Smoky News
Contributed by Bill Wynne
The AMERICA in WWII bimonthly magazine has been delivered to subscribers and will be on the News stands July 3-30th. Barnes and Noble will feature it on the
front magazine end corner. There are six pages and 10 photos in the Smoky story plus blurbs on the cover and contents page which feature a cover story and portrait
of JFK as a young Navy Lt in uniform highlighting the story of the PT-109.
Other stories featured are an “I was there” recollection by an Army WAC, the assault on Sicily and the Japanese-Americans who were displaced into camps by the US
Government who felt that was needed when the US found itself in a desperately serious war with so little preparation. It is the most incredible and mind boggling
effort in the history of war when the U.S. barely crawling out of the deep depression was hit by Japan at Pearl Harbor. Japanese communities were insular and grouped
together and while the government had been watching the German sympathizers before the war, practically nothing was known of the Japanese. Because of the larger
populations of Japanese-Americans on the west coast, fear led our government to confine them, forcing many to lose their homes, businesses and communities. And while
that was policy was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court at the time, since then our government has acknowledged it was wrong, apologizing and making financial
reparations to those affected (and their descendants).
I would like to run by you some facts of WWII for the war machine preparation was almost nonexistent prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Overnight the country was
at war and had much to prepare. Hotels were taken over in Miami Beach, Atlantic City, New York, Chicago and other major cities to accommodate training of men and some
were made into hospitals. Some golf courses became fields of training. Hundreds of new airfields and camps sprung up across the country. Did you know that 15,000 air
men of the U.S were killed just in training in the states? Highly skilled air craft crews needed to be trained RIGHT NOW! That made dangerous training all the more
dangerous. It was as though it was survivor of the luckiest.
In six months, physical training was required in all services for men who had to be in shape to walk 25 miles under heavy gear and fight a war when you got there.
Aerial gunnery schools rose up in Las Vegas and Reno– then towns of around a population of less than 200 people. Colleges everywhere were taken over by military or
shared space for high tech training, pilots, navigators, bombardiers, radio operators. Intelligence officers often trained in three months were known as "90 day
wonders." In the Navy, many new technicians had to be on brand new ships going from a shake-down cruises straight into battle. Some men at the beginning were
shipped overseas in 10 days with hardly knowing how to salute or march or know a rifle enough to shoot it. With this beginning, we won the war, as you know. This
is the most incredible country in which we live. So the Smoky story, as I have said before, is hardly a footnote in such a mind-boggling undertaking. It was something
unusually nice that happened in the most horrific war of all time. She still brings smiles to faces on memorial days, with her being the only light remembrance to
take place.
So with the all out tooling up in every industry and occupation, the war machine rose - converting automobile factories to producing tanks and airplanes; the storing
up food supplies, and pressing farmers to help food supply the allies; building warships and freighters to the point where Kaiser was building a ship a day. Over
70,000 airplanes were built. Heavy, and medium bombers , transports ,trainers, and fighters, guns, ammunitions, uniforms for 14 million men and women, bedding and
tents for army and air forces for probably 11 million men. Every man was issued two pairs of shoes so about 30 million had to be made for troops not only at home but
scattered worldwide - from India, the Far Pacific, Australia, New Guinea, Eastern Pacific, i.e. Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S, Africa, and the Middle East, England and
Europe and Russia. We were supplying England, France and Eastern European countries, with Lend Lease, war equipment; food and manpower as well
Americans gave up gas to rationing, as well as food rationing. You knew or heard about meat lines once a week. Butter and sugar was rationed with stamps. Three
gallons of gas a week with an A card; with a B card a you got little more.
Many ships were sunk by submarines, those heading for Europe in particular. A lot of food supplies and equipment went down. There were job freezes, no new cars,
no home appliances, as all were going to the military. Twelve hour work days and seven days a week were not uncommon at home.
Women stepped forward, when they could find them in nylon hosiery at $5.00 a pair – a princely sum in those days, into office jobs. Many women worked in factories,
and were doing other critical jobs such as all the varied work in the vastly expanded war department. Purchasing and shipping was needed for everything. Everywhere.
Civilians were bumped for military on trains and buses. Troop trains transversed the country unscheduled between the scheduled in manners still unbelievable. And
every industry needed help. “Rosie the Riveters” replaced men called to war.
Is it any wonder that WWII took until 50th Anniversary to become of interest? People of my time were fed up with the hardships. That just wasn't interest. Historians
failed to keep up. Little, if anything, was taught at any level of education about the war.
You may be interested to know that during the war, dog breeding virtually came to a halt. In England in 1944, just 22 yorkies were registered. Food was in short
supply. In many countries dog shows stopped. In the U.S every breed dropped off in AKC registrations. It took years for all the breeds to come back. When I brought
Smoky home there were 65 new Yorkshire Terrier puppies registered in all of 1945. I read one story that there were 95 registered. About two per state at the time.
(Compare that to the 5,000+ a month being registered now.) In Australia where Smoky came from there may have been 5-10 registered a year as the Aussies had much
more to worry about. In 1942-43 their very existence was at stake. Dog shows ceased in 1940.
And now we are at war with another threat—terrorism a whole different kind of war. Not many military men past or present believe the war on terror is a waste. We
must remain prepared. We can't allow another Pearl Harbor by not being prepared. In the potential threat of instant atomic warfare, the only way to stave off the
kooks of our time (whom have existed in one form or another since the beginning of civilized time) is to meet them before they get a start. It is the cost of
freedom. It seems there just isn't any other country capable of policing the world. A path of isolationism is the surest way to lay open to the eventual
conflagration in which we all in fear. "You pay now or you pay later." And “later” always costs much more.
Bill Wynne, a WWII Army Air Corp Veteran, is a founding member and Vice-President of YTNR. More
about Smoky can be seen at www.SmokyWarDog.com
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