A friend sent me this in an E-mail and thought I'd share it with the community.
WW II Trivia
You might enjoy this from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Ret and
history buff. You would really have to dig deep to get this kind of
ringside seat to history:
1. The first German serviceman killed in WW II was
killed by the Japanese (China, 1937), the first American serviceman killed
was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940); highest ranking American killed
was Lt Gen Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps. So much for
allies. Or Nothing new in Blue-on Blue!!
2. The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin
Graham, USN. He was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying
about his age. His benefits were later restored by act of Congress.
3.. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command
was called CINCUS (pronounced 'sink us'), the shoulder patch of the US
Army's 45th Infantry division was the Swastika, and Hitler's private train
was named 'Amerika.' All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the
Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of
being killed was 71%.
5. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an
average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance,
Japanese Ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a
passenger on a cargo plane.
6. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load
every 5th round with a tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a mistake.
Tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were
hitting the target 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet tracers
instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst
of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the
belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. This was definitely not
something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers
saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.
YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE THIS ONE........
7. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing
men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to
Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had
himself photographed in the act)..
8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New
York City, but they decided it wasn't worth the effort.
9. German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning
toilet.
10. Among the first 'Germans' captured at Normandy were
several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until
they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army
until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German
Army until they were captured by the US Army.
AND I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST....
11.. Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 United
States and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands.
21 troops were killed in the assault on the island. It would have been a lot worse
if there had been any Japanese on the island.
