Photos WW2 US Forces

[guest0001]

 

[guest0001]

 

[guest0001]

 

[guest0001]

 

[guest0001]

 

[guest0001]

 

[guest0001]

 

[guest0001]

While flyovers are common at sporting events today, one particular flyby in 1943 caught spectators and players by surprise as it was totally unplanned!
Lt. Jack W. Watson of the U.S. Army Air Force and his crew, along with three other crews, were flying to Maine as a stopover en route to England. As they passed New York City, The 21-year-old freckled-face Watson realized that the World Series was just starting and decided to do an impromptu visit. The flight of four Flying Fortresses buzzed Yankee Stadium where the Yankees were taking on the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the 1943 World Series. They enjoyed it so much, they decided to make two more passes, on the third pass flying so low, one reporter said it looked like they would clip the stadium's flag poles!
New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who attended the game, was outraged and demanded the USAAF investigate. They did, but given the need for pilots in World War II, the four pilots, including Watson, were given a $75 fine and the matter was dropped.
As for Watson, he would go on to complete 35 missions in the war effort and in a radio interview remarked that he hoped Mayor La Guardia, would forgive him. La Guardia, hearing of Watson’s plea, sent him a cable stating:
“Delighted to get your message. All is forgiven. Congratulations. I hope you never run out of altitude. Happy landings. Will be seeing you soon.”

 

[guest0001]

The rather ornate entrance to the 345th School Squadron at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas in 1942.
Kelly Field ( now a part of Lackland AFB) became a major USAAF Air Service Command Base during WW2.
(LIFE / Steinheimer)

 

[guest0001]

Wherever the military went, the Press went too!
The Press tent is marked accordingly. Okinawa. circa 1945.
(LIFE / Smith)

 

[guest0001]

The PTO equivalent of "Joe's Garage and Body Shop".
Jeeps fixed While-U-Wait!
Rabaul, November 1943.
The Jeep in question is suspended by the boom of a Set #7 crane at the rear of a long wheel base GMC CCKW 353 2.1/2 ton truck.
(LIFE / Shrout))

 

[BravoZulu]

US Army troops of the 35th Infantry Regiment (25th ID) push a supply raft up the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal; January 1943. The 35th participated in seizing the village of Kokumbona and trapping the Japanese in the Mount Austen Pocket ending organized resistance on Guadalcanal on 9-Feb-1943.

Wounded soldier assisted down a hillside and then taken by boat to a hospital; 15-January-1943

 

[BravoZulu]

Corporal Tony D'addio of Battery D, 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion sights a 75mm pack howitzer outside Logbierme, Belgium; 18-December-1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

B-24 Liberator “Memories” of the 465th Bomb Group over Ferrara, Italy, on June 5, 1944.

Several sources identify this plane as 42-52456. Interestingly it would be shot down the very next day. June 6, 1944.

Here are a few of the Missing Air Crew Report pages. All 10 crew were able to bail out, were captured, and returned home after the war. The pilot, Glenferd E Funk actually died only a few years ago in 2015.

Quoting a few of the observations of the crash from other planes (the plane is described as "White A" which also matches the above photograph):

Someone hollered that Lt Funk's ship (White A) was on fire. I swung my turret around and followed it down. I counted ten parachutes and saw a P-51 circle above the chutes until they landed. I think all of the men landed safely.

The fire was caused by flak hitting between the number two engine and the fuselage. Lt. Funk pulled out of formation before anyone bailed out. It was about 18 miles from the target just after the formation had made a right hand turn. I saw the plane crash and demolish.

.

At about 0923 or 0925 I saw Lt. Funk's ship, White A, hit by incendiary flak between number two engine and the fuselage and start to burn back toward the fuselage. The nose wheel door opened and three men appeared, parachutes fell clear and opened in a free fall. Then five men came from the back of the ship. The ship then went into a spiral and two more parachutes came out, making a total of ten. I believe the men should have landed safely. I was too busy to watch any longer.

 

[BravoZulu]

U.S. troops head toward the beaches of Leyte island during the amphibious assault to liberate the Philippines (October 20, 1944)

 

[BravoZulu]

4th ID GIs taking a well-deserved rest in Cherbourg, 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

American POWs carrying the sick and the wounded during the Bataan Death March, Philippine Islands, in April, 1942.

 

[BravoZulu]

A destroyed American M4A1 Sherman on the Zeppelinfeld, part of the Nazi Rally Grounds at Nuremberg. The scene of massive Nazi rallies during the 1930s, the city and grounds were captured by American forces after fierce fighting between the 16th and 20th April 1945.

 

[BravoZulu]

Wiesloch, Germany. April 1945. M18 Hellcat of the 824th Tank Destroyer Battalion in action

 

[BravoZulu]

US paratrooper fires a bazooka at a Japanese pillbox on Greary Point, Corregidor; 19-Feb-1945. Bazooka’s were not always effective against the coconut log and sand emplacements found on islands as softer structures could reduce a warhead's impact enough to prevent detonation of the explosive charge.