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Novelty Toy Saved WWII Paratroopers Lives
AP via Rutgers.edu ^
| Jul 2001
| PHIL DAVIS
Posted on 05/28/2010 3:10:16 AM PDT by Daffynition
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2
posted on
05/28/2010 3:11:07 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
3
posted on
05/28/2010 3:12:36 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
To: Daffynition
In the hands of the nuns, they would have us standing up and sitting down in seconds.
4
posted on
05/28/2010 3:16:10 AM PDT
by
mware
(F-R-E-E, that spells free, Free Republic.com baby.)
To: Daffynition
Wasn't also the words "Flash" and "Thunder" used to help identify each other?
I remember reading accounts of it in Stephen Ambrose's, Band of Brothers.
5
posted on
05/28/2010 3:16:41 AM PDT
by
Northern Yankee
(Where Liberty dwells, there is my Country. - Benjamin Franklin)
To: mware
So you're saying the nuns kept you on your toes? ; )
Good Morning!
Have a blessed Memorial Day weekend. Our class again has the commemoration today for our school. They are excited!
6
posted on
05/28/2010 3:18:27 AM PDT
by
Northern Yankee
(Where Liberty dwells, there is my Country. - Benjamin Franklin)
To: Daffynition
Phil Davis? Isn't he part of the Bob Wallace duo in White Christmas? ; ) (Wallace and Davis)
Have a blessed Memorial Day.
7
posted on
05/28/2010 3:19:52 AM PDT
by
Northern Yankee
(Where Liberty dwells, there is my Country. - Benjamin Franklin)
To: Daffynition
In the movie The Longest Day a German Mausers bolt being cycled made the same sound..... Albeit a movie it was interestng to ponder....
8
posted on
05/28/2010 3:21:43 AM PDT
by
Squantos
(Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
To: mware
LOL ... You too? I spent 12 years of my life reacting to “The Clicker!”
9
posted on
05/28/2010 3:21:46 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
To: Northern Yankee
I’ve not had enough coffee to think about that! LOL
Have a great Holiday yourself!
10
posted on
05/28/2010 3:23:29 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
To: Squantos
Thanks for bringing that to mind.
11
posted on
05/28/2010 3:24:07 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
To: Squantos
From the article: “The crickets were handed out at lunchtime on June 5, a tiny last-minute addition to a hefty 70-pound pack that included rifles, ammunition, hand grenades and assorted survival gear the 12,000 paratroopers of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions carried into battle on D-Day.
The little clicker gets a bad rap in the epic 1962 war movie “The Longest Day.” In the inevitable showings this week, poor Pvt. Martini will again mistake the clack of a German rifle bolt for a response to his cricket. Movie buffs like to point out the German kills Martini with two shots from a single-shot rifle.
A less known fact: the cricket sounded nothing like a rifle bolt.
Few original D-Day crickets are still known to exist.
“I have been in the airborne museum business for 30 years and I’ve only seen a couple,” said John Duvall, director of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, N.C. He said collectors have offered to sell him original World War II crickets for up to $500.”
12
posted on
05/28/2010 3:25:54 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
("Play it, Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'.")
To: Daffynition
Very cool story....Thanks for posting..
To: Daffynition
Saw that in “The Longest Day”
To: Squantos
I have an original WWII German Mauser and cycling the bolt does not sound anything like one of those Crickets.
On the other hand, I still love the movie “The Longest Day.”
15
posted on
05/28/2010 4:08:15 AM PDT
by
OldMissileer
(Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
To: Northern Yankee
Wasn't also the words "Flash" and "Thunder" used to help identify each other?
Flash and Thunder was also a mimicking of the cricket. "Flash" was the challenge, "Thun-der" was the response. With the cricket, one click (two actually, since there was a click when the tab was depressed, another when it was released) was the challenge, two was the response (so "click-click" was met with "click-click ... click-click).
The allies also had those small parachute dolls that were loaded with firecrackers that were dropped to help make it seem that the Parachute Infantry troops were all over the place (which, thanks to to the botched drop, they actually WERE).
To: tanknetter
The allies also had those small parachute dolls that were loaded with firecrackers that were dropped to help make it seem that the Parachute Infantry troops were all over the place (which, thanks to to the botched drop, they actually WERE). One of my customers is the 13 year old boy that came up with the idea for those dummies loaded with firecrackers. He did it during a government call for inventions to help the war effort! He still has the letters for the War Department thanking him for the idea.
Army Times
17
posted on
05/28/2010 4:40:29 AM PDT
by
A.Hun
(Common sense is no longer common.)
To: A.Hun
18
posted on
05/28/2010 4:49:32 AM PDT
by
newnhdad
(The longest of journeys begins with one step.)
To: Daffynition
I remember having a cricket when I was a kid, sometime in the early 50s. I think it came in a cereal box.
19
posted on
05/28/2010 4:58:07 AM PDT
by
R. Scott
(Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
To: newnhdad
It is really amazing some of the stories that seemingly ordinary people have to tell!
I also count as customers an Elvis Presley protege, and a Yugoslavian WWII resistance fighter (the unit under his command rescued over 600 allied pilots).
20
posted on
05/28/2010 5:15:35 AM PDT
by
A.Hun
(Common sense is no longer common.)
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