UNUSUAL MILITARY EVENTS
Ref: Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Retired and a history
buff.
1. The first German serviceman killed in WW II was
killed by the Japanese (China, 1937),
The first American serviceman killed was killed by the
Russians (Finland 1940);
The highest ranking American killed was Lt Gen Lesley
McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.
2. The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old: Calvin
Graham, USN.
He was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for
lying about his age.
His benefits were later restored by act of Congress.
3. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command
was called CINCUS (pronounced 'sink us');
The shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th Infantry division
was the swastika.
Hitler's private train was named 'Amerika.'
All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine
Corps.
While completing the required 30 missions, an airman's
chance of being killed was 71%.
5. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average
fighter pilot.
You were either an ace or a target.
For instance, Japanese Ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down
over 80 planes.
He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.
6. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load
every 5th round with a tracer round to aid in aiming.
This was a big mistake.
Tracers had different Ballistics so (at long range) if
your tracers were hitting the target 80% of your rounds were missing.
Worse yet tracers instantly told your enemy he was under
fire and from which direction.
Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of
tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo.
This was definitely not something you wanted to tell
the enemy.
Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate
nearly double and their loss rate go down.
7. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing
men did was pee in it.
This was pretty universal from the lowest private
to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it)
and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the
act).
8. German ME-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York
City,
but they decided to stop development to speed up production
of Messerschmitt fighters.
9. Some say German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning
toilet.
The official records show it was scuttled.
10. Among the first 'Germans' captured at Normandy were
several Koreans.
They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until
they were captured by the Russians
and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were
captured by the Germans
and forced to fight for the German Army until they were
captured by the US Army.
11. Following a massive naval bombardment,
35,000 United States and Canadian troops stormed ashore
at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands.
21 troops were killed in the assault on the island...
It could have been worse if there had actually been any
Japanese on the island.
12. The last marine killed in WWII was killed by a can
of spam.
He was on the ground as a POW in Japan when rescue flights
dropping food and supplies came over,
the package came apart in the air and a stray can of
spam hit him and killed him.
Submitted by Inga Bjornson
