Filed under: Films, Navy, WWI, WWII | Tags: Alvin York, Carlisle, Doug Mastriano, Pearl Harbor, US Army Heritage and Education Center
February shapes up to be an interesting month for those interested in WWII history.
The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) continues the Strategic Art Film Program with a viewing, dinner and discussion of the award-winning film, Tora! Tora! Tora!, depicting the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at 6:00pm, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
The evening will feature U.S. Army War College Professor Al Lord as film moderator. He will review the film while guests enjoy a Japanese themed dinner with a complimentary glass of sake. In addition, the event will feature local Pacific theater militaria collections, as well as miniature and model displays highlighting Japanese WWII aircraft. Finally, guests will also have the opportunity to participate in assembling paper models of the famed Japanese Zero fighter plane, which gained its notoriety because of its widespread use during World War II.
Those who wish to participate in the dinner must purchase tickets from Carlisle Barracks MWR and can do so by calling 717-245-3099 or 717-245-4329. Preferred seating is provided for dinner guests, but those who do not wish to purchase dinner are welcome to enjoy the movie for free. Parking is also free, and the USAHEC facility is handicapped accessible. For more information about this and all other events, please visit the website: www.USAHEC.org or call: 717-245-3972.
I was up in Carlisle for the showing of Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper, which included a revealing talk by Doug Mastriano, whose work Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne
Filed under: Conferences, Marines, Veterans | Tags: Arlington National Cemetery, Iwo Jima, James Mattis, Marines, Veterans, WWII
The Iwo Jima Association of America is holding it’s 70th Reunion and Symposium on 18-22 February 2015 at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel. It’s always a magnificent event, with the opportunity to mix with Iwo Jima veterans, active duty and retired Marines, descendants and historians.
The base schedule is:
18 February – Registration (2-6pm) and welcome reception (6-8pm)
19 February – Ceremonies in DC/Arlington (8am-3:30pm) and a hospitality evening (6-8pm)
20 February – National Museum of the Marine Corps tour (8am-3:30pm) and Show & Tell (6-8pm)
21 February – Symposium and Panel Discussion (8:30am-3:30pm), Luncheon (noon-1pm, with a briefing by a senior Marine representative), reception (5-6pm, cash bar) and Banquet (6-11pm)
22 February – Farewells and departures
I can’t say enough about how well-run and well-attended this event is. As the touchstone event in the history of the Marine Corps, senior Marine leadership is actively in attendance and support. The Commandant will be the guest of honor at the Banquet and one of the top-level officers will speak at the luncheon. I have to admit that meeting and getting my photo with General Mattis two years ago was a true highlight. There are always several authors in attendance, selling and signing their books. They also usually have both a raffle and a silent auction to help support the organization. The band for the Banquet is our favorite big band, Radio King Orchestra, who do swing better than anyone else (and donate their time for this performance).
You MUST register by the 21st of January to ensure your space. After that, it is ‘space available’. Registration can be done online or by mail. In either case, best to download the event brochure, which details the schedule and provides the mail-in registration form.
Filed under: Books, Marines, WWI | Tags: Barbara Tuchan, Belleau Wood, Clifton Cates, Edwin Simmons, Joseph Alexander, Max Hastings, Peter Owen, Rheims, Thomas Holcomb
In preparation for Tuesday night’s Military Classics Seminar Series, which covers both Max Hastings’ Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War
At the September meeting, I won a great book in the monthly raffle, Peter Owen’s To the Limit of Endurance: A Battalion of Marines in the Great War
To slip into an aside, I really have found two compelling reasons for e-books. Now, I love real, live books. There’s nothing like reading and turning pages, smelling the book, having the tactile sensations of the book, and getting the author to sign your book. You don’t get those with an electronic book, but you do get two other things: portability and maps.
While “Through the Wheat” is no massive volume, it’s really nice to always have it with me. I have a tablet and phone, so I’ve always got a copy of whatever Kindle books I’ve read with me. So, I could be carrying 6 or 7 books on WWI, or a few dozen on Marines, and quickly cross-reference or simply read while walking to lunch or sitting down somewhere for a drink. I was reading both this one and Hastings (though I have not finished Hastings yet). As a book-addict, I could sneak 5 minutes of reading in at obscure moments. I didn’t even need to plan it.
As I’ve noted before, the greatest leap involved in having a book on a tablet is that you can just load Google maps or some other application and pull up the location being covered in the book. That is, if the book doesn’t have maps, you suddenly do. While you may not have a thematic map, with unit symbols and direction of movement drawn on it (“Through the Wheat” has some beautiful maps, by the way), you have two other abilities beyond just being able to get any map — zooming and terrain. Sometimes, it’s hard to place the action in relation to known landmarks or in context to the rest of the campaign. The zoom really allows you to do that. Looking at the terrain in Google Earth or even just contour lines and satellite imagery gives you a perspective far closer to actually walking the ground than anything else.
To return to the subject, “Through the Wheat” is a well-written book with extensive research behind it and a great ability to keep the story and the people flowing. One of the great problems in writing military history, especially in a unit study in which there are so many casualties, is to keep the story flowing, rather than jumping from place to place and from personal story through unit perspectives to some kind of overview. Alexander and Simmons were masters of the art, learned over decades, and had a mastery of the material. So, the movements of the various battalions in the Marine Brigade and of the officers transferring between those units (and occasionally both out-and-back-into them), I didn’t feel a sense of confusion and wonder who was who or how the Brigade suddenly ended up on the other side of Rheims. Of course, another aspect of this is deciding which interesting stories would detract from that by being too singular or too detailed for a study of the entire Brigade.
Getting one’s mind around the Marine experience in World War I is not easy, but I think “Through the Wheat” offers a great introduction to it. It deals with the entire range of issues, from the rapid expansion of the Corps, through training, the political maneuverings to get the Marines into the fight (both with the Army and the French) as well as the insights into each of the 5 battles the Brigade fought during the war.
I fully expect to walk the ground in Belleau Wood in 2015, with my trusty tablet in hand, reviewing Cates’ commentary on the assault through the wheatfield. If I’m lucky, I’ll have found Peter Owen’s friend and guide, Alain Romelot, and won’t be as lost as one would expect.
Filed under: Band of Brothers, Officers | Tags: Band of Brothers, Herbert Sobel, Marcus Brotherton
Marcus Brotherton wrote a nice blog post that reveals more of the truth about Herbert Sobel, the man, to add to the image many people have of him from the HBO series. I tend to agree with Marcus and many of the veterans that Captain Sobel truly shaped Easy Company in a positive way, but, based on what else I’ve read, it was better that he didn’t lead the company in combat. His methods may not have been the right ones, but they ended up producing a highly effective unit.
As I noted last May, Henry Lincoln Johnson was eventually awarded the DSC, posthumously, for his actions in WWI. Now, the Secretary of Defense has recommended that Johnson be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Before our departure for the French Embassy, General Creighton Abrams spoke to our conference about the need for an Army museum.The General spoke about the great things that the Army has done, both in it’s actions and the affect it has had on it’s members.
As I said just yesterday, everyone has a story, and the Army museum will attempt to tell those stories.
Engage, Educate, Honor, Inspire.
They’re in the process of gathering funds and the General spoke about the Museum and about the Brick Program. Outside the museum, the brick walkway will be lined with commemorative bricks and as a part of the fundraising effort, you can purchase a brick to commemorate your own or someone else’s service. You can bet that there will be a brick for LTC Richard Henry Henderson in that walkway. I encourage everyone to purchase one.
“People aren’t in the Army. People ARE the Army.”
Everyone has a story. Once again, we’re gathered together with the veterans of Operation Dragoon and the Battle of the Colmar Pocket. Monika started the conference by talking about the grand variety of stories that belong in this story. From the artilleryman who was confined to quarters after doing KP duty too close to the Generals discussing the invasion of southern France to the men who jumped into Provence or stormed the beaches, to the folks who fought the war on the farms and in the factories during the war, everyone has a story.
This week, starting with 2 hours tonight, we’ll be covering as many of those stories as we can get to. With 2 hours tonight and 8 hours on Thursday (9am-5pm) at the Sheraton Pentagon City, we should cover a lot of ground. Friday morning, we’ll be at Arlington National Cemetery for wreath-laying at both the Tomb of the Unkown as well as the 3rd Infantry Division monument. Saturday, we’ll spend the day visiting the SS John W. Brown up in the Baltimore (with a stop at Fort McHenry) before our closing banquet back here in Arlington.
I’m especially excited to meet Boyd Lewis and and Donald Judd, who were squad mates in D Company, 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division. I also revealed to everyone that my father’s uncle Roy served in the 15th Infantry Regiment’s Headquarters & Headquarters Company as part of the 3rd Infantry Division.
It’s a jam-packed week with 14 WWII veterans, numerous family members, several historians and your humble scribe.
Filed under: WWI | Tags: Aux Morts des Chars d'Assaut, Berry-au-Bac, La bataille du Chemin des Dames, Marshal Petain, Monuments, Mutiny, Second Battle of the Aisne
Northwest of Reims, when traveling along the Avenue du General de Gaulle, you pass through the small commune of Berry-au-Bac and reach one of France’s many rural traffic circles. At that circle is a grand monument “Aux Morts des Chars d’Assaut“, a memorial to the dead of the French armored forces in WWI. It’s located on the fields of the Second Battle of the Aisne (La bataille du Chemin des Dames or Seconde bataille de l’Aisne), where 118 of the 128 tanks used to assault the Chemin des Dames ridgeline were destroyed. After the atrocious losses in that battle, in which the French General Headquarters (GQG) expected about 10,000 casualties and suffered 134,000, the French Army suffered from wide-spread mutinies. This brought Marshal Petain to the head of the French Army and ended any significant French offensives until the Americans and better tanks could be fielded.
French television reported that the bas-relief (crossed cannons and a knight’s helmet), five brass plaques and some marble memorial markers have been stolen.
It’s a tragedy that the copper or marble has become valuable enough that unscrupulous people will desecrate memorials in order to put money in their pockets. No thought is given to the men for whom these memorials were placed, but only to the looters own selfish needs.
We're not lost, Sergeant, We're in ... France 