Pacific Army

The Pacific Theater of Operations was not all Marines and Navy. The Army was there too...


25th Infantry Division on Guadalcanal.


Dead Japanese on Leyte.


25th ID on Luzon, 1945.

Two MPs

Aside from the whole "having to be an asshole" part, I wouldn't mind riding around on one of these babies.

Field Desks in Italy

African-American clerks in a Greek and/or Roman structure. Italy '43.

Kodachrome

So, my mom went to visit my Aunt in Virginny and gave her a box of stuff to take to me. To my surprise, it was one of my Grandpa's 4-pocket tunics and whole carousel of Kodachrome slides he took.

My grandpa must have had a hell of a lot of foresight to take photos in the novelty of color.

Here's a few previews, until I get a good camera. These are projections on the wall I took photos of, so the color and sharpness of the pictures do the real thing no justice.


Aviation student, 1943.


Grandpa in the cockpit of a Waco CG4A glider.


Hangar being built. All those footlockers...


Glider maneuvers stateside. I would be biting the hell out of my nails watching that controlled disaster.

Glider Pilot reenacting

As many of you know, I am a reenactor. And as such, I take pride in recreating "impressions" of WWII soldiers. My primary focus of interest, as you may or may not have already gathered, are the glider pilots of WWII. Primarily trained as pilots and without a lot of thought given to infantry tactics, they were forced to find their way back to whatever friendlies they could happen upon once they landed behind enemy lines.

These pilots were all volunteers and much older than the average Air Corps pilot of the day, most being between 25-35. They were primarily washouts from Cadet school, or simply lacked the proper vision or age requirements. But, they all wanted to get their chance to fly and "get into the action," so they were given perhaps the most dangerous position in the entire armed forces of WWII. Criminally overlooked by the history books and not given their proper due, I have taken it upon myself to portray a little-known chapter in WWII history. Plus, it's a lot of fun to get dressed up and shoot things.


Flight Officers George Brennan and Bernie Cantwell, Operation Dragoon (the invasion of southern France after D-Day).


"Flight Officer" Blake D. Thomas, Operation Vanity (the invasion of his backyard).

1st Air Commandos

The story of the 1st Air Commandos is probably one of the most badass of the entire war. General "Hap" Arnold enlisted the help of Phil Cochran, a commander of P-40 fighters in North Africa, to plan an invasion of Burma behind Japanese lines. Cochran, who was criminally never portrayed by Marlon Brando, was a Colonel who didn't care so much about regulations or how his men looked, just as long as they got the job done.


Allison, Wingate, and Cochran (L-R)

British General Orde Wingate was to be the leader of the British "Chindits" fighting force, and were to be flown in by glider behind the Japs and construct fortified airbases from which the operations could be carried out by bomber, liaison, and transport aircraft. On March 5, 1944, Operation Thursday was carried out.



Airlifts inserted almost 10,000 men, well over 1,000 mules, and approximately 250 tons of supplies. Casualties from the high-risk operation, including missing, were less than 150, and for the first time in military history aircraft evacuated all killed, wounded, and sick from behind enemy lines. This was when the "glider snatch" was used. Glider snatching consisted of a C-47 flying over a glider on the ground attached to a tow rope between two poles. The C-47 would hook onto the tow rope and slingshot the glider into the air. Pilots equated it to being shot out of a cannon.



The 1st Air Commando Group also went on to test the first use of helicopters in a combat zone, using Sikorsky R-4's. The helicopter rescued a downed liaison aircraft pilot and his three British soldier passengers, two at a time. The 1st AC were pioneers and deserve their place in aviation history. Oh yeah, and Jackie Coogan, who played Uncle Fester on "The Addams Family," was also a glider pilot with the 1st AC. He was the first glider pilot to land Allied troops behind enemy lines in the whole damn operation.



Hard to believe?

Sergeant Pilots, crazy uniforms...

If you notice the guy in the middle, he's wearing an officer's jacket with S/Sgt. stripes sewn on. Also note the officer's gabardine cap with enlisted device. The caption says that he bought them in the States anticipating they'd give him a commission when they got to the Middle East, but no such luck. He took it upon himself to sew them on in defiance (and possibly protest) of regulations. There were a lot of Sgt. pilots in the 316th Troop Carrier Group that flew C-47's and gliders as enlisted pilots.

"Willing" Draftees

During The Battle of the Bulge, AAF personnel who were grounded due to bad weather (and with nothing to do) were pressed to the front to help out with the advancing German Wehrmacht. Here, an airman with a B-10 flight jacket, A-6 gloves and B-3 flight cap mans a .50 cal M2 "Ma Deuce" machine gun. He's receiving instruction from what I assume is an infantry machinegunner.

Winter '45

I don't think a lot of GI's knew what it was like to have a clean face.

Some favorites

African-American soldier with captured weapon.


Spoils of war. (we need to have a war in a civilized, wine-drinking country again.)


Signal Corps DJ.


509th PIB, Italy.

Opener. And a motorbike messenger.

Stanley F, S/Sgt.

My first post.