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Posted on 05/26/2004 12:20:11 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.
Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different veteran each Wednesday. The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine who participated in the events in our Country's history. We hope to present events as seen through their eyes. To give you a glimpse into the life of those who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.
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The men of the Two Hon'red History is filled with stories of heroism and valor. As a society we build and repeat the legends to later generations. Some tales are immortalized in verse such as "Into the valley of death rode the 600..." Others are cast as challenges and rally cries such as "Remember the Alamo." In many of these cases we lose sight of the actual story and the human sacrifice and heroism in the original acts. In other cases we unfortunately lose sight of the story entirely because for whatever reason it did not capture the imagination or it was overshadowed by other events.  Coat of Arms - 200th Coast Artillery Such is the case of the sons of the west who formed the most decorated unit in Army history. Eighteen hundred young men of New Mexico went to war in 1941 and within one hundred and twenty-two short days became one of the most heroic fighting forces in the history of the United States. But that was just the beginning of their battle and of their sacrifice. Six hundred men died in the valley of death and were immortalized by Tennyson. Two hundred men died at the Alamo and every American schoolchild knows the story. Of the 1800 New Mexicans in the 200th Coast Artillery who fired the first shots of World War II only 900 came home and of those 900 only 600 survived past twelve months of peacetime. How many Americans know that New Mexico gave more sons and daughters per capita than any other state in the Union in World War II? How many Americans know that of the 12,000 Americans on the Bataan Death March that 1 in 6 was from New Mexico? How many Americans know that the now famous Navajo Code of World War II started when the Taos Pueblo Indians of the 200th were used to communicate between units because the Japanese had broken every other code? And how many Americans know that on April 9th, 1942 when the rest of the army surrendered the New Mexicans dug into a ridge above Cabcaben airfield for the express purpose of proving that the Alamo was nothing compared to what New Mexico could do? Oh those New Mexicans, they were something special.  PFC Vernie James The story we want to tell you today occurred over 60 years ago but our journey to the story started just a year ago in a broken down building in Forrest, NM. On the wall of an outbuilding at the James homestead we saw the name Vernie James written in whitewash. It is the name of a lost brother, an uncle never known, a hero unrecognized. The story of Vernie is the story of the fabled 200th Coast Artillery, the "Two Hon'red" as it was known to the men. In January 1941 the 200th NM National Guard Regiment was federalized. On April 4th 1941 the first major flood of peacetime draftees were inducted into service. At Ft. Bliss in El Paso the 200th was scheduled to virtually double its ranks. The officers of the regiment wanted nothing to do with men from other states and told their sergeants, "Stand in the doorway at the induction center and pick out the New Mexicans, those are our boys and we want them." The result was an 1800 man regiment almost exclusively composed of New Mexicans including men like Manuel Armijo of Santa Fe, Jack Aldrich [then] of Clovis, Lee Roach of Clovis and Otis Yates and Vernie James both of Forrest. April through September was spent in training and, of course, some weekend passes. Old Otis Yates had a system worked out. Each soldier got $5 for the weekend. Otis would rent a car and charge each man $5 and drop them off on his way home to Forrest. Otis survived the war and lived here in Clovis until his death about five years ago.  Camp Maximiliano Luna, 1940. The regiment trained hard and received their orders to ship out in September 1941... destination Manila. Our leaders in Washington needed to show that they supported MacArthur in the Philippines and the 200th was chosen. After all it had proven in training that it was the equal or better of any regular army regiment when it was selected as the best Anti-aircraft Regiment in the army. The job of the 200th was to defend Clark Field (Ft. Stotsenberg) and on December 8th, 1941 their work began. On that day, despite the fact that they had never fired the live ammunition, it was old and limited in altitude, they downed a half dozen Japanese planes, the first of 86 that they would shoot down in the conflict. That evening the regiment was split with 500 troops charged to defend Manila. Vernie was in Battery C and remained with the 200th at Clark Field.  3-inch anti-aircraft gun Very quickly MacArthur decided to implement his plan to retreat to Bataan where the army could hold out until reinforcements arrived. The retreat to Bataan, often called one of the most skillful military maneuvers in history depended on the New Mexicans as the rear guard. In the process they were in the center of a battle that decimated a Japanese army of 14,000 men. By the time the retreat was complete the army was intact, the Japanese had to pause for reinforcements and the New Mexicans were becoming a legend in MacArthur's command. Over the next four months the New Mexicans shot down plane after plane, defended the line and protected airfields. Along with their comrades they starved, fought and waited for reinforcements. They became part of the famous sobriquet "The Battling Bastards of Bataan, no momma, no poppa and no Uncle Sam."  In April 1942 the Japanese broke the lines and by the 9th of April the army knew the peninsula was lost. The army was ordered to surrender but the New Mexicans picked up their shovels and started to dig in for their last stand. Eventually they were persuaded to surrender but not First Sergeant Armijo, PFC Vernie James and the communications squad of C Battery. These six men headed for the hills to continue the fight. They were captured later and brought back to make the Death March with 12,000 fellow Americans. The first stop after the March was Camp O'Donnell and the New Mexicans did it again. When the first ones arrived they took up station at the main gate and waited for each of their comrades to come through. Once again the sergeants claimed their boys at the door and soon they were together.  Prisoners of the Japanese Most everyone was sent to Cabanatuan prison camp. Almost 10,000 Americans were in the camp. Many were in other smaller camps and many, like Lee Roach, were sent to perform labor by building airfields. By all accounts Vernie spent his time at Cabanatuan. Several years ago his sister Bertha was told that Vernie spent much of his time assisting the Chaplains at the camp. By 1944 the Japanese knew it was only a matter of time until the Americans came back to the islands and they began packing prisoners into ships for transport to Japan or Manchuria. These ships became known as Hell Ships because of their horrible conditions. Of the over 13 Hell Ships three were sunk and one, the Arisan Maru, became infamous as the worst disaster in American naval history.  Arisan Maru (June 5th, 1944) Vernie James and the Arisan Maru began their voyage together in September 1944. That month Vernie was likely sent to Bilibid prison in Manila in preparation for shipment to Japan or Manchuria. He and 1800 other Americans were loaded on the Arisan Maru and they set sail in October 1944. On the night of October 24th as the battle of Leyte Gulf raged the Arisan Maru was in convoy in the South China Sea. Two American submarines attacked the convoy. The torpedoes of one found the Arisan Maru. To this day it is not known which submarine fired the torpedo. A Catholic Priest from Indianapolis, Father Thomas Scecina, was on deck at the time. He went down into the holds and brought the comfort of God to the men he would die with. For his valor he was awarded the Silver Star posthumously. Vernie James was lost at sea but his spirit and memory are enshrined in the American Cemetery in Manila. His name is carved in the tablets of the Missing and he has been blessed with a Christian service.  PFC Vernie James died in October 1944 just three months before American Rangers liberated the Cabanatuan camp in a daring raid deep into enemy held territory. Vernie and 900 of his comrades did not make the trip home but they made history. Vernie and his comrades were recognized with awards and commendations the like of which had not been bestowed on any other regiment in American army history. For the record, PFC Vernie James is entitled to:
Vernie and his comrades were never immortalized in prose or in a slogan. But they have also never been forgotten by their families or their government. These Sons of the West showed the world what it means to bring Anglos, Indians and Hispanics together in a common cause. These amigos lived, fought and died together and showed their army and their enemy that men of the West are something special indeed.  New Mexico Special MacArthur Service Medal (Bataan Medal) In December 1945 in a speech in Deming, New Mexico General Jonathan Wainwright paid tribute to the men of the regiment when he said: "On December 8, 1941, when the Japanese unexpectedly attacked the Philippine Islands, the first point bombed was Ft. Stotsenberg. The 200th Coast Artillery, assigned to defend the Fort, was the first unit under The General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, to go into action defending our flag in the Pacific. First to fire, and last to lay down their arms! A fitting epitaph for a valiant Brigade which fought standing firmly in its appointed place and facing toward the enemy." Vernie L. James Private First Class, U.S. Army, 38012675, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment Entered Service from: New Mexico Died: October 24, 1944, Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery Manila, Philippines Awards: Purple Heart
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Good Morning PE.
"What's yer FReeper name?!"
It's the Big Question in heaven.
LOL!
Hi Bentfeather. You gonna be free of meetings today?
Yeah! What Feather said. ;-)
On This Day In history
Birthdates which occurred on May 26:
1478 Clement VII [Giulio de' Medici], Italy, Pope (1523-34)
1566 Mohammed III sultan of Turkey (1595-1603)
1667 Abraham De Moivre French mathematician (De Moivre's theorem)
1700 Nikolaus L earl von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf German evangelist
1759 Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin writer/mother of Mary Shelley
1799 Alexander S Pushkin Russia, writer (Eugene Onegin)
1806 Henry Knox Thatcher Commander (Union Navy), died in 1880
1835 Edward Porter Alexander Brigadier General of artillery (Confederate Army)
1856 George Templeton Strong composer
1876 Jack Root boxing's 1st light heavyweight champion
1877 Isadora Duncan San Fransisco CA, free form/interpretative dancer
1877 Sadao Araki Japanese general/minister of War (1931-34)
1886 Al Jolson [Asa Yoelson] jazz singer/film actor (Mamie, Swanee)
1895 Dorothea Lange US documentary photographer
1895 Paul Lukas Budapest Hungary, actor (Watch on the Rhine, Sphynx)
1899 Pieter Menten Dutch war criminal
1903 Estes Kefauver (Senator-D-TN)
1907 John "Duke" Wayne [Marion Michael Morrison] Winterset IA, actor (True Grit)
1908 Robert Morley Semley Wiltshire England, actor (High Road to China, African Queen)
1910 Laurence S Rockefeller New York NY, CEO (Chase Manhattan Bank)
1911 Ben Alexander Goldfield NV, actor (Dragnet, Outer Gate, Mr Doodles Kicks Off)
1912 János Kádár premier Hungary (1956-58)
1913 Peter Cushing Kenley Surrey England, actor (Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, Star Wars, Dr Who)
1919 Jay Silverheels actor (Tonto-Lone Ranger)
1920 Peggy Lee [Norma Egstrom] Jamestown ND, singer (Fever, Why Don't You Do Right)
1923 James Arness Minneapolis MN, actor (Matt Dillon-Gunsmoke, Thing)
1939 Brent Musburger sportscaster (CBS-TV)
1948 Stevie [Stephanie Lynn] Nicks Phoenix AZ, rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Bella Donna)
1949 Hank Williams Jr Shreveport LA, country singer (All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight, There's A Tear In My Beer)
1949 Pam Grier Winston-Salem NC, actress (Big Bird Cage, Tough Enough)
1949 Philip Michael Thomas Columbus OH, actor (Miami Vice)
1950 ? 1st whooping crane hatched in captivity
1951 Muhammed Ahmad Faris Syria, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-3)
1951 Sally Kristen Ride Los Angeles CA, 1st US woman astronaut (STS-7, STS 41G)
1956 Joe Penny actor (Jake & the Fatman)
1957 Candace L Collins Dupo IL, playmate (December 1979)
1962 Bob[cat] Goldthwait Syracuse NY, comedian (Police Academy, Scrooged)
1964 Lenny Kravitz singer/guitar (911 is a Joke, Are You Gonna Go My Way?)
LOL!
No meetings today!! Oh boy!! I have to work on a booklet for the club, however!! It's a program booklet describing the events of our big fall blast. WOO HOO.
Dedicated to the FReepers who have passed on...we'll be seeing them again in due course...MUD
John Wayne, the broke the mold after he was made.
John Wayne once said,"Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been and never will be."
Work is a four letter word. ;-)
we'll be seeing them again in due course
I hope they don't mind if they have to wait a bit.
A long bit...there's still plenty of FReepin' to be done in this realm.
FReegards...MUD
Work. I tried it once, Not for me. Oh 10-15 mins. a month it's good for you, but any more is a bit..exessive.
One of his best!
free dixie,sw
!!!!!!!!!
Muchas gracias, mi amigo...MUD
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Air Power |
The Curtiss P-40 was undoubtedly one of the most controversial fighters to serve in quantity during the Second World War. It was praised and abused, lauded and vilified, but the fact remains that, as the first American single-seat fighter to be manufactured on a mass-production basis, it bore much of the brunt of the air warfare over several battle fronts. Its performance was inferior to the performances of the majority of its antagonists, but this shortcoming was partly compensated for by its tractability and its sturdiness which enabled it to withstand a considerable amount of punishment. It was amenable to adaptation and it was available when most sorely needed.
Not particularly good technically or in performance, though very durable, P-40s continued to be produced until the end of 1944, serving also with air force units of Turkey, South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Later versions were known as Kittyhawks to the RAF and its Allies. Not usually realized is that the name Warhawk applied only to the United States Army Air Force P-40s starting with the P-40F version, a much improved plane with a license built version of the British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine installed.
The belief in the "ascendancy of bombardment over pursuit" was rife in 1937 when the Curtiss P-40 was first envisaged, and it is a sobering thought that, with the Bell P-39 Airacobra this product of such a school of thought constituted more than half the strength of all USAAF fighters until July 1943. Prior to September of that year the P-39 and P-40 also comprised more than half the USAAF fighters committed overseas. However, by July 1945 only one P-40 group remained operational.
The prototype P-40 took to the air in the autumn of 1938, and production was initiated in the following year. Performance of the first version of this single-seat fighter had not really come up to expectations, but as several air forces were desperate for new aircraft, the type was welcomed into service. The US had delayed modernizing its Army Air Service until the last minute, so P-40s made up a large part of their equipment during the first years of war. Britain and France also ordered P-40s to contend with the German Luftwaffe, but in the case of France, deliveries came too late and their P-40s were diverted to the Royal Air Force - to be known as Tomahawks. Similarly, the Soviet Union's outdated air force had fared badly at the hands of the Germans, and P-40s were also sent there.
The P-40 was initially designed around the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled inline engine which offered better streamlining, more power per unit of frontal area, and better specific fuel consumption than did air-cooled radials of comparable power. Unfortunately, the rated altitude of the Allison engine was only some 12,000 feet, rendering combat above 15,000 feet a completely impracticable proposition. The P-40's ancestry dated back as far as 1924; the famed Curtiss Hawk fighters being in the forefront of all US warplanes. But its development was hindered from the start. The overall limitations of its design were such that the addition of multi-speed superchargers was considered inadvisable in view of the pending production of superior fighter designs. The achievements of the P-40 were therefore all the more creditable.
The prototype XP-40, the Curtiss Hawk Model 81, owed its origin to the earlier Model 75 of 1935 vintage. With the standardization of the Allison V-1710 , the P-36 design was reworked to incorporate this engine, becoming the XP-37 which was equipped with a General Electric turbo-supercharger, and featured numerous other modifications, including a rearward positioned cockpit. Thirteen YP-37s were built for service evaluation; but, with increasingly ominous signs of an approaching war, development of this fighter was abandoned in favor of a less complex and more direct conversion of the P-36 for the Allison engine, the XP-40. This was, in fact, the tenth production P-36A with an integrally-supercharged 1,160 h.p. Allison V-1710-19 (C13) engine, and first flew with its new power plant in the autumn of 1938. Successful in a US Army Pursuit Contest staged at Wright Field, in May 1939 it was awarded what was at that time the largest-ever production order for a US fighter, totaling nearly thirteen million dollars.
The P-40 was a relatively clean design, and was unusual for its time in having a fully retractable tail wheel. One hundred and ninety-seven P-40s were built in 1939-40 for the USAAF, and many more were sold abroad to Britain and France. In the RAF, which service purchased 140 outright, it was known as the Tomahawk Mk. I, IA, and IB, and carried two .303 in. Browning machine-guns in place of the 0.30in.-calibre guns fitted in USAAF machines. It retained the standard synchronized armament of two 0.5 in.-calibre machine-guns in the top nose decking.
The Flying Tigers
Many US volunteer pilots flew on behalf of Britain, the Soviet Union and China before the United States entered the war. A group of them, equipped with P-40s, went to help the Chinese in their struggle against the Japanese in 1942, where they became known as the 'Flying Tigers' because of their uniquely painted aircraft. This group later became part of the USAAF proper, and P-40s were thereafter used widely in the Pacific.
In the middle of 1941 General Claire Chennault began recruiting for his Volunteer Group--better known as the Flying Tigers--to fight the Japanese from China, for which 100 P40s were ordered for purchase through a loan from the US Government. Ninety aircraft, mostly P-40Bs, were actually delivered, sufficient for three squadrons, plus a few spares. At the time of the USA's entry into the war there were eighty American pilots in the Volunteer Group, and shortly after arriving at Kunming the P-40s drew first blood, six out of ten attacking Japanese bombers being destroyed by two of the AVG squadrons on December 20. There were no American casualties on this occasion, but the third squadron, left behind at Mingaladon, Burma, was less fortunate, and lost two pilots on their first interception, on December 23,1941. The American pilots had underestimated the maneuverability of the lightly built Japanese Zero fighters, and failed to utilize their superior speed and diving ability to advantage. It was soon the cardinal rule that a P-40 should always avoid mixing it individually with a Japanese fighter, owing to the Curtiss machine's inferior climb rate and maneuverability, but the P-40 substantiated a reputation for ruggedness that it was already acquiring with the RAF in the Middle East, and its armor protection saved many AVG pilots in subsequent combat.
Both the Flying Tigers in China and the RAF squadrons in the Middle East had their P-40Bs replaced by P-40Es. The AVG after continuous operation, was down to some twenty P-40Bs by March 1942, when some thirty P-40Es were ferried to China by air from Accra, in Africa. The improved performance offered by these more potent P-40s was found to be extremely valuable against the Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen fighters which, first introduced in the Chinese theatre in 1940, were becoming increasingly numerous. The ground-attack potential of the P-40E was also much superior. The AVG pilots had resorted to carrying 30-lb. incendiary and fragmentation bombs in the flare chutes of their P-40Bs, but it was questionable whether this was not more hazardous to the attackers than to the attacked. But some indication of the P-40's capabilities in resolute hands is given by the fact that from its inception in December 1941 until July 4, 1942, when it was absorbed by the USAAF, the AVG was officially credited with the destruction of 286 Japanese aircraft for the loss of eight pilots killed in action, two pilots and one crew chief killed during ground attack, and four pilots missing. The top-scoring AVG pilot, Robert H. Neale, was credited with the destruction of sixteen enemy aircraft while flying the P-40, and eight other pilots claimed ten or more victories.
One of the most significant steps in P-40 development came in 1941, when a British-built Rolls-Royce Merlin 28 engine with a single-stage, two-speed supercharger was installed in a Kittyhawk I airframe to improve its high-altitude performance. The Curtiss H-87-D, or XP-40F, as the Merlin-powered prototype became known, then had 1,300 hp available for takeoff, and 1,120 hp at 18,500 feet, which offered vast improvements over earlier models and endowed a maximum speed of 373 mph. This was reduced slightly in the YP-40F, which, like later variants, had the Packard-built Merlin V-1650-1 and revised cooling, the air intake above the cowling being incorporated in the radiator scoop. Gross weight climbed to 9,870 lb.
Following experiments in cooling-drag reduction in 1943 with a P-40K-10-CU which had its "beard" radiator removed to wing installations, and in rear vision improvements by installing a "bubble" canopy on a standard P-40L, a general " clean-up " programme was initiated, resulting in the sole XP-40Q. With a 1,425 hp Allison V-1710-121 engine, the XP-40Q was modified from the first P-40K-I to have a "bubble" canopy and cut-down rear fuselage, wing radiators and, eventually, clipped wing tips. A four-blade propeller was fitted, and water injection installed. With a weight of only 9,000 lb, the XP40Q attained a maximum speed of 422 mph. This was still less than the speed attained by contemporary production Mustangs and Thunderbolts , however, and the XP-40Q did not achieve production.
Specifications:
Manufacturer: Glenn H. Curtiss Aviation
Primary Role: Fighter
Crew: One
Powerplant: One Allison V-1710-99 , Vee - 12 cylinder, liquid cooled engines.
Engine power: 1,200 h.p. @ takeoff and 1,125 h.p. @ 17,300 ft. with a single speed supercharger.
Cost: $45,000
Number Built: Approximately 15,000
Number Still Airworthy: 19
Dimensions:
Wing span: 37 ft. 4 in.
Length: 33 ft. 4 in.
Height: 12 ft. 4 in.
Weights: Empty: 6,700 lb. / Operational: 8,400 lb. / Max Takeoff: 11,400 lbs
Performance:
Maximum Speed: 325 m.p.h. @ 25,000 ft. / 343 m.p.h. @ 15,000 ft. / 308 m.p.h. @ 5,000 ft.
Cruising Speeds: 235 mph
Service Ceiling: 30,000 ft.
Range: 750 miles @ 10,000 ft. ft.
Max. Range: 2,800 miles @ 10,000 ft.
Armaments:
Six 0.5-in. Browning machine-guns with 281 rpg
External bomb load of three 500-lb. bombs.
USS BOONE FFG 28
I'm in.
I recollect a war memoir by an Australian ace who flew P-40s. He thought they were wonderful. He flew naturally aspirated models, as he refers to being restricted to low altitudes.
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