Interesting Facts and Stories

When WW I started, American Indians were not considered U.S. citizens, but that did not stop approximately 12,000 natives from volunteering to serve in the U.S. military. In addition, four American Indian soldiers serving in the 142nd Infantry of the 36th Texas-Oklahoma National Guard Division received the Croix de Guerre medal from France.-
 
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, also known as the Snyder Act, was proposed by Representative Homer P. Snyder (R) of New York and granted full U.S. citizenship to America's indigenous peoples, called "Indians" in this Act. (The Fourteenth Amendment already defined as citizens any person born in the U.S., but only if "subject to the jurisdiction thereof"; this latter clause was thought to exclude certain indigenous peoples.) The act was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge on June 2, 1924. It was enacted partially in recognition of the thousands of Indians who served in the armed forces in WWI.
 
Good info guys - and apologies for my ignorance - I am stunned this happened so late.

The world is indeed a strange place.
 
The speech President Roosevelt gave to Congress on 8th December 1941 is possibly his most famous, broadcast by radio it was heard by over 80% of American households and has been studied ever since.

The ‘Infamy Speech’ begins powerfully with the words:

"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date that will live in infamy…"

This is the opening line which would come to define the speech, however, that famous sentence was originally very different. In the first draft of FDR’s speech (a scan of which is above) that opening line began:

"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date that will live in world history…"

The speech was written by FDR himself, dictated to his secretary Grace Tully who typed up the first draft seen down.

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The speech was written within a day and evolved through various drafts before FDR gave the speech before the joint session of Congress, with his son James - a Marine Captain at his side. 33 minutes later Congress voted, almost unanimously, to declare war on the Empire of Japan.-

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President Roosevelt delivered his "Day of Infamy" speech to a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941. Behind him are Vice President Henry Wallace (left) and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. To the right of the President, in uniform, is his son James.
 
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Was curious as to what kind of nut job would have voted "no". Here ya' go:

"The declaration was quickly brought to a vote; it passed the Senate, and then passed the House at 1:10 pm. The vote was 82 to 0 in the Senate and 388 to 1 in the House of Representatives. Jeannette Rankin, a committed Pacifist and the first woman elected to Congress (first elected in 1916), was the only vote against the Declaration in either house. While the other nine women voted for the declaration of war." - Wiki

Clearly, giving women the vote was a mistake.
 
Rankin was the only member of Congress to vote against entering WWII following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hisses could be heard from the gallery when Rankin cast the vote and several colleagues asked her to change it to make the war declaration unanimous, but she refused. "As a woman I can't go to war," she said, "and I refuse to send anyone else."

Perhaps, in all countries, only women should have the vote.
;)
 
During the WW One, a british Mark IV tank, named after tinned meat “Fray Bentos” was stranded away from its accompanying infantry support in the 3rd battle of Ypres. The Germans saw the plight of the stranded nine men in their tank and attacked with everything they had including heavy guns, infantry and pioneers with explosives.

They were leading an attack, along with seven other tanks, launched early on the morning of August 22 1917, at the height of the Battle of Passchendaele.- Their target was a series of farm buildings which had been heavily fortified by the Germans but the machines swiftly ran into problems.-

The entire Passchendaele campaign is remembered for the notoriously muddy conditions in which it was fought and seven of the machines became bogged down and destroyed.-

Researchers have pieced together details from an original newspaper of the time and for the nine crew of the F41 Mark IV tank, it was their first combat in the new machines. Named 'Fray Bentos' for the tinned meat firm, the tank got attacked by machine gun fire and was struck near the driver’s half closed visor, injuring soldiers Captain Donald Richardson and Second Lieutenant George Hill.

Richardson before the war had been a wholesale grocer in Nottingham and held the agency for Fray Bentos canned meat - hence the tank's name. Driver, Hill, fell and knocked the throttle causing the tank to lunge into a crater surge into where it became stuck. On a slope it then began to sink further into the mud which made its two side guns useless — one pointing to the sky, the other into the ground. Private Brady, got out to try and unleash a beam designed to free tanks when they became stuck but he got hit by enemy fire which killed him. Another private, Trew, volunteered to get out, but Richardson wouldn’t allow it — they were in a very sticky situation, literally. Fire from shells and mortars kept on battering the tank and the carnage carried on outside, all around them. Luckily though, the tank's position in the crater offered them some protection and made it hard for the German gunners to score constant direct hits.-

According to the article one gunner, Private Arthurs, was hit by shell splinters and the other gunner, Private Budd, was wounded when the tank slipped after trying to restart it. The jolt caused one of the guns to strike the ground outside and the breach swung violently into him, crushing his ribs. It was then discovered that all the crew were trapped — Brady's body and the heavy beam, had fallen across the main door and nobody could get out. Temperatures rose to around 30C. The poor soldiers inside 'Fray Bentos' must have felt pretty cooked! The going got tough and the Brits got going – the crew were able fight the Germans by firing one of their Lewis guns to break up two counterattacks being drawn up on the main British positions. That night, the Germans attacked and one German was able to open the door and was about to throw in a stick hand grenade, but was shot by Richardson in the nick of time.-

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This sketch illustrates the overwhelming odds faced by the Fray Bentos crew

There were various attempts to blow up the tank with explosives, but amazingly, the British were able to drive the Germans off with small arms fire. However, they didn't carry on without suffering and Budd died of his injuries and another soldier, Lance Cpl Binley, had part of his scalp removed by a shell splinter. Conditions were dire and the men's water ran out — they were forced to drink the fluid from the tank's radiator. Richardson tried to keep morale high by convincing his men they were hurting the enemy and they intervened when they saw a third German counterattack being formed for an attack on the main British positions. This brought another German attack though. Machine gun fire from the British positions helped drive off the attack and, from then on, regular flares were put up, to discourage further assaults. by the third day of the siege rations had been exhausted and ammunition for the revolvers, rifle and Lewis guns were running low — injuries continued and Trew's face was slashed by shrapnel, as he attempted to peer out of the tank. After darkness fell on the third night, the men decided they had to try and escape and slipped out of the battered hulk. Amazingly, the germans didn't attack and all the men made it safely back to their own lines, around 72 hours after they had began the assault.

All the tank crew members received decorations while Richardson and Hill were awarded the Military Cross.-


from:
forces-war-records.co.uk
dailymail.co.uk
telegraph.co.uk
 
While doing some research last night on the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Boneparte's last, I came across a a grizzly picture. There is a cuirass (piece of armor that sheilded the torso, by 1815 they were more decorative than useful, and were easily penetrated by a musket ball) in the Musee de Armee in France (A Military Museum) that belonged to a man by the name of Antione Favuveau. What is so remarkable about this? There is a gaping hole in the steel and brass cuirass. A hole most definetly caused by a cannon ball.

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At the start of Operation Diadem (4th Battle of Cassino) the Eighth Army faced the problem of trying to cross the River Liri to get into the valley and the town of Cassino. A number of bridges were to be built across the fast flowing river, following an amphibious crossing by infantry who would be highly exposed for a time without armoured support. Bridges needed to be laid quickly and securely. The usual practice of assembling a Bailey Bridge on site was simply too slow. One of the bridges was a hastily designed 'rolling bridge,' developed by Canadian and Indian Engineers in the weeks leading up to the attack. Cannibalizing two Shermans, a bailey bridge was assembled and then rolled forward on top of the tanks to move it position. One of the tanks would enter the river and become footing while the second tank rolled the assembled bridge over the top of it. Despite being under heavy artillery fire and nearby infantry fighting the idea worked. However, the first military forces to cross were not exactly the expected tanks. As soon as the all clear was given three German soldiers bolted from nearby scrub land on the Allied side of the river, crossed the bridge, and into the inferno engulfing their own lines. The Engineers were in disbelief. It was believed the German patrol had been cut off for days on the wrong side of the river.

The opening stages of the battle was fought over the same ground as the failed American attempts to cross the river in the 1st Battle of Cassino. As the river itself had become no mans land since that attempt, neither side had been able to collect their dead. Now four months later, British and Indian forces found themselves having to push forward and dig into positions at times surrounded by rotting corpses. It became yet another reminder that the more static Italian campaign resembled the horrors of WW1.
 
When war broke out in 1939 the Australian Army was technically a home militia and forbidden to serve outside of Australia. To get around the technicality the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was formed. Similar to WW1, the AIF was an expeditionary force that was permitted to serve overseas. Some of the ranks were filled with existing militia volunteers that wanted to serve overseas. Enlistments remained low until the fall of France in 1940 which led to a surge.

There was some fear that enlistments would decline when vacancies in lower Battalion numbers that already had a unit history through First AIF in WW1 became full. To avoid this the Battalions were numbered with a '2' before their designation (representing 2 AIF), so were numbered 2/28 Battalion, 2/17 Battalion etc. Another step taken was using higher division numbers for the Expeditionary forces, hence the overseas Infantry Divisions were number 6 through 9. Lower numbers were kept for the local militia units who remained for home defense and that of Australia's protectorate, New Guinea.
 
July 4, 1826 - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the United States, respectively, die on this day, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Both men had been central in the drafting of the historic document; Jefferson had authored it, and Adams, who was known as the "colossus of the debate," served on the drafting committee and had argued eloquently for the declaration's passage.
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By remarkable coincidence, Jefferson and Adams died on the same day, Independence Day in 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Adams' last words were, "Thomas Jefferson still survives," though his old friend and political adversary had died a few hours before.-

history.com
 
A baby in a photo chosen by Nazis as the perfect Aryan baby has been revealed to in fact be Jewish, not German.
Hessy Taft, who was 6 months old when the picture was taken, found out about the photograph after an aunt recognized her on a postcard.-
But apparently the Nazis had no idea that the precious baby they deemed the “perfect Aryan” was actually a descendant of the House of David.
Taft lived with her parents, Jacob and Pauline Levinsons, in Berlin during the height of the Nazis’ takeover in 1935.-
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While anti-Semitic attacks were taking place all over the city, her mother decided to have a well-known Berlin photographer take her picture.
Months later, she found out that the Nazis had thrown the picture on a cover of Sonne ins Hause, a major Nazi family magazine.
Scared of being noticed by others, Taft’s parents hid her away inside their home, hoping her secret would never be known.
They angrily confronted the photographer, Hans Ballin, asking for an explanation.
But, unbeknownst to her parents and the Nazis, Ballin had known that Hessy was Jewish, and submitted the photo to the most beautiful Aryan baby contest on purpose.
“I wanted to make the Nazis ridiculous,” he told Hessy.
The picture ended up winning the contest, and was even thought to have been specifically picked by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
“I can laugh about it now,” Taft told Germany’s Bild newspaper. “But if the Nazis had known who I really was, I wouldn’t be alive.”

As prewar antisemitism intensified, Hessy's family fled from Germany to Paris, France. France fell to the German army in June 1940. Hessy's family was smuggled into the "zone libre" (free zone) in southern France. The family received a U.S. visa in 1941, but was unable to leave before the visa expired and could not obtain an extension. In 1942, the family obtained visas to enter Cuba, where they settled before emigrating to the U.S. in 1949.

For decades, the family chose to keep the story behind the famous picture secret. But last month, Taft (80 year old) donated an original copy of the magazine to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel.-
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From
ushmm.org
japantimes.co.jp
nypost.com
 
While not of the caliber of these other posts, I have to tell you of my friend Fritz, who just died a few months ago. Fritz and I are Mormons, but Fritz became a member after World War 2. Now, don't confuse us with Jehovah's Witnesses (who are anit-government and won't fight for our country). We Mormons are fiercely patriotic. We love our country, our freedom. It is fundamental to our beliefs to defend our country and we are willing to die to defend anyone's right to believe and act as they feel is right for them--in other words, we'll fight and kill or die for democracy anywhere. We will fight for our families and our nation even if we feel a war is wrong.

So Fritz was Austrian prior to World War II and was a master builder. Even until he died last year in his nineties, he was busy at least twelve hours per day building something for somebody, always for free, doing beautiful artisan workmanship. He scoffed at the workmanship of the average American contractor and talked about how that just wouldn't be acceptable in Austria.

He found himself, along with other Austrians, being swallowed up by Germany prior to World War II. He had to join the military, so he chose the Luftwaffe and became a Nazi pilot, fighting all through the war and presumably shooting down a number of allied planes, which he would never discuss. Understand that he did not agree with the Nazi dogma and did not want to be in the war, but had no other real choice, in fact, he did not even want to be part of Germany, he was an Austrian. Eventually, he was shot down and captured and sent to a prison camp in Idaho.

Now Idaho is next to Utah and is infested with us Mormons. He said the prison camp treated them nicely, but there was never enough to eat and they were very cold in the winter, along with other privations. So the local Mormons, as a humanitarian act, would bring them a little food and provide them with extra quilts, which they made by hand, and visit with them.

After the war, his family and friends had been killed and he loved the people here, so when the military offered to either transport the prisoners home or allow them to apply for citizenship, he decided to apply for American citizenship and stay. He joined the Mormon Church, the formal name being the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in case you are confused about what church I'm talking about (there are splinter groups who also call themselves Mormons so it can be confusing), and he settled in Southern Oregon, which is a gorgeous area, mild climate, beautiful mountains and pine trees everywhere, just heaven on Earth. He outlived three wives (consecutively--we are not polygamists).

Money was never an issue with Fritz. I don't know how he made money, but he lived in a house just a bit shy of being a mansion and he was always working until he died for multiple people for free, helping them build whatever needed building. He was a great asset to America.

Just before he died, his church had a 4th of July breakfast which he attended patriotically. Fritz never told anyone that he had been a Nazi pilot, except his closest friends, who he thought could keep his secret. At the breakfast, they had a flag raising, sang the national anthem and said the Pledge of Allegiance, which he joined proudly, as most or all Mormon churches in the U.S. do on that day.

Then they surprised him. The bishop called for all the men who had fought in World War 2 to come up and tell a story about their service and bear their testimony about our country (in other words, tell how they feel about America.) Fritz was stunned. He didn't know what he should do. He was afraid that if anyone found out that he had been the enemy, they would all shun him ever after, maybe even make reprisals against him. But people said, "Hey Fritz, you were in World War 2, get up there." So he was on the spot.

He got up and told a little story about the time he got shot down and was very clever not to give any hint to the fact that he was on the wrong side. Then he told about his great love for our country and how he had vowed to spend the rest of his life making it a better place for our youth (Fritz had never been able to have children). He left a tearful audience. No one suspected him, but all understood the depths of his patriotism.

He whispered, "If they had known I was a German pilot, they would have thrown my keister out of there."

What I never understood was how Fritz, with his fierce accent, sounding like the stereotypical Nazi bad guy in an old war movie, got away all those years without anybody putting together his accent with his age and discovering his secret.
 
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