Loveliest of all, the magic of this Bungalow shall remain in your heart for all the days of your life..1930s Glamour intermingled with 1940s Homefront Attitude and Style! Hubba, Hubba!
Pin Up Girls Adore Quite The Stir Bungalow!
Quite The Stir Bungalow, Gettysburg, PA
Ahh...you've happened across Quite The Stir Bungalow Blog quite unexpectedly right?
Need a break from rushing full tilt down busy city streets where all eyes are focused on the day ahead and the persons' back in front of them? Transport yourselves into history with overnight accommodations at an historical small town all-American '30s and '40s Bungalow where everyone looks you in the eyes, gives you a hearty fare-thee-well and always knows your name.
Be our guests through this Blog, as we share the attitude and style of the 1930s through the 1940s,and yes...glamour of Quite The Stir Bungalow!
DO let us ponder the
All-American Girl's Dream
and the women who graced
the American Runways in
the 1930s and 1940s!
Prepare yourselves,...gentle readers...
for a bit of entertainment, information, consternation,
a proffered revelation or two and
perhaps tads and scads of
hyperventilation.
Keep thine eyes on the talent cards, your hand atop your
foolish heart
...and ever ready to
trump your aces
as a bevy of beauties and a Queen of the Sweet "Hearts"
bound before your eyes....
That's right, the unveiling of a non-profit foundation "GETTYSBURG'S GREATEST GENERATION!"
Welcome and THANK World War II Col. Glenn D. Frazier, Author of Hell's Guest,
Gettysburg's Own John M. Sachs, WWII Veteran, and other
distinguished Guests.
Honoring our American History, through the events, education, memories and hearts of the GI Joes and Janes of WWII "The Greatest Generation"...both on The FRONT and The HOMEFRONT!
Born March 1, 1904 in Clarinda, Iowa, his name was Alton Glenn Miller. Americans knew and may yet remember him as an American jazz musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era.
The tumultuous years from 1939 to 1943 found Glenn Miller to be one of the best-selling recording artists in America! He nosed-out other great bands of the era! Miller's signature recordings include the sounds of Chattanooga Choo Choo, In The Mood, America Patrol, Tuxedo Junction, Moonlight Serenade, Little Brown Jug and Pennsylvania 6-5000.
Tragically, stories surrounding his demise reveal, that apparently, whilst traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's plane disappeared in fog and horrid weather somewhere over the English Channel. Glenn Miller's body has never been found.
(March 1, 1904- missing December 15, 1944)
Born to parents, Elmer and Mattie Lou Miller, the family moved from Iowa to Nebraska, then to Missouri, and finally, to Fort Morgan, Colorado. Through each move and with passage of time, Glenn Miller's musical talents took an irresistible step forward. From his first mandolin to the high school band, Miller sought ways to nourish his musical gifts of remarkable talent.
Upon High School Graduation in 1921, Glenn Miller further pursued his love of music, theory and composition while continuing his College education. From Los Angeles, California to New York City, NY... Glenn could be found working with bands, the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, Ray Noble, as a trombonist and as a musical arranger. In 1928, Miller married Helen Burger married his College sweetheart!
1934 found Miller first recording under his own name, while still working with the Noble orchestra. After an initial, less than successful attempt in 1937 forming a band, the first real engagement with an all new Glenn Miller Orchestra was in 1938, Glen Island Casino!
1939 and 1942 found, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra enjoying the music of amazing popularity and commercial success! Hoopla! The Glenn Miller Orchestra recorded 17 Top 10 Hits in 1939! More successes followed in the years ahead for Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. Songs such as the classic swing sensations "In the Mood," "Little Brown Jug", "A String of Pearls" and "Moonlight Serenade." Miller's success included movies and a radio series entitled "Moonlight Serenade." This series could be found airing on CBS three times each week.
Glenn Miller's Orchestra's distinguished popularity could be attributed to the band's exceptional sound, personality and style! Miller was known to have stated emphatically that "A band ought to have a sound all of its own. It ought to have a personality." The combination of saxophone and clarinet was appealing to the listeners and added a resonance and swing!
In the wake of WWII's beginning, Glenn Miller unselfishly abandoned his civilian musical success to serve his country! What a guy! In 1942, he enlisted in the US Army Air Force (AAF Band) An important note or two...at the great old age of 38, Miller was considered too old to be drafted. Miller wrote to the then Army Brigadier General Charles Young in attempts to persuade the United States Army to accept him, and YES in his own words, "be placed in charge of a modernized Army band."
And, well...dreams do come true and Big Band Leaders could influence the Army as well!
Meaning,...we'll find it not such a surprise that Miller was persuasive in hisappeal and the Army Air Force Band was ahem...a huge success too! Through a maddening pace of over 800 performances, among them 300 personal appearances, and 500 broadcasts, Miller served as the host of "I Sustain the Wings",...a weekly radio show! Glenn played trombone with the Rhythmaires, a 15-piece dance band, and could be found jazzing and swinging (and winging) in service clubs. Here's a particularly lovely morsel...Glenn Miller promoted the activities of civil service women aircraft mechanics employed at Maxwell, AFB! And, the recordings of the Glenn Miller AAF band were used as propaganda broadcasts for the Office of War Information. How about that?
Did Jolene say "What A Guy", yet?
The Disappearance that stopped the Music...
As in the beginning of this tome and Blog, or Blong, and where we began,...It is recorded, on December 15, 1944, as Glenn Miller, aged 40, began embarkation on a tour of Europe, the flight/transport, (a single-engined UC-64 Norseman, USAAF serial 44-70285) on which he was aboard departed from RAF Twinwood Farm in Clapham, Bedfordshire and disappeared while flying over the English Channel. The plane was never recovered.
Miller's status is missing in action.
When Glenn Miller went missing, he left behind his wife... Helen, and two children, Steven and Jonnie.
Glenn Miller is remembered today as a great man, musician and for an unwavering patriotic devotion for his country! Aside from the music, he also influenced the evolution and commercial success of swing!
The Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band's long term legacy has carried on with the Airmen of Note, a band within the United States Air Force Band. This band was created in 1950 from smaller groups within the Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C. and continues to play jazz music for the Air Force community and the general public.
Things Are BETTER With The Big Band Swing,...I'm here to say!
Hubba, Hubba to you Glenn Dahling...never before and never again.
Directly from Bungalow Radio and The Creator/Founder of Quite The Stir Bungalow, Bungalow Themed Teas, Quite The Stir Couture and Herbal Essences, Iconic Women WWII Spies, Vintage Fine, Home For The Holidays Childrens' Charity and Creating Quite The Stir Event Planners ...
The unveiling of a non-profit foundation "GETTYSBURG'S GREATEST GENERATION!"
Honoring our American History, through the events, memories and hearts of the GI Joes and Janes of WWII "The Greatest Generation"...both on The FRONT and The HOMEFRONT!
Experience WWII History like never before!
STAY TUNED DAHLINGS?
Hubba, Hubba from Jolene
And, now we'll return our focus to the Glenn Miller Band!
Interred in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Texas born and of Irish ancestry,
he is remembered as one of the best fighting combat soldiers America ever had to offer!
With 33 awards, the Medal of Honor and the highest military award for bravery beyond any call of duty, Audie Murphy, was the most decorated United States combat soldier of World War II.
He received every decoration for valor that the United States had to offer,
including 5 decorations by Belgium and France.
Serving three years of active service as a combat soldier in World War II, Audie was a legend with the 3rd Infantry Division!
His military service began as Army Private, and he rose quickly to enlisted rank of Staff Sergeant.
Given a "battle field" commission as 2nd Lieutenant, he fought valiantly in 9 major campaigns throughout the European Theater during WWII and was wounded three times!
Alas, September 21, 1945, Audie was released from active duty in the Army.
As history would have it...
moving onward to Hollywood, the appealing, darling, boyish faced Audie
began acting with his first starring role in a 1949 released film called Bad Boy.
All total, in the 25 years making films,
he starred in 44 feature films.
His 1949 autobiography, To Hell and Back was a best seller. And, the biography was released as a film in 1955 with Murphy starring as himself. The movie, To Hell and Back, held the record as Universal Films' highest grossing picture until the mid 1970s.
Audie Murphy was a writer of poetry and song. His songs were recorded and released by such great performers as Dean Martin, Eddy Arnold, Charley Pride and many, many others. Two of his biggest hits were Shutters and Boards and When the Wind Blows in Chicago.
Somewhere, history resonates with this declaration,
"There will never be another Audie Murphy."
.
May 28, 1971, (Memorial Day Weekend), found Audie on a business trip as a passenger in a private plane. Flying through fog and rain, the plane crashed into the side of a mountain near Roanoke, Virginia.
Audie Murphy was killed at the age of 46.
How About That?
Well, this about that from Bungalow Gal Jolene?
"To Hell and Back andto Heaven and Beyond" Thank you, Audie!
The WWII era selection and quality of quotes offered
below and
for the enlightenenment of our Gentle Readers are,
at times, random
and at other times simply
personal preference...why?
"Because I can."
A WOMAN'S VOICE
“The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do and damned if you don't.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used."
Eleanor Roosevelt
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiousity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others."
Amelia Earhart, in her last letter to her husband, 1937.
"We realized what a spot we were in. We had to deliver the goods, or else there wouldn't ever be another chance for women pilots in any part of the service."
Cornelia Fort
"I can cure your men of walking off the [flight] program. Let's put on the girls."
Jacqueline Cochran
"I'm very definitely a woman and I enjoy it."
Marilyn Monroe
"Dogs never bite me. Just humans."
Marilyn Monroe
"I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot."
Marilyn Monroe
"I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it."
Marilyn Monroe
"What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course."
Maryilyn Monroe
"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."
Ingrid Bergman
"A charming woman doesn't follow the crowd. She is herself."
Loretta Young
"Old age is no place for sissies."
Bette Davis
“Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.”
Katharine Hepburn
“Enemies are so stimulating.”
Katharine Hepburn
“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.”
Katharine Hepburn
“I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.”
Katharine Hepburn
“We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - you can blame anyone but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change, you're the one who has got to change. It's as simple as that, isn't it?”
Katharine Hepburn
“I’ve lived by a man’s code designed to fit a man’s world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman’s first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.”
Carole Lombard
"Darling, the legs aren't so beautiful, I just know what to do with them."
Marlene Dietrich
"I am at heart a gentleman."
Marlene Dietrich
"I am not a myth."
Marlene Dietrich
"I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men."
Marlene Dietrich
"I have got two reasons for success and I'm standing on both of them."
Betty Grable
"With the man the world is his heart, with the woman the heart is her world."
Betty Grable
"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead."
Bertrand Russell
"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul."
Judy Garland
“The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.”
Anais Nin
“How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.”
Anais Nin
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
Anais Nin
“I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”
Anais Nin
"For Whom, anywhere, can actually believe that we are on this earth to behave...in all
good endeavors... ordinarily rather than extraordinarily?"
Jolene Bungalow Gal
"From the magnitude of a specified force
or quality of
history
there arises... the
QUOTE"
Jolene Bungalow Gal
"From the magnitude of a specified force or quality of history there arises... the QUOTE"
Jolene Bungalow Gal
The WWII era selection and quality of quotes offered below and for the enlightenenment of our Gentle Readers are, at times, random and at other times simply personal preference...why?
"Because I can."
Fighting Words...
"In war there is no substitute for victory."
Gen Douglas MacArthur
"Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
General Douglas MacArthur
"Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul."
General Douglas MacArthur
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
General Douglas MacArthur
“Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.”
General Douglas MacArthur
“I shall return.”
General Douglas MacArthur
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.”
General George S. Patton
“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”
George S. Patton
"Pressure makes diamonds.”
George S. Patton
“I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.”
George S. Patton
"Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.”
George S. Patton
Movie Quotes:
"I was born when you kissed me. I died when you left me. I lived a few weeks while you loved me." Humphrey Bogart
"Here's looking at you, kid."
Humphrey Bogart/Casa Blanca
"Things are never so bad they can't be made worse."
Humphrey Bogart/The African Queen
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
Humphrey Bogart/Casa Blanca
"It doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people doesn't add up to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Now,...Here's looking at you kid."
Humphrey Bogart/Casa Blanca
"My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you."
Geogre M. Cohan/Yankee Doodle Dandy
" Just try and stay out of my way. Just try! I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"
Wicked Witch of the West
"Toto, now I know...we're not in Kansas anymore"
Judy Garland, Wizard of Oz
QUOTES OF LEADERS:
Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.
Winston Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.
“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”
Winston Churchill
“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.” Winston Churchill
“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”
Winston Churchill
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it”
Winston Churchill
"I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks.”
Winston Churchill
“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
Winston Churchill
“Please be good enough to put your conclusions and recommendations on one sheet of paper in the very beginning of your report, so I can even consider reading it”
Winston Churchill
“If this is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.”
Winston Churchill
“I like a man who grins when he fights.”
Winston Churchill
“We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it”
Winston Churchill
“Danger - if you meet it promptly and without flinching - you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!”
Winston Church
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
Winston Churchill
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“It's a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead - and find no one there”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live on in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address to Congress, Dec. 8, 1941
A WOMAN'S VOICE
“The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do and damned if you don't.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used."
Eleanor Roosevelt
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiousity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others."
Amelia Earhart, in her last letter to her husband, 1937.
"We realized what a spot we were in. We had to deliver the goods, or else there wouldn't ever be another chance for women pilots in any part of the service."
Cornelia Fort
"I can cure your men of walking off the [flight] program. Let's put on the girls."
Jacqueline Cochran
"I'm very definitely a woman and I enjoy it."
Marilyn Monroe
"Dogs never bite me. Just humans."
Marilyn Monroe
"I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot."
Marilyn Monroe
"I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it."
Marilyn Monroe
"What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course."
Maryilyn Monroe
"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."
Ingrid Bergman
"A charming woman doesn't follow the crowd. She is herself."
Loretta Young
"Old age is no place for sissies."
Bette Davis
“Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.”
Katharine Hepburn
“Enemies are so stimulating.”
Katharine Hepburn
“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.”
Katharine Hepburn
“I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.”
Katharine Hepburn
“We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - you can blame anyone but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change, you're the one who has got to change. It's as simple as that, isn't it?”
Katharine Hepburn
“I’ve lived by a man’s code designed to fit a man’s world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman’s first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.”
Carole Lombard
"Darling, the legs aren't so beautiful, I just know what to do with them."
Marlene Dietrich
"I am at heart a gentleman."
Marlene Dietrich
"I am not a myth."
Marlene Dietrich
"I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men."
Marlene Dietrich
"I have got two reasons for success and I'm standing on both of them."
Betty Grable
"With the man the world is his heart, with the woman the heart is her world."
Betty Grable
"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead."
Bertrand Russell
"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul."
Judy Garland
“The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.”
Anais Nin
“How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.”
Anais Nin
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
Anais Nin
“I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”
Anais Nin
Arts And Actors
“Hell, if I'd jumped on all the dames I'm supposed to have jumped on, I'd have had no time to go fishing” Clark Gable
"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."
Duke Ellington
"All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable."
Walt Disney
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
Walt Disney
"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."
Walt Disney
"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known."
Walt Disney
"A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five."
Groucho Marx
"Life always rides in strength to victory, not through internationalism... but only through the direct responsibility of the individual."
Frank Lloyd Wright
"No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other."
Frank Lloyd Wright
"Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall."
Frank Lloyd Wright
"Why, I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves".
Frank Lloyd Wright
"About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after."
Ernest Hemingway
"Courage is grace under pressure."
Ernest Hemingway
"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."
Ernest Hemingway
"Eisenhower had about the most expressive face I ever painted, I guess. Just like an actor's. Very mobile. When he talked, he used all the facial muscles. And he had a great, wide mouth that I liked. When he smiled, it was just like the sun came out."
Norman Rockwell
"Here in New England, the character is strong and unshakable."
Norman Rockwell
"I'll never have enough time to paint all the pictures I'd like to."
Norman Rockwell
"Some people have been kind enough to call me a fine artist. I've always called myself an illustrator. I'm not sure what the difference is. All I know is that whatever type of work I do, I try to give it my very best. Art has been my life."
Norman Rockwell
"I'm tired, but proud. "
Norman Rockwell
"The '20s ended in an era of extravagance, sort of like the one we're in now. There was a big crash, but then the country picked itself up again, and we had some great years. Those were the days when American believed in itself. I was happy and proud to be painting it."
Norman Rockwell
"I often lay on that bench looking up into the tree, past the trunk and up into the branches. It was particularly fine at night with the stars above the tree."
Georgia O'Keeffe
Sport Greats
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
Yogi Berra
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
Yogi Berra
"It ain't the heat, it's the humility."
Yogi Berra
"I'm not a headline guy. I know that as long as I was following Ruth to the plate I could have stood on my head and no one would have known the difference."
Lou Gehrig
"The ballplayer who loses his head, who can't keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all."
Lou Gehrig
"There is no room in baseball for discrimination. It is our national pastime and a game for all."
Lou Gehrig
I'll come back as soon as I can with as much as I can. In the meantime, you've got to hold."
General MacArthur - Speaking to General Wainwright - March 1942
Gentle Readers?
Many's the words and quotes thathave changed the course of history, enamoring and influencing millions.
That being said,...we're full-tilt, hard bent, torches flaring and
forging onward to visit,
and compile right here...
just those words!
Enjoin us as we celebrate
unforgettable quotes
from the remarkable 1930s and 1940s?
And, Soon?
Whilst you await?
Do enjoy
an enticing interlude from the Kiss Waltz Whistle
all paired with an example of stunning artistry
from the world of The Pin Up Girls...
"Hey there, neighbor, goin' my way? East or west on the Lincoln Highway? Hey there Yankee, give out with a great big thank-ee; You're in God's Country! When You Travel the Great Lincoln Highway!"
In the 1940s, the Lincoln Highway became a backdrop for an NBC Saturday morning radio show broadcast before nearly 8 million listeners entitled...you know it Lincoln Highway. The show featured life along the Lincoln Highway and hosted many of the eras' stars such as Joan Bennett, Ethel Barrymore, Joe E. Brown...Joooooeeeey!, Claude Rains and Burgess Meredith.
Veering unexpectedly into this occasional 1940s snippet and that ocassional trivia or from this valued resource and that resource, all with regards to the Lincoln Highway....Jolene Bungalow Gal was, indeed heading full on into intrigue! I could 'near feel it! Also, the mere co-incidence that the Lincoln Highway zooms right through Gettysburg, PA and not too far at all from Quite The Stir Bungalow (wink!) held a particular allure too! Ahhh, the Lincoln Highway was now made all the more intriguing for further probing into the gently curving bends and stretches, Gentle Readers.
Before I continue onward regaling tales about the Lincoln Highway, I simply must pause a moment to inquire of you (all, of course, in the interest of practicing fine road etiquette and fair driving rules).... Do you care to hear more, gentle readers?
I DO believe I can near inhale the cheering crowds' agreement! So, then, I'll give heed to my biological impulses and steer onward (in a soprano steady and clear...) Do you have your Trip Ticket? Are you safely buckled up? Checked your rear view mirror for Mounties?
Fragile and, at places defying and tottering on the edges of decomposition, marred with fissures, bits of crumbles and great gaps of once white-hot sincerity ...it remains to Americans... The Lincoln Highway! America’s first transcontinental interstate highway, with 3,389 miles of winding roadway spanning from Times Square, New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, California. The Lincoln Highway was, once in a lullaby, one of the most famous roads in the country. Ahhh, thanks to this grand Highway, the East Coast and West Coast enjoyed sharing the palpable attraction, spark and conflagration of lights and life, hitherto and before scattered and fragmented. The Lincoln Highway had enjoined Americans in the pursuit of peace liberty and justice to all and to one another!
As I traveled further onward in my search of facts about the Lincoln Highway, I was most certainly beginning to think....
Shouldn't the Lincoln Highway be considered among the Seven Wonders of the World if not The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, says I? Perhaps that attitude seems gratuitous and patronizing of me? I'm partial now, remember location, location, location... (wink)!
You, on the other hand, may query What is the Lincoln Highway? Why The Seven Wonders of the World? So what if it stretches endlessly throughout the United States? So what if it ribbons through Gettysburg, PA near Quite The Stir Bungalow (wink again!)? It's not the Great Wall Of China! Why,what radical complacent bourgeois 'ne neanderthal species would undertake such a folly in the first place? The idea seemed a solution to everything? And Why?
Well, the complacent bourgeois 'ne neanderthal species who set out to undertake this adventure was a Mr. Carl G. Fisher.
Carl Fisher, (that innovative gentleman) recognized a change in America's infrastructure was called for! And, that change was a transcontinental highway! He thoughtfully contemplated road conditions of the early 1900s. He took note of increased numbers in automobiles and the transport of people and goods. He saw that roads didn't connect while others were dirt or asphalt, that ended sometimes bewildered and nowhere or could at times disappear completely at a loss wandering in the deserts, peaks and valleys east and west! And, what's worse (Oh no!) noted Mr. Carl G. Fisher...there were no systematic road maps, and no lovely road signs! Yes, 2.5 million miles of roadway existed, in some form, but traveling could be a bit of a bug, under these conditions, to say the least! Mon Dieu! Enough information proof positive for Mr. Fisher! His idea of a transcontinental highway was in the proverbial bag, pitch piped to fellow business entrepreneurs and onward ho to the citizens of dale and valley!
Now, I'm formulating and modulating my thoughts upon gathering fact finding information and I say...What more brilliant person to bring about this past due American transcontinental route than Fisher!?
He was an automobile entrepreneur, a maker of headlights and a creator for goodness sakes! It was said Carl G. Fisher relished the challenge of converting ideas into realities. Don't be chagrined Gentle Readers, I'm a bit bit late in finding it out too. This is the man, who in 1911, paved and bricked the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which eventually roared into success as the Indianapolis 500! Ladies and Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES was exactly what Carl did! With, undiminished urgency hand in hand, with vigor and a stoke full of adrenaline, ideas and money to burn before a well-heeled audience, Carl got a move on!
But not too fast now! The probable success of this transcontinental highway proposition would depend on others for funding and support! That being said, Henry Ford was one of the supporters Carl Fisher looked to. Unfortunately, well, ...Ford wasn't buying (literally and figuratively) the idea of a transcontinental highway supported by private funds! It is said that Ford reasoned the public would never learn to fund good roads if private industry did it for them! If you listen to history closely, can you hear the music and ominous words "funding in jeopardy"? Carl was not deterred by Henry Ford (well, maybe a bit ) just yet and continued gunning his engines for a transcontinental highway.
With the help and funding of other auto industry executives who themselves had made history through Packard cars, Good Year tires to Prest-O-Lite batteries, the project roared onward! These automobile industry executives were mega mogul giants such as Frank Seiberling, president of Goodyear, and Henry Joy, president of the Packard Motor Car Company. They not only pledged money to Fisher's idea and support, Henry Joy, himself suggested the naming of the Lincoln Highway in honor of U. S. President Abraham Lincoln! How very patriotic of them! (And clever, too!)
He has a remarkable story to share.
And in this story, you'll come to find that he
has witnessed much in life.
It is my hope that you will
come to understand
what all American soldiers,
over time and space and through history,
have given to America and
Americans with the gentle abiding and reading of Johns'
recollections. Just may be that, too... Whilst within and through Johns' stories you may come to find and tenaciously grasp the true meaning and revelation of the words...
"The Greatest Generation"
John
It's not often he shares his War Experiences, and on days when he does, I'm honored to listen intently and to share upon his memories.
Why am I honored to listen and share his stories, Gentle Readers?
Before me, and still among us all...is the person and the man in total embodiment of indeed "The Greatest Generation".
John entered into war and witness upon the hail and brimstone of human cruelties, horror, blood, merciless killing and the taking of human lives.
You may have heard of this notoriously harsh battle?
"The Battle Of The Bulge"
His stories are many.
From astounding acts of sacrifice and
unbelievable moments of history
that were never recounted publicly...until NOW.
He served our Country valiantly during World War II
with the Company H, 104th Infantry.
Army Heavy Machine Gunner 605,
Rifle Man, and at times
Runner.
He fought in the Battle of The Bulge.
European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal
Good Conduct Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Declining, in the Theatre and through his own cognizance,
a Purple Heart.
What was a Purple Heart then to a soldier and a man who had watched others on the battlefield of war give of their lives, the ultimate sacrifice?
What was a Purple Heart to him then after he suffered wounds, indignities and branded memories that no medal could extinguish?
THE REALITY?
Hunkered down in
in the worst bombed theatre of
war....
in the confines of a potato cellar where
the deep deadly shadows were lit only
by the sparking and igniting of cartridge belts...
These soldiers knew of inhumanities and betrayal, disease, lice, months of
no change of clothing nor baths. No shelter
nor warm food all whilst
traversing a foreign land
through bitterly harsh and unforgiving
endless days and nights... he fought side by
side with other Americans who
gave their lives eternally or gave a part of their lives
for an America they so deeply
and passionately loved and believed in.
They fought
to keep Americans free.
You do realize, my Gentle Readers...for most, part and parcel? Those Americans they fought to keep free are you and me.
