Dog Tags & Paper Hearts

The Shortening

• Don • Season 1 • Episode 34

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0:00 | 19:09
SPEAKER_01

Be functionally literate. Have at least twelve teeth. Welcome to Dog Tags and Paper Hearts, a chronicle of my grandfather's letters home during his time in the service. I'm your host, Don Friega, and in each episode we'll travel back to a time when swing bands ruled the airwaves, ration books shaped the dinner table, and handwritten letters carried love across oceans. Join me as we uncover the stories, sounds, and surprises of an era defined by courage, change, and a touch of romance. From the battlefront to the home front. On today's episode, Basic Training Cycle Cut to 15 weeks. Speed marches, and mortar practice. So pull up a chair, kick off those combat boots, and let's rewind the clock together. Because the 1940s weren't just about war and worry, they were about hope, humor, and heart. This is Dog Tags and Paper Hearts. A couple of news items from the front on the day this letter was written, December 30, 1944. The Battle of the Bulge intensifies. German forces launched renewed attacks to cut off Baston, while U.S. Third Army units pushed north toward Hufeles. Though fighting remained fierce, neither side achieved a decisive breakthrough that day. The atomic bomb timeline was announced. General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, reported that an atomic bomb could be ready by mid-1945. This marked one of the earliest official projections of when the weapon might be usable in the war. At sea, the U.S. Navy's Fast Carrier Task Force sortied from Ulithi in preparation for the invasion of Luzon in the Philippines, and multiple U.S. warships repositioned across the Pacific Theater as Allied forces prepared for major offenses. And in the air, U.S. Army Air Forces carried out extensive bombing of rail lines, bridges, and supply targets across Italy, Burma, and Southeast Asia. Air raids also struck Iwo Jima and Japanese controlled infrastructure, tightening pressure on Axis logistics. On the Eastern Front, Soviet forces continued intense fighting in and around Budapest, tightening their grip on the city and marking a critical phase in the Red Army's advance into Central Europe. And in other news, the local newspaper from December 30th, 1944, contained a segment that I hadn't encountered previously. News highlights from the Royal Oak Public Library, entitled The Library Bookworm. I should confess at this point that when I've pulled news stories from Johnny's local paper, I've been using the Royal Oak Tribune, Royal Oak being a city in Michigan neighboring Johnny's hometown of Hazel Park. While Hazel Park did have its own newspaper, the Palladium, it was only a weekly and not a daily like the Royal Oak Tribune. All that aside, I'm a huge proponent of public libraries and was entertained by one of the several short articles that appeared within this section titled The Library Bookworm. It reads as follows. We are highly indignant over the whiskey bottle we found hidden on the bottom shelf in the darkest corner of the library. Why any holiday celebrant should decide to discard the evidence on our hallowed premises is beyond our ken, but we feel the matter will bear close, very close inspection. Can't you just see what might happen if our patrons got the idea that the staff was taking a little nip now and then, for purely medicinal values, you understand, and began to help themselves to the cashed horde. Frankly, our resentment knows no bounds. We feel that there are three mighty good reasons for our indignation and we give them to you in reverse order of their importance. One, the library is no dump. Two, the librarians are no souses. Three, the bottle was empty. And now the letter Saturday, december thirtieth, nineteen forty four. My dearest Mary, hello, sweetheart, how are you, darling? Fine? Good. I hope you didn't mind too much the way I cut the last letter short. I had to do it in order to get it mailed. The way things are going here, we can't depend on having any time we can call our own anymore. I have a few things to tell you. Don't know whether they're good news or bad, it all depends on how you look at it. First, the rumor, and it's pretty sure, is that our cycle has been cut to fifteen weeks. Second, very bad. Our furlough will be for only five days. After that, your guess is as good as mine. Of course, this is rumor, but pretty substantial. Several other battalions have already pulled out after fifteen weeks, and by now they are overseas. After that big setback in Germany, new troops are needed pretty badly, and the only place they can get them is from the training camps. Our schedule is being adjusted to the shorter period, and that is why we have to work so late now. And I'll probably only get one or two more letters off to you this week. Next Thursday we go out on a full week's bivouac and our time will be taken up with problems of every type. Quite a few night problems. But this time I'll take care of the compass, so please understand if you don't hear from me for about a week. I'll try and write as much as I can while I'm out, but it will probably only be a few lines that I can send. Well, let's see, where was I when I quit the last time? Somewhere out wandering over this grand and glorious state of Texas. Haha. I believe, though, that I told you all that there was to tell, except that we sure were weary little boys. I'm not sure, but we must have walked about ten to twelve miles before we were picked up. A dirtier, filthy bunch you've never seen. After walking through all that tangle of brush and wading through creek and mud, we looked like we had been tarred and feathered. We ran into quite a bit of barbed wire out there, and my trousers have several souvenirs of our little jaunt. All in all, I don't think I'll forget that night if I live to be a hundred years old. A two hour speed march was scheduled for the next day, from 7 PM to 9 PM. But do you know what your little Johnny did? Yes, ma'am, he pulled KP again. And it was the first time that I enjoyed doing it. While I was working in a nice, warm, dry kitchen, the rest of the boys were having themselves a good old time out in the Texas mud and rain. I even had a five dollar offer to buy KP from me. But that's not for me. I know a break when I get one and I sure hung on to that one. Altogether I had a pretty good day Thursday. KP in the afternoon and most of the morning spent down at HQ. More OCS interviews by the board, so I guess I passed my test. I was never notified of it, but if I hadn't passed, I wouldn't have been called for the interview. All it was was a spectrum of what we had been asked before, our family history, our past work, why we wanted to be an officer, our mother's and father's history and marital status, what did we intend to do after the war, scholastic record, all that kind of stuff. Most of it was so damn personal I felt like telling them it was none of their business. But that kind of business doesn't go in the Army. It's easier to answer than to sit on the inside looking out. I think I have but one more interview before I'm accepted or rejected. That is, if I got by this last one, I should know fairly soon. But pass it or not, I'm glad I applied because I might have passed up a good thing if I'd never started. If some of the officers we have now were able to get through, I at least have a fifty fifty chance. Friday was pretty uneventful. We fired our mortars, but just for practice. Nothing to it. Drop in a shell, aim, and poof, off it goes. Of course, you have to be careful you don't stick your head out over the barrel because you might have an extra opening that wouldn't be of any use to you. Today, Saturday, was just about the same. A couple of hours of bayonet, three training films, and more mortars. That's all. Just another week gone by. At least it's bringing me closer to seeing you. We had a little feast with the barracks tonight. Remember the cheese and crackers mother sent? Well, I had been saving them for a late snack, and tonight was the night. I called over a couple of fellows to help me out and they brought over some canned meats, spreads, chips, more crackers, and ice cream. The only thing missing was the beer. We had to be satisfied with water. We just finished up about an hour ago and decided I'd better get this letter finished or you would be disowning me. But I have nothing else to write about. I have no past this week, and we are going to be working New Year's Day. What a life. Well, at least it will get this business over with a day sooner. Say, don't let anyone know that I may be home sooner than I thought, or about our training being cut. We were given orders not to spread it around, but I feel that you should know. Do you think that you could scrape together enough money for me to get home on if I should need it in a hurry? Cash a couple of bonds if necessary. I'm gonna hold on to this month's pay because I think I'll need about sixty bucks for fare. I'm not sure, but they might send me as far as Chicago by troop train. If so, I won't need that much, but I didn't want to take a chance on being stuck without transportation money. I got your letter yesterday, the one written Christmas Eve. Quick service this time. From the looks of it, the kids had a swell Christmas. Golly, they've got enough dolls and toys to outfit a play store. I'm glad for their sake that it came out that way. It will make a nice remembrance for Sherry at least. It's her first one that she'll be able to remember and would have been tough not turning out right. And it was swell of you to hang stockings for them. The day wouldn't be complete without them. I only wish that I could have been there to see them when they came down in the morning. It must have been something to see their faces when they saw all the boxes in the tree. How many ornaments did they pull down? Did they leave enough for next year? Probably not, but what's a few ornaments if it keeps them happy? Honey, I'm so doggone lonesome for you, it's all I can do to keep my mind on my work here. Every time I relax, I think of you and the life we had together, the good and the bad. Maybe it wasn't very much, but at least we were together and that is what counts most with me now. I know that when we are together again, I'll do everything possible to make our life together happy and worth living. There were a lot of times when I was a low down heel, and when I think of those times I just want to curl up and die for having acted the way I did. I love you so much, darling, and now that we're not together, I realize just what it means to have a woman like you. You've overlooked so much and taken a lot that wasn't necessary. But those days are past, and when I'm with you again, you won't be crying because of the way I treat you. I miss you so very much, dear. It's like living no, it's not living, just existing without my heart. I just go around half numb and not quite all there. But it will be all changed when I'm back with you again. Then life will be worth living again. But good night, dear. I'm pretty much worn out and I think I'll catch up on some sleep. Kiss the kids good night for me, and here's a great big one for you. All my love, darling. Johnny. A few notes from today's letter. Basic training cycle is cut to fifteen weeks. In today's letter, Johnny speculates on a rumor circulating around the troops that basic training is going to be cut from 17 weeks to fifteen weeks. While only a rumor as of the writing of this letter, that is exactly what came to pass. Due to heavy losses in the Battle of the Bulge and elsewhere, the need for replacement troops led to this shortened training period. The 17-week standard was reinstated after the war ended in Europe in May of 1945 and remained the standard until the end of World War II with Japan. Standards for recruitment into the Army were not static. In fact, many aspects shifted over time. LifeIntheArmy.com reports the following. When the draft started in September 1940, all men aged 21 to 35 were required to register. As the war went on, that increased to 18 to 65. Initially, the requirements to be accepted were be over five feet tall and weigh at least 105 pounds, not have flat feet, hernia, or venereal disease, be functionally literate, have at least 12 teeth, have vision correctable with glasses. Initially, about half were rejected for one reason or another, almost 20% because of literacy, they couldn't read or write. As the war continued, men under five feet tall were accepted. Those who had VD were treated with penicillin and inducted. They could be toothless, be missing ears and fingers, just so they had a thumb and a trigger finger on one hand. The literacy requirement settled at being able to read and write at a fourth grade level. Given this new timeline, if Johnny began basic training in October of 1944, then that puts him up for deployment in mid to late February of 1945. Stay tuned to find out what happens. Also in today's letter, Speed Marching. The following is excerted from a research article titled Speed Marching and Military Boots: The Walk to Run Transition Speed and Vertical Ground Reaction Forces. It was printed in the January 24, 2022 issue of International Journal of Sports and Exercise Medicine. I've edited just a bit for flow. Marching is a task that is inseparable from the military profession. Speed marching, sometimes called rapid marching, is a variant of marching. In a speed march, the aim is for a group of service members to bridge a distance on foot as quickly as possible and then carry out a combat action at the destination. Marching and speed marching are a standard part of basic and advanced military training. Speed marching is seen as a discipline that is suitable for training the physical and mental resilience of soldiers. Usually the performance of speed marching is as follows: alternating one minute of marching at a speed of 6-7 km per hour, that's 3.7 to 4.3 miles per hour, then two minutes of running at a speed of 8 to 9 km per hour, and that's about 5 to 5.5 miles per hour. There is also a variant where one minute of marching and 1 minute of running are alternated. To keep the troop together during the speed march, marching and running speeds are chosen that most participants can maintain. The distance to be covered for a speed march can vary from 3 to 15 kilometers, or 1.8 to 9.3 miles. The standard load during training is about 25 kilograms, or just over 55 pounds, which includes a tactical vest and a weapon. Military boots are generally worn during marching and speed marching. Speed marching can lead to overuse injuries, especially of the lower extremities. The risk of an overuse injury in marching is greater than in running. The injury risk of speed marching, as described above, is not known. Most overuse injuries in the armed forces occurred during initial training in young soldiers and are mainly localized to the knee and leg. This research ends by restating that vertical ground reaction forces were lower in running than in marching. And as with most research articles, it ends by saying that further research is warranted. If you have an interest in this research, I've included a link in the show notes. And finally, in today's letter, mortar practice. To give you an idea of how a World War II mortar team operated, I bring you the words of Battle of the Bulge veteran Art Spaulding. You can find the video associated with this audio, as well as many others, at American Veterans Center.org. I've provided a link in the show notes.

SPEAKER_00

4.2 inch mortar. The piece that uh held up the barrel was uh fairly light. I think that was 50 pounds, and the barrel itself weighed about 100 pounds. So put all that together and you come up with something close to 400 pounds. Each squad consisted of about six or eight men, depending upon who came and went. We had a Jeep to uh haul the trailer in which the uh mortar was located, and uh we had about 25 rounds of ammunition, each weighing 25 pounds or so, uh, in the trailer. And that was our combat uh appearance.

SPEAKER_01

The top song in the U.S. on this date, December 30th, 1944, was Don't Fence Me In by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. Since I've covered this song in a past episode, I'm going to focus on the great Ella Fitzgerald and her song, When My Sugar Walks Down the Street. Picture, if you will. It's the mid-1920s. America's in the thick of the jazz age. Speakeasies are humming, dance floors are packed, and novelty songs are all the rage. Out of that world comes a tune with a title that's almost as catchy as the melody itself. When my sugar walks down the street, all the little birdies go tweet, tweet, tweet. The song was written in 1924 by Gene Austen, along with composer Jimmy McHugh and lyricist Irving Mills. Gene Austen didn't just help write the song, he also recorded it, and his version became one of the defining sounds of early pop singing. Why? Well, at a time when a lot of singers were still projecting like they were on a vaudeville stage, he leaned into the microphone and made it feel personal, somewhat of a precursor to the intimate crooning styles of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Fast forward 20 years, swing music has taken over, big bands are everywhere, and a young vocalist named Ella Fitzgerald steps in and gives this old tune a whole new life. When Ella takes on When Mice Sugar Walks Down the Street, she imbues it with her own swing and style. In Ella's hands, a cute novelty number is transformed into something you can really dance to. And of course, with her signature voice, she makes it sound both effortless and precise at the same time. She leans into the humor of the lyrics, but she never overplays it. And behind her, you've got a classic swing era orchestration. What's notable about Ella's version is how she effectively connects two different musical worlds. She bridges the gap between the novelty songs of the Roaring Twenties and the polished arrangements and jazz sensibilities of the swing era. When My Sugar Walks Down the Street doesn't belong to either of those worlds. Instead, it acknowledges both while maintaining the light musical sensibility of the times, providing a comforting voice and a musical confection for a war-weary American home front. Thank you for listening to Dog Tags and Paper Hearts. You can find links to information contained within this episode in the show notes. I've also provided a link to my Spotify playlist of number one songs during the course of this correspondence. That playlist is also titled Dog Tags and Paper Hearts. Please keep the feedback coming by emailing me at Dog TagsPaperhearts at gmail.com. That's Dog Tags Paper Hearts all one word at gmail.com. And most importantly, if you have a story from World War II that you're willing to share on this podcast, please drop me a line and we can make that happen.

SPEAKER_00

Until next time, I don't know how they're like.