[PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad

[Ken and Tracie]

As you know, Fred, I am fascinated by how quickly the WW II era military 
cantonments were built and how well they were built once the contractors and 
military architects "found their groove." Many of those "temporary" 
buildings continued (and continue, in the case of Fort McCoy for example) to 
serve decades beyond anybody's expectations.

By the late 1930s, FDR and military leaders were already ramping up for war. 
Like Tom noted, there was a (strong) movement to keep our noses out of 
Europe's and Asia's affairs.

Military camps were already under construction and plans to draft tens of 
thousands of men were already in the works over a year before Pearl Harbor.

The prewar advancements in aircraft and weapon design were amazing. How much 
of this the general public knew about, could know about or cared to know 
about is beyond the scope of my knowledge.

Look at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Reuben_James_(DD-245)

Whether the Germans knew the Reuben James was an American ship when they 
sank it, or if they really believed it was a British manned lend-lease 
destroyer of American origin is unknown to me. But we let the British have 
fifty of those WW I era four-stack destroyers and we had hundreds of our 
own, so maybe it was torpedoed with full knowledge it was an American 
flagged vessel to warn the U.S. to mind its own business. Or maybe it was an 
error. My point is there were as many Americans said that was an example of 
why we should keep to ourselves as there were Americans who saw it as an act 
of war against our country and wanted us to enter into the hostilities.

K.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Schneider Fred" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 12:44 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad


> Except that we were pretending that it wasn't happening.
>
> Ask John Swindler about his father.    When the United States finally
> got around to attempting to draft John's dad, the Canadian armed
> forces sent a polite note to his draft board saying "sorry, he
> already enlisted in our service and he's in England."    That's where
> John's mom came from.   I remember quite well her funeral at the
> Episcopal church in Mount Lebanon ... it was very British complete to
> the cucumber sandwiches.
>
>
>
> On Oct 25, 2009, at 2:43 PM, Ken and Tracie wrote:
>
>> Phillip is correct.
>>
>> Mobilization and military build-up in the United States was in full
>> force by
>> 1940. The United States knew war was inevitable. Our country was
>> already
>> providing indirect aid to both Great Britain and China. Stateside
>> military
>> bases were already under construction and the draft was being enacted.
>>
>> K.
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Phillip Clark Campbell" <pcc_sr at yahoo.com>
>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 10:25 AM
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad
>>
>>> 1: War is war regardless of involvement;  yes, we engaged
>>> late that year as the war was already in progress wasn't it.
>>> The operator ad was early in 1941, March I believe.
>>> I don't doubt at all that regardless of 'official' statements, the
>>> U.S.A was 'preparing' for war even when the ad for operators
>>> was placed.
>>
>>
>
>