I am not sure if these tidbits are true, but they sure are interesting!

QUIRKS OF WW2 HISTORY
You might enjoy this from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Ret and history buff.
You would really have to dig deep to assemble this kind of historical info.

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1. The first German serviceman killed in WW II was killed by the Japanese
(China, 1937), the first American serviceman killed was killed by the
Russians (Finland 1940); and the highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen
Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps. So much for allies.

2. The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was
wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. His
benefits were later restored by act of Congress.

3. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS
(pronounced ‘sink us’), the shoulder patch of the US Army’s 45th Infantry
division was the Swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named ‘Amerika.’
All three were soon changed for PR purposes.

4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps. While
completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%.

5. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot.
You were either an ace, or a target. For instance, Japanese Ace Hiroyoshi
Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo
plane.

6. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round with a
tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a mistake. Tracers had different
ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target 80% of
your rounds were missing. Worse yet tracers instantly told your enemy he was
under fire and from which direction. Worst of all, it was the practice to
load a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell when you were out of
ammo. This was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy! Units
that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their
loss rate go down.

7. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in
it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill
(who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton who had himself photographed in
the act.

8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City… but they
decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

9. German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

10. Among the first ‘Germans’ captured at Normandy were several
Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until
they were
captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army
until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the
German Army until they
were captured by the US Army.

11. Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 United States and
Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. 21
troops were killed in the assault on the island. It could have been worse if
there had been any Japanese on the island.

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