The Vogels of Artesia, New Mexico 2

   

Another hand franked postcard from "Pvt. Roy R. Vogel, 346th Air Base Sgdn., Municipal Air Port , Memphis, Tenn, Barrack 411 S."  Well, now we know Roy's middle initial and his barracks assignment.  Once again it's mailed to "Miss Dorothy Vogel, Artesia, New Mex, Box #632."  Spelled out a bit differently, but the same recipient. And the message, "Dear Dot, I received a letter from you and one from Jane a week or so ago so will send this on to both of you as I have so much waiting to do.  The pictures are just like the animals in the zoo.  It is the second largest in the world.  I am feeling all all right.  I will be closing for today.  Your cousin Roy."  Well, not too detailed, and I have my doubts that the Memphis Zoo was the second largest in the world, but how much can you get on a postcard, and how much honesty can you expect from a young private who was probably away from home for the first time in his life.

  The postmark is "MEMPHIS TENN, DEC 3, 8 PM DE SOTO STA. 1" The caption, "Scenes from the Memphis Zoo, one of the finest in the world."  Click on The Vogel Collection in labels to bring up the rest. 

Post War

 

My first thought, with the barracks like building in the background, was that this was a photograph of one the interment camps where we imprisoned Japanese Americans.  But then, I noticed that the shoulder badge on the soldier on the right was an air core insignia, so I realized it must be post war occupied Japan.   

A Permant Party Man

I've ranted about this before, and at the risk of repeating myself too much, I hate it when antique dealers cut up photo albums and sell off the pictures individually. 

The permanent party man in this photo is wearing the shoulder patch of the United States Army Air Force,  organized in 1941 and disbanded in 1947 when it became part of the newly formed separate Air Force.  I may be wrong, of course, nevertheless, the background has a European feel to it, so I'm guessing that this image is from World War 2, and was taken at an American air base somewhere in Great Britain. As far as I know, all pilots, co-pilots, and navigators were officers.  Our Sargent could be  ground crew, or perhaps a gunner or bombardier.  I can only imagine how fascinating an album depicting life on a World War 2 army air base would have been.  Sadly, we won't know from this album.

The photo that was on the opposite side of this page fragment is gone, but the caption is still there.  "PEANUT RACE-LOOSER TAKES THE THREE BIGEST NOSES.  Well there's one thing we can know.  Who ever assembled this album wasn't a great speller.

Little Green Men

Stamped on the back, "OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH U. S. AIR FORCE WALKER A.F.B. ROSWELL N. M."

Walker Air Force Base started out as the Roswell Army Flying School on September 20 1941.  Good timing or good planning?  It was pretty obvious that the United States would be drawn into the war, and the Roosevelt administration had already begun planning for the conflict.  A peace time draft, civil defense planning, weapons development, and, of course, the opening of bases and training facilities.  In '42, there was a bit of a status upgrade as the flying school became Roswell Army Air Field.  In 1947, after the war, and with the creation of a separate Air Force, it became Roswell Air Force Base, and the following year, it was renamed in honor of   General Kenneth Newton Walker who had  died in a bombing raid over Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea.  In 1967, Walker Air Force Base was closed.  The Vietnam War was pulling too much money from the defense department budget, and things had to be cut.

Of course, the base's greatest claim to fame was a crashed weather balloon.  For reasons no one has ever really understood, people became convinced that the balloon was actually a crashed UFO.  For the record, I do believe that there is intelligent life on other planets.  The real question is, have they visited earth.  Let's just say that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and I have yet to see that proof.  I'd love to be proved wrong, but until then, I'm going with weather balloon.

Now, why no uniforms?  Perhaps they're scientists doing the alien autopsy.  I saw it on Fox!

FEAF

Believe it or not, when I found this small collection of photos, it was the sign that I wanted.

When I look through my collection of old photos, I'm well aware that the majority of people I see are dead; and I'm never more aware of that fact then when I'm looking at pictures from the World War 2 era.  It's not just the age of the photos, although that is a large part of it.  My father was a veteran, he was born in 1919, and if he were still alive, he would be turning 96 on February 4.  Even those who joined the military at 18, in 1945, are now in their late eighties.   It's the sheer carnage of a war, that killed so many young men, women, and huge numbers of civilians that reminds me of death.  It's fair to say that every person in the United States either had a family member that didn't come back, or they new of a family that suffered a lose of some sort.  And let's be honest, we in the United States actually got off easy.

FEAF stands for Far East Air Force.  It was formed on November 16, 1941, when all Army Air Force units in the Philippines were placed under a single, unified command.   Less than a month latter, on December 8 (Dec 7 on the other side of the international date line.) the Japanese attacked.  To make a long story short, the FEAF was pretty much destroyed on the ground.  In the end, 14 B-17s and their crews, 49 out of 165 fighter pilots,  27 ground officers, and 16 wounded enlisted men were evacuated to Darwin, Australia where they were reorganized as the 5th Air Force.  Those who weren't killed in the initial fighting, and who weren't evacuated, ended up as infantry on Bataan.

I'm not sure anyone who has gone to war can be described as lucky, but the young men in these photos come close.  While the men of the FEAF were stationed in the Philippines,  they were trained in the United States.  The third picture in the column has a processors stamp on the back.  "McCOLLUM'S PHOTO SHOP, ALBANY, GA.  DEC 8 1941."   Who knows whether they survived the war, but they did miss the surprise attacks in the Pacific.

U. S. Army Air Force

This one is the full 8x10, heavy, double weight, fiber paper print meant to be displayed in the silver frame on the mantle piece.

I had a couple of threads to pursue on this photograph.  There is an embossed studio mark on the bottom of the print, part of which is visible.  "FRANKLIN DUNCAN, HOLLYWOOD, GR 1037."  I thought it would be easy to find something on Mr. Duncan, but sadly, I struck out on that front.  I tried Franklin Duncan, Hollywood, California, as well as Franklin Duncan, Hollywood, Florida and couldn't find a thing.  Who ever he was, he was skilled, but not necessarily talented.  I've seen a very similar pose on many a print.  Even when I was working as a professional photo printer, and I'm way too young to have been working in the World War 2 era, this pose showed up all the time.

The other thread, the shoulder insignia on the young man's uniform.  I recognized it as the mark of the United States Army Air Force, organized in 1941, disbanded in 1947, with the founding of the separate Air Force we know today.  I had hoped to find out who were the officers and who were the enlisted men.  Pilots, co-pilots, and navigators were the officers, like out lieutenant, while gunners, and mechanics were the enlisted men.  The one position I'm not sure of, bombardier.

Nice looking woman.