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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: WWll
Date: Dec 20, 2006 10:03 AM
*1. The first German serviceman killed in WW2 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. . . 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) found the photo (hand tinted black and white) *
**
*8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but 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 I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST.... *
*
11. Following a massive naval bombardment 35,000 US and Canadian troops
stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. 21 troops were
killed in
the firefight. It would only have been worse if there had been any
Japanese
on the island.*
* *
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