OSS CBI Photobook 26 - Demons and Warriors

 

 

 

Happy Warrior

 

Stoic Warrior

Kid Warrior with Demon Trophies

Warrior

Demon

Happy Warrior

OSS CBI Photobook 25 - Part 2 - Chess on the board, chess IRL

 

Still Camera on the National Mall, 1944

This is a second look back at a May 6, 2014 post of photos showing the OSS team training with cameras just prior to deployment.  The first look back, at the movie camera, is here.


November, 1944, The National Mall, Washington, D.C. – Our EJZ and a small group of buddies, having completed survival and tactical training on Catalina and crossed back to the East Coast by train, continue briefing at OSS offices in the Capital. Further outtakes from the post of May 6, 204 include several photos of a still camera, of which this is the most clear:

With the help of kind friends we have identified this as a Graflex Speed Graphic large-format press camera.  The "Anniversary Speed Graphic" of 1940-1946 is described  No grey metal exposed, satin black with chrome trim. Wartime model: no chrome. Bed and Body track rails linked, allowing focusing of wide angle lens within body. Solid wire frame viewfinder. Trim on face of body is found only on top and sides.

"Anniversary Speed Graphic"

as described on the Graflex.org site.

The Graflex FAQ has all the details, after starting off with an iconic image of a c1940s press photographer, just as is shown in Hollywood movies of the time.  From the FAQ:

The Speed Graphic camera has two shutters - focal plane and in-lens; three viewfinders - optical, wire frame and ground glass; interchangeable lenses; a rise and fall front; lateral shifts; a coupled rangefinder; and a double extension bellows adaptable to lenses from 90mm to over 300mm.

The Speed Graphic looks complicated, but is one of the simplest and most flexible cameras made. Afflicted by a ``Rube Goldberg'' variety of features - three viewfinders! - you prove your skill everytime you use it. Nothing in the Graphic is automated; if you don't pay attention you can double expose, shoot blanks, fog previous exposures or shoot out of focus images. However, once you get used to it, it is amazingly easy to use.

. . . In 1940, Graflex announced the Anniversary Speed Graphic with Kodak Anastigmat (or the then all-new Ektar) lens. The new features included the coupled rangefinder and flash solenoid to use the then popular flashbulb. The bed would drop past horizontal, allowing the use of the new wide angle lenses. . . The Speed Graphic was the still camera of World War II. . . 

The Graflex Speed Graphic is still in use and has fans.

Graflex Speed camera owned by a professional photographer

From a fan comment at photo.net:  A lot of American photographers (and others) used the Graflex Graphic cameras, which are large format sheet film cameras that were equipped with the finest lenses of their days. The large format plus the best lenses and fine-grained film resulted in tremendously sharp and obscenely detailed pictures with wonderful tonality. No digital camera will get you images with a comparable high resolution.

The same fan comments once more, mentioning things that stir the childhood memory:  Add fine-grained film and you get stunning, sharp and detailed pictures with extreme resolution. I guess not even the most expensive digital back available today will beat such a large format negative in terms of details and "megapixels" -- to say nothing of "bokeh" and the nice, diffused look of large flash bulbs. . .And of course the film wasn't processed by the local one-hour photo minilab with a bored high-school-age minimum wage worker, but by dedicated professionals with decades of experience (Capa's misfortune was caused by an excited and new lab technician... I always wonder what happened to him).

Bokeh is a term new to me; Wiktionary defines it as a subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of an image. . .   Sounds disturbing!  And it sounds like something not desirable in reconnaissance phototography. However, on looking again at old family photos, I'll see if anything of that description strikes me.  Can the photographer regulate how much bokeh enters into an exposure?

As for the nice, diffused look of large flash bulbs, that look is all over the interior shots of old family photos and wedding photos. Plus I remember standing often in an arranged group shot, the heat and light of JPZ's giant floodlights on stands full in all our faces.

Robert Capa's misfortune, mentioned by the fan, was that his images of the D-Day landings were almost all destroyed by a lab tech under pressure to rush the processing while unfamiliar with all the details of the film he was handling.  From a June, 2014 Vanity Fair article: Banks had put Capa’s films into the drying cabinet as usual, but was so frantic he closed the door with the heat on high, believing that would speed the process. Without ventilation, the heat melted all of the emulsion off the film.

The Graflex Anniversary Speed Graphic shows up in the Photobook in the hands of various team members - EJZ, Frenchie, and the third guy who shows up all the time but whose name we still do not know.  Now that we have seen clear pictures of this and the movie camera, and had some names to associate with them and some of their parts, we can notice them more reliably while looking through the photos in the Trove. That is the hope, anyway.

Movie Camera on the National Mall, 1944

November, 1944, The National Mall, Washington, D.C. –   Our EJZ and a small group of buddies, having completed survival and tactical training on Catalina and crossed back to the East Coast by train, continue briefing at OSS offices in the Capital.

The Photobook, page 7, as well as certain outtakes related to it, show them on the National Mall practicing with the camera equipment they will be taking to China.  That post includes several photos of a certain movie camera, of which this one is the clearest:

Kind friends have identified it for us as a Cunningham Combat Camera. The Imperial War Museum has a good example.

From the IWM blurb:  Made from magnesium, it was a lightweight design which made it ideal for filming live combat footage. Features included special grip handles and a rifle stock which ensured it was steady enough for hand-held use in the field. It was electric-powered and ran off small batteries, had a four-lens turret and lenses robust enough for use in tough conditions.

Y.M. Cinema Magazine published several good images of this camera, such as this one:

From their article:  The camera excelled in its usability and simplification. Changing the film magazine was allowed on a push of a button, and the focusing mechanism was pretty sraightforward and simplified. Choosing the frame rate was done by a convenient switch. The options were 16, 24, and 32 frames per second.

American Cinematographer has an excellent short video up describing the Cunningham and showing how it works. They flip all the switches, push all the buttons, and let the viewer look through the viewfinder.

Australian Warrior in China Admires His Yank Counterparts

Gilbert Stuart:

The OSS operational groups were the first American military men to achieve substantial success in training Asians.  Every last OSS instructor knew his specialty from A to Z.  Each had a record of success in his subject.  Therefore, he was given considerable independence in his teaching.

Each commando soon reflected his teachers' personalities.  And oddly enough, these tough Yanks who came to teach the Chinese how to kill also brough [sic] with them more brotherly love than many do-gooders I have met on Asian soil.

This is a quote from the 1965 book by Stuart and Levy, Kind-Hearted Tiger.

The passage appears in typescript notes made by R. Harris Smith for his own book, OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency.

The Harris notes are in the "China" file in the collection of R. Harris Smith papers: Box 2, Folder 1, Hoover Institution Archives.


We have read quotes from Stuart and Levy previously, here.

A New York Times book note of June 1, 1964 describes Stuart as follows:

"KIND-HEARTED TIGER. By Gilbert Stuart with Alan Levy. 375 pages. Little, Brown $5.95.

The bold adventures of Gilbert Stuart, a British-born Australian who served with Chinese forces during the Sino-Japanese War, are detailed in this fast-moving story of his life."

In this blog we have been examining events, personalities, and assessments within a particular field of interest; we are going to continue with more particulars.  For background and the big picture, which after all we all need, one place to start is good old Wikipedia:

Second Sino-Japanese War.

Kunming, Julia McWilliams Child, and Tad Nagaki

Sisterhood of Spies is an account of women in the OSS in the European and CBI theaters in WWII.  Author Elizabeth P. McIntosh discusses China in her Chapter 19, Over the Hump to China.  She notes that Julia McWilliams Child, of whom we have read mention in R. H. Smith's history, was stationed in the OSS HQ in Kunming from early1945.  From pp. 296-297 of the paperback edition:

At the same time that new OSS women were checking into Chungking's Green Gate, the OSS advance base in K'unming four hundred miles south of Chungking was also expanding.  I flew over the Hump in a storm-tossed flight with imperturable Julia McWilliams, who calmly read a book while all the rest of us were preparing to die. . . 

The OSS compound was located on the outskirts of town, surrounded by high mud walls.  Before the war K'un-ming had been a resort town the end of the rail line from Indochina where French colonials spent their vacations enjoying this invigorating mountain retreat, the sparkling sunshine, and the medieval ambience of the walled city itself.  To the north was a beautiful lake with a fleet of fishing sampans.  Towering above the city was West Mountain, the landmark for Hump and combat pilots nearing that welcome safe haven, K'un-ming Airport. K'un-ming was also the end of the Burma Road, closed from 1942 to early 1945 while the Japanese controlled that country.  Vital military supplies were now arriving aboard lubering trucks caked with red clay from Burma.

Most of the women at K'un-ming headquarters had special operational skills.  Julia McWilliams continued the important job of organizing Registry material, as she had done in Ceylon.  Reports were coming in constantly from OSS field missions that were gradually spreading out to China's coastal cities.  One priority target was the pinpointing of prisoner-of-war camp sites.  Later this specific intelligence data enabled OSS rescue teams to zero in on these camps accurately and liberate Allied prisoners held by the Japanese.

The liberation to which McIntosh refers is specifically the rescue of Allied military and civilian POWs held by the Japanese as quickly as possible after the Japanese surrender, before the POW camp commanders had time to kill them.

The mission undertaken by Tad Nagaki, a Nisei OSS commando who rescued civilian prisoners held at a concentration camp in Shantung province, provides an example.  From an account written up years later when rescuer and rescuees maintained their friendship when back in the USA:

Reports had reached American headquarters in China the summer of 1945 that Japan planned to kill all Prisoners of War (POW). To prevent the massacre, seven-man rescue teams that included medics, communications specialists, and interpreters were hastily organized to find and evacuate POWs in China, Manchuria, and Korea.  

Determined to make one last difference as World War II came to an end, especially since so many lives were at stake, Nagaki immediately volunteered for the mission. As the “Armored Angel” droned toward Weihsien Concentration Camp in the Shantung Province, he remembered how he almost didn’t get the chance. 

It's an excellent story.

Lake Dian and West Mountain; Kunming

An earlier Kunming post includes photos of OSS personnel there to train the Chinese.  One of them I think is our EJZ.

A Familiar Face at Niagara Falls

A recent post, "A Familiar Face," we can now enjoy in connection with this photo:

Click to enlarge for lots of nice details, including coolest eyewear.

This photo is the bottom one in the post "Niagara Falls." Thanks to Tye for drawing attention to this image.

Christening Dress, 1951

Marty's Christening was in the early summer of 1951.  Look, there he is, the cutest Mr. Magoo ever, obviously, in the lap of his great-grandmother Victoria Zdrojewska.  To their left are his grandparents, John and Eleanor.  To their right are his great-grandfather Ludwig and Dad, our EJZ.  Directly behind them is his Mom, our CAMZ, with corsage.

Marty's Christening gown has ruffles in plenty, as well as blue ribbons; you can see blue ribbon on Great-grandmother Victoria's lap, right next to the gown.

                                     
What a fine day!  They photographed 4 generations of Zdrojewski gents.

Clara made that Christening gown.  After the big day, she packed it up in a box, labeled it, and put it away.  It stayed put away for more than 60 years.

Marty last summer brought it over here to the Historical Preservation Society HQ, where I've finally brought it into the photographic studio so we can take a look at it. You ready?

The overdress of gauzy material, ornamented, is worn over a plain, sleeveless undergown of white satin.

A piece of white satin gives shine and substance to the upper part of the overgown yoke; lace borders that part, as well as the collar and cuffs.  White satin bows attach the satin ribbon streamers, two blue and two white, on each side.

Now let's examine the gauzy overdress by itself, followed by a few details.

Clara handstitched lace to satin collar band.

The satin underdress is collarless and sleeveless, with plain yoke and a couple of buttons at the back.  Both pieces have a great big vertical slit in the back, for uninstalling and reinstalling Marty in greatest possible comfort to him as well as ease to the installer.  That is way better than having to draw both long garments over his head.  I hope you are grateful for that considerate detail, Marty.

The box has a top of heavy, textured paper; it is dirty and uncleanable from sitting in attics all those decades.  But not only did it keep the gown quite clean, it also is the original box, which is something, and to top that off, it is labeled in Mom's handwriting.  So we keep the gown in its box.

I've had it hanging around here for a few weeks, so now I am going to miss the sight of it.  Come visit me here at Hx HQ and we can get it out again to give it  more study and admiration.

CYO Sweater

Gene came home in 1946.  His assets: cultural inheritance, family, a good education, the support of civic and religious institutions, photography skills, warfighting experience.  Missing from that list: cash savings, an actual bed to sleep in (Casimir had the bed now, so he bedded on the floor,) employment, connections in "high places," a plan, and a wife and family of his own.

He pressed trousers at a dry cleaner's until his Uncle Stanley wangled him a job at Lackawanna Plant of Bethlehem Steel.  The GI Bill was in the future.

His family's parish was St. Luke's, where an excellent mentor and friend greeted his return.  Father Tomiak encouraged Gene to active participation in the youth group, the St. Luke's chapter of the Catholic Youth Organization.

John, our JPZ, of course was photographic consultant to the CYO and documented everything on film. No doubt the group shot below was used in the club's publications.  Left to right are Casimir, John, Eugene, and Eleanor Zdrojewski.

Boy, they're snappy dressers!  Check out Casey's sweater and the JPZ necktie!  What is that confusing white blob between Gene and Eleanor?

It is a paper he is holding under his left arm.  That paper mostly obscures, but allows us to be sure of, a big white Club Officer patch that had been sewn onto the left front of the sweater.  The patch is gone, without leaving a trace: maybe he passed it on to his successor in the CYO Presidency.  Yeah, CYO Prez!  Total chick magnet!

Meanwhile, here are Clara and Clara, Jr. Matynka peeling potatoes on a Girl Scout camping trip.

Girl Scouts was okay, but St. Luke's CYO looked interesting too.  Gene was wearing that CYO sweater when he met Clara, on a bus heading out for a CYO trip.

Mom and Dad gave me the sweater when I was in my late teens.  Most of the time I took pretty good care of it, even unto sewing in a metal chain for hanging it on a hook.  One time, though, the moths got to it.  In fact, on two separate occasions, one grandmother after the other picked it up, muttered sad imprecations in Polish, and took it away to take crochet hooks and knitting needles to it.  The results of their professional ministrations are all over the garment, including interior patches to repair exterior appearance, in two slightly different shades of blue yarn.  I would not have those changed for anything.

Psychoanalyze this, if you like:  I've not worn it much over the last 30 years.  Now that the CYO sweater is all photographed and blogged about, I'll wear it often, starting today.  No worries!  I have a cedar chest.

For related posts, you can browse the long list of "Labels," or keywords, that I have been attaching to posts all along.  If you click "St. Luke's," for example, you get a page with all the posts bearing the "St. Luke's" label.

Try also clicking on "Uncle Stanley" and "Tomiak."

For a Christmas-themed St. Luke's field trip story, go to the Search box and and type in "Story Arcs Intersect."

Stay warm, everybody!   Love, Julie