Lakes Region in WWII

[weim2]

My mother tells the story of some German coins being left at our camp in a small cove in Alton during the winter when the dwelling was vacant during WWII. Some people were living in our camp she said. There was no plowed Woodlands Road and very few camps and certainly nobody there in the winter. All they left behind was some German coins.

[Rattlesnake Guy]

I seem to remember that the Belknap knitting mill was busy making warm socks for the GI's during the war. I mean, I remember hearing the tour guide saying so.

[CrawfordCentury]

Just came acrosst this little tid bit.

One of my favorite writers of the time period was columnist Ernie Pyle, whose pieces were read by millions each week. Most of his dispatches were from N.Africa and Europe. But as things came to a close in Europe, he shipped out to the Pacific. He would shortly thereafter be killed by a Japanese sniper.

Pyle joined a company of the First Marine Division, spending time with them without meeting any action. While there, he met Urban Vachon of Laconia.

Pyle wrote:

As our company was moving forward one day and I looked down the line of closely packed Marines I thought for a moment I was back in Italy.

There for sure was Bill MAULDIN’S cartoon character of GI Joe—the solemn, bearded dirty, drooping weary old man of the infantry.

This character was Pfc. Urban VACHON of French-Canadian extraction, who came from Laconia, N. H. He has a brother, William, fighting in Germany.

Urban is such a perfect ringer for [Bill] Mauldin’s soldier that I asked the regimental photographer to take a picture of him and it has been sent back to the States. Maybe you’ve seen it. If you have, you can prove to any dissenters that soldiers do too look like Mauldin makes them look.

Here's a pic. Pyle was dead on!

[Rattlesnake Guy]

Gal and I were watching the parade in Wolfborough a few years ago with our Friend McDude. We saw all the regular stuff that these parades have to offer. Kids throwing candy. Important folks in old cars. Floats from local groups. Our prized veterans marching with pride.

What really struck my wife and I was the manning of the military vehicles. They had staffed the numerous museum quality vehicles with young men / women in period uniforms. What was incredible was the age of the young boys and girls. By using young adults that were of the actual age of the war's participants, it brought home like never before how young the participants really were in many cases. I won't forget that sight.

[Tallyho]

Originally Posted by weim2

My mother tells the story of some German coins being left at our camp in a small cove in Alton during the winter when the dwelling was vacant during WWII. Some people were living in our camp she said. There was no plowed Woodlands Road and very few camps and certainly nobody there in the winter. All they left behind was some German coins.

There was a German POW camp in Stark, NH, late in WWII. It was converted from a Civillian Conservation Camp. There was only one escapee that I'm aware of, and he was caught in NY.