Category Archives: US Army

Rakkasans hit the silk!

Posted on by One comment

Some 75 years ago today, paratroopers of the United Nations forces made a combat jump from aircraft near the North Korean town of Sukchon/Sunchon well behind enemy lines, 20 October 1950.

This dramatic picture was made on Friday, October 20, over the area of Sunchon, about 23 miles northeast of Pyongyang. It shows six Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars of Far East Air Force Combat Cargo Command about to paradrop troops of the 11th Airborne Division together with necessary equipment and supplies, to stop the northward retreat of North Korean troops who have been forced out of the enemy capital of Pyongyang. Paratroopers were dropped on an arc between the North Korean cities of Sukchon and Sunchon. 342-AF-77984AC

These men were all of the 187th “Rakkasans” Regimental Combat Team, the old 187th GIR/PIR of WWII fame. On 20 October, they dropped 1,407 men in the first serial, and 1,203 men in the second, reinforcing the regiment with its last tranche of 671 men on the 21st.

A lot of gear was also flown in/dropped in, including a full dozen 105mm pack howitzers, 39 jeeps, 38 1/4-ton trailers, a quartet of 90mm antiaircraft guns (each with a 3/4-ton truck to pull them), and 584 tons of ammunition, gasoline, water, rations, and other supplies.

111-SC-362121

It had originally been thought that the 187th could be used in Inchon in a similar way to the old 82nd/101st Airborne on D-day in Normandy, but the Army couldn’t get the paratroopers in theater in time.

The regiment had been redesignated from the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment on 28 August 1950, just three days before loading on 14 troop trains from Fort Campbell, cross-country from Kentucky to San Francisco for sealift embarkation for Korea aboard the USNS Heintzelman and the USNS Anderson. It had only arrived at Moji Port, Kyushu, Japan, on 20 September, joining the Eighth Army’s reserve.

Within days, they were airlifted via 300~ C-119 Flying Boxcar sorties from Ashyia AB to Kimpo outside of recently-liberated Seoul.

Paratroopers of the 187th Regimental Combat Team put on parachutes and “Mae West” life preservers before boarding a 483rd Troop Carrier Wing U.S. Air Force C-119 “Flying Boxcar,” en route to Korea from southern Japan. Combat Cargo “Commandos” and C-119s airlifted the 187th RCT personnel, weapons, vehicles, and supplies, in a continuous operation lasting two nights and a day, which involved 300 round-trip flights across the Japan Sea. The big transport planes landed or took off every two minutes, in combat Cargo’s eighth airlift of the 187th since the Korean war began. 342-AF-88059AC

They were used in action in “rat hunting expeditions,” mop-up duties against North Korean stragglers. They saw combat starting on 24 September as part of the tail end of the Inchon operation once the Inchon Marines had been shifted north to Wonson.

Battle-equipped paratroopers of the 187th Regimental Combat Team wait to board C-46s of the 315th Combat Cargo Group before take-off on an airborne assault mission somewhere in Korea. 342-AF-84143AC

Then came the prep for the Sukchon jump, which was intended to cut off a North Korean evacuation toward the safety of the Yalu River, hopefully bagging the country’s brass as it fled the capital of Pyongyang to the south.

As noted by the unit history:

At 1900 hours on the eighteenth, with all preparations completed and billets cleared, a briefing was held for pilots and jumpmasters at Kimpo AFB. A drizzling rain had begun and continued throughout the day. At the joint briefing, it was announced that, in the event of worsening weather, the jump would be delayed by three-hour periods.

Though the weather reports were unfavorable for the 20th, Headquarters remained alert throughout the late hours until Colonel Bowen returned with the news that P-Hour was postponed until 1100 hours, 21 October. Turned out of barracks, the troops had only their combat loads and a ticket on an air train that looked as though it might not leave.

Revielle was held at 0230 hours on 20 October. It was still raining when the men fell out for formation. Formed by plane loads in stick order, they shuttled to Kimpo AFB. At 0400 hours, the drawing and fitting of parachutes began. Then the jump was postponed for three hours. Few men realized that a train containing Communist Party bigwigs and American Prisoners of War had already departed Pyongyang.

At 1030, the order was given to chute up.

A typical C-119 aircraft carried two sticks of 23 men each, fifteen monorail bundles, and four door bundles. The planes were so filled that some men had to sit on the floor to find space. Each man, besides a main parachute and reserve, carried a light pack, water, rations, ammunition, a 45 caliber pistol, and a carbine or M-1 rifle. An extra Griswald container, filled with small arms or light mortar ammunition, was carried.

At 1200 hours, the first aircraft, commanded by Colonel Bowen, was airborne. Some of the aircraft scraped the ground on takeoff. The flightpath hooked West over the Yellow Sea before curving back into North Korea from the seaside to maximize surprise and minimize flying over enemy-contested territory.

The armada consisted of 73 C-119s of the 314th Troop Carrier Wing from Ashiya, AFB, Kyushu, and 40 C-47s of the 21st Troop Carrier Wing from Brady AFB, Kyushu, Japan. Top cover was established at 5,000 feet by escorting F-80 Shooting Stars while F-51 Mustangs were on call for ground support.

At 1350, the airborne force turned east on the base leg of the approach to the drop zone, opening the monorail doors just 20 minutes out, while still over the water. “When the green light came on, door bundles, monorail, and paratroopers debouched in a streaming mass. Seventy-four tons of equipment and 1,470 men were landed from the first two serials alone.”

“Stopped by the camera the split second before his parachute opens, this paratrooper seems to be dangling from the Far East Air Force’s C-46 Commando of the 437th Troop Carrier Wing from which he has jumped. Beneath him, the parachutes of other 187th Regimental Combat Team troopers in his “stick” have already burst open. Presenting an excellent example of the air-ground team in action, FEAF’s 437th Troop Carrier Wing works in the closest possible coordination with the veteran 187th. C-46 “Commando” of the 437th and other transports of the 315th Air Division (Combat Cargo) dropped paratroopers at Munsan-ni last March, and once previously in the Sunchon-Sukchon area north of Pyongyang, Korea, in October 1950. Since that time, the two organizations have worked closely on practice field maneuvers. Thirty “Commandos” participated in this training exercise. HF-SN-98-07329″

The first serial had landed by 1405 hours and was soon in contact with what turned out to be the 239th North Korean Infantry Regiment.

The second serial, under the command of Lt. Col. Gerhart, comprised 17 C-119s lifting the First Battalion, Regimental Headquarters, Support Company, Company A 127th Engineers, Medical Company, and Service Company. These elements dropped southeast of Sukchon before dark. By the next day, the Medical Company was carrying out casevac of critical cases by helicopter and L-5 Grasshoppers, while the Clearing Platoon moved more stable patients to a hospital in Sukchon.

In the first use of a helicopter in support of an airborne operation, the USAF’s 3rd Air Rescue Squadron sent H-5s to evacuate some 35 paratroopers and rescue 7 American POWs from the Sukchon and Sunchon area. In the same operation, a C-47 used loudspeakers to persuade some 500 enemy troops hiding in houses near Kunmori to surrender. Combat Cargo Command began aeromedical evacuations from Pyongyang.

The H-5 “Dragon Fly”, originally designated the R-5 (H for Helicopter; R for Rotorcraft), was designed to provide a helicopter having greater useful load, endurance, speed, and service ceiling than the R-4. The first XR-5 of four ordered made its initial flight on August 18, 1943. In March 1944, the AAF ordered 26 YR-5As for service testing, and in February 1945, the first YR-5A was delivered. During its service life, the H-5 was used for rescue and mercy missions throughout the world. It gained its greatest fame, however, during the Korean War when it was called upon repeatedly to rescue United Nations’ pilots shot down behind enemy lines and to evacuate wounded personnel from frontline areas. More than 300 H-5s had been built by the time production was halted in 1951.

Relieved by Australian-manned Sherman tanks of the 27th Commonwealth Brigade, the 187th was able to fall back to captured Pyongyang on the 24th. Their first combat jump in Korea was a success, and even though it did not catch the Nork leadership, it disrupted a division-sized force and bagged 3,818 enemy POWs.

In all, the 187th only suffered 29 KIAs during the operation.

Sukchon, North Korea, a 187th RCT paratrooper paints over a portrait of the country’s “Red Premier” on 20 October 1950, via LIFE magazine.

It wasn’t the first American parachute combat jump into Korea ever, as an OSS Team had made a drop into the Japanese-controlled Seoul area on 19 August 1945, four days after the ceasefire, ahead of American occupation troops in the last days of WWII.

The 187th made a second combat jump in Korea: Operation Tomahawk on 23 March 1951 into Musan Ni where 3,486 men, augmented by the 4th Ranger Company, 674th Parachute Field Artillery, and a few members of the 66 India Para Ambulance Detachment, jumped to cut off a Chinese retreat.

187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team dropping into Munsan-ni, Korea, in March 1951 SC 414084

Paratroopers of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, seated in the cargo compartment of 314th Troop Carrier Group C-119 “Flying Boxcar,” “sweated out” the flight to the drop zone at Munsan-ni, Korea, in March 1951. This was the second combat airborne assault for the U.S. Air Force aircraft of the 314th Troop Carrier Group since their arrival in the Far East in August 1950. The first assault was at Sukchon-Sunchon, Korea, in September 1950, when the 187th was dropped shortly after the Allied landing on the beachhead at Inchon. Dropping paratroopers is only one of the many missions performed by the 314th since they joined the Far East Air Forces two years ago. 342-AF-117302AC

Parachutes billow out behind a formation of 314th Troop Carrier Group C-119 “Flying Boxcars” over a drop zone in Korea as paratroopers of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team make a practice parachute jump as a part of their training for an airborne assault. 342-FH-4A(37869)

“One of the nine missions assigned to the 315th Air Division (Combat Cargo) is the dropping of paratroopers in airborne assaults. Far East Air Forces Combat Cargo has participated in two such combat assaults: at Sukchon-Sunchon, Korea, in October 1950 and at Munsan-ni in March 1951. Chutes billow out as troopers of the U.S. Army 187th Regimental Combat Team jump from a formation of U.S. Air Force C-46 “Commandos.” While airborne assaults took place, other Combat Cargo planes continued the other missions assigned to the 315th Air Division. Besides airborne operations, FEAF Combat Cargo planes have airlifted more than 1,100,000 passengers and 400,000 tons of cargo on the Korean airlift.” 342-AF-121729AC

And that was the end of large combat jumps during the Korean War.

Small jumps, of the U.S.-trained United Nations Partisan Forces Korea (UNPFK), meanwhile, were logged by at least 21 missions behind enemy lines between 17 March 1951 and 18 May 1953, with most teams ranging between 6 and 20 men, except for one large operation (Green Dragon) that dropped 97 hardy souls. Of these, with the partisan forces receiving as little as six days of training before their drop, very little was heard of them again.

That’s some expensive Grease

Posted on by Leave a comment

Milestone’s Premier Firearms Auction in suburban Cleveland recently chalked up $1.4 million smackers across its 1,206 lots. That’s not really unusual.

What caught my eye was the highest-selling piece.

A transferable and intact U.S. M3 “Grease Gun” submachine gun made sometime between 1943 and 1945 by General Motors’ Guide Lamp Division in Anderson, Indiana, the exclusive WWII manufacturer of the M3 and M3A1.

While Guide Lamp cranked out a whopping 606,694 of the plain Jane M3 variant, they only produced 15,469 of the improved M3A1s during the war.

The gun retained 95 percent of its metal finish, had a bright bore, and, as noted, was fully operational.

It came with an impressive selection of like-new support items in their original packaging: 12 mil-spec magazines, a complete parts kit, 29 rubber magazine covers, an oiler and sling kit, a 3-cell mag pouch, a canvas weapon cover, and two technical manuals.

It surpassed its estimate of $30K in selling for $40,950.

To keep that in perspective, during the war, the M3A1 was produced for a final adjusted cost of approximately $20.94 per unit.

Talk about inflation!

Army deploying new ‘terrain-shaping munition’ to Europe

Posted on by One comment

The 2nd Cavalry Regiment, based at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany, will be the first unit to field the recently IOC’d XM204 Top Attack Terrain Shaping Munition.

The regiment is the longest continuously serving cavalry unit in the Army and plays a key role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Enhanced Forward Presence initiative.

“For units on the frontlines of deterrence in Europe, having access to advanced terrain-shaping capabilities like the XM204 strengthens our ability to influence key terrain, slow adversary movement, and protect our forces,” said Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer for Armaments and Ammunition and Commanding General of Picatinny Arsenal. “This system gives our warfighters a decisive edge as we train and operate alongside NATO allies.”

What is the XM204?

Built by Textron, the XM204 has been in development since 2022 and is a low-profile hand-emplaced anti-tank “smart” mine of a sort.

At 84 pounds, it includes four bouncing top attack munitions with Tantalum explosively formed penetrators that can be fired independently and reach out to 50 meters from the device.

It holds four of these little guys

Rather than old anti-tank mines that require a vehicle weighing over 4 tons to be driven over, the XM204 utilizes seismic sensors with a classified range and, according to reports, programmable target profiles to distinguish between, for example, a bulldozer and a T-72.

Some say it can distinguish between an Abrams and a T-72 as well, which is interesting, but I wouldn’t want to be the Abrams platoon commander to try that for the first time.

It has a 30-minute delay in arming and a timed self-destruct (4 hours, 48 hours, or 15 days) to inert itself if not reclaimed and has “anti-tamper” features to keep the bad guys from using them. They can be collected by follow-on troops and redeployed if they haven’t been tripped.

The XM204 has been successfully used against T-72s at Yuma Proving Ground.

“XM204 anti-vehicle munition with standoff and top attack capabilities designed to support terrain shaping operations in action during a test run. (U.S. Army photo)”

A video of the XM204 in theoretical use:

It is interesting to imagine what Rommel and Montgomery would have done with 10 pallets of these in North Africa in 1942.

Advancing to new finds

Posted on by Leave a comment

With the expansion inland from the Inchon beaches and the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter in late September 1950, the North Korean People’s Army was broken.

Kim Il Sung’s ruined regiments, after three months of non-stop fighting and thousands of sorties from Allied airpower, had been reduced from 220,000 troops to around 70,000 effectives, and were outnumbered by UN ground forces by more than 2:1 by this point in the war, with the latter growing stronger every day.

Members of the 5th Marine Regt. are welcomed by a greeting party of South Koreans as they move to the front lines near the Han River to engage in action against the North Korean forces, in an offensive launched by U.S. troops in that area. 18 September 1950. Photographer: Sgt. Herbert Nutter. SC 348694

Cpl. Ulysess J. Breaux of Breaux Bridge, La.; Cpl. Roy L. Guice of Rioneer, La.; and Pvt. David L. Cordova of Los Angeles, Calif., zeroed in their .30 caliber water-cooled machine gun on the line 23 miles southwest of Inchon, Korea. 19 September 1950. Photographer: Cpl. Alex Klein. SC 348698

ROK Marines move toward the Han River from the Kimpo air strip aboard DUKWs of the 1st Marine Div., in an offensive launched by UN forces against the North Korean enemy forces in that area. 20 September 1950. SC 348704

The 24th Infantry Division of the Eighth Army enters Taejon on 28 September 1950, returning to the scene of their earlier battles. National Archives Identifier 348337951

The next two months saw a steady advance while the North Koreans retreated, with Seoul liberated on 26 September and the ROK Army crossing the 38th Parallel into their northern neighbor’s territory on 1 October, with British and American forces following a week later.

What they encountered was the remnants of a smashed Communist fighting force, and often vehicles never seen up close by Western eyes of the era, outside of May Day parades.

While the North Korean force had invaded as an armored fist with a spearhead of 150 Soviet-made T-34-85s, it left the South largely on foot.

The captured equipment was a boon to Western intelligence, which, familiar with the T-34-76 from 1945 link-ups in the ETO and captured German intelligence files, was eager to examine some newer models and how they fared against NATO weapon systems.

A Soviet-built T-34/85 tank was knocked out during the Battle of Taejon, and later recovered by the same unit, a testament to the stand of Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, commanding the U.S. 24th Infantry Division.

Result of a napalm bomb on an enemy T-34 tank guarding the main road to Waegwan, Korea. 20 September 1950. Photographer: Cpl. George J. Myers. SC 348914

Men of the 5th RCT pose on a Russian-made SU-76 (self-propelled gun) with the back section of the turret blown off, captured from North Koreans in the Waegwan area, Korea. 20 September 1950. Photographer: Cpl. George J. Myers. SC 348915

T-34 tank destroyed by 5th Marines on the road to Kimpo Airfield, 17 September 1950. From the Oliver P. Smith Collection (COLL/213), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections

A wrecked T-34 tank on a collapsed bridge span somewhere near Suwon or Osan, September 1950

Soviet-built T-34-85 tank captured by the U.S. Army’s 27th Infantry Regiment “Wolfhounds” (25th ID) from North Korean forces, September 1950.

Further, the advancing troops came across the “ghost bridges” used by the Norks to create nearly bomb-proof submerged crossings over rivers, which were thrown up after UN airstrikes and retreating U.S. engineers had dropped the peacetime bridges. A classic Soviet Red Army technique, especially when operating in an area with questionable air superiority, the tactic still worked.

They were almost impossible to spot from the air when not in active use and harder to knock out.

2.5-ton trucks cross a river by an underwater bridge, eight miles northwest of Taegu, Korea, on their way to the front line during the Korean War, September 16, 1950. Underwater bridges are a useful way of avoiding being spotted from the air.

M-26 tanks of the 6th Tank Bn.., 24th Inf. Div. crossing the Kumho River on an underwater crossing, consisting of rocks and sandbags reinforcing the riverbed as the 24th Inf. Div. advances against the North Korean forces along the Naktong River. 18 September 1950. Photographer: Pfc. Lonnie Butler SC 348668

M-26 tanks of the 6th Tank Bn.., 24th Inf. Div. crossing the Kumho River on an underwater crossing, consisting of rocks and sandbags reinforcing the riverbed as the 24th Inf. Div. advances against the North Korean forces along the Naktong River. 18 September 1950. Photographer: Pfc. Lonnie Butler SC 348669

The advance would continue, with the U.S. Eighth Army moving up the east coast of the Korean peninsula from Pusan while the Marines and the 7th Infantry would leapfrog up the west coast, the two forces bisected by the 300-mile-long Taebaek Mountain range, into which many of the remaining North Korean formations withdrew.

By 18 October, ROK forces captured Hamnung and Hugnam, while the North Korean capital of Pyongyang was captured by Eighth Army on the 19th.

However, by 25 October, with some forward elements in sight of the Yalu River, the lines solidified and, in a few days, the “Victory” and “Home by Christmas” talk would be dashed as the conflict became an entirely different war.

Kindle Liberty 83 Time Machine

Posted on by One comment

How about a great 18-minute full color clip from the AP Archives, recently published, from Operation Kindle Liberty 83 in the Panama Canal Zone from February 1983?

The clip opens aboard the circa 1956 Ingalls-built Thomaston-class dock landing ship USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), a hard-working gator of old that continued in U.S. service until 1989 and was later turned into a reef in the Florida Keys. It includes a close-up of her twin 3″/50 Mark 22 and an LCU in her well deck (some things never change). Her bluejackets are clad in the old denim working uniform, complete with bellbottoms. There is also a short clip of a pair of 1950s Bluebird class 144-foot coastal minesweepers (MSC) tied up.

Then you get a visit to the old Howard AFB (note the naming convention used as standard for American bases, while overseas bases were Air Stations).

Aboard Howard, which was carved out of the jungle by the USAAF back in 1942, are visiting F-16As of the Hill AFB-based “Black Widows” of the 421st Fighter Squadron, which operated increasingly advanced Viper models until switching to the F-35A in 2017. You also see the old C-141 Starlifter in its full-color MATS livery and visiting woodland camouflaged Air National Guard A-7s. Turned back over to Panama in 1999, today, Howard is the Panamá Pacífico International Airport.

A short C-47 ride puts you in the jungle with U.S. Army and OD-clad PDF forces, including both the M-151 MUTT and the Jeep CJ at play in the same convoy.

At 11:27, you get a neat cameo by the RN’s West Indies guardship at the time, the Leander class frigate HMS Diomede (F 16), a veteran of two Cod Wars with the Icelanders and the recent scuffle over the Falklands. Still young and beautiful in the news footage, with just 12 years on her hull, she would be sold to Pakistan in 1988 and serve as PNS Shamsheer until 2003.

By 11:48, you get the treat of the Canal Zone’s mighty green protectors, the Harbor Patrol Unit’s 32-foot Mark II PBR (Patrol Boat, River) boats, a force that later became SBU-26 in 1987. A holdover from the old Vietnam PBR days, complete with twin .50s up front, they proved really useful in 1989’s Operation Just Cause before the unit was disestablished in 1999. All you are missing are “Clean,” Lance, Chief Philips, and Chef Hicks.

You also get a few close-ups of the Swift-built aluminum-hulled PDF patrol boats Comandante Torrijos and Ponte Porras (both of which I believe were sunk in Just Cause), as well as a 50-foot PCF Swift boat of the HPU out of Rodman NS, another Vietnam leftover. The PCF even sports a piggyback 81mm mortar/.50 cal M2 on the stern.

Drink it in!

A dictated meeting with Oley

Posted on by Leave a comment

80 years ago today, VADM Jesse Barrett “Oley” Oldendorf (USNA 1909), left, “dictates the terms of surrender” to RADM Tomomatsu Nakazawa (often incorrectly cited as “Vice Admiral Hoka”) and RADM Yoichi Fujii (often incorrectly cited as “Rear Admiral Yofai”) on 22 September 1945 at Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. Oldendorf, commander of Battleship Squadron One, had arrived offshore in the old dreadnought USS Tennessee (BB-43), a Pearl Harbor vet, the morning prior.

The forces in the region had long before laid down their arms and were simply providing Oldendorf the most current charts of the area, lists of naval vessels and merchant shipping in the Osaka, Kobe, and Wakayama areas, and up-to-date information on navigational aids in Southern Honshu waters in preparation for an upcoming landing by the U.S. Sixth Army’s well-traveled 33rd “Prairie” and green 98th “Iroquois” Infantry Divisions in the area scheduled for the 25th. The two divisions would remain on occupation duties in Honshu until they were deactivated in early 1946.

It turned out that a lot of the fierce defenses overlooking Wakayama beach were faux, with numerous “Quaker Guns” photographed in the region.

Close-up of a dummy AA gun that the Japanese constructed around a fish oil and acid-producing factory off the beach at Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. Photo by: T/5 Eisman, 111-SC-213311

Close-up of a dummy AA gun that the Japanese constructed around a fish oil and acid-producing factory off the beach at Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. Photo by: T/5 Eisman, 111-SC-213310

American troops of Major General Innis P. Swift’s I Corps had arrived in the Wakayama area on 7 September, and the Navy had used the port as a rally and evac point under a Beachmaster Shore Patrol for Allied POWs in the area. Between 11 to 18 September, the hospital ships USS Consolation (AH 15) and Sanctuary (AH 17), augmented by the ‘phibs USS Cabildo (LSD 16) and Hopping (APD 51), operating under the control of RADM Ralph S. Riggs with his flag on the cruiser Montpelier (CL-57), rescued 2,568 POWs including 167 were litter cases and 281 injured ambulatory personnel.

The 2,568 Allied POWs were recovered from the beach by 18 LCMs and 18 LCVPs from USS Cabildo (LSD 16) due to the clogged/mined port facilities. Note the LSD-16 hull numbers on her craft. 

These men, many of whom had been imprisoned since 1941, came from POW and civilian internment camps at Obe, Zentsuji, Nii hamа (Hiroshima no. 2), Tamano (Hiroshima no. 3), Omine (Hiroshima no. 4), Motoyami (Hiroshima no. 6), and Ohama (Hiroshima no. 7). They included U.S. Sailors from Guam, U.S. Marines from Wake, U. S. Soldiers from Corregidor and Bataan, Australians captured in Java, Dutch officers from Sumatra, and British taken at Singapore and Hong Kong. Even an Armenian civilian was found.

No wonder “Oley” looked so stern.

 

Will the M113 ever die?

Posted on by Leave a comment

First reaching IOC in 1960 (!) and seeing inaugural combat use in Vietnam just two years later, the 12-ton aluminum-hulled M113 is a Cold War stalwart.

11th ACR M113 in Vietnam, in its ACAV configuration

U.S. Army M-113 near the destroyed Panamanian Defense Force headquarters, Operation Just Cause, 21 December 1989

While “officially” replaced in front-line service with the U.S. Army by the Bradley and Stryker, the Pentagon only stopped buying the APC in 2007 and moved to phase it out in ancillary service (mortar carriers, ambulances, cargo carriers, smoke makers, OPFORs, etc.) with the very M113-ish but Bradley-derived BAE AMPV, a move that won’t materialize until the late 2020s.

These 11th ACR VIZ-MOD’ed OPFOR vehicles at the NTC aboard Fort Irwin started life as M113s.

Besides Vietnam, Panama, Desert Storm/Shield, Bosnia, and OIF/OEF, the M113 has proven itself in Ukraine, which has received over 500 of these surplus APCs in numerous variants from NATO as military aid, making it a common and unlikely favorite of the forces there.

It is considered reliable and fast, at least when compared to legacy Soviet-era MT/GT platforms.

Rafael is currently offering a series of upgrades for the old track, including new powerpacks, Trophy Active Protection Systems, Spike anti-tank guided missiles, Sampson Remote Weapon Stations, and advanced modular armor kits.

With some 80,000 of these durable machines produced over the past 65 years, and with them in service with 50~ countries around the globe, odds are they may outlive us all ,and the last M113 driver is yet to be born.

One part of Louisiana is always Chennault’s

Posted on by Leave a comment

The University of Louisiana Monroe has released an updated Brand Guide, which focuses on realigning the ULM brand with the story of the P-40 Warhawk aircraft, and in particular, those flown by the AVG and its later 23rd Fighter Group in WWII.

Of note, the U.S. military has granted ULM special permission to use a variation of the circa 1941 “meatball” roundel in ULM colors in perpetuity.

As noted by the school:

The new edition of the ULM Brand Guide introduces several new visual assets inspired by the P-40 Warhawk, the plane flown by General Claire Lee Chennault’s Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group in the Second Sino-Japanese War in China prior to WWII. Chennault is a Northeast Louisiana native whose connection to the area was a contributing factor to ULM selecting “Warhawks” as its new mascot in 2006.

Suitably, the Tigers of the AVG, though they flew for Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT, which lost its mainland China privileges in 1949, are still celebrated there, where the Liuzhou Military Museum has on exhibition more than 1,000 artifacts, from flight suits and arm patches to letters and diaries, honoring those men.

Fitting that Chennault said later in life:

It is my fondest hope that the sign of the Flying Tiger will remain aloft just as long as it is needed and that it will always be remembered on both shores of the Pacific as the symbol of two great peoples working toward a common goal in war and peace.

Claire Chennault, “Flying Tiger” P-40B Warhawk, Artist: Darrell Lum. USAF DF-SC-84-04112

Hat’s Off!

Posted on by Leave a comment

Members of the 3rd Co., Coast Artillery Reserve Corps, firing a 12-inch M1888MII gun at Fort Worden’s Battery Ash, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, during summer camp, 1914. The round being fired is likely a rarely shot service round as opposed to a practice round, so more powder is involved.

Photo from Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum collection

Constructed during the Endicott Period of coastal defenses sparked by the Spanish-American War, Battery Ash was constructed between 1899 and 1902. At the time of operation, it was outfitted with five 10-inch and two 12-inch guns in barbette carriages, the latter of which had a range of 10 miles when firing a 1,070-pound armor-piercing shell. These were aimed towards the West, the expected entry point of the enemy.

The last of the big guns at Fort Worden were deactivated in late 1942, hopelessly obsolete, and were removed in 1944, cut up to be used as scrap iron for the war effort. None of the guns or mortars at the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound ever fired a shot in anger – only for practice.

During their four-decade career, each of the big 12-inchers at Worden only fired about 70 rounds in practice, an average of less than two shots per year.

1202 Days and a Cup of Coffee

Posted on by Leave a comment

80 years ago this week, Gen. Jonathan “Skinny” Mayhew Wainwright IV (USMA 1906) is seen enjoying a cup of Joe in House Speaker Sam Rayburn’s Office, 10 September 1945, after addressing the House and before picking up his MoH. If anyone ever deserved a good cup of coffee at the time, it was Wainwright.

National Archives Identifier, 350297855

Note Wainwright’s simplified salad bar and four-starred epaulets on his “Sun tans.”

A veteran of the Moro Rebellion with the old 1st Cavalry before they gave up their horses and the Great War– where he fought in the Meuse-Argonne with the 82nd Infantry Division back when they were “legs”– Wainwright was a one-star regular left holding the bag in the Philippines in April 1942 as a newly promoted lieutenant general (temporary) when “Dug Out” Doug was ordered to evac to Australia.

This meant a very hard 1202 days as the highest-ranking American POW in Japanese custody, and, while most of the PI had been liberated before the end of the war, Wainwright, who had been held in Manchuria/Manchukuo, was only freed by the Soviet Red Army on 20 August 1945, a week after the Japanese had signaled they would surrender.

He was soon plucked out of China by a USAAF C-47 and rushed to recently occupied Japan.

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright greet each other at the New Grand Hotel, Yokohama, Japan on August 31, 1945, in their first meeting since they parted on Corregidor more than three years before. (US Army HD-SN-99-02411)

Wainwright was present at the Japanese surrender on Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September, then accompanied the documents to Washington via air.

He was quickly given a MoH and a fourth star (which was not temporary).

Following a short post-war stint as commander of the Eastern Defense Command in New York and later the Fourth Army at Fort Sam Houston, he was moved to the retired list in August 1947 upon reaching the age 64 mandatory top out.

He passed of a stroke in 1953– on September 2nd no less– aged 70, and is buried in Arlington, Section 1, Grave 358-B.

« Older Entries Recent Entries »