IP: Friendly fire and related sagas

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 10:27:33 PST
> From: "Peter G. Neumann" <neumann () csl sri com>
> To: Dave () farber net
> Subject: Friendly fire and related sagas
> Cc: Lauren () vortex com
>
>
>   [You'll love this from Col. D.G. Swinford, USMC, Ret. and history buff.
>   You really have to dig to get this kind of ringside seat to history.
>   (Original source unknown.  Reformatted for readability by PGN.)]
>
> 1. The first German serviceman killed in WW II 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.
>
> 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).
>
> 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.
>
> 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 have been worse if there had been any Japanese on
> the island.

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