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Happy Mother’s Day from Kwajalein

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Here we see a group of hardy USAAF men clustered in front of B-24J-1-CO Liberator Come Closer (S/N 42-72973) of the 38th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 30th Bomb Group, 7th Air Force, sending Mother’s Day wishes, likely in 1944, where it was stationed from March to August of that year.

For an, um, closer look at the Sad Sack nose art of Come Closer III check out this image of an ordnance crew prepping a bomb load on Kwajalein on 9 April 1944.

The USAAF Nose Art Project details about Come Closer:

Assigned to the crew of John A Runge, this Liberator flew numerous missions to the Japanese bases at Truk and later several missions softening up Iwo Jima prior to the Marines’ amphibious landing.

As noted by a page on Fold3, which lists Come Closer as completing 100 missions successfully:

The new “J” Models first appeared on the line at San Diego in August 1943. They would be equipped with a nose turret as well as other improvements on the D Models which are discontinued—Of the 51 aircraft in this 1st block of J Models, 35 of them were assigned to the newly forming 30th Bombardment Group, the 27th, 38th and 392nd Bomb Squadrons. Another 14 were sent to replace losses in the 11th B.G. which had already been deployed in Central & South Pacific areas. Those squadrons were the 26th, 42nd, 98th and 431st.

According to Joe Baugher, Come Closer III survived the war, is currently owned by Paul Peters, and is under restoration to fly in Chino, California.

Indirect Fire Support, Direct from Anzio

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How about this great series of period photos, all captured 80 years ago today by the same British Army shutterbug, showing 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment tracks in use in the indirect artillery role in the Anzio bridgehead, 5 May 1944. The Shermans look like M4A2 welded hull models with VVS (vertical volute spring) suspension.

Army photo by SGT. Radford, No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit. IWM NA 14603

“Empty 75mm HE shell cases being collected from 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment M4 Sherman tanks, used in the indirect artillery role in the Anzio bridgehead, 5 May 1944. L/Cpl J. Owens– left– of 82 Milman Road, Liverpool, and Sgm E.A. Woolley of 42 Church Road, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay, N. Wales.” Note Woolley’s ciggy and cross-draw service revolver hanging low and at the ready. 

Army photo by SGT. Radford, No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit. IWM NA 14606

“75mm HE shells being loaded into a 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment Sherman tank, used in the indirect artillery role in the Anzio bridgehead, 5 May 1944. LT D. Bayfield of Hove, Sussex, hands a round through the revolver port. In the background in SGT H.S. McCormac of 34, Munsell Road, Fairfield, Liverpool.” Note the good lieutenant’s RTR black beret and squared-away pistol belt. IWM NA 14605

Formed as the duplicate of the 40th (King’s) Royal Tank Regiment in Liverpool in 1939 upon mass mobilization, the 46th (Liverpool Welsh) RTR, the two regiments joined with the 50th RTR to form the 23rd Armored Bde as part of the 8th Armored Division. Shipping out to Suez in May 1942, where they were given a mix of Valentines and Matildas with which they fought across Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia under Monty.

By the time of the Salerno landings (Operation Avalanche) in September 1943, the 46th had been re-equipped with the Shermans they would use throughout their climb up the Italian boot and their eventual transfer to Greece as part of Arkforce in August 1944, where they would remain through until demobilization after the end of the Second World War.

Welcome back, Awesome Aggie

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Carrying the name of the legendary Greek king, the first HMS Agamemnon in the Royal Navy had earned a host of battle honors when in her prime. By 1805, she was an aging 64-gun third-rate that had seen better days and rightfully should have been condemned. Still, given a reprieve from the shipbreakers to serve as part of Nelson’s weather column at Trafalgar, she closed with and helped force the surrender of the first-rate 112-gun Spanish four-decker Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, complete with the deafened and injured RADM Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros aboard. Her “Trafalgar 1805” battle honor joined a quartet (Ushant 1781, The Saints 1782, Genoa 1795, Copenhagen 1801) she had already picked up.

Incidentally, Agamemnon was one of five ships that Nelson had commanded, and is regarded as his favorite. 
 

An 1807 composite painting by Nicholas Pocock showing five of the ships in which Nelson served as a captain and flag officer from the start of the French Wars in 1793 to his death in 1805. The artist has depicted them drying sails in a calm at Spithead, Portsmouth, and despite the traditional title, two of them were not strictly flagships. The ship on the left in bow view is the ‘Agamemnon’, 64 guns. It was Nelson’s favorite ship, which he commanded as a captain from 1793. Broadside on is the ‘Vanguard’, 74 guns, his flagship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 flying a white ensign and his blue flag as Rear-Admiral of the Blue at the mizzen. Stern on is the ‘Elephant’, 74 guns, his temporary flagship at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. She is flying the blue ensign from the stern and Nelson’s flag as Vice-Admiral of the Blue at her foremast. In the center distance is the ‘Captain’, 74 guns, in which Nelson flew a commodore’s broad pendant at the Battle of St Vincent, 1797. Dominating the right foreground is the ‘Victory’, 100 guns, shown in her original state, with open stern galleries, and not as she was at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She is shown at anchor flying the flag of Vice-Admiral of the White, Nelson’s Trafalgar rank, and firing a salute to starboard as an admiral’s barge is rowed alongside, amidst other small craft. (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection)

The second Agamemnon, a 91-gun steam second rate, added a battle honor to the name in the Crimea.

The third, an early 8,500-ton Ajax class battleship armed with 12.5-inch ML rifles and clad in as much as 18 inches of cast iron armor, spent much of her 20-year career primarily in the East Indies and off Zanzibar and Aden, showing the White Ensign.

The fourth, a more modern 17,000-ton Lord Nelson-class battleship, had the rare distinction of shooting down the German Zeppelin in 1916 and earned a battle honor for the Dardanelles before she was disposed of in 1927 in line with the interbellum naval treaties.

9.2″/50 Vickers Mk XI guns of HMS Agamemnon firing on Ottoman Turkish forts at Sedd el Bahr on 4 March 1915. IWM HU 103302

HMS Agamemnon has her BL 12-inch Mk X guns replaced during a refit at Malta in May–June 1915, IWM Q 102609.

The fifth Agamemnon (M10) was an unsung WWII minelayer, and, since 1946, the Royal Navy has not had the name on its list…well, until now.

The sixth and future HMS Agamemnon (S124), coincidentally the sixth Astute-class hunter-killer, has been under construction alongside sister HMS Anson at BAE Systems’ yard in Barrow-in-Furness, since 2010 and was christened inside the cavernous Devonshire Dock Hall on 22 April.

As noted by the RN:

HMS Agamemnon will act as both sword and protector – able to strike at foes on land courtesy of her Tomahawk cruise missile – and fend off threats on and beneath the waves with Spearfish torpedoes.

“Awesome Aggie” is expected to enter the fleet later this year.

Devil’s Brigade Loadout

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How about this great photo spread from 80 years ago.

Forcemen of the “Devil’s Brigade,” the U.S.-Canadian First Special Service Force— Sergeant Charles Shepard (6-2), Lieutenant Henry H. Rayner (5-2 &1-2), Private First Class James A. Jones (5-2 & 6-2)– preparing to go on an evening patrol in the Anzio beachhead, Italy, ca. 20-27 April 1944. Note the boot-blacked faces and hands and M1 Thompsons with lots of mags, always useful in breaking contact on a night patrol.

Photo by Lieut. C.E. Nye / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-183862 (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3378968)

Most of these men were also captured in the below image from the same photographer, including a very rare M1941 Johnson Light Machine Gun (LMG). Also note the propensity of rubber helmet bands, sans camo netting, and the use of what is often termed hand-painted “OSS camouflage” on the shells.

(L-R): Pvt Dan Lemaire (5-2 & 6-2), Pfc Richard Stealey (6-2), Sgt Charles Shepard (6-2), Lt H.H. Raynor (5-2 & 1-2), Pfc James A. Jones (5-2 & 6-2), Forcemen of 5-2, First Special Service Force, preparing to go on an evening patrol in the Anzio beachhead, Operation Shingle, (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3378967)

A third image from this group, showing a platoon brief before setting off, has had the Devil’s Brigade arrowhead patches scrubbed by a censor.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396066)

More LAC FSSF images are here.

The Beards Are Back, in British Service Anyway

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With the British Army recently repealing the 100-year ban on beards, the first members of the King’s Guard to have the whiskers arrived on post this week, and personally, I think they look great.

Via the Welsh Guards:

Like it or lump it, the beards are here! Members of Number 2 Company proudly took up their posts on Kings Guard this morning, marching from Wellington Barracks to Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace.

The new Army regulation says beard length must be between grade 1 (2.5mm) and grade 8 (25.5mm) and well-kept, which, sadly, means you won’t have a return to the days of the old “grenadier’s beards” of the 19th century.

British Colour Sergeant and Private of the Grenadier Guards 1855 Buckingham Palace 1853 enfield IWM Q 71602

1861 India Agra Black Watch 42nd Regiment Royal Highlanders with Enfields, P53 Alkazi Collection

CRIMEAN WAR 1854-56 (Q 71630) Charles Manners, William Webster and Henry Lemmen of the Grenadier Guards. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205018817

Joseph Numa, John Potter and James Deal, three soldiers of the Coldstream Guards. Crimean War, 1854-56

Douglas World Cruisers at 100

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This month marks the centennial of the first successful aerial circumnavigation of the globe.

Kicked off on 6 April 1924 when four pairs of U.S. Army Air Service pilots and mechanics, using modified War Department-owned Navy Douglas DT torpedo bombers, departed West from Seattle’s Sand Point Aerodrome, some 27,550 miles and 175 days (363 flying hours) later, two planes flew back in from the East on 28 September 1924, having made 74 stops in 22 different countries– the latter high number both for publicity as well as refuel/repair.

Keep in mind these were open-cockpit aircraft produced only two decades after the Wright Brothers first proved flying a powered heavier-than-air machine was even possible. 

The four planes included the Seattle (No. 1)– Maj. Frederick L. Martin (Pilot and Flight Commander) and Staff Sgt. Alva L. Harvey (Mechanic), Chicago (No. 2)– Lt. Lowell H. Smith (Pilot, subsequent Flight Commander) and 1st Lt. Leslie P. Arnold (Mechanic), Boston (No. 3)– 1st Lt. Leigh P. Wade (Pilot) and Staff Sgt. Henry H. Ogden (Mechanic), and New Orleans (No. 4)– Lt. Erik H. Nelson (Pilot – Engineer) and Lt. John Harding Jr. (Chief Mechanic).

Seattle at Vancouver Barracks

Chicago. When crossing the open ocean, the DT-2s were fitted with floats

Boston at Vancouver Barracks

New Orleans at Vancouver Barracks

Airplanes New Orleans, Chicago, and Boston at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, March 1924 before the expedition’s launch in April. NH 884

Chicago and New Orleans finished the flight (both of which are preserved) with Smith, Arnold, Wade, Nelson, and Ogden winning the Mackay Trophy, and all fliers were authorized a medal of honor and a $10,000 bonus by Congress.

Chicago at NASM NASM-NASM2020-07130-000001

Seattle crashed in dense fog into a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula in April while Boston was lost at sea near the Faroes in August, with both crews (eventually) recovered alive.

Besides being done in what were essentially converted Navy torpedo bombers, the Navy and Coast Guard extensively supported the flight. In particular, USS Noa (DD-342), USS Charles Ausburn (DD-294), USS Hart (DM-8), USS Milwaukee (CL-5), and USS Richmond (who rescued the crew of Boston), were assigned to assist with cross-ocean portions of the trip. 

Navy supporting “Around the World Flyers” 1924. NH 883

USS Milwaukee (CL-5) At Ivigtut, Greenland, July 1924, awaiting the arrival of the U.S. Army around-the-world fliers. Donation of Mr. & Mrs. Don St. John, 1990. NH 96690

U.S. Army Around the World Flight, 1924 Three U.S. Army Air Corps flyers on board USS Richmond (CL-9), explaining their route to Sailors. Photographed at Hunters Bay, Orkney Islands, Scotland, circa mid-1924. The flyers are Lieutenants Arnold, Smith, and Wade. NH 880

Keeping em clean

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80 years ago today.

4 April 1944. Official caption, “Sgt. John C. Clark…and S/Sgt. Ford M. Shaw…(left to right) clean their rifles in the Bivouac area alongside the East-West Trail, Bougainville. They are members of Co. E, 25th Combat Team, 93rd Division.”

Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-364565, National Archives Identifier: 530707

The two NCOs in the above image are members of the famed 25th Infantry Regiment.

One of the four “Buffalo Soldier” units formed in 1866– immediately after the end of the Civil War– they were the legacy of the proven service of the USCT during that conflict. In fact, the units initially were staffed almost exclusively with veterans of those 175 assorted wartime segregated regiments.

The 25th had sweltered in decades of service along the southern border, spearheaded Shafter’s V Corps during the march on Santiago in 1898 (and getting closer to the city than any U.S. unit in the process), fought in the Philippines in the 1900s, and garrisoned Hawaii during the Great War.

When WWII came, the 25th was folded into the reformed 93rd Infantry Division, which had earned the nickname “The Blue Helmets” during the First World War because they wore horizon blue-colored Adrian helmets while in detached service with the French. As such, the 25th joined the reactivated 368th and 369th (“The Harlem Hellfighters”) Infantry Rgts, which had both seen service on the Western Front.

After training at Camps Coxcomb and Clipper in California, they shipped out for the Pacific and arrived at Guadalcanal in January 1944. Originally relegated to service (labor) and security tasks, the 25th entered combat on 28 March assisting in attacks on the enemy perimeter at Bougainville then reconnoitered across the Laruma River on 2 April, the slandered fight for Hill 250 and in the Torokina River Valley from 7–12 April 1944. The 25th RCT operated against the Japanese along the Kuma and East-West Trails during May 1944.

Official caption 1 May 1944. “Cautiously advancing through the jungle, while on patrol in Japanese territory off the Numa-Numa Trail, this member of the 93rd Infantry Division is among the first Negro foot soldiers to go into action in the South Pacific theater.” 111-SC-189381-S

The 93rd would receive campaign credits for the Northern Solomons, Bismarck Archipelago, and New Guinea, ending the war fighting on Morotai, and had the honor of capturing Col. Kisou Ouichi, the highest-ranking Japanese prisoner of war in the Pacific prior to the Empire’s surrender– bagged by a patrol from the 25th Infantry Regiment on 2 August 1945.

The Blue Helmets chalked up 175 days in combat in WWII and, after occupation duty in the Philippines, left for home on 17 January 1946.

White 35, in full Color

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Check out this original Kodachrome, taken some 80 years ago today, of LT(JG) George T. Glacken and his gunner, Aviation Radioman Second Class Leo W. Boulanger, in their Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber, White 35, of VB-16 from the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) off of Palau, 30 March 1944.

(LIFE Magazine Archives – JR Eyerman Photographer)

You can make out the details of the bomb hashes, and Boulanger’s twin AN/M2s, capable of a blistering 1,200 rounds per minute as long as the belts hold out.

You can see the squadron’s distinctive eagle insignia on the side of White 35.

Bombing Sixteen would earn the Presidential Unit Citation “Received for action from the U.S.S. Lexington (CV-16) at Tarawa (September 18th, 1943), Wake (October 5-6th, 1943), Palau, Hollandia and Truk (March 18th – April 30th, 1944), Marianas (June 11th – July 5th, 1944), and Gilbert Islands (November 19th, – December 5th, 1945).”

Glacken is listed as a Navy Cross holder. Born in 1916 in Lorain, Ohio, he passed in 1990. Meanwhile, Boulanger would earn the DFC.

And, of course, the “Grey Ghost” that they flew from is preserved as a museum ship at Corpus Christie, Texas.

The Great Escape at 50

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Today marks the 80th anniversary of “The Great Escape,” the largest Western Allied prisoner-of-war breakout of the Second World War (only surpassed by the mass escape of 300 Jews– spearheaded by a force of 100 Soviet POWs from the extermination camp at Sobibor in 1943).

The Escape, from Stalag Luft III in the German Silesian town of Sagan (now Zagan, Poland), was carefully planned for a full year and required the effort of hundreds of the camp’s captured pilots and aircrews to allow 76 men (of the planned 220) to escape the stalag via tunnel system on the night of 24/25 March 1944.

“British prisoners of war tend their garden at Stalag Luft III” German propaganda image

It was a Pyrrhic victory, with 73 of 76 soon recaptured. The three who escaped, two Norwegians and a Dutch pilot, spoke passible German. Some 50 of the 76 including 20 Brits, 6 Canadians, 6 Polish, 5 Australian, 3 South African, 2 Kiwis, 2 Norwegians, and a single Argentine, Belgian, Czech, French, Greek, and Lithuanian, were executed.

Military personnel from allied nations, with a 50-strong RAF contingent led by Air Commodore Andrew Dickens, convened at the Old Garrison Cemetery in Poznan, Poland to commemorate those lost in the days after the escape. Wreaths were also laid by ambassadors from Australia, New Zealand, and Norway, alongside defense attachés from the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Germany.

‘Father of the PDW’ Passes: Mack Gwinn Jr, Dies at 79

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Florida-born Mack W. Gwinn, Jr., the son of a retired Army officer, joined the U.S. Army Special Forces in 1961 and served until 1972, a period that included seven deployments to Vietnam, earning several Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star in the process.

Then, on return stateside following the war, he developed the Bushmaster Arm Pistol. The concept, a pistol-sized gas piston firearm that used an intermediate round rather than a pistol caliber, could rightly be described as one of the first personal defense weapons and predated the initial crop of large format AR handguns such as the OA-93 by a generation.

Moving on from Bushmaster, Gwinn went on to take out several patents on magazines as well as design and develop concepts for numerous other firearms applications including the SSP-86 pistol (see the Magnum Research Lone Eagle), developed the QCB system that FN used for the modern M2HB/M3 .50 cal, and lots of other neat stuff.

Capt. Mack W. Gwinn, Jr. (U.S. Army, Ret.), 79, died on March 11, 2024, at the Maine Veterans’ Hospital in Togus.

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