World War II Museum features animals of war

Sentry dog - In this photo released by the National Archives via National World War II Museum, Butch, a sentry dog, stands guard over Pfc. Rez P. Hester of the Marine Corps’ 7th War Dog Platoon on Iwo Jima in this undated photograph from the National Archives. AP/National Archives via National World War II Museum



NEW ORLEANS

By Janet McConnaughey
Associated Press

Smoky the Yorkshire terrier, Lady Astor the pigeon and a host of horses and mules whose individual stories are lost to history are among war heroes and heroines featured in the latest exhibit at the National World War II Museum.

"Loyal Forces: The Animals of WWII" will run July 22-Oct. 17, featuring the four kinds of animals most often brought into the war, as they were used in all five theaters.

"There was a great love and loyalty between the soldiers and the animals they worked with," said registrar Toni M. Kiser, who created the exhibit with archivist Lindsey Barnes.


AP Photo/National Archives via the National World War II Museum)
This undated photo provided by the National Archives via the National World War II Museum shows a Marine Corps dog handler as he comforts his German shepherd while the dog is X-rayed after being shot by a Japanese sniper on Bougainville, The dog died of its injuries. The photograph is part of an exhibit, titled "Loyal Force: Animals at War," to be displayed at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans from July 22-Oct. 17.



The exhibit opener may seem odd to people used to thinking of the Coast Guard as offshore duty in cutters, patrol boats, helicopters and airplanes.

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Paintings taken by serviceman in WWII return to Germany

NEW YORK - In a ceremony at the Goethe Institute in Manhattan, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) displayed some of the 11 oil paintings that were taken by a U.S. serviceman from a Pirmasens air raid shelter after the allied invasion of Germany in 1945. The paintings, several by a hometown artist, are on their way home to Pirmasens Museum in Germany.

ICE New York Special Agent in Charge James T. Hayes Jr. thanked the grand-niece of the U.S. serviceman, Beth Ann McFadden, who on inheriting the collection sought to find out how her great-uncle had acquired them. She and a friend discovered that the paintings were among 40 in the Pirmasen municipal museum's collection that were missing from a storage area under the local school building after World War II.

"We want to thank Beth McFadden for having the integrity to ask where these beautiful artworks she inherited came from and returning them to the museum that lost them in the chaos of war," said SAC Hayes. "There are still dozens of these paintings missing from Pirmasens. We hope that this example will prompt others who might have 'mystery' paintings in the family to bring them to ICE. If they are stolen art, let the United States return them to their rightful owners."



"Without the integrity and good will of Beth Ann McFadden, the repatriation of these paintings to the Pirmasens Museum could not have taken place," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara. "Each work of art returned symbolizes an act of justice, bringing us one step closer to the goal of repatriating all of the surviving pieces taken from museums during World War II."

Three of the paintings are works by Heinrich Buerkel, a German painter who was born in Pirmasens. "Herd of Cattle," "From the Countryside" and an untitled third painting are estimated to each be worth $50,000. In addition, seven oil portraits by lesser-known artists depicting the children of Ludwig IX are valued at $4,000 each. An Alois Broch is estimated to be worth approximately $10,000.

Although the city of Pirmasens was heavily damaged in air attacks by allied forces on military manufacturing in the city, the schoolhouse, which doubled as an air raid shelter, was left standing. Unfortunately, according to museum officials, extensive looting had resulted in the loss of approximately 40 works, 18 by Buerkel.

McFadden, the grand-niece of former Army sergeant Harry Gursky, conducted extensive research on the paintings' provenance and discovered the connection to Pirmasens. Gursky, who died in 1988, was stationed in Pirmasens after the invasion. McFadden contacted German authorities who informed her that ICE had an open investigation.

On Feb. 2, 2010, McFadden surrendered the paintings to ICE Agent Bonnie Goldblatt who, with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, formally seized them.

Agent Goldblatt conducted extensive interviews of McFadden and others who knew Gursky. The stories were consistent with McFadden's belief that most of the paintings were hidden in her great-uncle's basement since he brought them back from Germany. She had also insisted that a neighbor of the Gurskys might have received some paintings. The ensuing ICE investigation confirmed that Gursky's wife, Florence, had given a family friend several paintings. It was discovered that the friend had attempted to sell her paintings at Sotheby's Auction House in New York and sold three through a Pennsylvania auction house. Investigation into the sale of those paintings is ongoing.

Three other paintings were seized through a stipulation order filed in the Southern District of New York on March 2, 2010, including the unsigned Buerkel painting, an additional portrait of a Ludwig IX family member and an oil painting depicting a young girl and an angel signed by Alois Broch.

In 2006 three paintings by Buerkel were brought to the attention of the FBI by German authorities and returned to the Pirmasens Museum.

ICE, the largest investigative agency of the Department of Homeland Security, handles investigations into cultural property and stolen art and antiquities that show up on the world market. ICE's Cultural Property Art and Antiquities Unit has returned more than 2,100 items to more than 15 countries since 2003.

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ICE NEWS

Former WWII prisoner, soldier share abiding bond

By LONA O'CONNOR
The Associated Press



DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Daniel Fischer was a 15-year-old, 56-pound, typhus-ridden prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp when he first saw the soldiers of the U.S. 42nd Infantry "Rainbow" Division.

The Rainbow Division's historic moment was knocking down the gates of Dachau on April 29, 1945, liberating the 32,000 surviving prisoners in the Nazi death camp.

This is a story of war and devotion, and an unbreakable bond between two men who almost never met.

One man is Fischer the survivor, who lives in Boca Raton.

The other is Morris Eisenstein of Delray Beach — the liberator.

"He was there when the chips were down for me," Fischer said of Eisenstein, embracing the older man.

Under hail of enemy fire

Eisenstein, a sergeant, and his comrades in the Rainbow Division had to fight for their lives, all the way from Strasbourg to Munich.

The citation for one of his two Silver Stars says it all: "... with utter disregard for the hail of enemy machine gun fire ..."

When the Germans had attacked Eisenstein's infantry group, he crawled out of the hole where he lay and fired a machine gun to cover the other soldiers, who were then able to outflank and capture 150 German soldiers.

About his World War II exploits, Eisenstein is simultaneously self-effacing and still clearly relishing the moment as if it were yesterday:

"The only reason I didn't get killed is that the Krauts were bad shots," he said. "I was so scared, but I said, 'Those ... Krauts are not gonna get this Jew boy.'"

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THE PALM BEACH POST

WWII landing craft will dock here in September

Some LSTs built at Neville Island
Monday, July 05, 2010
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


A ship that delivered supplies to Normandy for the D-Day invasion will arrive in Pittsburgh in September and take on a different kind of cargo -- tourists.

LST 325 -- one of the Landing Ship, Tanks designed to float right onto enemy beaches and unload materiel through a pair of giant doors -- will dock near Heinz Field and be open for tours Sept. 2-6. Sept. 6 is Labor Day.

The ship still looks much as it did on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Even the anti-aircraft guns are intact, Bob Jornlin, the captain, said.

Mr. Jornlin, a Navy veteran who served on LSTs during the 1960s, was part of a nonprofit group that obtained the ship from Greece a decade ago and sailed it 6,500 miles to Mobile, Ala., a voyage that attracted international publicity.

"A lot of people said we couldn't do it," he said.

After extensive restoration, LST 325 is a "ship museum" in Evansville, Ind. Mr. Jornlin and a crew of about 40 -- including farmers, firefighters and veterans -- take the ship out twice a year.

This is the ship's first visit to Pittsburgh, a city with deep connections to LSTs.


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Seven Missing WWII Airmen Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of seven servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Army Capt. Joseph M. Olbinski, Chicago; 1st Lt. Joseph J. Auld, Floral Park, N.Y.; 1st Lt. Robert M. Anderson, Millen, Ga.; Tech. Sgt. Clarence E. Frantz, Tyrone, Penn.; Pfc. Richard M. Dawson, Haynesville, Va.; Pvt. Robert L. Crane, Sacramento, Calif.; and Pvt. Fred G. Fagan, Piedmont, Ala., were identified and all are to be interred July 15 in Arlington National Cemetery.
On May 23, 1944, the men were aboard a C-47A Skytrain that departed Dinjan, India, on an airdrop mission to resupply Allied forces near Myitkyina, Burma. When the crew failed to return, air and ground searches found no evidence of the aircraft along the intended flight path.
In late 2002, a missionary provided U.S. officials a data plate from a C-47 crash site approximately 31 miles northwest of Myitkyina. In 2003, a Burmese citizen turned over human remains and identification tags for three of the crew members.
A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team excavated the crash site in 2003 and 2004, recovering additional remains and crew-related equipment—including an identification tag for Dawson.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of some of the crewmembers’ families – as well as dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.


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Son Relates Father's Role in Rescue of 1.7 Million from Manchuria

Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Paul K. Maruyama recalls his father's part in prevention of a human catastrophe of historic magnitude in Manchuria after WWII
MONUMENT, Colo., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- In the closing days of WWII, the Soviet Union attacked and occupied Japanese-controlled northern China, then called Manchuria. Immediately, misery and death from cold, hunger, disease, and brutality descended upon the Japanese civilians at the hands of the Soviet Army and revenge-seeking mobs and bandits. Nearly 2,500 Japanese died daily.


Three courageous men embarked on a secret mission and escaped to Japan to eventually bring an end to the Manchurian nightmare. In Escape from Manchuria (published by iUniverse), Paul K. Maruyama, Lt. Col., USAF (Retired), the son of one of the three men, narrates for Western readers the compelling true story of the rescue and repatriation of nearly 1.7 million Japanese that began almost a year after the surrender of Japan.

"Escape from Manchuria is the story of my father, Kunio Maruyama -- then a 37-year-old Japanese citizen -- and his two courageous friends, Hachiro Shinpo (31) and Masamichi Musashi (24)," explains career USAF Officer (1966-1987) and first-time author Maruyama. "When WWII broke, my father took my mother and his four sons, which included me -- all of whom were U.S. Citizens -- to Anshan, Manchuria where he worked at Showa Seiko, a major steel making company. My father recruited two companions who together devised a plan to surreptitiously escape to Japan in 1946 from Soviet-occupied Manchuria. The three men personally appealed to General Douglas MacArthur -- who was then the Supreme Commander for Allied Power occupying the defeated nation of Japan. Escape from Manchuria is a story of true courage and perseverance of the three men who eventually brought about the repatriation of 1.7 million Japanese held captive under Soviet occupation in Manchuria."


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