Book Review: The School of Hard Knocks: Combat Leadership in the American Expeditionary Forces

The School of Hard Knocks: Combat Leadership in the American Expeditionary Forces

by Richard S. Faulkner, Texas A&M Press, 2012.

The C.A. Brannen Series of books on WW1 published by Texas A&M continues to be one of, if not the, best places to look for quality books on the A.E.F.  This work, The School of Hard Knocks deals with what some might find a boring subject: how the officers and NCO's of the AEF were trained.  If you passed it by because that is what you thought, look again.

The US army performed a miracle by growing its multi-million man army in record time. No one disputes that, especially the Germans who said it could not be done. In doig so, however, one of the corners cut was training. This resulted in an army that had the spirit, but poor preparation for the war. The result? A lot more casualties than might have been.  After reading this book you will see a few areas where the Americans could have improved their schools and classes, but also realize how hard it was to keep the formations together when everything kept expanding and you constantly needed men transferred to form new units. All of the different forms of officer schools are covered: Plattsburgh Camps OTS, COTS, and the rest. Also schools set up in Europe for continued training when the units arrived there. Examples of how the training impacted combat are given.

One of the more interesting concepts is that before the war company level officers spent so long in their low rank that they had a great deal of time to learn their trade, nto just in tactics but in how tom manage men, that the suddenly enlarged army no longer had time for the previous type of extended internship, and the lessons learned by senior officers at Leavenworth no longer had any time to trickle down.  

Great credit is given to the French Army officer's school, and the question why we did not adopt the same principle is raised. However the simple fact is the US Army was growing so fast there was little time to develop the types of instructors needed, the very men needed for these schools were the first ones to do anything to get transferred to the front, and the US was continually afraid its men would be little more than replacement bodies for the Allies. While this may seem silly today, Both England and France were constantly pressuring America to just stick out men into their armies and let them run the war. What I found quite interesting in this regard, was the American units that were trained by the British, and commanded in the British zone did not seem to fare any better than the ones kept under US training and command.

I do feel that, once again, Pershing's desire to stress the rifle and open warfare is misunderstood, and he has been wrongfully criticized for this.  In fact, there are places in this book where the author unknowingly refutes some of the commonly held theories by the anti-Pershing league.  It only makes sense that if you do not have any of the specialty weapons of war handy (grenades, automatic rifles, machine guns, trench mortars, etc.) you spent the time on getting the soldiers able to actually hit what they are aiming at with the rifles. There, however, a disconnect between what Pershing wanted and what was actually done in training, that distorted his plans, and left the soldiers spending ungodly hours doing drill, and digging textbook trenches, instead of becoming marksmen and learning about fire and movement.

In any event, this is a really good book on the AEF and goes a long way to understanding how and why the AEF operated. It's recommended for anyone that has a serious interest in the Americans in WW1, as it is not "just a book on training."  I found it fascinating.
 

 

 

 

Book Review:  Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I  

By Emily Mayhew, ISBN 0199322457

I was fortunate enough to be able to read this book before its official release as an Ebook, which for some reason did not have the illustrations working properly. Nevertheless I found it an easy to read, fascinating, and important book on the western front and the great war in general.

It is not a typical history book. The author does not use much in the way of official documents, manuals and after action reports as I would normally expect. Instead, she pieces together the route a wounded British serviceman would take from the front line to the British Hospitals by telling the stories found in memoirs of men, and women, who served in the various jobs along the evacuation route. Unlike the work of Lyn McDonald, where the quotes are offset, Mayhew has written the participants of each chapter into a very readable and coherent narrative.  

It's unusual in that each chapter deals with a different 'type' of jobs: stretcher bearer, orderly, hospital train nurse, chaplain, field hospital staff, and even the volunteers who moved the wounded from trains arriving in London onto ambulances that took them to the Blighty Hospitals. Even the medical services to POWs are mentioned.  Normally, this type of book I find relies too much on direct (and often erroneous quotes) but pardon the pun when I call it 'ripping well done.

It opens up a while new area of the war that is not often talked about, and portrays chaplains (well, the good ones) in a whole new light. It's not a technical history of medicine in the war by any means, but a view from the ground up of what wounded soldiers went through, and what their caretakers went through.   When you read of the endless hours on their feet during a push, and the sometimes scarce resources they had to work with, you will not look at a nurse, or bearer, or doctor, or orderly, or ambulance driver the same way again.

Why is this book about the British medical system of special interest to those interested in the Americans in WW1? The book makes little mention of the vast medical support supplied to the British by the Americans; the large numbers of doctors and specialists who volunteered before 1917, and the even larger number of medical personnel who were attached to British medical units to gain experience while waiting for their A.E.F. components to get overseas. Thus the British medical system had a great influence on how the Americans developed their own.

Very Highly recommended. Not only for those interested in military medicine, but WW1 in general, and for how people can, and do, rise to the occasion to help their fellow man.  

 

This is an ETO MIA case from last year, however what is interesting about it is the guy was found with THREE dog tags.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonatwar/2012/05/gerald_mike_kight_approaches_h.html

Don't cry about the cost of 101st Material

While I think prices are crazy (like painted helmets, most of which are probably fake), I would like to make the point that it's only collecting SPECIFIC THINGS that is a rich man's game.  Sure, you want uber special-combat-commando-death from above-named and used in combat stuff? It's going to cost you- due to supply and demand as the demand is ultra high.

But if you collect something that is not at the top of the pile there's lots of stuff that can still be collected for cheap. You can walk into a show and for little money buy some nice things if they are not something everyone else is buying. And in that knowledge is power. If you know what you are doing there are always undervalued things on dealer's tables that they don't realize the value of it. 

Part of this is the old collectable rule of 'collect something no one else does, amass it, write a book, then sell off you collection.' Case in point: old metal lunch boxes. Once the book has been written interest goes up and prices spike.

 

Yes, you should collect what you are interested in, but collectors, especially young ones, should at least consider not following the crowd.   If they look around (and read books on military subjects that are not just collector's books) they may very well find something that is interesting, and for the cost of a "pistol belt used by a paratrooper" can acquire a very nice collection of items that may just be sitting in people's junk boxes.

Maybe that means from a time period folks aren’t interested I much. I see some really great cold war material for cheap.  Navy items are still pretty inexpensive. There's a lot of small home front dohickies that are passed by as 'not being a combat item.'  I am astounded at the low cost of some of the post 2000 military items on the market. Most of these guys are still around and could probably tell some great stories- a gold mine for a young collector. It could be another country's items; how many people collect Canadian items used in peacekeeping missions?  You could collect variations on WW2 canteens and end up with a great collection of different makers for the cost of one "combat used" helmet.  

I am reminded of a fellow I took to his first show who wanted to collect German stuff. After looking at the prices, and realizing the minefield of fakes, he started collecting German railway insignia.  He picked up items that no one was reproducing, for a very low price when everyone else was looking at the iron cross 1^st class and trying to decide if it was real.

I guess what I am saying is keep your mind open and don’t feel you have to follow the crowd. Strike out on your own. Find an area no one knows much about and do the research to make it your own area of expertise. If you have to collect WW2 combat infantry consider specializing on one division or landing in the Pacific. Or what about the coast artillery, or AAA units, or … the list is almost endless.

GI Blue: An MP's journey through World War II

by William R. Lewis

 

Another WW2 MP book !   This one, written by the veteran, covers his time in the 202^nd MP Bn.  in the Mediterranean; mainly Italy. It's a competent memoir, and everything pretty much rings true.  The 202^nd was initially a Corps unit, then he ends up in a 5^th Army unit (which explains the cover photo with 5^th Army MP jeep).

However, as a book about an MP unit there are few of the mundane silly little details that die hard enthusiasts are looking for.  So nothing about equipment, helmets markings, vehicle markings, etc.  Not that it’s a subject everyone has an interest in. There's also not really any actual combat material, but then I did not expect any.

It does a good job of portraying MPs as having a somewhat dearly life patrolling up and down roads looking for broken down vehicles, manning obscure checkpoints, giving directions, and basically doing  pretty much what we expect them to be doing.  In doing so it reinforces my feelings that this is how MPs spent their time, not bashing in heads of drunken soldiers, or writing up troops for having missing buttons, or smashing black market rings. They had a job to do, sometimes pretty boring, they did it, and that's that.

As for photos, there are a few but they show little in the ways of any MP related details. Really, the best one is on the cover. It is a print on demand book, so it ends up costing $20 for a paperback, which is a little steep, but then there probably will never be many printed and almost impossible to find used.

So in short, I'm slightly torn.  There is nothing wrong with the book. It’s a solid WW2 memoir providing a glimpse in the life of an average MP. Certainly if you have an interest in those troops you should get a copy.  I'd rate it as above average in terms of WW2 memoirs (not much rehashing of the strategic picture, no improbably stories, and a goodly section about the war years instead of pre and post Army life), well written, and on an obscure subject. I just keep wondering what this book might have been had someone sat down and really prodded him for all the little details that are going to be lost in time.  
 

Defining Moment at Wirtzfeld: The Story of the Military Police Platoon, 2nd Infantry Division, in World War II, by James Edwards

This is a "son of a vet' book about the MP platoon of the 2^nd Infantry Division. 

First, I have to say- do not let the rimmed British .303 rounds on the cover discourage you. When I saw them I took a deep breath and chanted "it's only the cover designer…"     Second, it was a massive shock to find that I was thanked at the end of the forward for 'Finding Your Father's War.' I had no knowledge of this book at all until I saw a mention of it on the web.

In any event, it is a very competent history of the 2^nd MP platoon. I will say the author has really done his homework and gone through not only the unit records, but also company morning reports, families of other veterans, and whatever else he could turn up.  So this is by no means a dull "written from a few letters my dad sent home and what WW2 books I found at the library;" there's a lot of in depth work here.  Sadly, only two MP platoon vets were able to be located to interview for it (an amazing number in this day and age).  

Also, a number of family members of vets he located turned out to have photos from the war, and the book is filled with them. Sadly, many are the tiny ones that are never as clear as you want them to be, but a far cry from overused generic  signal corps ones. Sadly, there's not too many MP details to be gleamed from them, but some good ones showing helmet and jeeps markings at various times.

As a unit history of that platoon it is very good. Unfortunately, where it stumbles is in dealing with all the minutae of being an MP in WW2, which has never been well documented. No blame to the author here- you cannot write about something that pretty much everyone that ever knew it has died.  Which is why I got depressed reading this book: we're very close to the end of having any living input into books on WW2.  

If you have an interest in the 2^nd Infantry Division you will find a lot of the info interesting, especially of the stand at Wirtzfeld which is certainly a major event in the unit's history. Likewise this makes it a good book for any one really deep into the Ardennes. If you are just interested in what MPs did, you may be somewhat disappointed as there's not a lot of that material here.

More BOOKS!

Yeah, I am going back to reviewing more books. For a while there was just so much crap out there I figured military publishing was ruined.  There's still a lot of crap, but you all know that if I give something a thumbs up, it's probably worth reading.

I have to say that military publishing has been pretty slow in terms of ebooks. This may have to do with the issues of using photos and maps and such, which can be done (I have a project due out soon), but it's a pain and not as cool as a nice print layout.

Anyway, if you know any books I should look at, with a focus on memoirs and collecting, let me know.

But while I am on this, I have to mention two books which are great fun- although they are military science fiction.

The 'Chronicles of Old Guy,' and 'Space Battleship Scharnhorst and the Library of Doom'.    They deal with massive cybernetic armored vehicles in the far future. If you think these are just another Ogre/Bolo books, well they are quite different, contain scads of odd and unusual ideas, and are really great fun.  You know they have to be good as the author is my frigging genius brother,  and I really, REALLY wanted to hate them as I am the author in this family... but no, they were too good. Anyway, go take a look at the first chapter off 'Old Guy' at Amazon (or B+N, or Smashwords) and if you like the first few pages, it just gets better.

Best War movie... EVER!

My Way, “Inspired by a true story”  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606384

 

From what I gather this is a Korean film shot in Latvia. Let’s see if you can follow the plot. It follows two kids in Japanese occupied Korean (pre war) one Japanese- one Korean. Korean family is poor, Japanese family is rich. Kids do not get along as they are marathon rivals. Japanese kid becomes colonel in Japanese Army, Koran lowly private in his unit. They fight the Russians in Manchuria (some really fun suicide missions blowing up tanks here), but are captured and sent to Siberian POW work Camp.

 

Germany invades Russia and they get drafted as privates (remember, one was a colonel of the Japanese army). The fight a mad charge against German machine guns (taken almost verbatim from “Enemy at the Gates,” and somehow they desert and are found by the Germans. So they  get drafted by the Germans into an Ost Battalion. Where are they sent to work? You got it- Normandy. Omaha Beach to be exact.

 

Now comes what has to be the greatest, most amazing and spectacular D-Day scene EVER!!!!!

(note: five exclamation points rating). A fighter crashes into their trench following them running down it towards the camera and they are narrowly missed by the wreckage.  Explosions!! Bombers (Memphis Belle). Massive Allied fleet. GI’s run in in landing craft (SPR), and we find out two friends held at gunpoint by an evil Nazi officer to fire machine guns at the Americans. Americans land and fire Ranger style grappling hooks to climb up to the concrete bunker (no cliff here, just a beach with a ridge of sand behind it). They seem to not see the tourist wooden stairway going to the top of the sand dune. More big explosions and the two guys escape their bunker and run away across a field. 16” Naval guns pound around them, with explosions like small hand grenades.

 

Even though it is daylight, paratroopers start landing, and surround the two guys in a circle. Sadly, the Korean is wounded (in the  heart) so he gives his dog tag to the Japanese guy saying if the Americans find out he is a Jap they will kill him. Korean Dies, Jap cries, and we see later on the Japanese guy has assumed the Koreans identity and WINS the Olympic marathon in his name.  Hooray! War is Bad! Human spirit triumphs over badness.

 

Now, what is really weird is that most of the props and uniforms and CGI are really pretty good. It’s the story that makes it a near laughable film. I admit I enjoyed the first half pretty much, but then when they join the German army all credibility goes away and it was more astonishment that someone actually wrote this, and more so that they actually made it. Even more so that have the balls to say it is “Inspired by a true story.”

 

Seriously, the ending D-day sequence is pretty hysterical to watch as it is a combination of decent uniforms and equipment, but horrendous plot. As if someone looked at the pictures in books but was unable to read the text.  That and they bought any CGI items that had already been programmed. In fact for a while I wondered if they had just purchased clips from other war films to use.  I can only assume the "inspired by" means "Inspired by all the WW2 war films the author went to see and realized made lots of money."

 

 

review: How I met Ike, by James M. Cagle

The Forest Gump of WW2

 

Having read and written about WW2 for a great many years I snatch up memoirs of soldiers. This one I haven't really figured out. I can't decide if this is total fiction, an honest start that slips into a fantasy, or someone trying to write a great WW2 book in a novel style thinking no one will notice. In any event- it ain't a true story.

It starts off as what I expect from a typical pre-war member of the Army. The tough sergeants and such. And then the author gets into the whole importance of the regimental boxing team, and I think "oh no, someone's seen From Here to Eternity." But I give him the benefit of a doubt as a similar story played out in many regiments around the country. I even forgive the author's claim of being on a "61mm" mortar crew as perhaps a `not his fault` typo (make up your mind: 60mm or 81mm). Then, modern military terminology starts to creep in and explainations showing a lack of understanding of how things were done in WW2. Ok, so maybe he got confused as he stayed in 20 years. But they would not have searched 201 files for a secretary for Ike, they would have used the IBM card files and hew should have known that boy wunderkin that he is. Once he meets Ike things start to go downhill fast.

The author reportedly becomes Ike's pet project who decides not to get him a commission, but have him become a warrant officer. The author, forgetting for a moment that there were TWO grades of warrant officers (not four) at the time, while waiting for his warrant officer paperwork to clear goes to airborne school. He then goes to Ranger school. Now his Ranger school description is totally incorrect. He uses the modern three phase training, when the two Ranger battalions for the ETO were done in a totally different way at a camp he never mentions. BUSTED! He also claims to have been flown to Scotland to help train the 29th Rangers. Now, I know a lot about the 29th Rangers and have interviewed many. I even know the Millholland family. The tale of his time with the 29th Rangers is massively full of holes. I suspect he got his information on this unit from Black's WW2 Ranger book, but then I can't explain his total screw up on the whole training issue.

But wait, there's more. Even with a terrible shortage of trained paratroopers, he is not sucked up by the 101st as were many 29th Rangers, but goes to the Mediterranean to hang with Darby's Rangers- only to be pulled back to Washington (priority air again- he never takes a boat anyplace due to his special missions) by Ike to become some sort of super-secret intelligence specialist and trained by the OSS. He then, as code name JAX, runs OSS agents in a manner that makes no sense in terms of what any of the histories of those units indicate. For someone 'in the know' he is dead wrong on a massive rubber army, and seems to have been bogoted but still allowed ot go to France to boost morale of the OSS and resistance. He claims to have been In Normandy when the invasion happens, He links up with the 101st, and is told by Ike to compile a report on the invasion. He then proceeds to spit back what can be read in any number of books on the Normandy landings (some material proved incorrect since it was published) as his investigative report.

He then gets to basically go all over the place for the rest of the war spending time with unit after unit that happened to be in some spot of interest. Some of his stories are so ridiculous as to make me want to throw this book against a wall. He boards a C-47 for Market Garden by telling the jumpmaster he was on a "special assignment" with no paperwork or advance direction of what craft to board. He just shows up. BUt then there is no eyewittness description fo the actual fight. Some of the other events I happen to know quite well, and have talked to men who were there- if he was there, he was way back at some command post drinking coffee and listing to things 4th hand.

Now,IF the one in a million chance that all this really did happen, and all those things that defy logic, historical records, and the testimony of other men just happens to be true, I will gladly work all-out to promote this book as the most important thing work since The Longest Day, if only I can see his official military record. Copies of his original observer notes would also do. This is a case of prove it, or shut up. The claim of records being secret won't cut it. If he did this, the evidence would be in his record.

My best guess is that someone in his family took his smattering of stories (and he may well have actually been an aide to Ike for a few days), and concocted this great exploit and filled everything in with material from other books and movies.

So, do not buy this book unless you want to be amazed at what someone publioshed. Due to the obvious errors nothing. NOT ONE THING in it can be taken as fact. It does a terrible disservice to the men who were actually there, and took part. It also does a terrible disservice to James Cagle himself, who may have done his part like millions of other men, but he, or someone else, felt they had to elaborate the story.

Book Review:

Dog Tags: The History, Personal Stories, Cultural Impact, and Future of Military Identification  by Ginger Cucolo.Allen House Publishing 2012.,346 pages, ISBN 978-0983305705.

One of the ways I rate a book is by looking at what has come before on the subject, and asking if the author has indeed added anything to the body of knowledge.  In this case the answer is: not really.  From a historical tangible artifact standpoint the research on the history of dogtags is just not that great.   Paul Braddock’s 2003 book on dog tag history is just so much better.  I make my case with pointing out that this book does not go into the detail of the various small changes made to the tags during WW1.

 

Seeing as how the book is about tags, I would expect any actual fact about them to be presented.  I pretty much lost interest when the square tags of WW1 were totally glossed over and the reason for using them was not explained. To correct the book: they were not issued, they were a field expedient.  There is a difference. Moving into WW2 I picked up a lot of omissions, such as the plastic tags used in the Pacific, and an apparent misunderstanding of the green bottle used by the Graves Registration guys.

What totally baffled me was the inclusion of fictional stories of men in the various wars. I’m sorry, but in my opinion (and yours may vary) fiction has no place in a historical work.  Especially when there are genuine stories that could be found.   

An awful lot of the book is just fluff: photos of souvenirs that look like dogtags, stories of tags returned to the original owners, letters apparently written to the author in a request for dog tag material, and.. well… fluff - Nice filler that adds little.  I got the feeling that much of the book came from searching “dogtags” on Google and re-reporting stories reported by others.  

Yes, I am biased. I’ve collected dogtags for a long time. I wrote my first article about them in the late 80’s.  I’ve been privileged to be able to read the dog tag work of Paul Braddock, and the Graves Registration research of Steve West.  A casual reader may find the book cute and interesting, but as a work of history it falls short of the mark.  

Just don't waste your time, and find a copy of Paul's Book.  It is still the best out there.

addendum:  I just noticed that you buy a used copy for less than a buck. OK, for that cheap maybe something in it is worthwhile. Just be sure to double check the historical facts.

Book Review: Intact, a First-hand Account of the D-day Invasion from a Fifth Rangers Company Commander by General John C. Raaen, Jr. Reedy Press. 2012. 184 pages. ISBN 978-1935806271.


On D-Day, John Raaen was the company commander of the 5th Ranger Battalion’s Headquarters’ Company. He also wrote his unit’s after action report for the early days in June, and thus is an invaluable witness to the confusion of the invasion.

Now, almost 70 years later, he has written his memories of the invasion the following few days. What makes this memoir somewhat different is that he had actually written down his memoires shortly after the event, and set them aside. Years later, when he attempted to document what the 5th Rangers had been through, he compared his one memory and the official histories, with his period notes; he found them at odds with one another. He worked to figure out which was the truth, and here we have a marvelous picture of what happened.

This may be one of the most detailed memoirs I have seen of that day. You can follow his movements past road, hedgerow and farm by his periodic use of grid coordinates. As such this is not only a terribly important record of D-Day, but of the following post invasion days as well. Anyone with an interest in the Rangers, or in Omaha really should read this book.

Many WW2 memoirs are a bit disappointing; this one is not. I have one main complaint about the book: it’s too short. I hope that the author can find the time to expand it to include some of the D-Day training, as well, the post invasion period up to Brest, or into Germany.

A suggestion (and I guess a minor note) is that the map of the area with grid lines is not well reproduced in the book.  (I think they grayscaled it rather than black and white). I would suggest you have one of the many reprints of that Omaha map and its environs by your hand as you read. Heck, stick it under plastic and trace his route with a gease pencil!


Purchase Intact from Amazon.

Book Reviews

Someone just came up with a figure that 60% of all book reviews on Amazon are fake, and paid for. You can send a guy some money, and he will round up people on his list (or find more on Craig's list) to add in a good review for a small fee. He makes a ton of money doing this. I know, criticize most books. That's because they are either bad, needless, or could be so much more if done right. Too many books in the military history field are done with little editorial comment, so that the author's have no real feedback on what they could do to make their book really shine. It's just sad. But, for everyone with a book out, they can always find a dozen or so people to post 5 star glowing reviews of it on Amazon. I need to get back to reviewing books. You may not agree with what I say, but at least I am honest about it. Now, whom to torture first?

Someone recently asked me why I glorify war.

The answer is simple, I don't.

I probably put it best in the intro to Finding Your Father's War. "War is a nasty, gruesome business. It has far less glory than popularly supposed, and is, as a rule, a waste of good lives. It is one of the most brutal, repulsive, and undeniable fascinating activities known to man. We all know it is awful, yet we still fight."

In editor removed a few adjectives from the first line such as horrible and brutal. He figured I had made my point. I'm not sure I did. However, I have a theory as to why we seem to go to war every generation or so. That's because as a society we forget just how fucking bad it really is. Over time bad memories of it are replaced by the ones recalling humor, friendship, and heroism. And the last generation sends the next out to wade in the mud, sand, blood and shit.

A vet once turned to me and said, "you want to know what the smell of death is like? It smells like shit. When someone dies they crap their pants. There's nothing special about it."

I've spent a long time trying to understand what my father went through that made him what he was. I will never fully know, but I've come close. I recall the fellow just off Omaha Beach telling my how he prayed to God that if he made it through alive that day he would go to mass every day for the rest of his life. He did, and he did. When his wife became ill he felt it was a duty placed on him by God in addition to going to mass, to take care of her. He had had a number of good years with her; what's a few more having a burden when he could have had none.

Or the guy who blew off a leg from a mine saying he was never as happy as when they hauled him back as he knew he was not going back into combat. Screw the leg; he was still alive. Or son that told me when his dad came home he crawled into a bottle and never came out.

In my work I have tried to understand these things, with any luck make others understand as well. There's enough pro-military material out there. Eventually the seduction of heroism and medals and bringing back bloody helmets as a souvenir overwhelms the cries of the actual combat vets who want to make sure people know that it truly sucked. Big time. Never forget: it's not just for the Holocaust.

 

Where did all the painted helmets go?

Some people just can't deal with the fact that there are not that many genuine painted helmets left from the war.

Well, this is what happened to a lot of them:

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675076669_reclamation-activities_helmets-piled-up_man-cleaning_helmets-of-soldiers-and-medics

 

The Golden BB

Most people are familiar with the idea of the "Golden BB." In modern terms it means that even a nearsighted, syphilitic, old villager can fire up into the air and shoot down a stealth fighter, IF he just happens to point it in the right direction and pull the trigger at the right time.

In other words, while the odds of some improbable things happening are pretty low, there's always that one chance.

With fewer and fewer really well documented items coming onto the market, I keep seeing collectors look for the "Golden BB" in items they buy. They will find something and go to any length trying to justify how it is rare, or cool, even when some common sense should tell you to be very, very suspicious.

You can always tell these tales as they generally start with "well, he COULD have … (done such and so)." If you have to bend over backwards and come up with improbable scenarios to try and justify something, maybe you should take a big step back, take a deep breath, and think.

A lot of these tall tales revolve around so called secret or operations. Well, he COULD have been sent on a secret mission into occupied Germany, but his records say he was at cook and baker's school as a cover. Well, he COULD have been issued old obsolete material and taken care of it so he came home from WW2 with all WW1 webbing. Well, he COULD have been transferred from the Marines to this Army unit due to his training in amphibious landings.

Yes, it is possible someone COULD have served in the Army in WW1, the Marines in WW2, The Air Force in Korea, and maybe the Naval reserves during Viet Nam, but it's not bloody likely. Yes, it's possible that the Smokey the Bear patch found in a Nam Vets lot COULD have been adopted by his unit as they kept starting up forest fires by their artillery strikes. Yes, a guy COULD have been issued with a gizmo that was made in the last week of the war and flown over especially to see if it could get tested out in combat. Yes, it's possible that Marine ended up with a rare prototype Army helmet cover on Iwo Jima (and was able to hang onto it after he was wounded and evacuated).

By the way- one of the above is a real example claimed by a fairly well known museum. The rest are variations I have heard over the years.

You know the people who do this. No matter what evidence you point out, they always have a work around for how it COULD have happened. They always claim no records were kept for some obscure reason. They will never listen to reason. They will always deep in their heart believe that maybe this German badge was made by a small Czech company that used a different technique that every other manufacture which just happens to look like a modern copy, and thus no one has ever documented it.

And yes, there are always the Golden BB's that seem highly improbable, but might actually turn out to be true. I've learned my lesson though. After pointing out one major problem with something, if the person immediately comes back with a "he COULD have…" in that tone of voice where you know they just have to believe.. it's not worth my time trying to set them straight.

film props

With the recent show of film/TV props now on the air, I am sure a lot of people will think of cashing in on their "iconic" (insert name of any film item) that "will bring $100,000."

I have a box of props from Saving Private Ryan. I was given some by the crew, and picked up a few others when they first came on sale. The only reason I got them was as examples of reproductions - not so much a film souvenier.

So many items were stolen during the filming of SPR that when they made Band of Brothers they had to install video security on the storage rooms. That still did not stop people from taking a plain old (insert some generic webbing item) and claiming it had been used in the film. Some of the crew themselves that knew where reproductions were being sourved privatly bought extra for themselves and then flogged it off as an actual prop.

So for the Pacific they were careful and made lost of extra stuff for sale after the film. Just look at how much is now out there, and the relative low prices. My bet is they will never really climb too high as there's so much, it is too easily faked, and the show did not touch the same nerves that SPR and BOB did.

Anyway, back to this new auction show. I have a number of friends that are involved with film props, and from what they tell me this show is one of the greatest "non-reality" reality shows ever. Its almost all staged.To the point where they sometimes move a collectors props to a storage area so they can claim they "discovered them."

It also seems that anyone considering buying from this guy should do some reading on his background in terms of complaints about authenticity. I'm not saying anything, but there appear to have been some problems. Lots of them.

However, on the bright side. I don't drink, but if I did I'd have anew drinking game. Take a sip every time he uses the word ICONIC, and toss it all back when he says something will bring $100,000 grand.

Are authors all idiots?

Why do so many people assume authors are idiots?

Case in point. As happens all to often to me, I got a call from a "freelance writer" the other day who was doing an article for a well known military magazine on a subject I had spent years working on a book about. Now clearly this person had no clue what they were doing (as in thinking the work "ETO" was pronouned "E-Toe" and meant an actual location).

But what they wanted was for me to give them them some photos for their work. Of which they would be paid additonal for. (I checked that mags writerss guideline: between $20 and $80 per photo).

So here I am. Having spent a very long time digging up rare photos that they cannot find, and them wanting me to give them to the writer so they can get paid for them.

I told this freelancer to have the editor call me direct. And actually, the editor did not call me, but their creative director did, who pretty much bitched me out for not just given them what they wanted, and for having the gaul to think that maybe, just maybe, they might want someone that atually knows the subject to go over what they were going to print so as to get it right.

She did not exactly say "we really don't care if we get it wrong, as no one will know and we just want to fill space." but it was pretty damn close.

There was a lot more to it, including her using the age old myth that anyone that who has ever had any connection to the military instantly knows everythign there is to know about militarry patterns past, present and future (even doctors specialize you know).

So I did say, sure, you want to pay me for the photos and I will get them to you. But no, as they had money to pay the staff, and anyone they assigned for the article no matter how incompetant, but not for someone who had wrtten the book they were basing the article on! Can I have one of those jobs?

But I have decided there is a new ring in hell. For writers who do not do their own photo/illo research work. If you wonder why photos in most books are horrendously lame, it is because most authors just write text, and then leave it up to some one else to find "X" photos to put in the book. Seriously, many have no connection at all to the photos work or selection. And if they did it probably would not matter as they would not know if the photo was mis-captioned or anything.

Photo research is a skill and a developed talent. If you find photos no one has ever seen, people take notice. If then everyone else starts using those photos their value decreases.

This is why, (truie story) when one guy sent me a manuscript to look at which had all the photos be copied out of my books with my original captions included... I got a bit upset.
His excuse was "you did such a wonderful job finding the perfect photos that I figured why bother redoing that!" Seriously. And I mean they were photocpied form my book with including the original captions!

And he still doesn't understand why I got pissed.

Sad thing is, this kind of crap happens to me about every 2-3 months.

Ebay

I've noticed a trend on ebay recently. Average stuff is just not selling. High end stuff goes for stupid prices. In trying to make some room in my house I have been putting some really decent stuff on ebay. I often do not even get a minimum bid. This has made me start selling the items at fixed price in the collector's world.

At this tells me is that the field is not growing. Probably due to lack of money. If people are not buying, they are not collecting, and if not collecting they may fall out of that habit and into another that is cheaper.

Yes, blame the economy. Only a wealthy society can afford to collect. We know the Romans (well, the rich ones) collected coins. However collecting pretty much stopped for a while, until the very rich started it up again. Small wonder that the USA pretty much led the world in collecting stuff.

So what I wonder is: if someone is not collecting now due to money problems, will they start collecting when money returns? Or will they have developed a "depression" outlook and stock away that money for a rainy day (as those who lived through the depression did).

Actually, in some respects ebay is a little bit more like it was in the early days when you could find real bargains. I've seen some very good buys tucked in around the items from E/5906th. Of course, now that everything costs $10 to ship, those inexpensive items need to be worth a lot more to make it worthwhile.

Victory over the moths

Well, enough time has passed without anything new getting in the traps, so I will declare victory!

I did invent a kind of neat device though. I have a number of footlockers and boxes that contain wool items. I was worried that a moth might get in their and lay eggs.

So what I did was tale one of the no pest strips, and cut it into little 1" chunks. You can't just toss these in as if they touch cloth they can discolor it. So I took two plastic cups from some desert, poked a bunch of holes in the bottom of one, put the chunk in the solid one and slid the holed one into it.

This gives me a device which the gas will slowly bleed off, but nothing can come in touch with it due to the shape of the cups. The small chunk is enough to fill the footlocker with gas, and nuke ANY insect in it. Should work for 3-4 months.

Missing WWII Soldier is Identified in Germany

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Sgt. Edward T. Jones, of West Pawlet, Vt., will be buried on Sept. 25 in Saratoga, N.Y. In November 1944, the 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division was traveling east through the Hürtgen Forest in an attempt to capture the German towns of Vossenack and Schmidt. On Nov. 6, Jones and five other members of A Company, 112th Infantry Regiment, were killed in the town of Kommerscheidt when a German tank fired point-blank on their position.

In 2008, a German explosive ordnance disposal team, working at a construction site in the town of Kommerscheidt, found fragments of a World War II-era U.S. military boot. The team notified the German War Graves Commission who recovered remains of two individuals at the site and military equipment including two identification tags. The items were turned over to a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team in the area for further analysis.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.