April 14, 2005

Illustrations of Equipment from WW2-Era Technical drawings of submarines, ships, aircraft, weapons, defense systems and stuff. Things were simpler, then, including acceptance of the brutal.

My editorialising is free.

posted by At Swim Two Birds 19 years ago
  • Noice.
  • I'll send this link to my dad who was involved in RN minesweeping operations in the mediterranean in 1945-46. I'm sure these will bring back memories for him. It's only in recent years that he has opened up about his wartime experiences. The pain is still there, but like so many of his generation, that stuff is bottled up and is now trying to find a way out. Part of that was probably due to losing his best friend. His pal went down on the sister ship to my dad's ship while they both were inadvertantly traveling through a German minefield. Ironic, in that they were on their way to sweep for mines elsewhere. My dad was 17 and it was only his third day at sea. He had to help fish the bodies out, including that of his friend. He vividly recalls the smell of oil and of burning flesh. He still has a physical reaction to this day if he's on a boat and catches a whiff of fuel oil. Acceptance of the brutal, indeed. Thanks for the link.
  • Way cool!
  • One of my students is interviewing local WW2 vets. I went with him the other day to an interview with an old man who had been a Marine in the Pacific. He told us about landing at Tarawa. The landing craft were supposed to take them right to the beach and they would jump out. But something didn't work out, they were dumped in the waist high surf 300 yards offshore, and walked towards the beach under fire with full packs. A Japanese shell blew the guy in front of him to bits and knocked our interviewee over and broke his legs. He went under the water, but was able to wiggle out of the straps of his pack and use his rifle to push his head above water. Then he pushed himself to the beach, slowly, and crawled into a foxhole. Fuck. It was an intense damn afternoon.
  • Good post. When I saw the Anti-aircraft picture, I was happy to recognize the "sound-locators", which had their own post on the blue a few weeks back. Great stuff!
  • Yeah I saw that too. I like it when info ties together like that. Yep, my Granddad was in the Pacific, too. He also clammed up about it. All very heavy stuff, and pitiful that we make the same mistakes every generation.
  • Really, really cool post. I'm nearly a tree-hugging hippie, but I have a weakness for WWII military equipment. It's just fascinating.
  • I met a Romanian born elderly gentleman just this last week. It came up in the conversation about the Dallas area schools and the languages spoken, that he could speak fluent English, Romanian, and Japanese. Japanese? I asked, thinking my hearing aid was playing tricks on me again. He said he spent three years in a Japanese POW camp. Bam. I just stared at him like a slack-jawed idiot.
  • Fantastic post. I think the gas-mask one is going to be my new desktop.
  • Most excellent post, ASTB.