250 Years - How Does the US Army Keep Rolling Along?

As I sit in the ICU with my dad, random thoughts bounce along with the waveforms on the monitor. Alarms cry from other rooms. Nurses race, their gaits commensurate to the tasks at hand. I realize this is a room full of equipment to support, sustain, and save lives. Then, I imagine a time when these tools did not exist.

On June 14, 2025, The United States celebrated the birth of the US Army in 1775. This date signaled the creation of a mighty machine that would defend and protect, as well as heal. In the beginning, the Army did not have systems in place to advance men and supplies from one place to the next, nor to care for wounded or transport them to safety.

The complexity of the present organization and what it takes to make it crawl, walk, run is mindboggling to say the least. This I did not consider before our son entered the Army. Neither did I realize the volume of acronyms and abbreviations. More of those machinations to follow. No doubt there are hefty books and lengthy online posts describing the minutia of transportation alone. For this post, how about a few notable players and nifty tidbits across the years? While some of these additions may seem haphazard, they each have a connection to recent events or to my father whom I am watching over at the moment.

During one of our son’s training seasons, we visited the Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia, recently renamed Joint Base Langley-Eustis. The exhibits explain transitions over time, inventions, and improvements to help the whole. Particularly fascinating, the Red Ball Express. Someone needed to transport fuel for the vehicles and supplies for the troops – to advance the lot. Stop and think about this job. Moving targets to be sure. A harrowing experience, to be responsible for the lifeblood of machines. Enemies strived toward eliminating options. This would be a quick method to deter and defeat the purpose. Not only the incendiary target, but other parties also desired the fuel. A jerrycan sold for $100 on the French black market during WWII. The rations and cigarettes as coveted commodities caused trouble. Some Red Ball trucks did not reach their destinations due to theft and an evermoving front that plowed onward. Red Ball trucks followed the line to the front in some areas with maps, in others with large rectangular signs with large red balls in the middle. A beacon of sorts. Though their name did not result from these guideposts. Rather from a rail related term denoting shipments of a priority or express nature.

Imagine the landscape when Normandy Allied operations were 200 days ahead of plans and projections. This scenario delivered additional sustainment challenges. A unit in 1944 demanded each day, thirty-five tons of field rations. An estimated seventy-five thousand plus tons of supplies and equipment sought transportation across the miles.

American troops bombed extensive sections of French railways to thwart the German Army from moving toward Normandy and other key locations. While protecting the American Army, these detonations also posed the problem of transportation for the US soldiers and their necessary equipment. This LSCO or large-scale combat operation, necessitated moving men, rations, fuel, and vehicles across a vast expanse of territory. Consider all involved. Men need clothing, boots, gear, food, water, medical supplies, communication methods, vehicles, fuel, all related MOS or Military Occupational Specialty for each task/job, and more. Then, the roads must be sufficient to handle the volume of people and machines traversing. The small existing French roads at the time could not accommodate this mass. Crews constantly repaired roads. The entire process daunting and detailed required innovations and improvisations. And yet the US Army perseveres. (Read more about the Red Ball Express on the US Army Transportation Corps site.)

During the Korean War, the H-13 helicopter served as a notable method of moving men. H-13s flew wounded soldiers from combat zones to MASH units – Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals for treatment. The Army cleverly modified the H-13 based on need. External litters with the head area comprised of Plexiglass allowed more secure and less traumatic experiences. Before the use of H-13, trucks navigated rough Korean terrain often causing shock. The helicopters hence named, “Angels of Mercy” for their ability of smooth speed. One pilot logged 700 hours and 545 missions over a 14-month period, delivering 922 casualties. Of the 23,000 soldiers transported, 18,000 rode on an H-13.

Throughout a long period of my childhood, I could hear the theme song from the TV show, M.A.S.H., floating from the living room. My father’s favorite show for its humor, I imagine he watched the reruns multiple times. I never knew then that our son would later land in an adjacent role. I am ever grateful for all those who served before and those who dedicate their lives to making ours safer. Better.

The Vietnam War comprised different challenges and a generation who would blame rather than thank American soldiers. The M54A1C Truck for cargo solved some of the logistical problems while displaying the disgruntled state of mind of those involved by the names painted on its well-insulated sides. The M54A1C in this photo garnered its moniker from a Barry McGuire song of protest, “Eve of Destruction.” With two sheets of steel plates had sandbags in between – a double hull design, this vehicle augmented protection for supply convoys. The “Eve” is the only gun truck (known) in existence from this war. This 5-ton, 6 x 6 (Modified) M54A1C drove into the kill zones at the beginning of the ambush, all out guns. The firepower provided a shield of sorts.

From 1956 – 1989 the Versatile Mule provided transportation in a variety of scenarios. More adaptable than the Jeep, its relative longevity due to vast options and adaptions. Read about the history of the Jeep in The Origin of the Jeep oIIIIIIIo. . The Mule also aided in multiple wars until it finally retired in the late 1980s. Its successor, nimble ATVs.

To finish on a lighter note, not all transportation involved defeating an enemy. Some offered hope and help. A pilot, Lieutenant Gail S. “Hal” Halverson, gave his last two pieces of gum to German children. These littles shared his scant offering amongst themselves behind a fence as he surveyed the area during an operation. An idea formed to deliver on a mass-scale. He told the children to look for his plane and he would drop sweets to their locations. They asked how they would recognize him amongst the other planes. He explained he would wiggle the airplane wings and henceforth they called him, “Uncle Wiggle Wings” (“Onkle Wachlefluge).” A group effort, Hal’s commander bestowed permission to continue. Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts donated material and handkerchiefs to make tiny parachutes to deliver tons of candy that could be air-dropped to German youth. Confectioners provided candy. The “Candy Bomber” as Hal was also named, offered a temporary escape from the horrors of war. These children experienced joy drifting down from above in the form of small gifts attached to white parachutes.

We as lovers of history enjoy delving into the past to learn and appreciate. We can apply this bent to another aspect of our lives as we realize gratitude causes a shift. Compassion. When we ponder those around us, their lives before and what they are experiencing, we gain understanding. Taking a moment to consider components of how a person arrived at present can be interesting, enlightening, and aid in connections between us and another. For example, that crazy driver with road rage might not be so deranged at all. They could be on the way to the hospital with a loved one in dire straits. They did not mean to derail another driver’s morning. No, this did not occur for my dad’s current visit. Just an observation and perhaps helpful perspective. Henceforth, I aim to approach others with the curiosity I extend to a wizened old tree, a beautiful building, or an ancient artifact. 

Do you do the same?

As a child, Rebecca loved to write. She nurtured this skill as an educator and later as an editor for an online magazine. Rebecca then joined the Cru Ministry - NBS2GO/Neighbor Bible Studies, at its inception. She serves as the YouVersion Content Creator, with over 130 Plans, in 44 languages on the Bible.com app.

Rebecca lives near the mountains with her husband and a rescued dog named Ranger. She is a proud mom of an American soldier and a college senior. If it were up to Rebecca, she would be traveling - right now. First up, trips to see their two grown sons. As a member of ACFW and FHLCW, she tackles the craft of fiction while learning from a host of generous writers.


Connect with Rebecca: Facebook Goodreads Instagram Pinterest X/Twitter

The Ghost Army

By Marilyn Turk

With this month’s celebration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in World War II, much has been written about how the final phase of the war was won by Allied Forces. A combined force of over three million troops from the United States and eleven other countries participated in the largest seaborne invasion ever carried out.
But did you know about the Ghost Army that was also part of the plan to overthrow Hitler’s Army? A couple of months after the D-Day invasion, this secret army arrived in France with a special mission: to deceive, mislead and befuddle the enemy by conducting a traveling road show.

Fake convoy

Officially known as the 1st Headquarters Special Troops, this 1100-man Army unit was trained to impersonate other Allied Army units. Many of these soldiers were recruited from art schools, advertising agencies and other occupations that encouraged creative thinking. In civilian life, they had been artists, actors, set designers and engineers.

There were four basic tactics the ghost army used to deceive the German Army: Visual deception, Sonic deception, radio deception and atmosphere.

Fake airplane

The visual deception was carried out by the 603rd camouflage engineers which used inflatable jeeps, cannons, tanks, trucks and airplanes which the men would inflate with air compressors, then partially camouflage them so the enemy could still see them. They created dummy airfields, troop camps (complete with laundry hanging on clotheslines), motor pool, artillery batteries and tank formations.

Inflatable rubber tank

Under the Signal Service Company, sonic deception was carried out. Aided by engineers from Bell Labs, a team went to Fort Knox and recorded sounds of armored and infantry units onto a series of sound effects records. These sounds were “mixed” to match the scenario they wanted the enemy to believe. Recorded on state-of-the-art wire recorders (predecessor to the tape recorder), the sounds were played with powerful amplifiers and speakers and could be heard fifteen miles away.

Sound deception unit with 500 lb. speakers

The radio deception was also carried out by the signal company. Creating “spoof radio,” special operators created fake radio transmissions, impersonating radio operators from real army units. They were so skilled in mimicking a departing operator’s method of sending Morse Code that the enemy couldn’t tell that the real unit with its real operator had moved on.

Inflatable truck

“Atmosphere” was the term used to describe the theatrical effects which supplemented the other deceptions. Using various techniques, this unit simulated actual units deployed elsewhere by using copies of their insignia, painting it on vehicles, and pretending they were being deployed as if they were regimental headquarters units. Trucks were driven in convoys with only a couple of men seated near the rear to simulate a truck full of infantry under the canvas cover. The unit’s members put their theatrical skills to use as well, engaging in "playacting, like pretending to be MPs (military police) who would stand at crossroads wearing divisional insignia. Other actors spent time at French cafes near the war's front to spread gossip among the spies who might be there, to, as one former Ghoster put it, "order some omelets and talk loose." Some actors would also play the parts of Allied generals, dressing up like officers and visiting towns where enemy spies could see them.

Fake artillery 

All these tactics were amazingly effective at creating believable scenes. From their landing in Normandy until the Allied Forces crossed into the Rhine River Valley, these men staged more than twenty battlefield deceptions, or “illusions” as the men preferred to call them, with some taking place just a few hundred yards from the front lines.

Kept classified as a military secret until 1996, the Ghost Army is estimated to have saved tens of thousands of soldiers’ lives with its deceptions and to have been instrumental in several Allied victories in Europe.

Have you ever heard of the Ghost Army? Do you know of anyone who served in it?

Marilyn Turk’s roots are in the coastal South, raised in Louisiana, moved to Georgia, then retired to Florida. Calling herself a “literary archaeologist,” she loves to discover stories hidden in history. She is the author of two World War II novels, The Gilded Curse and Shadowed by a Spy, and the four-book Coastal Lights Legacy series set in 1800s Florida—Rebel Light, Revealing Light, Redeeming Light, and Rekindled Light—featuring lighthouse settings. Marilyn’s novella, The Wrong Survivor, is in the Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides collection and Love’s Cookin’ at the Cowboy Café, in the Crinoline Cowboys collection. She also writes for Daily Guideposts Devotions.


She lives with her husband, 10-year-old grandson Logan, and a 17-year-old cat. When not writing, Marilyn can be found playing tennis, gardening, walking, fishing, or kayaking. She and her husband have visited over 100 lighthouses so far, but the RV is ready to travel and go see more. Marilyn is the director of the Blue Lake Christian Writers Retreat in Alabama, www.bluelakecwr.com. Website: @http://pathwayheart.com

If you're interested in World War II history, you might like the books I wrote that take place during that era.

Locust invasion and US Army aid

Cara Grandle here.

Have you ever read a western, settlers or pioneer novel where a major environmental catastrophe was involved? Floods, fires, blizzards? How about locusts? Over the next few posts I’m going to talk about interesting historical facts behind several of these obstacles.

Starting with locusts.

Locust storm wipe out everything. Crops. Food. Wood. Even the wool off the sheep’s back. They were a serious threat to survival. An invading swarm could mean starvation for all around.

Where should we begin?

How about finding out the difference between a grasshopper and a locust?

Quoting the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior contributor, Alexandre Bsevolo Latchininsky, Entomologist says, “All locusts are grasshoppers but not all grasshoppers are locusts. Out of 12,000 described grasshopper species in the world, only about a dozen should be considered locusts.”

Phew. Only a dozen. Which after we figure out what defines a locust you will be as grateful as I am that only 12 of 12,000 behave this way:

• Dreaded and destructive. 
• Like a firestorm. 
• Travel on the winds. 7 mph. Looks like a dust cloud. Desert locust covers huge area. 
• Wings crackling. Thrumb-humbing buzzing. 
• Scientists don’t know how the insects choose to land. Maybe color…the green of food looks like a McDonalds stop. They eat everything. One woman reported wearing a dress of white with green stripes. The locusts settled on her and ate every bit of the green stripe in the dress before anything could be done about it.
• Locusts are three inches long, weigh one ounce, and eats its body weight in one day. 
• Locusts respond different than grasshoppers to crowding. It changes color. From russet browns to yellow and black. Then it eats a belly full of poison plants, so if a predator eats him it will not eat another. The head changes shape. They band. After they eat all the local food, they swarm. 
• The swarm is able to eat up to 200 tons of vegetation in a single day.
• Locusts swarms have been recorded on every continent accept Antarctica.
• Locusts outbreaks happened on a small scale every 3-5 years, with a major infestation every 6-8 years. 

Libya, June 2012, 2 million people starved to death after a locust infestation that could have been prevented with infestation control. A political move by a now deceased leader led to this tragedy.


Utah, July 1847, A swarm of Mormon Crickets, a wingless desert locust three times the size of a regular desert locust, marched by the millions clearing 10,000 acres of crops. Cannibals, they march to keep from getting eaten by the locust behind them. The swarm lasted for three weeks.


Rocky Mountains, June 1875, the sun was blocked for five days as the land was infested with Rocky Mountain Locusts. Named Albert’s Storm. Albert Child was a county judge and a weather watcher who measured the swarm with his weather tools. He determined that the swarm was 100 miles wide, 1,800 miles long, and 1.5 miles high, containing 3.5 trillion locusts covering 198,000 miles. 300 thousand acres destroyed.
As the weather cooled the swarms would collect on the railroad tracks to absorb the heat of the sun by day and retain it well into the night. They wouldn’t get out of the way of the train, creating a slippery gooey mess that made train passage precarious.


Famine. Death by starvation. 

Survival facts:

Farmers tried all sorts of things to scare the insects away. They built trenches and filled them with fire only to have the grasshoppers smother the fires. One survival tactics was to eat the locust. Many pulled the legs and wings and fried them in butter to stay alive.

Only 1 in 10 families were left with enough provisions to last out the winter. Kansas alone lost one third of its population. Folks abandoned their stakes and return to the east, slowing The Oregon Trail flood by 20 percent. 

 

Where is the hope in such news?

People are resilient. People do great things.

Hope:

The first ever organized relief effort preformed by the US Army was in answer to this locust invasion.
During that terrible winter, soldiers distributed thousands of heavy coats, boots, shoes, woolen blanket and nearly 2 million rations to suffering families in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado Territory and Dakota Territory. More importantly, it gave the Army a beginning experience with this type of aid.


Add more hope:
The eggs from this massive storm hatched and were frozen out by an early winter storm and the people passed The Grasshopper Act which made it mandatory for able-bodied men to work for at least 2 days during hatch season to eliminate locust larva or be fined $10.00. On top of that, they offered a bounty of $1.00 a bushel for locust's larva collected. By the 1880s they had recovered enough to resume exports. Some switched to winter crops that could be harvested before the larva hatched.


And the final hope:
The Rocky Mountain Locust is now considered extinct. The last sighting was in 1902 in Canada. The reason they are extinct is still considered a mystery.

With all this crazy, it’s amazing to me that there aren’t more stories of locust invasion in pioneer, western, and settler stories. Hmmmmm. Book idea anyone?

Have you ever experienced any sort of insect invasion? I'd love to hear from you.

If you've made it this far, I'd like to tell you about something new. I started a podcast. Home for writers, readers and regular Joes. If you are a podcast listener and you need a dose of joy-meets-common sense come on over to Life Caraphrased. 

CaraGrandle is a Historical Romance Novelist who prefers to write about the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest. Think trappers and loggers and scroungy-backed woodsmen. She is represented by the Steve Laube Agency. Cara leads the author4TheAuthor writers group on Facebook, home to 190 writers. Together they're pressing back on busy and making a space for their dreams. 

Cara is currently out on submission. Follower her journey on her Facebook author page.

Prayers much appreciated. Smile.

BOOK GIVEAWAY AND WORLD WAR 11 WEDDINGS

ANNE GREENE here:

Amid pain and suffering, the 1940s teemed with romance. During World War II many women arranged wartime weddings within a few days of receiving a proposal to accommodate a boyfriend coming home on 24 or 48 hours short leave. Then the new husband deployed to combat on some far off post.  Frequently there was no time to order a special wedding dress, and often women could not afford the clothing coupons needed for a wartime wedding dress.

Nevertheless, happy weddings took place. Family members donated small amounts of staples like sugar, flour and eggs so the war bride could bake a wedding cake.

Women borrowed hats, raided gardens for flowers and loaned wedding dresses. Bridesmaids reused dresses worn to other weddings. This gave a mix and match look to bridal group photographs of the 1940s. Most every item of clothing could be used again in a different venue. Friends and family rallied around loaning a hat, a bit of lace, or a dress.

A bride often wore her hair high on top of her head in a waved roll. Abundant hair was helpful, but lack of it did not stop women from adopting the style. Ever resourceful, they used old stockings rolled up to create foundations to be covered in their hair. This style became popular among women of the forties since the look offered glamour lacking in other areas of wartime life. The style is film star glam.

Army, Navy and Air Corps usually wore their uniforms when they wed. So the grooms looked handsome.

In 1944, an American B-29 pilot returned with his crew from a bombing raid over Yowata, Japan. The plane’s engine caught fire. The pilot used his parachute to jump from the burning aircraft. Later the chute helped him survive by providing shelter until rescue teams found him. After returning home from war to Pennsylvania, he proposed to his girlfriend. She used the life-saving parachute as material for her wedding dress. She modeled her dress on one which appeared in the movie Gone With The Wind. She used the original parachute strings to create the train effect in the back. I can think of no other wedding dress that would be as meaningful as one that saved the life of the groom.
In my World War II historical romance, ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS, you will find two romantic war time weddings. If you love weddings, you’ll adore these two.

Do you have a story about a World War II wedding from your grandmother or mother? Would you accept a proposal to marry within 48hours or even a week?

Leave a comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS.

A story of a woman in a man’s domain set against the dynamics of World War II is a can’t-miss scenario. Angels With Steel Wings paints a vivid picture of courageous pilots facing death in the air while struggling with love on the ground, and wraps it up in a unique twist that will challenge all you knew about the “Greatest Generation.” Steeped in history and framed by faith, this is a tale that takes readers into a world now all but forgotten, and lands in a place that touches the heart in a special way. To know how far we have come, we must understand where we started, and Angels With Steel Wings takes us back on a thrilling trip in time that informs as it entertains. I think this is one flight you won’t want to miss.

***Ace Collins, bestselling author of numerous books, including the WW II series, “In the President’s Service.”

BIO: ANNE GREENE delights in writing about alpha heroes who aren’t afraid to fall on their knees in prayer, and about gutsy heroines. She writes both historical and suspense novels. Her Women of Courage Series spotlights heroic women of World War II. The first book, ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS is available on Amazon. Her private investigating series, Handcuffed In Texas with the first book, HOLLY GARDEN, PI, RED IS FOR ROOKIE, now available on Amazon. She and her hero husband, Army Special Forces Colonel Larry Greene, have visited twenty-five countries. A visit to Scotland resulted in her award-winning Scottish historical romances, MASQUERADE MARRIAGE and MARRIAGE BY ARRANGEMENT. A TEXAS CHRISTMAS MYSTERY also won awards. Anne makes her home in McKinney, Texas. Anne’s highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. To learn more of Anne, visit her at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com.