Paratrooper related clippings from the ‘Fort Benning Bayonet’

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Fort Benning was the primary training center for the new US parachute troops, and it is the place where it all started in 1940 with the parachute test platoon. So, its newspaper is a potential trove of information about the training period.

In 2021, I found old issues of the newspaper still available online, although they have apparently moved to another address by now: https://www.benning.army.mil/Library/Bayonet/Index.html. These are immense PDFs and it took me a long time to go through them and filter out all paratrooper related content.

The first issue of those still available is from September 17, 1942. The Bayonet paper looked like this and maintained pretty much the same layout until the end of the war:

First issue of the Fort Benning Bayonet

As you can see, in the first issue we can already find an interesting paratrooper related article, 26 Canadians Awarded Wings.

This tells us that Canadians also trained parachutists in the US, not only in Great Britain, but also that this was probably only the case for this particular group of 26. It says they returned to Canada to form the nucleus of the Canadian First Parachute Battalion.

The same issue also reports 505th Parachute Troops To Present Colors Initial Time. Since its activation, this was the first presentation of the colors at a regimental review ceremony, under command of Lieutenant Colonel James M. Gavin.

I have made a selection of clippings of only the paratrooper related articles, but only for 1942-1943, and the file is very heavy.

1944-1945 also looks very promising, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. It’s hard to read from the screen and too many pages to just print everything.

Click here to access all wartime issues of the Fort Benning Bayonet newspaper

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Airborne 44, volume 10 – Wild Men

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Airborne 44 vol. 10 Wild Men by Philippe Jarbinet

Along with many new comic book releases around Saint Nicholas’, we finally get to read and admire the second part of the story that started with volume 9 – Black Boys, which came out in April 2021. It was worth the long wait! You can really see the craft en dedication that Philippe Jarbinet put into this new album.

The story takes us into the Belgian Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge. The black soldier and the white airborne officer again cross paths, and again they have to rely on each other to survive.

In the end, this unlikely combination of two men develops a friendship that will last a lifetime.

The scenario is strong, and even though it’s emotional, it does not become cheesy.

All the uniforms, equipment and vehicles look very realistic, but maybe the most impressive achievement is how Jarbinet manages to capture the sensation of the winter. The watercolors really come to life in the snow, the tracks in it and the wrecks of vehicles half buried in it.

I hope that new albums of this same standard will keep coming every year.

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Canadian luminous disk with leather pouch

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Kees Smulders sent these very clear pictures from a Canadian made luminous disk in his own collection. He bought it 30 years ago at an army surplus store in Arnhem. It’s a Canadian disk, marked R.L.I. 1942 (RLI stands for Radium Industries Limited). It is still complete with its brown nubuck leather pouch with a brass press stud, and a tie down cord. I had never seen one like this in such good condition and with a pouch.

Front of disk and pouch
Detail of pouch stud and label
Markings on the back

Read the complete article about all types of luminous disks

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Fort Bragg paratroops souvenir pillow cover

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Fort Bragg souvenir pillow cover WWII
Fort Bragg pillow case

Bob Esposito kindly sent me this picture of the pillow cover that his father in-law Cosmo Barbieri sent to his parents while training at Ft. Bragg. He was a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne, serving in WWII during the years of 1944 to 1946.

This is one of several Ft Bragg souvenir pillow covers featured in my ever growing overview.

Camp Bragg was renamed Fort Bragg, to signify becoming a permanent Army post, on September 30th, 1922. Mainly paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne trained at Bragg (although apparently also Bob’s father in-law). Fort Bragg is still the home of the Airborne and Special Operations Forces today.

It’s an interesting moment to bring this up, as Fort Bragg is soon to be renamed to Fort Liberty. Fort Bragg is currently named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general associated with being a slave owner and losing battles during the Civil War.  It is one of nine Army installations slated for a name change. More info on that here.

Read the complete article on paratrooper pillow covers

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Superior Magneto wrist compass dating back to 1943?

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This picture is from a WWII manual about aircraft survival equipment. It is dated 23 November 1943, and it clearly shows a Superior Magneto wrist compass with a canvas wrist strap. That’s much earlier than the earliest-dated Superior Magneto compass that we have found so far. Marcel Struijk sent me these pictures. The second picture shows more detailed photos from the kit. The color photo is from https://www.wwiisurvivalequipment.com/life-rafts-usaaf. This predates the earliest date I have seen on this type of compass by at least 6 months.

View the complete article about paratrooper wrist compasses

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TL-122-B and -C white residue?

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If you own a TL-122-B flashlight, chances are you noticed white residue on the olive drab plastic body. Maybe you even tried to wipe it off, only to find that after a while this white sheen reappears. What causes this?

The TL-122-B was replaced by the TL-122C and later the TL-122D because of the problems it had with a wax build-up on its surface and a bad smell.

Dan Navarro contacted me because he was doing some research on one of the four manufacturers of the TL-122-B, the Gits Molding Company. Gits made small portable chess sets during the war. It appears they used the same plastic material to make the flashlights. The chess sets had similar results. See photo showing an affected chess piece and one cleaned up.

White residue on e Gits-manufactured chess piece

Dan and I exchanged some thoughts about this, and I also asked my son, our scientist in residence. The white residue is probably paraffin wax. For injection molding in the 1940s, e.g. for flashlights, it was used to easily separate the molds from the plastic.

We are not sure though, why the white residue reappears a while after wiping it off. Probably because of the excess use of paraffin, followed by long exposure to heat or sunlight.

Dan’s understanding from the literature on the internet is that the U.S. government had the four contractors re-configure the formula to eliminate the problem with the flashlights. Most likely they substituted another chemical that performed the same function as the paraffin but without the bad effects.

So, for collectors of Gits flashlights and chess sets from 1942, we will just have to give them all a nice cleaning every two or three years to keep them presentable, or to leave them untouched.

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Ed Shames dies at age 99

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Announced in the media worldwide today, Col. Ed Shames passed away on Friday at the age of 99. May he join his brothers and rest in peace.

We all know Ed Shames from the epic HBO series ‘Band of Brothers’, based on the book of Steven Ambrose.

Shames jumped into Normandy on D-Day, participated in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. He was among the first US soldiers to enter the Dachau concentration camp.

At Berchtesgaden, he would ‘liberate’ a bottle of cognac that was labeled to be ‘for the Führer’s use only’. He would later use it toast his oldest son’s bar mitzvah, according to his obituary.

Shames was the last surviving officer of Easy Company. With his death, there is only one surviving enlisted member: 97-year-old Bradford Freeman.

You can read a lot more facts and see pictures and videos in this article from the Daily Mail.

Interview with Ed Shames on YouTube (American Veterans Center)
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Origin of the parachute training football helmet

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Timothy Brown is the author of the very interesting story “When West-Point’s Football Helmets Went to War“, which was published last week. He used some of my own research, which is how I heard from him. Timothy has uncovered a lot about these helmets that was unknown to me and that I’d like to share with you, so be sure to read his article.

Apparently, the plastic football helmet we all know was a new invention from 1940 and the West Point football team ordered them in 1941. Cadets lent their helmets to the paratroopers for testing, and that’s how it all started. But there’s lots more to discover in the article.

Parachutist wearing the Riddell helmet, HBT coveralls and early jump boots with a strap over the lacing

I myself am the proud owner of one of the prop Riddell helmet replicas especially made for the first episode of Band of Brothers, as well as a number of original photos from early parachute training at Fort Benning, some of which were used in this article. It is such a fascinating history and a turning point in modern warfare.

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New magazines with paratroopers on cover

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It’s been a long while since I got any new WWII magazines with parachutists or glider troops on the cover. These 3 were sent to me by Darren from the UK and are very nice. The New York Times magazine is actually one you may have seen before, but I never got a decent picture of it. The two other ones are really new to me.

As for the one from the Times, the photo caption seems strange, given the magazine is from September 1944 and no paratroops had jumped on Germany at the time.

Check out the complete overview of period magazines with parachutists

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A case full of TL-122 flashlights!

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Thorsten Becker sent me photos of this minefield marking chest he found. It’s dated 29 September 1944, and it’s in great shape and it still has the packing list on the inside:

200 batteries (compartment B)
42 flashlights TL-122-C (compartment C)
40 flashlights TL-122-C (compartment A)
164 bulbs (one in head and one in base) 2 in each flashlight
34 filters, amber for flashlights, in flashlight
48 filters, green for flashlights, in flashlight

This case was empty, but imagine finding a full one with 82 flashlights…

Read the complete article about TL-122 flashlights

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