A cartoon by Alban B. Butler illustrating the overwhelming sense of glee that overcame American 1st Division artillerymen of World War I when they were charged with the task of firing the very first mustard gas shells ever to be fired by U.S. forces:
For months Americans had suffered from repeated concentrations of German mustard gas without the chance to retaliate in kind.
(No date was given)
A short news item named the three American officers who served over there long enough to be granted the adornment of a fourth overseas chevron. Each gold wire chevron, worn on the lower left cuff, represented a single six month period served in theater; the vast majority of A.E.F. uniforms had anywhere between one and three sewn in place.
Attached is a remembrance that was written by a Canadian infantryman who participated in the capture of a German sniper in Flanders:
We wasted no time on the return journey but hustled Fritz along at a brisk pace…Like most of his breed there was a wide ‘yellow streak’ in this baby-killer and he cried ‘Kamerad’ instantly. By the time the lieutenant had secured his prisoner’s rifle our barrage was falling and, under its protection, he began his march back with the prisoner, and met us before he had gone twenty-five yards…The prisoner expected to be killed at once and begged piteously for his life, saying ‘he had a wife and three children.’ One of the men replied that if he had his way he would make it a ‘widow and three orphans.’
It is often believed that the Germans were the first to use chemical weapons during the Great War, but historians like to point out that they were second to the French in this matter: in August of 1914, French infantry fired tear-gas grenades and in October, the Germans one-upped them with chemical artillery shells during the battle of Neuve Chapelle. However, the Germans are properly credited for being the first of the combatants to use chemical artillery with the most devastating effect. On April 22, 1915, the German Army hurled 520 gas shells at British and Canadian units in Belgium, killing five thousand and incapacitating ten thousand more. Following this historic incident, both sides began producing large amounts of gas shells and, of course, gas masks. The following is a black and white diagram depicting five different German gas artillery shells that were manufactured to be fired from a number of different guns of varying calibers.
The attached essay reviews a colossal history written by a veteran of the U.S. First Infantry Division, Captain Shipley Thomas: The History of the A. E. F.
– for those who are looking for some knowledge concerning what the American Army was up to during the last six months of the War (it was bloodiest period) the review makes for a good read.
Click here to read about the high desertion rate within the U.S. Army of 1910.
Click here to read some statistical data about the American Doughboys of the First World War.
Attached herein are diagrams of three World War I shrapnel artillery shells designed for use on land. The illustrator provided precise details concerning the mechanism of each – the precise operation of the percussion fuse, the time ring, the location of the acid and the essential shrapnel projectiles.
Six fashionable illustrations from Harper’s Bazaar of the Fall hats for 1918:
Paris is exceedingly critical in regard to hats even in wartime, and the new ones are most interesting. Black velvet of course is rampant, and Marie Louise especially is using much much black panne velvet…
This wartime fashion review makes one passing reference to the millinery efforts of Coco Channel.
Royalty and rulers of the world are movie fans. The cinema tastes of the great are disclosed for the first time in this article.
Listed in the attached 1937 Hollywood fan magazine article are the names of the favorite movies of Gandhi, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco, Hirohito, Roosevelt and many more.
Click here to read about happy Hollywood’s discovery of plastic surgery…
In his 1989 book, Master Spy: The Story of Kim Philby
Soviet counter-action to American efforts to rebuild the European economy came swiftly. Besides rejecting participation in the program the Soviets, in October 1947, announced the organization of a permanent committee for coordinating the activities of the Communist parties in Europe…By June 1948 the Russians had cut off all land and water traffic with Berlin and the only means of entry was by air.
Eight months into the Korean War came this editorial from an American news magazine pointing out that the burden of defending South Korea was not being evenly shared by the other member states of the United Nations and that the U.S. was over-represented on the battlefields:
When the Korean Communists invaded South Korea last June, the U.N. was quick to authorize the use of armed force to combat the aggression, but not so quick when it came to contributing troops. [As of February, 1951] U.N. forces in Korea total about 275,000. Of this number 150,000 are American and 100,000 are South Koreans. This leaves less than 25,000 from 11 of the other U.N. members – a pitifully small contribution… What is there definition of ‘collective security’? Have they so soon forgotten Munich? Have they forgotten that collective firmness by the Allies, when Germany invaded the Rhineland, might have prevented World War II?
This is a report on the UFO and extraterrestrial experiences recalled by numerous men and women who attended the Second Annual Spacecraft Convention at the Giant Rock Airport near Palm Springs, California in 1955.
Here are some assorted musings concerning the budding cosmetic surgery scene of the early Fifties by the Hollywood movie queen Susan Hayward (1917 – 1975).
At the time this article appeared on the newsstands in 1952, there were probably fewer than 100 plastic surgeons throughout the entire United States and breast augmentation surgery was in its infancy, however advancements were being made daily as a result of the carnage generated by the Second World War. La Hayward was cautiously optimistic regarding the brave, new world of aesthetic surgery:
The wonderful thing about plastic surgery is that it can do almost anything you want it to do… If you have a birthmark on your face or body, a good plastic surgeon can remove it. Even if you have such real disfigurements as a harelip, an expert plastic surgeon can achieve the impossible.
The VANITY FAIR reviews of Stephen Vincent Benet’s (1898 – 1943) book The Beginning of Wisdom
A cartoon by C. LeRoy Baldridge (1889 – 1977) which depicted the streets of Paris in a way that only the A.E.F. could have witnessed it. A Yank-heavy Place de l’Opera is overwhelmed by sight-seeing Doughboys (note the Y.M.C.A. patch on the tour guide) and loitering officers lounging about over-priced cafes. In the foreground stands a bewildered Doughboy, dumb-struck by the passing gaze of an appreciative Parisienne while a few steps away a four-gold-chevroned private gets reamed for failing to salute the single-chevron looey. The stage is shared by bickering cabees, melancholy widows, wandering sailors, unforgiving MPs and a hard-charging, over-weight uniformed woman.
Click here to read about W.W. I art.
Click here to read the observations of U.S. Army lieutenant Louis L’Amour concerning 1946 Paris.
Attached is a schematic drawing depicting the theater box occupied by the President and Mrs. Lincoln the night of his assassination.
Featured in the image is the dark hallway leading to the President’s Box, the footlights and the stage by which Booth was able to make good his escape.
Click here to read about a dream that President Lincoln had, a dream that anticipated his violent death.
Hollywood’s manpower problems have multiplied, as in any large industry, since the U.S. entered the war. The draft, war plants, and the Government need for technicians depleted studio staffs all along the line, from producers to prop boys. The majority of Hollywood stars have devoted an untold number of hours to Army camp tours, war work, canteens; they have raised funds for war relief and war bonds. Robert Montgomery (pictured in uniform) is only one of many stars who have entered the armed services. Now he’s a lieutenant in the Navy in charge of a torpedo boat squadron….With the reduction in Hollywood’s talent ranks and the new ruling for a $25,000-net-income ceiling, movie companies face a crises in production.
Click here to read a about a particularly persuasive and
highly effective W.W. II training film…
On the twenty-first of March, 1947, President Harry Truman signed into law Executive Order 9835 which was intended to remove communists and their assorted apologists from working in the Federal Government.
Unfortunately the President hadn’t issued a working definition as to what was loyal and what was disloyal and the results of the decree were predictable. The attached editorial was penned by a seasoned Washington journalist who had collected an agglomeration of anecdotal evidence during the first year of its enforcement in order to illustrate the inherent difficulties created as a result of the order. He pointed out that Truman’s order simply granted carte blanche to the F.B.I., called into question the rights of government workers and created a Loyalty Review Board that was cumbersome and bureaucratic.
