, including the Pacific where they escorted B-29s to Japan from Iwo Jima. Between 1941-5, the AAF ordered 14,855 Mustangs (including A-36A dive bomber and F-6 photo recon versions), of which 7,956 were P-51Ds. During the Korean War, P-51Ds were used primarily for close support of ground forces until withdrawn from combat in 1953.

North American P-51 Mustang

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It looks like a video game rendition of a P-51 vs a ME-109

curious2garden said:

It looks like a video game rendition of a P-51 vs a ME-109

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Ah! OK then. It was the elliptical wings & white "Allied" stripes that threw me. On closer look, the tailplane has the diagonal support struts & there are MG ports on top of the engine cowling ('though not firing?). Obviously video games aren't known for much accuracy......

Jeez, guys, LOL, BB could have picked a better image in hindsight

BarnBuster said:

lol, BB could have picked a better image in hindsight

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There's lots we could've all done better in hindsight, eh?

Today in Military History:


"When war broke out with Great Britain in 1775, the colonists realized they needed a new flag. The Grand Union Flag was first flown on the US Navy's first flagship, the USS Alfred on December 2-3, 1775. This is why it is sometimes called the "First Navy Ensign." (An ensign is a flag.)

The first fleet of ships commissioned by the Second Continental Congress sailed from Philadelphia on the Delaware River. The Alfred's First Lieutenant, John Paul Jones, raised the Grand Union Flag aboard the Alfred, as well as the Gadsden Flag, which was the standard of the Navy's first Commodore, Esek Hopkins.

The second known flying of the Grand Union Flag happened at the Siege of Boston on January 2, 1776. The Continental Army was reorganized under George Washington's command on January 1. The following day, General Washington had the Grand Union Flag hoisted on Prospect Hill near his headquarters at Cambridge. This is why the Grand Union Flag is sometimes called the Cambridge Flag (even though it was not flown at Cambridge, but at nearby Prospect Hill).

Historians are divided about who designed the flag or how it came to be adopted by the Continental Army and Navy as the first American flag."

B-21 reveal tonite




NG you did good, she's a beauty

On December 4, 1917, well-known psychiatrist W.H. Rivers presents his report The Repression of War Experience, based on his work at the Craiglockhart War Hospital for Neurasthenic Officers, to the Royal School of Medicine. Craiglockhart, near Edinburgh, was one of the most famous hospitals used to treat soldiers who suffered from psychological traumas as a result of their service on the battlefield.

By the end of World War I, the army had been forced to deal with 80,000 cases of “shell shock,” a term first used in 1917 by a medical officer named Charles Myers to describe the physical damage done to soldiers on the front lines during exposure to heavy bombardment. It soon became clear, however, that the various symptoms of shell shock—including debilitating anxiety, persistent nightmares, and physical afflictions ranging from diarrhea to loss of sight—were appearing even in soldiers who had never been directly under bombardment, and the meaning of the term was broadened to include not only the physical but the psychological effects produced by the experience of combat.

The most important duty of doctors like Rivers, as prescribed by the British army, was to get the men fit and ready to return to battle. Nevertheless, only one-fifth of the men treated in hospitals for shell shock ever resumed military duty. Rivers’s patients included the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, who later wrote of his fellow inmates of Craiglockhart: These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished/Memory fingers in their hair of murders/Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.


The Repression of War Experience

BarnBuster said:

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On December 4, 1917, well-known psychiatrist W.H. Rivers presents his report The Repression of War Experience, based on his work at the Craiglockhart War Hospital for Neurasthenic Officers, to the Royal School of Medicine. Craiglockhart, near Edinburgh, was one of the most famous hospitals used to treat soldiers who suffered from psychological traumas as a result of their service on the battlefield.

By the end of World War I, the army had been forced to deal with 80,000 cases of “shell shock,” a term first used in 1917 by a medical officer named Charles Myers to describe the physical damage done to soldiers on the front lines during exposure to heavy bombardment. It soon became clear, however, that the various symptoms of shell shock—including debilitating anxiety, persistent nightmares, and physical afflictions ranging from diarrhea to loss of sight—were appearing even in soldiers who had never been directly under bombardment, and the meaning of the term was broadened to include not only the physical but the psychological effects produced by the experience of combat.

The most important duty of doctors like Rivers, as prescribed by the British army, was to get the men fit and ready to return to battle. Nevertheless, only one-fifth of the men treated in hospitals for shell shock ever resumed military duty. Rivers’s patients included the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, who later wrote of his fellow inmates of Craiglockhart: These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished/Memory fingers in their hair of murders/Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.

Shell Shock Victims

British Pathe, the world's leading multimedia resource with a history stretching back over a century. The finest and most comprehensive archive of fabulous footage and stunning stills.

www.britishpathe.com

The Repression of War Experience

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No judgement, just curious if anyone was taught the M16 using this stance? I've never seen it before.

GreatwhiteNorth said:

No judgement, just curious if anyone was taught the M16 using this stance? I've never seen it before.

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Not me, standard range positions were standing supported, standing unsupported, kneeling supported and un, and prone.

GreatwhiteNorth said:

No judgement, just curious if anyone was taught the M16 using this stance? I've never seen it before.

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An odd position. Closest I found was under "Seated Sniper Cradle" toward the end of the page. Interesting explanation(s).

and this of WW2 German sniper Matthaus Hetzenauer

BarnBuster said:

An odd position. Closest I found was under "Seated Sniper Cradle" toward the end of the page. Interesting explanation(s).

A Marksman's Guide to the Sitting Position

In rifle shooting, the sitting position is the most versatile. It is nearly as stable as prone, but lets you see over brush and terrain. Let's take a look.

www.everydaymarksman.co

and this of WW2 German sniper Matthaus Hetzenauer

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Plenty of stable body-triangles in these positions & doesn't matter how you do it as long as you get your first round on-target.

One round is usually all it takes as long as it's accurate.

This photo got me



Another hero crosses the Rainbow Bridge. MWD Ayila/R272 18 SFS. Retired back in 2019 to vet tech Yurika San. RMWD Ayila was the vet clinic mascot and got all the head pats and love from the vet clinic staff and handlers every time she went to work with mom. Rest easy, Ayila we have the watch from here.

Today in Military History:

"When World War II abruptly gripped the United States in its deadly embrace, a people seething with anger struggled to avoid being sucked into a vortex of gloom. The stunning Japanese carrier raid of December 7, 1941 on Pearl Harbor turned out to be just the first in a succession of blows that threatened to sweep the American military out of East Asia and the Central Pacific. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration endeavored to conceal the full extent of the US Pacific Fleet’s losses, no amount of censorship could conceal the fact that Japan had gained the upper hand. The valiant defense of Wake Island by US Marines, sailors, soldiers, and civilians became a potent rallying point for Americans in the dark days after Pearl Harbor.

"On December 11, 1941 a Japanese invasion task force steamed toward the beaches of Wake Island. Marine gunners played them like the sports fish in the water beneath the war machines. They watched the cruiser and six destroyers carefully and blasted them with the five-inch naval guns at 4500 yards.

One destroyer was sunk. Several of the other ships were damaged. The flotilla retreated with the knowledge there were true fighting men on Wake Island.

After the initial raid was fought off, American news media reported that, when queried about reinforcement and resupply, Cunningham was reported to have quipped “Send us more Japanese!” In fact, Commander Cunningham sent a long list of critical equipment—including gunsights, spare parts, and fire-control radar—to his immediate superior. It is believed that the quip was actually padding that is a technique of adding nonsense text to a message to make cryptanalysis more difficult.

The Japanese kept hammering at the island defenses, and ten days later the only surviving Wildcat fighter was lost. Pilots were assigned rifles and bayonets. A renewed enemy landing force sailed onto the beach, and 900 trained infantrymen invaded during the night of December 23. Construction workers and Marines fought side-by-side with everything they could, but by dawn, it was clear that there were too many Japanese.

The Commander Cunningham radioed Pearl Harbor. “Enemy on island. Issue in doubt.”

The Commander would later be quoted as saying, “I tried to think of something…We could keep on expending lives, but we could not buy anything with them.” He gave the order to surrender. The surviving eighty-one Marines and eighty-two civilians obeyed but destroyed everything they could find that the enemy could use as a weapon and disabled all the equipment they could. The Japanese claimed the victory at a great price.

Two destroyers and one submarine had been sunk by the Americans. Seven other ships were damaged, and twenty-one aircraft were shot down. The total lives lost by the Japanese was close to 1000. Their leaders were furious and exacted revenge on the prisoners. Stripped and tied with wire in such a way a sudden movement would cause strangulation, soldier, and civilian alike were made to sit in the sun on the concrete they had recently poured.

No water or food was given to them for two days. At one point, the captors installed machine guns near them, for a mass execution, they imagined. But, at last, they were fed spoiled and unsavory bits of food, and instructed to put quickly on clothing but not necessarily their own. Marines donned civilian pants, and construction workers were in khaki.

A spit polished, crisply white uniformed Japanese commander addressed the prisoners. An interpreter informed the group “the Emperor has graciously presented you with your lives.” One unfazed Marine replied, “Well, thank the son of a bitch for me!”

Toward the middle of January 1942, a merchant ship laid anchor at Wake Island. The prisoners were transported to China by ship. But as they were shoved toward the ship, two columns of Japanese sailors with clubs and belts formed and the prisoners were made to run between them, enduring savage beatings.

They were stuffed into the ship’s hold, became despondent, and were savagely treated. Shuffled about China and Japan, the Marines regained their spirit and endured tremendous hardships for the next three years. Eventually, after the atomic bomb attacks and Japanese surrender, they were rescued.

Ironically, the prisoners left on the island received a worse fate, working as slave labor until October 1943. Then on 5 October 1943, American naval aircraft from Yorktown raided Wake.

Two days later, fearing an imminent invasion, the Japanese Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara ordered the execution of the 98 captured American civilian workers who had initially been kept to perform forced labor. The 98 were taken to the northern end of the island, blindfolded and executed with a machine gun.

One of the prisoners (whose name has never been discovered) escaped the massacre, apparently returning to the site to carve the message 98 US PW 5-10-43 on a large coral rock near where the victims had been hastily buried in a mass grave. The unknown American was recaptured, and Admiral Sakaibara personally beheaded him with a katana. The inscription on the rock can still be seen and is a Wake Island landmark.

Before the final rescue, in July 1945, a strange thing happened in the prison camp. Japanese officers provided a formal dinner for the American officers, offering toasts and speaking of friendship. In the end, a high-ranking Japanese officer proposed a toast to “everlasting friendship between America and Japan.”

His side of the table smiled, nodded and waited for the American response. The skeleton faces of the Americans were still. At last a Major stood and said lightly, “If you behave yourselves, you’ll get fair treatment.”

The proverbial tables had turned. And the Americans promise of fair treatment far outshines the despicable behavior of the Japanese. On August 16 the prison guards were gone. Small children were assigned to protect the prisoners from possible civilian attack.

On September 1, the Marines patched a makeshift American flag together and hoisted it into the air. Supplies were air-dropped and at last, the 1st Cavalry Division liberated the prisoners. The war was over.

After the war, Sakaibara and his subordinate were sentenced to death for the massacre of the 98 and for other war crimes. Several Japanese officers in American custody had committed suicide over the incident, leaving written statements that incriminated Sakaibara.

Admiral Sakaibara was hanged on 18 June 1947. The murdered civilian POWs were reburied after the war in Honolulu’s National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as Punchbowl Crater.

“Wake Island began the war magnificently for the Marine Corps, and America found that the old soldierly virtues are still embodied in its fighting men. . . . Out of such actions as this a people’s strength and ultimate victory must come. America remembers Wake Island and is proud. The enemy remembers Wake Island and is uneasy.”
Major General Thomas Holcomb, Commandant of the Marine Corps (March 10, 1942)

getting my christmas cheer run going.

had to take a few drips and rips along way.

3 cheers for all our veterns here and there!