Just wanted to post this
Was born almost 25 years after Dec 7th but when I got into serious Lionel Collecting and learned the history of Joshua Cowen's little railroad
also learned some of my history including December 7 1941 because of collecting toy trains
I can only hope that any future collectors out there will do the same
Lest we forget
Probably due to the 75th, media actually did a good job covering the history and the ceremonies, for a change. As a kid, I spent many an hour building Revell battleship kits, which nurtured my interest in WWII history.
Bob Nelson
My father was too young for WW1 and too old for WW2. My mother's father however was not. He didn't get called till late 44(?) but we do know that he was part of the invasion force amassing in the Pacific in the summer of 45 that would have gone in had MED not been sucessful.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
I didn't arrive on the planet until 1953 so obviously I have no first-hand memories of the World War Two era, but I still find it hard to believe the Pearl Harbor attack happened 75 years ago.
Maybe because I grew up surrounded by the World War Two generation, maybe it's the films and recordings of that time. Or maybe...
I had the priveledge of knowing a Pearl Harbor survivor. At the time of the attack he was an 18 year old seaman apprentice striking for bosun's mate on the USS Helena, moored in Pearl at the time. As he told me...
"I remember when the attack started, I saw the planes and the bombs coming down, and I remember when the attack was over, but I can't remember a thing between the two! I know I was fighting, I was standing on deck holding a smoking hot '03 Springfield with empty ammunition bandoliers all over me, but otherwise, nothing!"
"Then I had to turn-to to save the ship, Helena had taking a torpedo hit so we had to get to work!"
He'd just retired from a 40 year Navy career. Quite a guy.
MED?
lionelsoni MED?
Manhattan Engineering District, the official code name for the Los Alamos group.
Lithium Flowers know these things!
I was pretty sure you meant the Manhattan project somehow, but not familiar with that acronym; and Google was no help with it. By the way, when I searched for the full name, it turned out to be a little more awkwardly worded, as "Manhattan Engineer District."
Has enough time passed to repeat this riddle, for the newer forum members:
Under what circumstances would one put a fat man in a boxcar, but carry a pumpkin in a silver-plated Pullman?
I'll give it a go.
"Fat Man" was the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, delivered by a B-29 named "Bock's Car."
The second part has me a little stumped. I think "The Pumpkin" was another code word for one of the bombs, "Silverplate" was the code word for Colonel Tibbet's 509 Composite Group authorizing anything they needed. The "Pullman" part has me guessing.
Possibly FDR and Truman going ala train to Waldorf?
Trump may have to coonsider this
This Traindaddy was too young to appreciate the tragic events at the time.
Dad tried to join the Seabees but was commissioned to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Some of the projects included the USS Kearsage and "Mighty Mo".
I was fortunate to see the Kearsage launch.
Each December 7th, we reflect on those who died there and think about what they would have been and what they would have done had the events not taken place.
As I recall, he worked long hours and, in his stead, had given me a handmade wooden train to occupy my time. (The birth of my interest in the hobby)
I was born right at the beginning; so I was also too young to remember the war itself. But our family went to Japan when my father was stationed there after the war. I remember well the time he took me with him on an inspection tour of radar stations--riding 3.5-foot-gauge trains all over Japan.
I had a 3-rail O-gauge Japanese train of MU cars (made from American beer cans, like many Japanese toys at the time). All I have left of it is the pantograph, which I used a few years ago to replace the missing one on a Lionel 253 (that I bought in Prague of all places!).
I also remember how poor that country was, nothing like today. Americans were told that Japanese food was unsafe to eat and to stick with food from the commissary. I learned years later that that was a lie, designed to keep the occupying Americans from driving food prices up.
Here's a great story from the ocupation...
A Marine mess sergeant had a number of Japanese workers under him. Thanksgiving was coming, and a big shipment of turkeys had arrived from the US. The sergeant decided to have a little fun with the Japanese help, so he hoisted a turkey over his head, told the Japanese to have a good look and said "This is why you people lost the war! THIS is an American chicken!" Japanese chickens were scrawny little things, don't you know.
"Ah, sooooo," the amazed workers muttered.
My father was there on occupation duty after the war, and ran an Army mess hall. He got along well with the Japanese workers he had under him and felt a bit sorry for them considering the devastation of the country so he used to let them bring home the days leftovers. He wasn't supposed to, but nobody said anything, and the workers loved him for it. Hey, people of Italian extraction don't like to see anyone go hungry. His mother would have kicked his butt if she found out he didn't do otherwise!
Pappy's Pullman, nickname for B-29 K-417?
I always transport my gadgets on my favorite K-Line depressed center car:
Becky, I don't know what that thing is, but it sure looks ominous...
"Bockscar" was the B-29, borrowed from its usual commander, Capt. Frederick Bock. and piloted by Major Chuck Sweeney, that dropped the "Fat Man" plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. A number of B-29s were specially modified in the "Silver Plated Project" to carry atomic bombs. The practice plutonium bombs, either dummies, or filled with conventional explosives if dropped on Japan, were called "pumpkins". The "Pullman" was the first of these modified "Silverplate" airplanes.
Becky, I've never seen any specific identification for the Pullman, nor a nickname, but only that "Pullman" was its official name. Do you know for sure that "Pappy's Pullman" was the same Pullman?
Firelock76 Becky, I don't know what that thing is, but it sure looks ominous...
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Dat's a scary-lookin' golfball! Put some tailfins on it and you've got "Fat Man!"
The "Gadget". Test device numero uno detonated on July 16th 1945 at the place the Spanish called "The journey of death". Aka the Trinity test.
I'm not sure if there's any connection between "Pappy's Pullman" and Los Alamos, I just goolgled "pullman bomber" and a photo of that B-29 came up.
If anyone has a hankering to see a "Fat Man," they have one (well, just the outer case) at the Nimitz museum in Fredricksburg, TX.
Penny Trains The "Gadget". Test device numero uno detonated on July 16th 1945 at the place the Spanish called "The journey of death". Aka the Trinity test. I'm not sure if there's any connection between "Pappy's Pullman" and Los Alamos, I just goolgled "pullman bomber" and a photo of that B-29 came up.
See? I TOLD you that golf ball on the flatcar looked ominous!
Bock's Car is at the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton. They have copies of Fat Man and Little Boy beside the plane. It's been a few years since I've been there, and I can't remember excatly what these were, but I do remember they were actual parts of the project, not just displays made for the museum.
Dave
It's a TOY, A child's PLAYTHING!!! (Woody from Toy Story)
Firelock76See? I TOLD you that golf ball on the flatcar looked ominous!
Guarantees a hole in one though!
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