On this day 70 years ago, the remarkable run by the Mills Brothers’ ‘Paper Doll’ came to an end. After twelve weeks at the top of the charts, the new national Number One came courtesy of Glen Gray & Eugenie Baird with ‘My Heart Tells Me.’ A slow and sultry performance highlighted by Glen Gray’s sax work and Baird’s swooning vocals, the song was first heard as the theme to the 1943 Betty Grable musical, Sweet Rosie O’Grady; the film’s runaway success no doubt giving ‘My Heart Tells Me’ a major boost in sales.
‘My Heart Tells Me’ would cling to the Billboard Number One spot for five weeks before being dethroned in turn by Jimmy Dorsey’s massive ‘Besame Mucho.’
Click below to hear the original hit recording of Glen Gray and Eugenie Baird’s ‘My Heart Tells Me.’
This post by Collin Makamson, Family Programs & Outreach Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum
The Battle of Kwajalein, fought 70 years ago from January 31 to February 3, was a decisive victory for the US in its island-hopping campaign. The successful amphibious assault on the Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, allowed US invasion forces to speed toward the Eniwetok Atoll, landing on February 17, 1944.
Kwajalein is a coral atoll, characterized by narrow islands ringing a shallow lagoon. Atolls form when a volcanic island slowly subsides into the ocean with the rich volcanic soil nourishing coral in the surrounding waters. Colonies of coral, a tiny filter-feeding relative of the jellyfish, secrete calcium carbonate exoskeletons which eventually form the stony coral reef. Kwajalein is one of the largest coral atolls in the Pacific with over 6 square miles of land ringing and an almost 850 square mile lagoon.
Coral reefs flourish in the warm, shallow lagoon waters of atolls. The reef ecosystem is extremely diverse and productive with the reef providing habitats for a variety of marine organisms including tropical fish, crustaceans, sea stars and sea turtles. Overfishing and pollution, along with rising sea temperatures and pH changes, threaten this delicate ecosystem.
Kwajalein Atoll in 1943. Courtesy of US Army.
Marines on the march on a Kwajalein beach in 1944. US Navy Official photograph, Gift of Charles Ives, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.
Aerial view of Kwajalein shows landing craft approaching in 1944. US Navy Official photograph, Gift of Charles Ives, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.
A floating highway of pontoon sections leads from an LST to the shores of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls on January 31 – February 2, 1944. US Navy Official photograph, Gift of Charles Ives, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.
Seventy years ago today, the SS Samuel Dexter sank in the North Atlantic. The ill-fated Liberty ship, built in New Orleans by Delta Shipbuilding Company, broke apart due to hull fracture. While no lives were lost aboard the SS Samuel Dexter, her sinking was one of approximately 127 major hull fractures during the war.
Liberty ships were cargo vessels produced quickly and inexpensively to meet wartime shipping demands. Designated as an emergency cargo vessel, design modifications using prefabricated components allowed the ships to be produced at a rapid rate. In fact from 1939 to 1945, 5,777 merchant ships were produced by US shipyards, an over 8000% increase of the previous seven years!
Changes in ship design and building material contributed to the phenomenon of Liberty ship hull failure. First, the seams in the steel hull were welded closed rather than fastened with traditional rivets. Defective welds often contained tiny cracks and flaws. Second, hatch openings, vents and other interruptions in the hull surface producing a weak point where fractures often began. Third, wartime steel, high in sulfur and phosphorus content, became brittle in the cold temperatures of the Atlantic. Additionally, rough seas and frequent overloading ships beyond their 10,000 pound maximum likely contributed to the failure of Liberty ship hulls.
The launching of SS Samuel Dexter. Gift of Earl and Elaine Buras, 1999.060.016
On this day, 70 years ago, in front of a packed house at Houston’s City Auditorium, a war bond fundraising event was held in support of the 4th War Loan. However, this event was perhaps unlike other war bond rallies of the day as its headline entertainment featured a mixture of orchestral symphony music and action-packed pro wrestling!
At the top of the five-bout card that evening, legendary mat-technician Lou Thesz fought World Heavyweight Champion ‘Wild’ Bill Longson to a hard-fought time-limit draw. The Houston Symphony Orchestra played both during intermissions and – according to the program for the event (‘for the first time in the history of wrestling’) – during the last three matches while the action was underway. It was reported as well that Houston Symphony Orchestra conductor Ernst Hoffmann had to personally deal with one disgruntled pro wrestler who blamed his loss on the distracting music.
This unusual mix of highbrow and lowbrow entertainment was a huge success, raising over $7 million dollars in war bond sales.
This post by Collin Makamson, Family Programs & Outreach Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum
A Carpetbagger B24 Liberator taking off from RAF Harrington. Courtesy of the Carpetbagger Aviation Museum.
In early January 1944, Operation Carpetbagger began. An Allied effort to supply resistance fighters in Europe with weapons and supplies, Operation Carpetbagger required precision aerial delivery. Based in England, the 801st Bombardment Group, later re-designated as the 492nd Bombardment Squad, conducted this covert operation using the Consolidated B-24D Liberator. Flying alone into the heart of German occupied Europe, the clandestine aircraft were modified to drop cargo and parachutists at low altitude.
Stealth and speed were essential to Operation Carpetbagger, reflected by the modifications made to unit planes. The bombers were painted glossy black to evade searchlights, armaments were removed, blackout curtains replaced the waist guns and cockpit side windows were extended to improve pilot and copilot visibility. Because planes flew at low altitude, oxygen delivery systems were unnecessary and removed to reduce weight. The ventral ball turret was replaced with a cargo hatch nicknamed the “Joe Hole,” through which parachutists and supplies were dropped.
Carpetbagger crews consisted of skilled airmen experienced in navigation using visual cues and dead reckoning. Flying on moonlit nights at 500 feet, pilots and navigators relied on careful calculations and acute visual recognition to identify the target. From January 1944 through May 1945 the Carpetbaggers completed 1,860 missions, delivering over 20,000 containers, 11,000 packages and 1,000 airborne troops to aid resistance forces in enemy territory.
E-6B Flight Computer used to account for changes in air density and wind when calculating flight time. Gift in memory of Nash Roberts, 2011.378.002
December 2, 2013 marked the 70th anniversary of the German air raid on Bari, Italy. The unexpected attack resulted in the sinking of 27 ships and crippled the Allied port for over three months. Among the destroyed vessels was the US Liberty ship John Harvey. Laden with 2,000 secret mustard gas bombs, the munitions exploded sending a cloud of sulfur mustard vapor and leaking liquid mustard into the water. As a result 628 casualties suffered from mustard gas exposure, along with hundreds of Italian civilians. Due to the sheer scale of the surprise attack along with the loss of life, the German air raid on Bari became known as the “Little Pearl Harbor.”
During the aftermath of the attack, British and US officials sought to conceal the cargo carried by the John Harvey for fear that the existence of Allied chemical weapons might provoke Germany into a preemptive strike. Unaware of the presence of mustard gas, medical personnel attended to the severely injured first, simply wrapping uninjured sailors pulled from the contaminated water in blankets. This resulted in prolonged exposure to the chemical agent, causing chemical burns and blindness. As the medical crisis became dire, the US dispatched a member of Eisenhower’s medical staff Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Francis Alexander. Trained in the treatment of mustard gas exposure Dr. Alexander quickly confirmed presence of the chemical agent and despite denials from his chain of command, insisted upon treating patients accordingly. Dr. Alexander even saved skin tissue samples which were later instrumental in the development of methlorethamine, an early form of chemotherapy used to treat cancer.
Beginning in 1942, the Department of Defense began researching therapeutic uses of chemical warfare agents. Pharmacologists Alfred Gilman and Louis S. Goodman developed nitrogen mustard, a more stable derivative of sulfur mustard. Dr. Alexander’s tissues samples from Bari, just one year into the project, helped to identify the activity of mustard as a cancer treatment. Cancerous cells go through cell division rapidly, starving surrounding tissues of the nutrients and space needed for healthy cells. Dr. Alexander observed that mustard gas suppressed cell division in certain types of tissues prone to cancer, specifically cells of the immune system and bone marrow. Based on Dr. Alexander’s observations, Gilman and Goodman proposed that nitrogen mustard could prove a successful treatment for lymphoma. Their nitrogen mustard-based drug, mechlorethamine, was used to successfully treat the first patient with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and became the first chemotherapy drug to combat cancer.
Newlyweds Lt. Col. Stewart F. Alexander, medical consultant in chemical warfare, and Lt. Col. Bernice Wilbur, Director of American Nurses in the North African theater, cutting their wedding cake after their marriage. Algiers, Algeria. 29 April. 1944. U.S. Army Signal Corps photograph, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.
The Roosevelt Hotel was a popular New Orleans spot during WWII. Opened in 1893 as The Grunewald, the grand hotel was renamed in 1923 in honor of the late President Theodore Roosevelt. The Roosevelt was home to some of the liveliest wartime venues New Orleans had to offer: the Blue Room, the Fountain Lounge and the Sazerac Bar. Renamed The Fairmont in 1965, the hotel closed in 2005 only to be reopened as The Roosevelt in 2009.
Seventy years ago today, Sgt. E.A. Murphy wrote his sister in Maryland this very succinct note on the lovely Roosevelt postcard: “Having a very fine time and enjoying myself. Brother.”
Similarly to the Fall of 1942, when one song – Bing Crosby’s unstoppable ‘White Christmas’ – sat unmoving at the #1 spot from early October into January, from November 1943 into the New Year of 1944, the top of the charts would belong to a single release: The Mills Brothers’ ‘Paper Doll.’
A veteran vocal quartet, hits were nothing new to The Mills Brothers who had grown accustomed to making regular chart appearances as early as the late 1920s. However, after a period of declining sales, the group was badly in need of a hit to revive their career.
Originally relegated to the record’s B-side, with the slower pop standard ‘I’ll Be Around’ as the chosen hit, it was only after a disk jockey turned the record over that the peppy ‘Paper Doll’ took off. Allegedly recorded in less than fifteen minutes, ‘Paper Doll’ would prove to be The Mills Brothers’ biggest hit ever. In total, ‘Paper Doll’ would hold on the #1 slot for twelve weeks, on its way to becoming one of only fifty records in the 20th century to sell over 10 million copies worldwide.
Enjoy the original 1943 Decca Records hit recording of The Mills Brothers’ ‘Paper Doll.’
This post by Collin Makamson, Family Programs & Outreach Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum
Newsmap illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel, published November 8, 1943. Courtesy of the US Navy Department Library.
Tropical diseases proved to be a formidable foe in the Pacific Theatre, with malaria, dysentery and yellow fever at the top of the list. Protecting troops from infection often involved controlling the vector, or carrier, or the disease. In the case of malaria, the potentially fatal illness is transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. Characterized by high fever and severe headaches, malaria is caused by parasitic microorganisms of the genus Plasmodium which uses the mosquito to spread among hosts. In the Pacific malaria was responsible for more Allied casualties than combat and by February 1943, the Army Air Corps projected that 4 out of 10 troops would be hospitalized for malaria within the year.
The antimalarial drug quinine, derived from the bark of the cinchona tree, has been a proven treatment for centuries. But as war swept across Europe and Asia, quinine became inaccessible to the United States as cinchona plantations in Indonesia fell to Japan and drug reserves in Amsterdam were captured by Germany. Without a stockpile of quinine, the Allies turned to alternative treatments. The synthetic antimalarial drug known as Atabrine was promising, but many troops refused to take the drug because of its horrendous side effects. The United States even operated its own cinchona plantations in Costa Rica but failed to produce the quantity of quinine necessary for the war effort.
As alternatives to quinine proved ineffective, the education of troops about mosquito-borne illness became a vital tool in combating malaria. Soldiers were encouraged to use sleeping nets every night, apply repellant regularly and even wear rolled-down sleeves and gloves to prevent mosquito bites. Theodor Seuss Geisel, more famously known as Dr. Seuss, produced one education piece, a pamphlet about the dangerous Anopheles mosquito. Titled “THIS IS ANN…she drinks blood!” the illustrated map above was produced 70 years ago this week.
The text transcribed by the US Navy Department Library:
THIS IS ANN…..she drinks blood!
Her full name is Anopheles Mosquito and she’s dying to meet you. Her trade is dishing out MALARIA! If you’ll take a look at the map below you can see where she hangs out.
She can knock you flat so you’re no good to your country, your outfit or yourself. You’ve got the dope, the nets and stuff to lick her if you will USE IT.
Use a little horse sense and you can lick Ann. Get sloppy and careless about her and she’ll bat you down just as surely as a bomb, a bullet or a shell.
