south jersey post card club newslettersince orcas have large brains and are very intelligent, they...

South Jersey Post Card Club

Newsletter October 2002 Serving Post Card Collectors Since 1971 Re. Vol. 2 No. Four

First Anniversary Issue – One Year Since the Revival of This Newsletter has become as much of an American institution as Disneyland, and Shamu has been adopted by our society so that he is now instantly recognizable – even in spin-off telephone company commercials. Emily DiVento offers our lead article.

WHALE FACTS: KILLER WHALES

ORCINUS ORCA by Emily DiVento

The name Orcinus Orca comes from Orcus, the Roman god of the underworld.

Killer whales are incredibly powerful animals, capable of pushing their entire bodies out of the water.

An orca will spend its entire life with the same group and usually becomes attached to its mother. “Orca pods” are similar to a close-knit family group.

Orcas have distinctive white patches and are known as ‘fully toothed’ whales. Adults have 50 cone-shaped teeth to chew, and they use all of them! Killer whales have been known to bite a seal in half. They usually travel in packs and not only attack fish, but also larger prey, such as big baleen whales, dolphins, porpoises, turtles, manatees, and penguins.

Since orcas have large brains and are very intelligent, they can be easily trained. They can be gentle and are known to cooperated with their trainers. These whales enjoy having their rubbery skin petted by humans, but they do easily become bored and can think up tricks to pass the time. It has been questioned whether the bond formed between orcas and their trainers can replace a whale’s social structure.

While in aquariums, orcas can live for about 13 years. In the wild, they can live for forty to sixty years. Some people think an orca’s lifespan in captivity is much too short.

The Sea World postcards are all from California. At the top is #GP17 – Famous Killer

Whale at Sea World. The caption on the address side reads: “Shamu, talented 4-ton killer whale at Sea World slides completely out of the water to allow visitors to see his enormous size and beautiful markings – one of the most popular acts in the Shamu Show at Sea World.”

Left is Sea World Card #D.301. Sea World, Mission Bay, San Diego.

Shamu’s gaping jaws are studded with saw-like teeth, each nearly 3½ inches long. Daily the Sea World trainer thrusts his head between these jagged teeth to inspect the killer whale’s throat. In 9,189 performances Shamu hasn’t gulped once. Right is Sea World Card #D.298 Sea World, Mission Bay, San Diego.

Shamu . . . the world’s first trained killer whale . . . is a splashy scene-stealer. She dominates the Sea World show with her high-jumping silhouette.

October 2002 South Jersey Postcard Club Newsletter Page 3.

PG-19 USS Sacramento by Ray Hahn

n the April issue, I mentioned a collection of postcards that is in the care of the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. The cards are all

maritime real-photos and some are fairly horrible scenes of shipwrecks and other disasters. We can guess that the pictures were taken during the early years of the 20th century and the original owner may have been a navy man or someone who lived or worked in the Pacific Northwest. One of the more lively cards in the collection is this one of six men who have learned the value of comic relief in their daily routine. Six sailors who are making fun in an amusement arcade appear in this real photo on which someone has handwritten the caption: Engine Room Crew – SS Sacramento. From other bits and pieces in the collection – such as a photo of a Russian ice storm – and the content of items found on the Internet, I think it is safe to say, this photo was taken between September 11 and November 24, 1922. It was during those seventy-five days that the Sacramento was assigned to Asiatic Station duty in Vladivostok, Siberia.

The ship on which these men served was the

second of three US Navy vessels with the name Sacramento. It was a Patrol Craft Gun Boat with a dis-placement of 1,395 tons, a length of 226 feet, a beam of 40 feet and a draft of 11 feet. The ship could make 12.5 knots and was armed with three fourteen inch guns and two 33” field guns.

Eleven officers and 155 enlisted men served on that Sacramento which was built right here in the Delaware Valley by the Cramp Shipyard of Philadelphia. It was launched in April of 1914. Through some Internet research, I have learned that the other two U S Sacramento ships also have very interesting histories. The first was a wooden, steam sloop-of-war launched in New Hampshire in 1862. It did blockade duty against the Confederates during the Civil War, but in June 1867 it was wrecked in the Bay of Bengal. It was pounded into a total wreck, but no lives were lost.

The second Sacramento was the PG-19 on which these men served. It first saw action in Mexico, and later sailed all over the world and was in Pearl Harbor on December 7th. I found the Report of Air Raid Action taken by the ship from 0755 to about 1430 hours of 7 December ’41. It read: No damage. No casualties. Only two injuries.

After WW II, Sacramento PG-19 was decommissioned in 1946 at California and sold in 1947 for mercantile service, initially operating under Italian registry as Fermina. Its ultimate fate is unknown.

The third Sacramento is still part of the U S Navy. It is a Fast Combat Support ship.

u u u My Dad and Ernie Pyle by Donald T. Matter, Jr.

My father died twelve years ago and I doubt this story will interest you, but here goes. Do you recognize the man in this picture? On the back, in my father’s own hand are the words, My Friend, Ernie Pyle, some place in Normandy, 1944. As the years go by, I have developed a keener

interest in my father’s war. He left our home in Pater-son in January 1942. I was nine, he was thirty -one. He wrote letters every day. Those fragile documents would arrive two or three at a time and mom and I would sit in the kitchen and she would read until she couldn’t see through her tears, then I would finish, as best I could. Each one ended, “Thinking of you, love Donald.” When my Dad returned to New Jersey in No-vember, 1945, he had four things he called his wartime treasures. First there was a red Nazi banner with a swastika in the center of a white circle. Eventually Dad used that flag to polish the car. “I don’t want anything around here to remind me of those bastards,” he would say. Second, was a watch that he wore until he was well into his fifties – I never saw that watch again until we cleaned out his top dresser drawer in 1990. Third was a heart-shaped medal on a purple ribbon. It was years later when I learned how he got the purple-heart. The last of the four items was a plastic sleeve with three photographs. There was one of me and mom - I remember the day it was taken at Palisades Park. Another was of a group of ten men – my dad was

second from the left, and the third was a picture of the man he called “My friend, Ernie Pyle”. I still have the photo-graphs, I don’t know what happen-ed to the watch or the Purple Heart. But get this – two months ago I found this postcard at a show in New England. On the back is written, My Friend Ernie Pyle.

I


#323 “We’ll have to back up. We weren’t suppose to cross

the bridge.”

Sgt. Dave Breger the man who

invented G. I. Joe The June 17, 1942 issue of YANK is where he was born – that’s G I Joe, I’m talking about – the most famous private in the United States Army. He is now sixty years old and shows no signs of slowing down. YANK, a weekly magazine written by and for ordinary soldiers, was a wonderful experiment in democratic (if highly restricted) journalism that

was read each week by an estimated 2.2 million soldiers, sailors, and airmen. The terrible situations that existed throughout the European war theatre were not laughing matters, but a 34 year old Illinois newspaper cartoonist was working hard at making people laugh at their surroundings – his name was Dave Breger.

Breger, who had been doing a strip for the Saturday Evening Post titled 'Private Breger,' changed the title to 'G I Joe' in 1942 for YANK magazine and Stars and Stripes, thereby coining one of the most famous terms to come out of the war. The character was essentially the same in both military and civilian versions and remained popular even after the war. When the real and fictional Bregers were discharged in 1945, the title of the civilian strip was changed to 'Mr. Breger' and lasted until #305 “And my mother Mr. Breger died in 1970. never even allowed me to have a cap-pistol.”

#311 “He doesn’t like water #312 “Military haircut!” dripping off his helmet down his neck!” Sign says, “Haircut 30¢ ”

Look closely at #312, the recruit waiting second from the right, is reading a copy of Yank Magazine.

These postcards, published by King Features Syndicate, are examples of Breger’s work done for Saturday Evening Post before 1942.

Yank Magazine’s Most Popular Feature . . . the Pin-ups. Every week from mid-1942 to the end of 1945 many editions of YANK magazine were published in a 13½” x 10” format that were read by nearly ever GI in service. Those who were regular readers enjoyed the most popluar of Yank’s regular features – the pretty faces of the YANK pin-up of the week. Many ‘girls’ who participated in the program went on to careers in movies and entertainment – and as you can imagine, their faces also appeared on hundreds of arcade cards and post cards.

One of the most popular of all the YANK Pin-ups was none other the Norma Jeane Baker, a relatively unknown, who appeared in a 1945 issue, before she made her mark in Hollywood as Marilyn Monroe.

Ladies whose names were household words in the 1940s joined the parade. Among them were Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bermgan. Lucille Ball, Betty Grable, and Ava Gardner.

Naturally the pin-ups in

swim suits were the most popular. Here is Eileen Coghlan in the September 16, 1945 YANK, Continential Edition.

One of my favorites is a lady named Mary Ganly, who appeared in YANK, November 24, 1944 edition, and then completely disappeared. I can find no reference to her in any book or on the Internet.

OK. All of you who are saying, “Mary Ganly, well of course I remember Mary Ganly.” Tell me! Who was this ravishing individual?

¿ ¿ ¿

October 2002 South Jersey Postcard Club Newsletter Page 5

December 15, 1944

World War II generated mysteries without parallel, and one such event took place on December 15, 1944. The disappearance of Major Miller is among the most mysterious events of the whole war.

For nearly sixty years, stories have surfaced that claim to be the real truth about what happened that day and now a new voice makes the scene. PBS.

Yes, Public Television, has just released a new program about recent research into the disappear-ance of Major Alton Glenn Miller.

Upon completion of a thorough and scientific investi-

gation of the circumstances, British air historian Roy Nesbit now asserts that Glenn Miller’s plane was bombed out of the sky over the English Channel at exactly 1:43 PM on December 15, 1944, by none other than an Allied bombing mission gone bad. To make a long story short, here is the best of it.

The son of an Iowa schoolteacher, Miller was a minor player in the Big Band era, and was for nearly twenty years a journeyman musician. It wasn’t until 1937 that Miller was finally able to make his music so distinctive - here’s how. Using clarinets to replace the trumpets which were so commonplace in big band music, he instantly was one of those twenty -year, over-night successes that they talk about in the enter-tainment industry. The rest, as they say, is history. America couldn’t get enough of Gleen Miller.

Gleen Miller joined the Air Force in 1942 and was immediately assigned to form a marching band. It was a minor success but was continually reorganized. Then in June 1944, when Miller and his band arrived in England, it become obvious that he was about to change American music forever. Amid the ferocious warfare, Miller had the sound that could lift the spirit of American’s fighting men. He had captured the power of America in music and everyone loved him.

Immediately, the band setout on a grueling schedule of concerts and for nearly five months they worked tirelessly entertaining Allied troops in dozens of different venues across England. When in August the Allies recaptured Paris, Miller promised the troops a reward of a Christmas concert in France.

On December 12th, Miller played his last concert, and the next day planned to fly to Paris to make arrangements for the promised concert. The weather for the next two days was wet and foggy – even the air war was put on hold. Then on the 15th, the fog was lifting and Miller was invited to join Lt. Colonel Norman F. Baessell on a flight leaving from Twinwood

Farm Airport (just a bit northeast of London). Noorduyn Norseman C-64

Pilot and Flight Officer John Morgan meet

Baessell and Miller at Twinwood Farm just after 1:30

PM on that day. The plane Morgan was flying was a Noorduyn Norseman C-64, a high wing, Canadian aircraft that had a solid reputation of being reliable.

Two eyewitnesses, including the Twinwood flight controller, Anne Carroll testified that the plane left the ground at 1:55 PM. It was never seen again – or so it was thought, until 1984 when a retired engineer living in South Africa, realized that he had seen the Norseman C-64 crash into the English Channel.

His name was Fred Shaw, an honored and distinguished RAF navigator on the ill-fated, September 15, 1944, mission of Lancaster Squadron #149.

John Morgan failed to file a flight plan thus estimating the path he followed to the European mainland was difficult, but Nesbit has now had access to dozens of recently unclassified top-secret documents that make it clear that there was only one ‘Safe Shuttle Route’ to the European mainland on that day. Morgan would have headed south along the edge of the London No-Fly Zone, then after crossing the southern coastline of England at Beachy Head, he would have turned south west toward Dieppe on the Normandy coast. It was the only way to avoid Allied artillery units that watched the skies for the German doodle-bugs.

At 11:30 AM the 138 crews of the RAF Lancaster Bomber Squadron #149 had left their base in

Lancaster Bomber – Part of Squadron #149 East Anglia for a scheduled two o’clock bomb-run on Siegan, Germany (forty miles northest of Bonn). They have been in the air for nearly ninety minutes when they received a message that because their fighter plane escorts were grounded because of poor visibility, they would need to abort the mission. As they turned toward the west, they were instructed to jettison their bombs in the English Channel at what was known as the Southern Jettison Zone (50º 15’N latitude by 0º 15’ E longitude – a location also un-known until Roy Nesbit examined the unclassified documents of the Royal Air Force in 1998.)

The Squadron arrived at the jettison zone at 1:43 PM. The Norseman C-64 being piloted by John Morgan, with Colonel Baessell and Glenn Miller did too.

The bombers were flying at approximately 9,000 feet, the C-64 at about 2000 feet. The bombs were jettisoned and as they fell into the Channel they exploded and took the small plane and all its passengers into oblivion. Fred Shaw saw it happen. Is the mystery solved? We hope so. The world learned that Glenn Miller was missing on Christmas Eve, 1944. The Paris concert was performed


Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) Mrs. Kollwitz is

considered to be one of the greatest women artists all time. She is often talked about in discussions of modern German art, but actually belonged to an earlier generation. Considering that in 1917, she celebrated her fiftieth birthday with an exhibition at a famous gallery in Berlin, she much more belongs to the 19th century than the twentieth.

Her father encouraged his daughter's talent for drawing and arranged for private instruction before sending her to art school for women in Berlin. This was quite progressive for the 1880s. After her marriage to Dr. Karl Kollwitz in 1891, hunger and death were daily visitors to her home because they lived in an impoverished section of Berlin. Kollwitz was a Socialist who wanted her art to have an effect on the way ordinary people viewed their world and hoped it would move people to action.

I first saw Kollwitz’s work at the Smithsonian (National Gallery of Art) about twenty years ago. I recently found a set of ten postcards that I bought as souvenirs. Here are two examples.

On the left is an 1890s self -portrait of Kollwitz and her son Peter. One the right is a 1931 self -portrait of the artist and her grandson, also named Peter.

I’m not sure how her art has effected anyone I

know, but there is one thing for sure: as you see her drawings, you feel her pain and that pain was: her son Peter died in World War I and her grandson Peter died in World War II. As a result, Kollwitz suffered from extreme bouts of depression the rest of her life.

When Hitler rose to power in 1933, she was forced to resign her Berlin Academy of Art membership but was never forbidden to work or was she officially classified as "Degenerate." By 1936, however she was forbidden to exhibit and some of her works were removed from museums and galleries. In 1943, she left Berlin for Mortizburg and died there just days before the end of the war.

From 1942 to 1946 the US built 49,960 M4 Sherman Tanks. When ready for combat the M4 was 62,960 pounds.

While the war in Europe raged . . .

Generally, the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 is considered the beginning of World War II. When a history student examines the early years of the war, he finds that despite the ev ents in Europe, life throughout the rest of the world proceeded in normal ways.

Here is an excellent example . . . North Americans were cruising the West Indies while Europeans were fighting the battles of their lifetime.

S. S. America

. . . this post card was mailed in Havana, Cuba, on October 28, 1940. The message reads: “Greetings from gay Havana. This is the last call on the S/S “America’’ 12 day cruise which also included San Juan, St. Thomas and Port-au-Prince. Why not plan now to join one of the later cruises – Nov. 9 & 23, Dec. 7 & 21? Edwin Dison, Bartlett Tours.” The new United States Lines S. S. America, was built at the Newport News (Virginia) Shipbuilding & Drydock Co, in 1939. The original blueprint design called for a 723 x 93 foot, twin screw, turbine ship of 26,545 GRT that could sustain 22 knots. It was launched August 31, 1939.

S.S. America, at the time the largest, fastest and most luxurious ship ever built in the USA, was delivered July 2, 1940. The first cruise was New York to the West Indies on August 10, 1940.

Naturally President Franklin Roosevelt and most of the American people were sympathetic of the conditions in Europe from the very beginning, but the isolationists enjoyed a very firm grip on the American psyche, and their dominance did not wane until December 1941.

When at last America entered the war effort against the Nazi Government of Germany, the Europeans had all ready been fighting for over two years. It would take only 3½ years to defeat the Nazis, but how did the American achieve such a task? How did the Americans transport nearly fourteen million men and all the war materiél (remember the almost 50 thousand tanks mentioned at the bottom of the last column?) across the Atlantic?

The facts are, it was done using ships like

America. Taken over by the U.S. Navy as a troop transport ship in 1941, it was renamed U.S.S.Westpoint, and crossed the Atlantic almost weekly until discharged from Navy service on July 22, 1946.

Too bad the America didn’t fare well after the war. It returned to passenger service in 1946, but after 1964 she was bought and sold five times. The last time to be used as a hotel ship in Thailand. She suffered eight name changes and on January 17, 1994, under-tow, she went aground off the Canary Islands and two days later broke into two. And, remains there – untouched! The stern has since sunk, but the bow (as of the Spring of 2002) is still upright in the water.


Seabees: We Build, We Fight! My father-in-law, Jake Miller, called himself the

best damn ship fitter in the world, and he may very well have been right . . . for he was a proud member of the U. N. Navy Seabees. There are dozens of Seabee post cards, but by far

the most common is this one. As a matter of interest, Emily, Sal and I recently saw this card on an exhibit board at the post card show we attended in August.

For those unfamiliar with the Seabees, they are a construction unit of the U. S. Navy and have been building the Navy version of everything from airports to latrines for over five decades. They are cousins to the Army Corps of Engineers. In December 1941, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks, recommended establishing several Naval Construction Battalions. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entrance into the war, he was granted permission to do just that.

The earliest Seabees were recruited from the civilian construction trades and were placed under the leadership of the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. Because of the emphasis on experience and skill rather than on physical standards, the average age of Seabees during the early days of the war was 37.

More than 325,00 men served with the Seabees in World War II, fighting and building on six continents and more than 300 islands. In the Pacific, where most of the construction work was needed, the Seabees landed soon after the Marines and built major airstrips, bridges, roads, warehouses, hospitals, gasoline storage tanks and housing.

With the general demobilization following the war, the Construction Battalions were reduced to 3,300 men on active duty by 1950. Between 1949 and 1953, Naval Construction Battalions were organized into two types of units: Amphibious Construction Battalions and Naval Mobile Construction Battalions.

The Korean Conflict saw a call-up of more than 10,000 men. The Seabees landed at Inchon with the assault troops. They fought enormous tides as well as enemy fire and provided causeways within hours of the initial landings. Their action emphasized the role of the Seabees and there was no Seabee demobilization when the truce was declared.

Following Korea, the Seabees embarked on a new mission. From providing much needed assistance in the wake of a devastating earthquake in Greece in 1953 to providing construction work and training to underdeveloped countries, the Seabees became "The Navy's Goodwill Ambassadors.”

These "Civic Action teams" continued into the Vietnam War where Seabees, often fending off enemy forces alongside their Marine and Army counterparts, also built schools and infrastructure and provided health care service. After Vietnam, the Seabees built and repaired Navy bases in Puerto Rico, Japan, Guam, Greece, Sicily, and

Spain. Their civic action projects focused mostly in the Trust Territories of the Pacific.

Seabees at work in Greece, 1953 In 1971, the Seabees began their largest

peacetime construction on Diego Garcia, a small atoll in the Indian Ocean. This project took eleven years and cost $200 million. The complex accommodates the Navy's largest ships and the biggest military cargo jets. This base proved invaluable when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm were launched.

During the Gulf War, more than 5,000 Seabees served in the Middle East. They built ten camps for more than 42,000 personnel; 14 galleys capable of feeding 75,000 people; and 6 million square feet of aircraft parking apron.

Over the past 50 years the Seabees have repeatedly demonstrated their skills as fighters and builders. From the islands of the Pacific to the jungles of Vietnam to the sands of Saudi Arabia and to the mountains of Bosnia, they have built and fought for freedom. In peacetime, they have been goodwill ambassadors. In peace and in war, they have lived their motto: "Can Do!"

Thanks to the U. S. Navy Internet website u u u

Soldiers and Cigarettes

Tobacco was and is a large part of our society. Webster’s Dictionary defines tobacco simply as “ . . . a large leaf plant whose leaves are prepared for smoking, chewing or snuffing.” It is a very versatile plant. When used in its many different ways, some would have us believe that its use is tantamount to suicide. Cigarettes, of course, are the most common way that tobacco is used. There may not be a living soul on the planet who does not know what tobacco is. Most know what it smells like as it is burns and what it tastes like when it is smoked.

Tobacco sales still account for millions of dollars in the world economy. Tobacco grows in over 125 different nations. For as long as we can all remember, advertise-ments for tobacco have part of our lives – even after being banned from television nearly three decades ago.

Celebrities, like Perry Como (left) have endorsed tobacco in every form, to further their fortunes, and most have come to regret it. There is probably no other substance that enjoyed universal acceptance by one generation and then to be vilified by the next.

And, tobacco is a topic of tens of thousands of postcards.

As you read on in this issue you will discover links be-tween tobacco and our World War

II history that you may find fascinating. u u u


The Cigarette Camps of World War II by Ray Hahn

Lucky Strike, Old Gold, Philip Morris, Pall Mall – brands of cigarettes! If you’re over fifty you may even remember Wings, Chesterfield, Twenty Grand, Home Run and Herbert Tareyton. A noted historian once remarked that cigarettes and coffee were what made the US Army run so smoothly during World War II. The historian was correct in his judgment, but who

among us remembers that some of the most important military sites in Western Europe were named after the very cigarette brands mentioned above, and those Cigarette Camps, located in and around the French city of LeHavre, were where the cigarettes and coffee were given to the American GI.

Little is remembered today about the Cigarette Camps, but for those who lived and worked in those camps, the events that took place there will be hard to forget.

ate in 1944, when the Allies secured the harbor at Le Havre, the Americans began ringing the city with camps that served as staging areas for new troops arriving in the European Theatre of Operations. Most

of the camps were located between Le Havre and Rouen.

Camp Lucky Strike was the most northerly camp near Cany-Barville; just a few miles south was Camp Old Gold. Near the sea-side village of Etretat was Camp Pall Mall. Camp Home Run, Camp Wings, Camp Herbert Tareyton and Camp Phillip Morris were close to Le Havre. Camp Twenty Grand was located along the Seine just a few miles west of the city of Rouen. Currently, there is no information available about Camp Chesterfield – even the location is in doubt.

The plan was for incoming units to first pass through staging camps on their way to the assembly areas, and then to the front. The staging camps were named after various brands of American cigarettes; the assembly camps were named after American cities. The city camps were located in and about the city of Reims – 145 kilometers east of Paris. The names of cigarettes and American cities were chosen for two reasons: first and primarily, for security. Referring to the camps without an indication of their geographical location went a long way toward ensuring that the enemy would not know where the fresh troops were being assembled. Any German eavesdropping of radio traffic would think that cigarettes were being discussed or the camp was stateside, especially regarding the city camps.

Secondly, there was a subtle psychological reason, the premise being that troops heading into battle wouldn't mind staying at a place where cigarettes would be plentiful and troops about to depart for combat would be somehow comforted in places with names like Camp Atlanta, Camp Baltimore, Camp New York, and Camp Pittsburgh.

L


Most historians doubt that the GIs were duped by any of the cigarette and city name nonsense, but when thousands of GIs returned to the same camps at the end of the war, when the camps were devoted to the process of returning the GIs to America, their ideas may have changed.

September, 1944

Allied Forces regained the city of LeHavre from the Germans on September 12, 1944, but because of the persistence of the German defense and the ferocity of the Allied air assault, most of the city was destroyed, including the world-class harbor on the north bank of the Seine. Even after sustaining heavy bombing throughout the war — at least 130 air raids had been launched against the city — on the 5th of September 1944, the town center was completely destroyed in the span of just four hours by routine "carpet bombing" operations done by the Royal Air Force.

The British l iberated the city, rested there for just a few days, and then continued their pursuit of the

retreating Germans. When the Americans arrived, they wanted to convert the harbor into a powerful logistical base from which to supply their armies with men and materiél. As they moved further and further from the Normandy beaches, Le Havre seemed ideally situated to feed the assault across Northern France. The Americans, as they had done in Cherbourg, began to restore the harbor facilities by increasing the depth of the channel and then the general water level by deep dredging in the dock areas. The Sixteenth Port Command also constructed dozens of ramps to facilitate the easy shuttling of personnel and supplies from ship to shore. By U.S. Quartermaster Corps standards, the city's beautiful quays were unusable since they were too high above the water. The Americans were practical and many physical changes were necessary to ease the transfer of supplies from ships to amphibious vehicles (such as LCAs and DUKWs) to the warehouses and storage areas where trucks - mostly operated under the auspices of the famous "Red Ball Express" - would load. Just as the concept of "hards," which resembled sloping car parks leading directly into the water had transformed dozens of British harbors prior to D-Day, and had expedited the ferrying of troops from shore to large landing ships, Le Havre's waterfront suddenly saw the construction of similar ramps to speed the delivery of spare parts and spare GIs to the mainland. October – November, 1944

The men who disembarked in the harbor were ferried immediately to the Cigarette Camps, the hastily erected conglomerations of tents and wooden huts that rose up in the forests and fields of the French countryside. There was Camp Herbert Tareyton, located in the Forest of Montgeon within the city limits, with a capacity of 16,400 men. Camp Wings, with a capacity of 2,250 men, was situated — somewhat appropriately — on the grounds of the Blaville Aerodrome. At Sanvic, 2,000 men called Camp Home Run home; at Gainneville, Camp Philip Morris held 35,000 men; and at Etretat, Camp Pall Mall provided rather soggy billets for 7,700 men. These four camps were small by comparison to the Big Three — Camp Lucky Strike, located between Cany and Saint-Valery (capacity 58,000); Camp Old Gold, at Ourville (capacity 35,000); and Camp Twenty Grand, near Duclair (capacity 20,000).

It is estimated that nearly three million American troops

either entered or left Europe through Le Havre. The city become known as the "Gateway to America."

In late 1944, the camps were rather primitive places, usually sprawling tent cities with few conveniences, characterized by a sense of transience. As "canvas" camps, they were at the mercy of the weather that is particular to Northern Europe in the fall and winter. Many veterans who spent time at any of the camps before the onset of the Battle of the

Bulge and prior to being shuttled forward recall only cold rain, mud, and snow. Trench foot ran rampant in nearly every camp. So did flu.


December, 1944.

By the end of the year, the fighting was fierce. Most of the GIs had crossed the English Channel in an LST or perhaps an LCI, spent a few days in the cigarette camps which must have been as near to a genuine hell-hole as any of them had ever seen, and then they were sent to the battle field in trucks or entrained in boxcars known as "40 and 8s." (So called by the French designation that 40 hommes (men) and eight cheveaux (horses) was the capacity of the car.) The camps were also known as "pneumonia holes," "repple-depples," or "Repo Depots" (denoting Replacement Depots, also spelled as Repo Depos). No wonder their memories are fowl – on that list there is little good to remember.

World War II movie buffs will recall that the opening scenes of William Wellmann's Battleground evoke the atmosphere at these camps pretty accurately. Winter 1944

During the winter of 1944, the camps were just snow-covered patches of French countryside where tents had been pitched. The following account of the changes at Camp Lucky Strike, as told by men who were there, shows how the camps changed between their arrival in open trucks in late 1944 and their departure the following spring.

“New arrivals were cold, tired, and hungry, but there was work to be done before they could get some shut-eye. They had to assemble their own cots and set up stoves and pick up fuel and haul it back. There was no room service! The stoves barely heated the tents and seemed only effective at thawing the frozen dirt floors so by morning the cots had settled into at least four inches of mud. Soon gravel was available to put down and the men hauled it back in pails, steel helmets, and any other container that could be found. The paths leading through the rows of tents were also graveled and the situation was beginning to improve. After a few months, most of the tents had wooden floors, doors, shelves, and cabinets. A softball diamond, as well as volleyball and basketball courts, were constructed. Day rooms and theater tents were set up. Soon resident units were printing their own newspapers. And the whole place was wired for electricity. Twenty-four hour passes were available to Le Havre, Rouen, Fecamp, and Yvetot. Since bathing facilities at Lucky Strike were nonexistent, one of the first places visited by men on pass was the Red Cross shower room. Perhaps the next most popular spot was the Hotel Metropole in Rouen, where, for a price, just about anything could be obtained. It was also while on pass that most of the men had their first experiences with French wines, cognac, calvados, and benedictine.

Hospital Tent – Camp Lucky Strike, 1944

There was a sign at Lucky Strike, prominently displayed, that in no uncertain terms stated that personnel being processed through this camp were entitled to have one souvenir pistol in their possession, but only one. Anyone found to have more than one will be court-marshaled and given a sentence of six months hard labor in the European Theater of Operations!


There were pyramidal tents pitched on platforms and outside each tent was a large hogshead full of water to be used in case of fire. Before we had been in the camp more than an hour or so, these barrels were overflowing and by evening you could clearly see that they were half-full of all sorts of side arms. If you'd been there, many GIs agree that you would have no desire to revisit the camp. Under the floor of the tents the rats grew to cat size and sounded as though they were wearing boots when they tramped around while the

20-man tents at Camp Lucky Strike men were trying to sleep at night. We really had nothing to do all day, I don't remember being allowed to go into the city and time passed slowly,waiting.

Lucky Strike was a city built from 20-man squad tents, each with only an anemic coal burning stove to ward off the chill. The ration of so many helmets of coal per tent per day was never adequate and the GIs spent the majority of their waking hours trying to scrounge any flammable material with which to feed the stove. The nights were particularly bitter and the men wore or slept under or over every article of clothing they possessed. Some wore their long johns, socks, boots, ODs, field jacket, and wool knit cap, and some even spread a raincoat and shelter half under themselves and put a blanket and overcoat on top to keep warm. Because most men had to visit the latrine during the night and they never bothered to buckle their combat boots, the jingle those buckles made as the men walked to the latrine is something may Lucky Strikers will never forget. Pyramid tents at Camp Twenty Grand

They also say they'll never forget the Spam sandwiches that seemed to be the mainstay of the diet there. The bakers did a creditable job of baking the bread, from which the cooks sawed slices between which other cooks threw chunks of Spam. No pickles, no lettuce, no nothing — except spam and bread. The GIs sometimes called them jam sandwiches because the Spam was just jammed between slices of bread.”

Tent City – Camp Lucky Strike, 1945.

Spring 1945

When the end of the war was in sight, some of these camps underwent tremendous changes in anticipation of the role they were to play as disembarkation camps. Barracks and other permanent structures were built. Hospitals and PXs too. Mess halls replaced outdoor chow lines that once snaked through rows of tents to mobile field kitchens. One of the ironies of war that these camps witnessed was that after V-E Day the mess halls at some of the camps were staffed with cooks and waiters that were German POWs. Many U.S. veterans recall arriving at a camp underfed and malnourished and being served by Germans who were well fed by virtue of working in the American mess halls. (Stories abound of tired GIs arriving on a cold autumn night after a five-day-long ride from Germany to France in a boxcar — only to end up being served lousy boiled chicken by "fat krauts" that had been eating steak on a regular basis.)

Wood began replacing canvas and concrete and

asphalt replaced the mud. The Red Cross had a tremendous presence at those camps that were to handle returning POWs. "Java Junctions," those ubiquitous dispensaries of real coffee and doughnuts, were established at all of the camps. (Spend a day at a camp and one would come away thinking that only tobacco and doughnuts would sustain the American GI.)

Java Junction at Camp Lucky Strike


After May 8, 1945

After V-E Day the camps were ready for their new roles and were redesignated re-deployment centers as part of the plan to both reassign units to the Pacific Theatre or to demobilize others and return men home.

At the core of the U.S. Army Demobilization Plan was the so-called 'Point System.' Points were

awarded for years of service overseas, medals and other commendations received, campaign battle stars earned, as well as other factors. The magic point total for being sent home was 85. Many men had more points, and those that had the most were slated to be sent home first. Sorry to say, it didn’t always work that way. Following is a pretty typical point-system computation table (though probably incomplete):

• Number of months in the armed forces 1 point per month • Number of months overseas 1 point per month • Number of Children 12 points per child • Number of battles stars per unit 5 points per star • Purple Heart winner 5 points per award • Soldier’s Medal winner 5 points per award • Presidential Citation winner 5 points per award

GIs were constantly badgering company clerks to correct errors and make adjustments to their point totals, which were recorded on their Adjusted Service Rating Cards. Those men with the magic number of 85 points, or more, were to return to the United States, while those with fewer points were transferred out to make room for high point men from other organizations. Those with 80 to 84 points were sent to other units in the ETO and some of those with even fewer points were sent home on furlough and then went on to retraining for duty in the Pacific. The latter were perhaps the most fortunate of all, since the war in the Pacific soon ended and many of them were discharged before the higher-point men in the ETO got home.

Beyond June 1945

Occupation troops also continued to arrive at Le Havre and spend a few days at the cigarette camps before receiving final orders that sent them to places like West Berlin and Nuremberg, but by 1946, the camps were falling into disrepair and were becoming little more than the ramshackle collections of tents pitched in vast mud holes.

Today.

Very little remains. There is no trace of Camp Old Gold. Camp Herbert Tareyton is a city park. The town of St. Pierre de Varengeville is using the surviving buildings of Camp Twenty Grand. There is some scuffed tarmac that was once a taxiway at Camp Lucky Strike, but the site of Camp Philip Morris is completely deserted, although artifacts are found if one digs a bit.

The best evidence of the Cigarette Camps is in the memory and scrapbooks of those who lived there.

A great deal of credit for this piece goes to Larry Belmont of Blue Point, New York. Because of his

Site of Camp Herbert Tareyton, 1999. efforts, I was able to learn about the cigarette camps from his website: http://www.skylighters.org.

As always, history cannot be written properly without the participation of the men and women who were witnesses, and we invite veterans and any other person who has knowledge or memories of these camps to get in touch with the Mr. Belmont at (516) 363-8014.

This article is dedicated to all the veterans of WWII who are members of the South Jersey Postcard Club.

south jersey post card club newslettersince orcas have large brains and are very intelligent, they...

Documents