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Size Matters: 1943
Submitted by Dave on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 3:34pm.
February 1943. "Mrs. Mary Betchner measuring 105mm howitzers at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, plant of the Chain Belt Company. Her son is in the Army; her husband and daughter are in war work." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem for the Office of War Information.
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Service Age
Submitted by mechmike on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 1:39pm.
The average WWII serviceman's age was 26 according to the Westmoreland papers. The average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam was 22.
Chain Belt
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 8:46am.
http://www.rexnord.com/corporate_profile/history.asp
Apparently the company is now known as Rexnord, and is still in Wisconsin with facilities in other areas around the country; it does aerospace and industrial manufacturing now.
Re: Young Mother
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 3:35am.
I believe the average age of a soldier or Marine in World War II was nineteen. I know of one fellow who joined up at sixteen, fought in North Africa, transferred to the airborne, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and died in France at twenty, a grizzled veteran of three years hard combat.
Mary looks so young!
Submitted by mad4books on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 9:37am.
How could she possibly be old enough to have a son in the Army? Beautiful!
Big gun go boom
Submitted by intothewind on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 7:27pm.
You can have your howitzer any color you want as long as it's olive drab.
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Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
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