WW II Trivia ... Thanks Judi Cole!

WW II Trivia



This is from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Ret. and a history

buff. You would really have to dig deep to get this kind of ringside

seat to history:



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); highest ranking American

killed was Lt Gen Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps. So

much for allies.



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, and 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, your 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 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.



YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE THIS ONE...



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 it wasn't worth the effort.



9. German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.



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.



AND HER IS THE BEST FOR LAST...



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 been any Japanese on the island.