We visited FDR’s Library in Hyde Park. I was amazed to see how pretty Eleanor was as a young woman. Previously, I only remembered her photos as an elderly woman. Modern orthodontia would have done wonders for her.
The other thing we learned was how incapacitated our military was at the beginning of WWII. We had no combat vehicles and few planes. It was a miracle that we won. It brings the words “Grace of God” to mind.
I think this series will be worth some time, just for the historical context.
It was no miracle we won. We had the man power, over 12 Million in uniform at the war’s end. We also had the industrial capacity and technology that we put to work to win.
A lot of things came together in a short period of time for us to win, hard work, innovation and a determination from a united country to do it. Today it probably would not happen.
My father and Ronald Reagan were already serving in that 1930s military before Germany and Russia invaded Poland, and years before Pearl Harbor was attacked, Reagan was in a horse Cavalry Reserve unit, and my father was in the Navy, he was in Borneo when the Japanese attacked, and his long battles in, and then out of the Dutch East Indies was a nightmare, and one that his famous ship barely survived.
FDR described part of their saga, in a fireside chat.
""...I should like to tell you one or two stories about the men we have in our armed forces...," said President Franklin Roosevelt with that distinctive, patrician voice of authority most Americans had grown accustomed to. As he began another of his fireside chats on the evening of 29 April 1942, this, like all his other informal radio broadcasts, was a pep talk, beamed to a nation unaccustomed to defeat and reeling under the Japanese onslaught in the Pacific.
That evening President Roosevelt told a story of bravery and heroism--one of LCDR Corydon M. Wassell, a Navy doctor serving in Java, who risked his life to save others. Dr. Wassell arrived in Java in late January as allied forces were putting up a last line of defense for the Dutch East Indies and trying to hold Makassar Strait from the invaders. In trying battles that followed, USS Houston (CA-30) was lost and USS Marblehead (CL-12) severely damaged. With her steering gear shattered and large holes in her side, Marblehead staggered into port at Surabaja, Dutch East Indies, carrying wounded of her own and Houston's survivors. Dr. Wassell sorted the casualties and assigned them to several hospitals. Medical personnel later transferred patients to a town in the hills less accessible to the Japanese. Shortly afterward, Allied forces began evacuating to Australia. ADM Thomas C. Hart, Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet, ordered Dr. Wassell to evacuate "all the wounded who can stand a hard trip."(1) Hence, Dr. Wassell sorted the patients and found 10 men, one being Marblehead's executive officer, LCDR William Goggins, who were too badly injured to be transferred. Concerned about their well being, Dr. Wassell opted to stay behind with them and await capture by the Japanese.
But instead of sitting idly by waiting for the enemy, Dr. Wassell made a desperate attempt to get the men out of Java and to safety."...........etc.