re: WWII trivia thread

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????WWII uncovered: Honouring the Life and Service of Charlotte 'Betty' Webb: Code Breaker of Bletchley Park and the Pacific Theater Passes Away at the Age of 101 Years Old
"It is with great sadness that on 1 April 2025 the Bletchley Park Trust has learnt that Charlotte (Betty) Webb MBE has passed away at the age of 101. Her contributions to Bletchley Park, during World War Two and to ensuring its legacy today, will never be forgotten. "
"Bletchley Park, a British government cryptological establishment in operation during World War II remained classified even after the end of the war. The establishment was where Alan Turing and other agents of the Ultra intelligence project decoded the enemy’s secret messages, most notably those that had been encrypted with the German Enigma and Tunny Cipher machines."
The world would not fully learn of the valuable efforts put forth by approximately 12,000 men and women until 1974 when Frederick William Winterbotham received permission to publish his memoir, "The Ultra Secret."
At the age of 18 years old Charlotte 'Betty' Webb was serving with the Auxiliary Territorial Service when her extensive knowledge of the German language prompted interviewers to reassign her to Bletchley Park.
"I didn't really think of myself as being one of thousands of women working for Bletchley Park. I was intrigued by the fact that I was chosen to work here, but none of us were fully aware of the scale of the operation or how many people were involved. We didn't realise how important we were. Looking back, we all realise that our individual roles were much bigger than we imagined." - Betty Webb BBC
According to the BBC: "In 1943, she relocated to the Japanese Military Section in Block F, a concrete hut nicknamed the Burma Road because of its length. It was there that Betty began decoding messages of the Japanese Army. After four years of service at Bletchley, when the War ended in Europe in May of 1945, Betty was sent to America to continue her work at the Pentagon as a code breaker. Webb played an integral part in the paraphrasing and transcription of the already decoded Japanese messages from the Pacific Theater. She was the only member of the ATS to be sent to the United States."
After the war Betty returned to the United Kingdom to work at Bletchley Park and when it closed down, she went back to Shropshire to work as a secretary at Ludlow Grammar School. In 2015 Mrs Webb was awarded an MBE by Prince Charles for her work during the war effort and the Légion d'Honneur in 2014.
Staff Sergeant Charlotte 'Betty' Webb turned 100 years old on 13 May 2023 and is the last known surviving veteran who worked on both German and Japanese codes. One week prior she was an honoured guest at the coronation of King Charles. Mrs Webb was a resident of Wythall, Worcestershire.
Please join us at WWII uncovered in honouring the service of Mrs Betty Webb - A true member of the Greatest Generation. Lest We Forget.

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On Aug. 1, 1943, the U.S. Army Air Forces launched a daring strike, known as Operation Tidalwave, on the German-controlled oil fields of Ploesti, Romania. Instead of the typical high-altitude bombing raids, American B-24 bombers, taking off from Libya, approached their targets at low altitude to elude enemy radar. However, clouds and a navigational error disrupted the bomber formations, compromising the element of surprise. Of the 178 bombers that took off, 54 failed to return. At least 310 American flyers were killed on the mission and 186 were captured.
Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for many who served in Operation Tidalwave, including three bomber officers who earned the Medal of Honor for their actions that day: Col. John R. Kane and Col. Leon William Johnson (Section 7A) were both recognized for leading their bomb groups to the target despite being separated by clouds and facing heavy enemy defenses. Lt. Col. Addison Baker (Section 78) earned his posthumously for bombing his target despite severe damage to his aircraft and gaining altitude in the hopes of allowing his crew to parachute to safety. Sadly, none of his crew survived.
We honor their service.
?? U.S. Air Force
?? Elizabeth Fraser

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Side note - if you have not visited the National WW1 Museum in Kansas City, you need to. Incredible place. Prepare to spend the entire day there. Spent 4.5 hours there last weekend and just scratched the surface. Made such an impression on me, still kind of haunts my thoughts.

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80 Years Ago Today on August 2, 1945;

A US Navy PV-1 Ventura with Patrol Bombing Squadron 152 based at Peleliu was on patrol over the Pacific with Lt(jg) Wilbur C. Gwinn as pilot.
Their PV-1 had been fitted with a new navigational aerial cable that trailed from the rear of the aircraft and was having problems. They already had to return to Peleliu for a new one after the weight holding the cable steady had broken off.

Now they were having problems again, as the weight had broken off a second time and the cable was flailing around. Gwinn passed control of the PV-1 to the copilot and went to the rear of the aircraft, where one of the gunners was by a hatch in the floor messing with the troublesome aerial cable.
As Gwinn bent down, he looked down at the ocean and saw an oil slick on the water. He immediately returned to the cockpit and brought the aircraft down to 900 feet and began to follow the miles long oil slick.

Gwinn soon spotted men bobbing in the water, presumably from a sunken ship, he sent a radio message back to Peleliu, gave their location, and asked for assistance.
As he flew on Gwinn counted an estimated 150 survivors in the open ocean. Most were bobbing helplessly in the water in life vests, some were in navy life rafts, he could also see sharks circling the survivors. Gwinn had his crew drop emergency rations and rafts.

The survivors from USS Indianapolis had finally been located after 3 1/2 days, but some would spend additional hours in the water before being rescued and sadly more would pass away…

Picture; Lockheed PB-1 Ventura in 1943 - NARA See less

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Furthermore, it is well documented that Shug Jordan, served in North Africa, D-Day (where he was wounded), and Okinawa

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