Martha Raye


Some of you  remember Martha Raye very well.  A comedian and singer, she, like Joe E. Louis had a large mouth and appeared with Bob Hope, and on other radio programs and usually played supportive roles in comedy films and musicals. She was also loved for the work she did entertaining troops in WWII and Korea .


Some things you probably did not know about
Martha Raye

Most of the old time entertainers were made out of a lot sterner stuff than today’s crop of activists and whiners.

It was just before Thanksgiving  ’67 and we were ferrying dead and wounded  from a large GRF west of Pleiku , Vietnam .
We had run out of body bags by noon, so the Hook  (CH-47  CHINOOK)  was pretty rough in the back.
All of a  sudden, we heard a ‘take-charge’ woman’s voice in the  rear.

There was the singer and actress, Martha Raye with a SF (Special Forces) beret and jungle fatigues, with subdued markings,  helping the wounded into the Chinook, and carrying the dead aboard.

‘Maggie’ had been visiting her SF “heroes” out “west.”

We took  off, short of fuel, and headed to the USAF hospital pad at Pleiku.
As  we all started unloading, our Captain said to  Martha.
… Ms Ray, with all these dead and wounded to process, there would not be time for your show!

To all of our surprise, she  pulled on her right collar and said…..Captain, see this eagle? I am  a full ‘Bird’ Colonel in the US Army Reserve, and on this is a  ‘Caduse’ which means I am a Nurse, with a surgical specialty….now,  take me to your wounded.
He said, yes ma’am…. Follow  me.

Several times at the Army Field Hospital in Pleiku, she would  ‘cover’ a surgical shift, giving a nurse a well-deserved  break.
Martha is the only woman buried in the SF (Special Forces)  cemetery at Ft. Bragg.

God Bless America!!

Good photos – Excellent points!!!!









Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.








And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn’t start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.





I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across our great nation. God Bless America!!


Do you know who I am?


The radio station America FM was doing one of its ‘Is Anyone Listening?’ bits this morning. The first question was, ‘Ever have a celebrity come up with the ‘Do you know who I am?’ routine?’

A woman called in and said that a few years ago, while visiting her cattle rancher uncle in Billings , MT , she had occasion to go to dinner at a restaurant that does not take reservations. The wait was about 45 minutes, and many ranchers and their wives were waiting.

Ted Turner and his ex-wife, Jane Fonda, came in the restaurant and wanted a table. The hostess informed them that they’d have to wait 45 minutes.
Jane Fonda asked the hostess, ‘Do you know who I am?’ The hostess answered, ‘Yes, but you’ll have to wait 45 ?minutes.’

Then Jane asked if the manager was in. When the manager came out, he asked, ‘May I help you?’ ‘Do you know who we are?’ both Ted and Jane asked. ‘Yes, but these folks have been waiting, and I can’t put you ahead of them.’

Then Ted asked to speak to the owner. The owner came out, and Jane again asked, ‘Do you know who I am?’

The owner answered, ‘Yes, I do. Do you Know who I am? I am the owner of this restaurant and I am a Vietnam Veteran.  Not only will you not get a table ahead of my friends and neighbors who have been waiting here, but you also will not be eating in my restaurant tonight or any other night. Good bye.’

Only in America —- is this a great country or what?

To all who received this, this is a true story and the name of the steak house is
Sir Scott’s Oasis Steakhouse, 204 W. Main , Manhattan , MT 59741 , (406) 284-6929
If you ever get there, give this fellow a sharp salute, buy a steak, and tip the waitress.

Keep passing this on. We should never forget our national traitor !


Fascinating WWII Aircraft Facts

Amazing WWII Aircraft Facts


No matter how one looks at it, these are incredible statistics.  Aside from the figures on aircraft, consider this statement from the article:  On average 6600 American service men died per MONTH, during WWII (about 220 a day)

Most Americans who were not adults during WWII have no understanding of the magnitude of it.  This listing of some of the aircraft facts gives a bit of insight to it.
276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US.
43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat.
14,000 lost in the continental U.S.
The US civilian population maintained a dedicated effort for four years, many working long hours seven days per week and often also volunteering for other work.  WWII was the largest human effort in history.

Statistics from Flight Journal magazine.

—- The staggering cost of war.

THE PRICE OF VICTORY (cost of an aircraft in WWII dollars)

B-17       $204,370.     P-40       $44,892.

B-24       $215,516.     P-47       $85,578.

B-25       $142,194.     P-51       $51,572.

B-26       $192,426.     C-47       $88,574.

B-29       $605,360.     PT-17     $15,052.

P-38         $97,147.     AT-6       $22,952.


Between Germany’s invasion of Poland Sept. 1, 1939, and the surrender of Japan on Sept. 2, 1945: 2,433 days.  From 1942 onward, America averaged 170 planes lost a day.
How many is a 1,000  planes?  B-17 production (12,731) wingtip to wingtip would extend 250 miles.  1,000 B-17s carried 2.5 million gallons of high octane fuel and required 10,000 airmen to fly and fight them.

THE NUMBERS GAME – consider the numbers below with the knowledge that between 1940 and 1945, America also produced a massive number of ships, tanks and munitions.
9.7 billion gallons of gasoline consumed, 1942-1945.
107.8 million hours flown, 1943-1945.
459.7 billion rounds of aircraft ammo fired overseas, 1942-1945.
7.9 million bombs dropped  overseas, 1943-1945.
2.3 million combat sorties, 1941-1945 (one sortie = one takeoff).
299,230 aircraft accepted, 1940-1945.
808,471 aircraft engines accepted, 1940-1945.
799,972 propellers accepted, 1940-1945.



Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik                                  36,183


Yakolev Yak-1,-3,-7, -9                               31,000+


Messerschmitt Me-109                                  30,480


Focke-Wulf Fw-190                                      29,001


Supermarine Spitfire/Seafire                        20,351


Convair B-24/PB4Y Liberator/Privateer       18,482


Republic P-47 Thunderbolt                          15,686


North American P-51 Mustang                     15,875


Junkers Ju-88                                              15,000


Hawker Hurricane                                        14,533


Curtiss P-40 Warhawk                                 13,738


Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress                         12,731


Vought F4U Corsair                                      12,571


Grumman F6F Hellcat                                  12,275


Petlyakov Pe-2                                             11,400


Lockheed P-38 Lightning                              10,037


Mitsubishi A6M Zero                                    10,449


North American B-25 Mitchell                        9,984


Lavochkin LaGG-5                                         9,920

Note: The LaGG-5 was produced with both water-cooled (top) and air-cooled (bottom) engines.


Grumman TBM Avenger                                9,837


Bell P-39 Airacobra                                        9,584


Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar                                    5,919


DeHavilland Mosquito                                   7,780


Avro Lancaster                                              7,377


Heinkel He-111                                              6,508


Handley-Page Halifax                                     6,176


Messerschmitt Bf-110                                    6,150


Lavochkin LaGG-7                                         5,753


Boeing B-29 Superfortress                            3,970


Short Stirling                                                   2,383


Sources:  Rene Francillon,  Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific war; Cajus Bekker, The Luftwaffe Diaries;  Ray Wagner, American Combat Planes; Wikipedia.
[Notice an interesting detail: the insignia on the side of US planes had a red dot in the middle of the star until the planes were sent to fight the Japanese in the Pacific Theater. Japanese planes had a rising sun emblem, and to prevent misidentification by American pilots, the red dots on their planes were painted over, and discontinued on subsequently made aircraft.]

According to the AAF Statistical Digest, in less than four years (December 1941- August 1945), the US Army Air Forces lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and assorted personnel plus 13,873 airplanes — inside the continental United States. They were the result of 52,651 aircraft accidents (6,039 involving fatalities) in 45 months. Think about those numbers. They average 1,170 aircraft accidents per month, or nearly 40 a day. (Fewer than one accident in four resulted in totaled aircraft, however.) It gets worse: Almost 1,000 Army planes disappeared en route from the US to foreign countries. But an eye-watering 43,581 aircraft were lost overseas including 22,948 on combat missions (18,418 against the Western Axis) and 20,633 attributed to non-combat causes overseas.
In a single 376 plane raid in August 1943, 60 B-17s were shot down. That was a 16 percent loss rate and meant 600 empty bunks in England. In 1942-43 it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete a 25-mission tour in Europe. Pacific theatre losses were far less (4,530 in combat) owing to smaller forces committed. The worst B-29 mission, against Tokyo on May 25, 1945, cost 26 Superfortresses, 5.6 percent of the 464 dispatched from the Marianas. On the average, 6,600 American servicemen died per month during WWII, about 220 a day. By the end of the war, over 40,000 airmen were killed in combat theatres and another 18,000 wounded.  Some 12,000 missing men were declared dead, including a number “liberated” by the Soviets but never returned. More than 41,000 were captured, half of the 5,400 held by the Japanese died in captivity, compared with one-tenth in German hands. Total combat casualties were 121,867.
US manpower made up the deficit. The AAF’s peak strength was reached in 1944 with 2,372,000 personnel, nearly twice the previous year’s figure. The losses were huge, but so were production totals.  From 1941 through 1945, American industry delivered more than 276,000 military aircraft. That number was enough not only for US Army, Navy and Marine Corps, but for allies as diverse as Britain, Australia, China and Russia. In fact, from 1943 on, America produced more planes than Britain and Russia combined, and more than Germany and Japan together 1941-45.
However, our enemies took massive losses. Through much of 1944, the Luftwaffe sustained uncontrolled hemorrhaging, reaching 25 percent of aircrews and 40 planes a month. And in late 1944 into 1945, nearly half the pilots in Japanese squadrons had flown fewer than 200 hours. The disparity of two years before had been completely reversed.

Experience Level:

Uncle Sam sent many of his sons to war with absolute minimums of training. Some fighter pilots entered combat in 1942 with less than one hour in their assigned aircraft.

The 357th Fighter Group (often known as The Yoxford Boys) went to England in late 1943 having trained on P-39s.   The group never saw a Mustang until shortly before its first combat mission.

A high-time P-51 pilot had 30 hours in type.  Many had fewer than five hours.  Some had one hour.

With arrival of new aircraft, many combat units transitioned in combat.  The attitude was, “They all have a stick and a throttle.  Go fly `em.” When the famed 4th Fighter Group converted from P-47s to P-51s in February 1944, there was no time to stand down for an orderly transition.   The Group commander, Col. Donald Blakeslee, said, “You can learn to fly `51s on the way to the target.

A future P-47 ace said, “I was sent to England to die.”  He was not alone.   Some fighter pilots tucked their wheels in the well on their first combat mission with one previous flight in the aircraft.  Meanwhile, many bomber crews were still learning their trade:  of Jimmy Doolittle’s 15 pilots on the April 1942 Tokyo raid, only five had won their wings before 1941.   All but one of the 16 copilots were less than a year out of flight school.

In WWII flying safety took a back seat to combat. The AAF’s worst accident rate was recorded by the A-36 Invader version of the P-51: a staggering 274 accidents per 100,000 flying hours. Next worst were the P-39 at 245, the P-40 at 188, and the P-38 at 139. All were Allison powered.

Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive. The B-17 and B-24 averaged 30 and 35 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, respectively– a horrific figure considering that from 1980 to 2000 the Air Force’s major mishap rate was less than 2.

The B-29 was even worse at 40; the world’s most sophisticated, most capable and most expensive bomber was too urgently needed to stand down for mere safety reasons. The AAF set a reasonably high standard for B-29 pilots, but the desired figures were seldom attained.

The original cadre of the 58th Bomber Wing was to have 400 hours of multi-engine time, but there were not enough experienced pilots to meet the criterion.  Only ten percent had overseas experience.  Conversely, when a $2.1 billion B-2 crashed in 2008, the Air Force initiated a two-month “safety pause” rather than declare a “stand down”, let alone grounding. The B-29 was no better for maintenance. Though the R3350 was known as a complicated, troublesome power-plant, no more than half the mechanics had previous experience with the Duplex Cyclone.   But they made it work.


Perhaps the greatest unsung success story of AAF training was Navigators.  The Army graduated some 50,000 during the War.  And many had never flown out of sight of land before leaving “Uncle Sugar” for a war zone.  Yet the huge majority found their way across oceans and continents without getting lost or running out of fuel — a stirring tribute to the AAF’s educational establishments.


Cadet To Colonel:

It was possible for a flying cadet at the time of Pearl Harbor to finish the war with eagles on his shoulders.  That was the record of John D. Landers, a 21-year-old Texan, who was commissioned a second lieutenant on December 12, 1941.  He joined his combat squadron with 209 hours total flight time, including 2Â½ in P-40s.  He finished the war as a full colonel, commanding an 8th Air Force Group — at age 24.

As the training pipeline filled up, however those low figures became exceptions. By early 1944, the average AAF fighter pilot entering combat had logged at least 450 hours, usually including 250 hours in training. At the same time, many captains and first lieutenants claimed over 600 hours.

At its height in mid-1944, the Army Air Forces had 2.6 million people and nearly 80,000 aircraft of all types. Today, the US Air Force employs 327,000 active personnel (plus 170,000 civilians) with 5,500+ manned and perhaps 200 unmanned aircraft. The 2009 figures represent about 12 percent of the manpower and 7 percent of the airplanes of the WWII peak.

Whether there will ever be another war like that experienced in 1940-45 is doubtful, as fighters and bombers have given way to helicopters and remotely-controlled drones over Afghanistan and Iraq.  But within living memory, men left the earth in 1,000-plane formations and fought major battles five miles high, leaving a legacy that remains timeless.





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