AMERICANS ON ATTU, BATTLE TO OUST JAPANESE; OUR FLIERS AND R.A.F. POUND EUROPEAN BASES (5/15/43)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 5/15/43 | Lewis Wood, Drew Middleton, W.H. Lawrence, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[colorado tanker]

Barbara Frietchie is a rousing good poem, at least if you saw things from the Union point of view. Unfortunately, Whittier was misinformed about what happened that day. Barbara Frietchie was sick in bed and the Confederates did not pass down her street, although she was a Unionist through and through. It was her neighbor, Mary Quantrell, who tormented the Rebels by flaunting the American flag.

I wonder if Churchill really remembered that poem after all those years or if he had a staffer fetch it when he found out he would be weekending at Camp David?

BTW, the Confederates were passing through Frederick on their way to Antietam, the bloodiest day in the history of the U.S. Army.

[colorado tanker]

The defendants in the "I.G. Farben Trial":

24 company directors were indicted and 13 convicted. All were released early and nearly all resumed senior positions in German industry.

After the War, I.G. Farben was declared a war criminal. The Soviets seized all its assets in the East. In the West, the Allies broke it up into the component parts that had merged together in 1925. The four that survived into the post-War era were Bayer, AGFA, BASF and Hoescht, which disappeared in a 1999 merger. The company still technically exists as a legal entity, which was intended to allow it to pay reparations to slave laborers, but it has paid next to nothing.

In 1941 unsavory ties were exposed to American industry, notably Standard Oil and Dupont, but nothing came of it as attention shifted to mobilizing American industry for the War.

[texanyankee]

"I wonder if he arranged transport for texanyankee's father, who arrived in the theater aboard the USS Arthur Middleton."

Could be, but what's his name? The details from my Dad's perspective of the Amchitka excursion are sketchy at best. All I know is that the USS Arthur Middleton got shoved up on some rocks in the shallow waters and the hull got a hole. My Dad told me that the ship's commander (I got his name somewhere in the files) told the crew to abandon ship. My Dad told me he recalls putting on a life jacket and somehow the next thing he remembers he ended up at Dutch Harbor. The Middleton eventually got towed to Bremerton, WA and repaired where she became an "attack transport" My Dad ended up in the state of Washington and eventually he made it back onboard the Middleton for duty to assist in the invasion of Tarawa. I dont believe my Dad ever made it to Attu. Also, there was a change of commander of the Middleton after that event.

[AU72]

I wonder if he arranged transport for texanyankee's father, who arrived in the theater aboard the USS Arthur Middleton.

It looks like the Middleton was with her Grandfathers transport group for most of the big landings including Kwajaelin and Tarawa.

[BroJoeK]

colorado tanker: "After the War, I.G. Farben was declared a war criminal."

I well remember the IG Farben building in Frankfurt as headquarters of US V Corps, early 1970s.
My contacts there were two delightful captains, Schmuck and Cox, not kidding. ;-)

Of course, at the time, I had no clue as to what IG Farben might be all about...

[texanyankee]

"It looks like the Middleton was with her Grandfathers transport group for most of the big landings including Kwajaelin and Tarawa.

My Dad served on the Middleton during those 2 battles. I believe he finished his tour after Kwajalein. I heard from other family members that my Dad talked about Tarawa. Evidently he mentioned large numbers of our marines floating in the shallow waters as he tried to avoid them with his landing craft. He ferried marines, supplies to the island and then came back with wounded marines and even a few Jap prisoners back.