Hugh Winslow at West Point

This is from a big envelope of military photos formerly belonging to Hugh Whitaker Winslow. Many of the snapshots are from his early days at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Hugh was born in Montana in 1897, and graduated from West Point in 1920. There are also later pictures of him in Japan after World War II.

Here's a handsome portrait of Hugh taken in Fort Collins, Colorado where his family lived.

Here are some of the snapshots from West Point.

Hugh on the left

This  young lady may be a girlfriend or she may be Hugh's sister Irene.

These snapshots below appear to be from some initiation rituals or pranks of some kind. I don't think Hugh is in any of these pictures. The first one looks like nude cadets are being doused with a bucket of water.

Here's Hugh in Japan. His description on the back of the photo:
Dinner given to officers of the 64th Filed Artillery by the Mayor of Mishima a dinner at Yamida Hotel in Nagaoka Hotel 16 Nov 45. Do I look sufficiently bored?
Japanese children peeking in from rear.

The last photo shows Colonel Winslow in Hairo, Japan in 1952. Winslow married and had two children, Elizabeth and Hugh Jr. He died in 1982. Sadly, things did not turn out very well for daughter Elizabeth. More on Hugh and family on Wednesday.

For an interesting read, you may also want to look at the post on Hugh Winslow at a website called Passport Land, hosted by a collector of old passports.

Jackson Square - Oak Ridge, Tennessee

At first glance, this looks like one of those incredibly boring cards of a parking lot, but there's actually more to it. This isn't just any parking lot.

Before 1942, the area around Black Oak Ridge was a peaceful rural farming area. It only became a city when the U.S. Government chose it as the production site for the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. Although the area was not densely populated, the people who did live there were evicted from their homes and given as little as two weeks to evacuate.

A large number of people were needed to work on the military project, so a town was built for the workforce and their families. Jackson Square was the original commercial site of Oak Ridge, and was surrounded by housing. By 1945, the population swelled to 75,000. The town included 300 miles of roads, ten schools, seven theaters, 17 restaurants, and 13 supermarkets.

It was only after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 that many of the workers realized what they had been working on. Oak Ridge is no longer a military town, and only has a population of about 27,000. Efforts are currently underway to revitalize and preserve Jackson Square.

Here's the back of the card, sent to Mrs. Addie Wolcott in Miami, Florida in 1955.
The message reads:

Dear Addie: I received your letter but have little time to write these days. The children are very good, but do need a lot of attention. It keeps us both busy. Do hope the hurricanes keep on passing us by.

Love,

Mildred

Veterans Day and Ghost Towns

I had the best intentions for a Veterans Day post focusing entirely on military and veterans, but I can't help what's written on the back of the card and where it leads. I certainly couldn't ignore the message sent to J.J. in Lucky Boy, Nevada. Actually, it seems very fitting, since today is not only Veterans Day, but also 11/11/11, a date some consider to be very lucky. It's also the 100th week of Sepia Saturday (more on that below.)
Here we have two pre-WWI American officers wearing Army and Navy military uniforms.

The first picture may be a likeness of Rear Admiral Caspar F. Goodrich.

And then there's the back of the first card. First of all, the message is written in French. Secondly, it's addressed to someone in Lucky Boy, Nevada, a place I had never heard of - and it was sent in 1911 from Goldfield, Nevada. One of the reasons I've never heard of Lucky Boy is that it's a ghost town. You can see current photos of it here. There was a lot more action there in 1911 though, after silver was discovered in 1907.  Gold and silver prospectors came from all over the country and from abroad to seek their fortune. Lucky Boy appears to have had a post office, since the card has a Lucky Boy cancellation.

I have trouble deciphering the message, but it was sent to J.J. Cousol from his mother (Julietta?), who reports that Mr. Murphy visited Doty and it was very nice. She also says that there's something in it for the son - something about Horn Silver. Horn Silver, as I just learned, is silver that is formed on the desert surface from weathering silver sulfide. You could come along with no experience and a shovel and easily haul away a fortune. But when the surface silver was gone, that was it. There wasn't more below.

J.J. Cousol's mother was writing from Goldfield, which by then was at the tail end of its Goldrush. At one point Goldfield had been the largest city in Nevada, all due to gold prospectors. Now it is also a ghost town, with many old buildings remaining. The famous brothers, Wyatt and Virgil Earp, came to Goldfield in 1904, and Virgil was hired to be the Goldfield Deputy Sheriff shortly thereafter. Poor Virgil died of pneumonia within six months of taking the position though. By 1911, when this card was sent, the population of Goldfield had declined to about 4,800. Now it has a population of about 440. You can see some great Goldfield photos past and present here.

I can only guess that J.J.'s parents came to Nevada as part of the Goldrush and that when things started to get tough, J.J. ventured out and looked for better prospects in other parts of Nevada. And since we're talking about seeking fortunes, I should point out that the back of the postcard informs us that Senior Rear Admirals earn $8,800 a year when at sea and $8,000 a year when on shore.

Here's the back of the second card.

Apart from my other intentions, I had also in mind to post something separate to celebrate the 100th Sepia Saturday. After I wrote this post, I decided that it was really meant for Sepia Saturday, with a card that takes us back 100 years. Going back 100 years, we are suddenly in a time where people were prospecting for gold and silver, where World War I and World War II had not yet been imagined, and where communication from afar was primarily through the postal service.

For more ways to celebrate the auspicious 100th post, be sure to visit Sepia Saturday.
Thanks to Alan and Kat for dreaming up the idea.

For the Fate of a Soldier...

On Memorial Day we commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives in battle. Let's also remember the families who lost someone they loved.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order.

Central Bus Depot - Portland, Oregon

I bought this card for several reasons: 1. It makes a bus depot look stylish. 2. It's in Portland, where I live 3. The message on the back is typed. It's not that I don't like handwriting, but there's something amusing about a typed postcard - and typing allows the sender to write a longer message. And, of course, it's so easy to read.

The depot was there until 2000, although at that point it was no longer used as a bus depot. The building became the venue for various nightclubs after a new bus depot was built in the 1980s. Over the years, it gradually became fairly seedy and was eventually slated for demolition.  Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club,  also wrote a book entitled Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk In Portland, Oregon, where he recounts a late-night illicit party in the abandoned depot building. He describes how people rolled bowling balls down makeshift lanes of votive candles. Instead of bowling pins, the targets were china and  knick-knacks from junk stores. He also describes running through tunnels that connected the bus lube pits.

The card was sent to Corporal Lute H. Defrieze during World War II when he was stationed at Camp Adair, just north of Corvallis, Oregon. Part of Camp Adair is now a wildlife area, and another part of is the city of Adair Village, with a population of about 1,000.

The sender, F.K.M., had an office in the Lumbermen's Building, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places and known as the Oregon Trail Building. It's about five blocks up the street from where the bus depot used to stand.

Happy Pickelhauben to You

Here's a great real-photo card of German soldiers wearing the Pickelhaube. That's the name of those ornate spiked helmets worn by Prussians and then other German military in the 19th and early 20th century. For formal occasions, various plumes could be attached to the finial to create an impressive ceremonial appearance.

The problem was that these impressive helmets weren't well suited for combat. Often they were made from leather with metal added only as a decoration. They didn't cover much of the head either and they were heavy. It's fairly evident that they were designed mostly as a fashion statement, when you consider that cloth covers for the helmets became standard issue in 1892. Why? Well, to protect them from dirt - and also because the highly reflective nature of the helmets made the soldiers wearing them very easy to spot.

Later, when World War I broke out, it was quickly discovered that the helmets were a serious liability for trench warfare. They didn't protect the wearer from shrapnel - and I'm sure you can just picture a line of the spikes sticking up from a foxhole. This lack of utility led to their replacement by unattractive steel helmets.

This card was sent in 1912 by Ulrich Baumann (?), who may well be one of the soldiers pictured on the front of the card. He sent the birthday greeting to Miss von Lorenz, who was staying with her excellency, Frau von Hugo, the wife of Major von Hugo, the German Military Attaché to Paris. It was sent to Pomerania, which was probably a vacation destination rather than their year-round residence. The postmark indicates that the card was sent from the Elsenborn Übungsplatz, a military training facility. Click here to see another card sent to Frau von Hugo.

The Navy - Close Quarters

Oh, and what a message on the back!

The message to Giles D. Ahart reads:

July 30, '09

Dear Scrubby: -

You owe me a card but I will write you this one. You hav'nt got to write if you feel so much above anyone else.

Solong. Ducket

I don't know anything about Giles D. Ahart's life, but I do know that he was born in 1886 and died in 1967. He was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Spencer, New York.

Military at Lunch, 1904 - Münsingen, Germany

Münsingen is a German town near Stuttgart. It was also the site of a German military training camp from 1895 until 2004.  Although the training camp is now closed, the barracks are still there, and you can now ride your bike around the natural areas on former training camp grounds. This photo was taken in 1904 or earlier.
I might have assumed that the gentlemen would remove their helmets for lunch, but apparently not.

The message reads:
Happy to have arrived after an unpleasant two-hour journey! Heartfelt greetings ...illegible.

 Here's a close-up of the table on the right.

The card is addressed to her Excellency Frau von Hugo, presumably the wife of Major von Hugo, the German Military Attaché to Paris. He may also have been the sender of the card.

The Kaiser's Military Manoeuvres - Elbing, Germany

You can't visit Elbing anymore, or at least no place that goes by that name. The northern German city of Elbing was severely damaged during World War II. After the war, the German citizens were expelled and the city was repopulated with Polish citizens and given the name Elblag.

I bought this card because I thought it was a beautiful street scene. I also found it charming because it looked like it had been sent from a group of international students to their teacher's wife.  Oh, but I was very wrong about that. I actually had written up the post based on that assumption when I decided to do a quick search of the name S.G. Shartle.

Samuel G. Shartle was not a teacher, but the U.S. Military Attaché to Berlin from 1909 until 1915. Although military attachés were not spies, they were the army's eyes and ears abroad at a time when there was no satellite photography or sophisticated electronic intelligence. Captain Shartle was a frequent guest of Kaiser Wilhelm at events and dinners, and especially the military manoeuvres of which Kaiser Wilhem was so fond. A New York Times article from September 16, 1909, entitled "Kaiser Sees Airship at Work with Army" starts out like this: Surrounded by a brilliant company, including the King of  Württemberg, the Grand Dukes of Baden and Hesse, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Winston Spencer Churchhill, The Earl of Lonsdale, and Capt. Samuel G. Shartle, the American Military Attache at Berlin, Emperor William witnessed the dramatic appearance of the military dirigible balloon Gross II, which emerged from the clouds overhanging the valley of Tauber this morning.

A year later, and the Kaiser is once again holding his military manoeuvres, this time in Elbing, Prussia. Once again, Captain Shartle and other important international visitors were invited to observe. Captain Shartle took the opportunity to send a postcard to his wife in Berlin, which he seems to have passed around the table for others to sign as well. It was sent on September 9, 1910. If only I could make out all the names!
 

Here's what I've been able to decipher so far (with lots of big question marks, so please offer suggestions.) Some of the names are highlighted with links, in case you're interested in finding out more about them.

Greetings from

• Lt. Col. Pellé, French Military Attaché (updated 3/2/2011 -  Thanks to Peter H. from Australia for that information.)

• Von Palten ?

• L. Calderari (Maggiore Generale Conte Luigi Calderari, Commander of an Italian Infantry Division during WWI, but I'm not sure what his title was in 1910...Attaché?)

• A. Michelson (1907 Nobel Prize winner in Physics)

• Shartle  (U.S. Military Attaché to Berlin)

• Dorrin

• Alick Russell (British Military Attaché and son of Lord Odo Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill)

• Schenfelt  (update 3/1/11 - Gustav Oskar Von Schenfelt, Swedish Military Attaché - Thanks to PB in Germany for that information)

Hearty Greetings from

• M. Mehdi Khan   (presumably Malik Talib Mehdi Khan, Deputy Commissioner Ambassador to Kabul and former Prime Minister of the Princeley State of Bahawalpur)

• A. Lüttwitz (General Major Arthur Rudolf Freiherr von Lüttwitz, German Military Attaché to England and Russia, and during World War I, commander of several infantry brigades and divisions. Here's another picture of him - standing on the right.)

• Hironobu Ono (from Japan, but not sure who he was)

And then, the Turkish signature with the EB in the box appears to be none other than

• Enver Pasha (known as Enver Bey at the time or Ismael Enver Efendi.) He was the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both Balkan Wars and World War I.

There is also a small illegible signature for which I have no ideas.

Finally, written very small at the bottom it says: Your husband behaved very well.

Here's a picture of Enver Pasha from a German postcard:

As a postscript, I also found this letter written to Time magazine from Col. Shartle in 1929:

May I call attention to an error in the title below the picture on p. 14, TIME, Nov. 25? It should read "Theodore Roosevelt and Friends," omitting "Kaiser Wilhelm," for he was not there. This picture was taken early in the morning, May 10, 1910, at the exit of the private waiting room of one of Berlin's railroad stations (Stettiner Bahnhof, I think), while the Colonel and members of the American Embassy there to receive him waited for their conveyances to come up. The crowd outside was cheering. I recall this occasion very distinctly and even more distinctly the actual meeting of Theodore Roosevelt and Emperor Wilhelm, which took place the next day at an entrance of the Neu Palais, Potsdam; the Emperor stepped forward and heartily greeted the ex-President as he alighted from his carriage. I happen to know, because I was present on both occasions—as the Military Attache at Berlin and, for the week of the Colonel's visit, his Aide. The four figures in the doorway, shown in the picture in question are, left to right, Theodore Roosevelt, myself, a German officer (probably an adjutant representing the Emperor), Irwin Laughlin (the First Secretary of the Embassy).
S. G. SHARTLE
Colonel, C. A. C. (Dol).


*Many thanks to Yasuko and Jens for the Japanese and Arabic translations for this post.*

Royal Army Service Corps

This is an embroidered silk card from World War I, with the initials A.S.C.

Those letters could stand for any of the following:
American Society of Cinematographers
Artichoke Society of Canberra
Aeronautical Systems Center
Association of Society Cadavers
Ambulatory Surgical Center

In this case, the letters stand for the Army Service Corps, although they were sometimes referred to as Ally Sloper's Cavalry, after a contemporary rent-dodging, drunkard cartoon character.  However, the truth is that this corps played a very important role in World War I. Their name was changed to the Royal Army Service Corps. in 1918.

The A.S.C. was responsible for transport and supply of food, equipment,  munitions and other supplies on and off the battlefield. Although they were instrumental in winning the war, they are considered unsung heroes, because they rarely recognized for their importance.

Here's the back of the card. Silk cards from WWI were typically made in France.

Jo from Scotland recently posted some amusing old photos of the Royal Army Service Corps. Click here to see them.

Veterans Day

When we think of U.S. veterans, we usually think of soldiers who served in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or more recent conflicts. But here's a card commemorating the efforts of veterans in 1909, well before we ventured into those bloody wars.

The veterans we're talking about here were veterans of the Civil War. The Sons of Veterans was a fraternal organization that grew to 200,000 members by 1904. In 1922, the name was changed to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Although membership has declined to about 7,500, you can still join if you are a male 14 or older and:

1. Are directly descended from a Soldier, Sailor, Marine or member of the Revenue Cutter Service (or directly descended from a brother, sister, half-brother, or half-sister of such Soldier, etc.) who was regularly mustered and served honorably in, was honorably discharged from, or died in the service of, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Revenue Cutter Service of the United States of America or in such state regiments called to active service and was subject to the orders of United States general officers, between April 12, 1861, and April 9, 1865;

2. Have never been convicted of any infamous or heinous crime; and

3. Have, or whose ancestor through whom membership is claimed, have never voluntarily borne arms against the government of the United States.

Here's the back of the card, addressed to Perley Thomas of Gouverneur, New York. It's an unusual name, and I had hoped it was the industrialist and entrepreneur who developed the famous Perley Thomas streetcar, but I don't think it's the same person.

Good Luck, Soldier Boy

A soldier stops in a small town in 1917 and gives his address to young woman. She sends him a card. Does he write back? Do they ever meet again? I guess we'll never know.

The message to Sergeant Johnson reads:

Dear Friend

Will drop you a card guess you remember handing me your address in Rockingham

hope you are well and having a nice time my address is 

Bessie Giles Rockingham, N.C.

U.S. Military Camps - Savannah, Georgia

A lot of postcard collectors shun postcard folders for reasons I completely understand. For one thing, you have to unfold them to look at the images. Then you have to fold them up again. They're also printed on lighter paper. On the other hand, you often get the views that are available on regular postcards, except you get 18 of them!
Here are some of the views from a circa 1940 folder of military camps around Savannah, Georgia. War is ugly, but somehow these images of Camp Stewart and Savannah Air Base manage to appear charming.