2012-10.pdf

A GI’s STORY: LIBERATING DACHAU A THE PRETTIEST OVERBITE

AMERICA IN

FOSTER PARENT N O 200

WWII

The Magazine Of A People At War 1941–1945

MUSTANG ACES

TO THE RESCUE

Nazi Bomber-Hunters

Become the Hunted

GUADALCANAL’S BLOODY RIDGE

The Guns that Won the War

The M1 Rifle and M1 Carbine Arrive Just in Time

74470 01971 8

USAF’s Big Warbird House A Mr. Big-Nose-and-Gravel-Voice

Display until October 16, 2012

ww.AmericaInWWII.com

“…an absolute blast.”

— PC Gamer Magazine

Throw yourself into epic tank battles and dominate the world with tank supremacy!

™

WARGAMING NET and the WORLD OF TANKS , WORLD OF WARPLANES, WARGAMING NET logos are registered trademarks of

Wargaming net LLP in the United States All other marks are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners

AMERICA IN

WWII

October 2012 • Volume Eight • Number Three

F E A T U R E S

16 THE BLOODYING OF BLOODY RIDGE

Under cover of dense jungle, 4,000 Japanese advanced to capture Guadalcanal’s critical

Henderson airfield. Now just 800 marines stood in their way. By Larry Alexander

26 THE GUNS THAT WON THE WAR

America’s soldiers almost went to war armed with toys and antiques.

But the M1 Garand rifle and M1 carbine arrived just in time. By Richard Sassaman

34 THE MESSERSCHMITT HUNTERS

US bombers were easy prey for the German Messerschmitt—until Chuck Gumm

and his fighter group showed up in their new P-51 Mustangs. By Robert F. Dorr

42 ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, FOSTER PARENT NO.200

Young Paulette Le Mescam was parentless and penniless after fleeing her home

ahead of invading Germans. America’s first lady came to her aid. By Gillian Mawson

d e p a r t m e n t s

2 KILROY 4 V-MAIL 6 HOME FRONT: Hitting the Beach 8 PINUP: Gene Tierney 9, 49, 55 FLASHBACKS

10 THE FUNNIES: Novel Novels 12 LANDINGS: The Biggest Warbird House 14 WAR STORIES 48 I WAS THERE:

Liberating Dachau 56 BOOKS AND MEDIA 60 THEATER OF WAR: Let There Be Light 62 78 RPM: Jimmy Durante

63 WWII EVENTS 64 GIs: Like His Grandfather

COVER SHOT: A formation of Mustang P-51Ds flies in friendly air space over the US Southwest. Before America sent shiny new Mustangs

across the Atlantic in late 1943, German Messerschmitt fighters were feasting on the big, lumbering US bombers flying missions

over Europe. Then the Mustangs arrived on the scene, and the hunters became the hunted, nearly to extinction. US AIR FORCE

KI LROY

WAS HERE

AMERICA IN

WWII

Farewell, CaptainM c Hale

September–October 2012

Volume Eight • Number Three

www.AmericaInWWII.com

O N J ULY 8, A MERICANS FROM THE WWII GENERATION and the Baby Boom got unwelcome

news: their friend Ernest Borgnine—WWII veteran, Oscar-winning actor, 1960s TV icon,

and all-around nice guy—was gone. Even 20-somethings and teens knew Borgnine, or at

least his voice; he was the voice of Mermaid Man in Spongebob Squarepants cartoons.

Borgnine was 95, but not like any other 95-year-old I’ve met. He was a ball of energy

and self-effacing good humor when I interviewed him for our special issue Stars in WWII

just two years ago.

Long before Borgnine played Sergeant “Fatso” Judson in From Here to Eternity (1953),

General Worden in The Dirty Dozen (1967), or Lieutenant Commander Quinton

McHale in McHale’s Navy , he was a real-life military man and served in World War II.

He would be the first to tell you he was no war hero, though.

He joined the navy in 1935, and after six years decided it was time to go home. So he

left the 1917 destroyer USS Lambertson (DD-119) , at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in Septem-

ber 1941. It was ironic timing. By January Borgnine was back in the navy. This time,

however, he served in US coastal waters on anti-submarine and training duty, sailing as

a gunner’s mate aboard USS Sylph (PY-12) , a converted yacht. (“I had my own state-

room…,” he told me. “What a hell of a war I fought!”) The only combat he saw was

when the Sylph went after a U-boat with depth charges that failed to explode. (Later,

said Borgnine, a navy investigator studying the Sylph ’s depth charges “took a chipping

hammer and he knocked off about 76 coats of paint and it said ‘manufactured in 1917.’”)

Home in New Haven, Connecticut, after the war, Borgnine was a 10-year veteran at loose

ends. He couldn’t find a job he could stand in local factories. “I was 28 years old. I’d

always been out in the open, you know, and built like a bull. And I said to myself, ‘Me?

Lock myself up in those jailhouses? That’s worse than going to jail, for heaven’s sakes.’”

The navy might have won a career man, if not for Mom’s influence. “One day I went

home and I said, ‘Mom, for two cents I’m gonna go back in the service, do my other 10

years, and get a pension. At least I’ll have something.’ And that’s when she uttered the

famous words: ‘Have you ever thought of becoming an actor?’”

The same GI Bill that let countless WWII vets attend college sent Borgnine to acting

school. The rest is history—history that the Screen Actors Guild honored in 2010 with

a lifetime achievement award.

Whether you knew and loved Borgnine as Captain McHale, as Marty in the 1955 movie

of the same name, as evil Fatso Judson, or as Mermaid Man, you knew a prime example

of the unassuming, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth generation that fought and won

World War II. When journalist Tom Brokaw coined the term “the Greatest Generation,”

he must have been thinking of people like Ernest Borgnine.

PUBLISHER

James P. Kushlan, publisher@americainwwii.com

EDITOR

Carl Zebrowski, editor@americainwwii.com

ART & DESIGN DIRECTOR

Jeffrey L. King

ASSISTANT GRAPHIC ARTIST

Victoria Brobst

CARTOGRAPHER

David Deis, Dreamline Cartography

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Patrice Crowley • Eric Ethier • Tom Huntington

Brian John Murphy • Joe Razes

EDITORIAL OFFICES

PO Box 4175, Harrisburg, PA 17111-0175

717-564-0161 (phone and fax)

ADVERTISING

Sales Representative

Marsha Blessing

717-731-1405, mblessing@americainwwii.com

Ad Management & Production

Ginny Stimmel

717-652-0414, gstimmel@americainwwii.com

CIRCULATION

Circulation and Marketing Director

Heidi Kushlan

717-564-0161, hkushlan@americainwwii.com

A Publication of 310 PUBLISHING, LLC

CEO Heidi Kushlan

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR James P. Kushlan

AMERICA IN WWII (ISSN 1554-5296) is published

bimonthly by 310 Publishing LLC, 310 Kelso Street,

Harrisburg, PA 17111-1825. Periodicals postage paid

at Harrisburg, PA.

SUBSCRIPTION RATE: One year (six issues) $29.95;

outside the U.S., $41.95 in U.S. funds. Customer service:

call toll-free 866-525-1945 (U.S. & Canada), or write

AMERICA IN WWII, P.O. Box 421945, Palm Coast, FL

32142, or visit online at www.americainwwii.com.

POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO AMERICA

IN WWII, P.O. BOX 421945, PALM COAST, FL 32142.

reserved. No part of this issue may be reproduced by any

means without prior written permission of the publisher.

Address letters, War Stories, and GIs correspondence to:

Editor, AMERICA IN WWII , PO Box 4175, Harrisburg,

PA 17111-0175. Letters to the editor become the property

of AMERICA IN WWII and may be edited. Submission

of text and images for War Stories and GIs gives AMER-

ICA IN WWII the right to edit, publish, and republish

them in any form or medium. No unsolicited article manu-

scripts, please: query first. AMERICA IN WWII does not

endorse and is not responsible for the content of adver-

tisements or letters to the editor that appear herein.

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

Toll-free 1-866-525-1945

or www.americainwwii.com

PRINTED IN THE USA BY FRY COMMUNICATIONS

DISTRIBUTED BY CURTIS CIRCULATION COMPANY

James P. Kushlan

Publisher, America in WWII

Jim Kuslan's 2010 interview with Ernest Borgnine

appears on our website at www.americainwwii.com/pdfs/stories/borgnine-interview-stars-in-wwii.pdf

a faithful tribute to our heroes

USMC Devil Dog Cold-Cast Bronze Sculpture

USMC Devil Dog mascot sculpture

honors Marines, their families and

anyone who supports the USMC

Hand-crafted of cold-cast bronze

On a mahogany-finished base

with golden Semper Fi plaque

The Devil

Dog’s tattoo

bears the

revered USMC

emblem and

motto

Shown smaller than actual length of 7¾ inches

Honoring the Few, the Proud, the Marines

During peacetime and in the heat of battle, the United States

Marines stand ready to defend our freedoms, ever proving

themselves to be the world’s most elite ﬁ ghting force. Now

the

Strictly Limited…Order Today!

Order now at just $59.99*, payable in three installments

of $19.99, with the ﬁ rst payment due before shipment.

Your purchase is backed by our 365 day money back

guarantee. Strong demand is likely so reserve your

sculpture promptly. Don’t be left out! Return the

Reservation Application today!

from The Bradford

Exchange has landed to honor the brave tradition of

USMC Bronze Devil Dog Tribute

Semper

Fi.

It’s perfect for a special Marine, a USMC family, friend

or supporter. Weighing an impressive four pounds, the

sculpture is hand crafted of cold cast bronze to be a lasting

tribute to the peerless legacy of the USMC. Its mahogany

ﬁ nished base displays the Corps’ motto on a golden plaque.

www.bradfordexchange.com

™ Officially Licensed Product of the

United States Marine Corps

RESERVATION APPLICATION SEND NO MONEY NOW

Mrs. Mr. Ms.

Name (Please Print Clearly)

Address

City

9 3 4 5 M i l w a u k e e A v e n u e · N i l e s , I L 6 0 7 1 4 1 3 9 3

YES. Please enter my reservation for the USMC Devil Dog Cold Cast Bronze

Tribute as described in this announcement.

Limit: one per order. Please Respond Promptly

State Zip

01-14225-001-E28201

*Plus a total of $8.99 shipping and service. A limited-edition presentation restricted to 295 casting days. Please allow 4-8

weeks after initial payment for shipment. Sales subject to product availability and order acceptance.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: