1945 – Page 5 – Old Magazine Articles

”School for Monsters”
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

During the second week of February, 1945, the men of the U.S. Ninth Infantry Division ran across one of the six Leadership Academies run by Nazi King-Pin, Robert Ley (1890 – 1945; you can read about him here). Among the papers they liberated was a public relations pamphlet explaining what was required of each candidate and what would happen to them if they want out:

“These men must know and realize that from now on there is no road back for them. When the party takes the Brown Shirt away from anybody, the man involved will not only lose the office he holds, but he, personally, and his family, wife and children, will be destroyed.”

An eyewitness recalled Hitler as a boy…

The Greatest Sea Battle [pt. 1]
(Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

Here is the first half of the thrilling account of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23 – 26, 1944) as it appeared in two installments in Collier’s Magazine in January, 1945.

The Television Set
(Coronet Magazine, 1945)

As the last year of the war began, the American home front turned their attention to all the various commercial products that would once again be offered in the shops. New cars were a popular topic, but the one subject Americans were most curious about was television.

Price Gougers Sent to Jail’
(PM Tabloid, 1945)

A grocer and his bookkeeper were sentenced to prison for jacking-up chicken prices in violation of Federal law.

VE-Day in New York
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

“New York City’s reaction was a snowstorm of wastepaper that cascaded from buildings as the people shouted and sang in the streets. Others openly wept and prayed on sidewalks… News of the surrender spread like wildfire on Wall Street and set off an all morning celebration by jubilant downtown workers who left their jobs.”

Troopship
(Coronet Magazine, 1945)

This is a heartfelt memoir typed by one who knew the many purposes served by a U.S.N. troop transport ship during World War II. The author had served on many different troopships and seen them from all angels.

“A transport has to be a clean ship, but on D-Day no ship is clean. It isn’t dirt that gets into everything: it’s blood. All along the deck, the gangways, the passageways, there is the color and the smell of blood. Such things can’t be helped, even on the cleanest ships.”

The Jeep
(Coronet & Yank Magazines, 1945)

When General Marshall listed the numerous advantages that the U.S. Army enjoyed during the war (you can read it here), he included on his list the Willys Jeep. The Jeep and the Two and Half-Ton truck, he believed, contributed mightily to the mobility of American Forces in most theaters. The two articles attached herein go into some detail about the strengths of the Jeep, but concentrated primarily on the improvements made in the vehicle as Jeep prepared for its launch in the civilian market place.

Tommy Gun
(Coronet Magazine, 1945)

“Soldiers respect for this weapon traces to two things. It fires .45 caliber slugs as a cyclical rate of 600 to 700 per minute. An enemy struck by a carbine or riffle bullet can keep coming – as Japs have shown. A man struck by a Tommy Gun slug is stopped dead in his tracks. A burst of fire can cut a man in two.”

Tommy Gun
(Coronet Magazine, 1945)

Katherine Dunham
(See Magazine, 1945)

Katherine Dunham (1909 – 2006) was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, anthropologist, author and Civil Rights activist – enjoying throughout the decades one of the most successful dance careers a dancer could ever hope for. Attached is a profusely illustrated review of her 1945 production, Tropical Revue. It implies that much of the audience came away recognizing her originality and genius – while others simply thought she was a burlesque artist.

The Coast Guard Fired the First Shot
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

“Philadelphia Coast Guardsmen yesterday observed the surrender of Germany by recalling that their branch of service fired the first American shot in the war against Germany, capturing the first enemy ship and taking the first Nazi prisoner… It was in September, 1941, that the Coast Guard cutter Northland captured the Norwegian freighter Busko, loaded with equipment for a German weather station to be established in Greenland.”

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Socialized Medicine
(Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

Here is an in-depth examination as to whether or not government-sponsored healthcare was suitable for post-war America. Written by a journalist who was decidedly for the proposal, you will not be surprised to read the same exact arguments were presented on both sides as they were during the Obama years.

“The bill’s friends argue that tax-supported medicine is no more un-American than tax-supported education.”

‘Obamacare’ in the Forties
(Atlanta Journal, 1949, Newsweek Magazine, 1945, etc.)

“The President wanted medical, dental and hospital care for all. Doctor’s fees would be paid by a Government insurance fund, financed by a 3% payroll tax, paid 50-50 by employee and employer.”

(Strange that sexual reassignment surgery wasn’t included…)

First Election Planned for Post-Fascist Japan
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

“The Japanese Cabinet decided yesterday a general election will be held January 20 to 31 [1946], and the Tokyo newspaper Yomuri Hochi urged ‘spontaneous and vigorous action’ toward forming a democratic government.”

Wanting the Japanese Cabinet to know who was in charge, General MacArthur moved the date up to December seventeenth [1945]. It was the first time Japanese women had ever voted.

Doenitz’ Aid Warns of Hardships
(Philadelphia Record, 1945)

“No one must be under any illusions about the severity of the terms to be imposed upon the German people by our enemies.”

Discovering the Deathworks
(PM Tabloid, 1945)

“American troops in Germany last week hit the Nazi death camp belt, an area that revealed such horrors – the bodies of thousands of Allied prisoners shot, starved, beaten and burned to death – that even the cynics of the civilized world now could not fail to be convinced of the truth of German atrocities.”

Returning Nisei Targeted by Racists
(PM Tabloid, 1945)

“It is reported by WRA (War Relocation Authority) that between January 2 and April 22, there have been 16 shooting incidents in California. Nobody was hit. It is clearly terroristic activity aimed at frightening Nisei who have the temerity to come home and try to earn a living from their farms again”.

Dance at Tule Lake.

Jim Crow Officer Corps
(PM Tabloid, 1945)

The brainiac who wrote the Jim Crow rules for the U.S. Army officer corps forgot to segregate the officer’s clubs.