The Holiday Train Display is brought to you by The Train Guys and benefits Elizabethtown Public Library.

As some "off track" comments, this exhibit requires a lot of "ingenuity", so do not lose your "train of thought".

https://etownpubliclibrary.org/things-to-do/trains/ (as of 2023-11-18)

https://etownpubliclibrary.org/things-to-do/trains/ (as of 2024-11-22)

Lions Club Mission: Locally, nationally and internationally, the Lions are an advocate for the Blind and Vision Impaired, and the Disabled. We also strive to strengthen our community through teamwork, partnership, and fellowship. https://www.etownpalions.org (as of 2023-11-18)
The Lions Club Military Banners program displays banners of veterans around town. Families have the chance to have their photo taken with their veteran's banner.

In High School, I came to some ideas about war.

• Most people thought it would be a short war. It wasn't.
• Most wars started the way the previous one had ended, often with a new wrinkle by one of the attackers.
• By the end of the war, many people had forgotten how and why the war had actually started.
• Old soldiers tended not to talk about the horrors of war, just (after many years) the glory and honor, etc. After a generation or so, young people went into war again without realizing the horror of war.

[EAHS Library, Public Library]

In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons. Herodotus (Greek historian and geographer)

• 1776: Declaration of Independence (why?)
• 1775-1783: Revolutionary War, 30,000 military dead
• 1789: French Revolution (democracy begins, reign of terror)
• 1799: Napoleon as first consul (democracy ended)
• 1790-1815: Wars and battles, 3,000,000 military dead
• 1812: Russia campaign (500,000 start, 10,000 return)
• 1815: Waterloo, Congress of Vienna (100 years of relative peace)
• Peace without victory is a victory for peace. Henry Kissinger
• Technology advances, shotgun to rifle to machine gun [tanks, aircraft, ships]
• World War 1: 10,000,000 military dead.

The famous graphic by Minard and made famous by Tufte is of Napoleon's Russia campaign and shows how his forces dwindled during the campaign.

• 1790-1815: Mass charges work with short range muskets and cannon.
• Rapid fire and long range rifles and cannon developed.
• 1860-1865: Mass charges result in huge casualties and do not work.
• 1914-1918: Machine guns, longer range, faster fire, same tactics used. Casualties increase beyond comprehension.

European theater in World War II:

• American military: 220,000 deaths

Military deaths from four months of Battle of Stalingrad:

• Soviet: 500,000 soldiers, 40,000 civilians
• German: 250,000 soldiers, 100,000 captured, 6,000 survived
• "USSR" is short for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".
• "Nazi" is short for "National Socialists" (Fascists)

Eastern front in World War II: (bigger than World War I)

• German military: 5,000,000 deaths, 4,500,000 captured
• Soviet military: 9,000,000 deaths, 5,000,000 captured
• Soviet civilians: 20,000,000 deaths (Leningrad, Stalingrad, etc.)

Pacific theater in World War II:

• American military: 70,000 deaths
• Japanese military: 2,000,000 deaths
• China military: 10,000,000 deaths (does not end with end of war)

[medical care, penicillin from 1929]

The Compiègne Wagon was the train carriage in which both the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and Armistice of 22 June 1940 were signed. Wikipedia (as of 2022-11-03)

George Patton had the nickname "Old blood and guts".

His movie was very popular at the West Point movie theater in the late 1970's.
Patton competed in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. [tanks and Uncle Blaine]

His grandfather, George Patton Sr. (1833-1864) was a Confederate colonel during the Civil War.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. George S. Patton (American General in World War II)

In 1943, Patton slapped two soldiers during the Sicily campaign. By contrast, the Soviet Army placed little if no value on human life.

He saw them as shirking duty as they had no visible injuries. The United States Press made it a huge incident. Many wanted him out of the Army, but Eisenhower (and others) knew they needed him as a commander.

His family left town for the hill country in the early 1930's as Stalin starved some 10 million to death. The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic. Joseph Stalin.

[Malcolm Muggeridge, New York Times, Mother Theresa, Ukraine]

In 1941, Henry was conscripted into the Soviet Army to fight the Germans. In the first six months, Germany captured 3,000,000 Russian solders. Henry was captured, forced to help the Germans at Leningrad, fell out of favor, put into a prison camp and later escaped to the west. [prisoner policy]

Colonel (Oberst) Kurt Leiberich (1920-2012): German soldier and officer who served as a forward observer and battery commander on the Eastern Front, including Leningrad, from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. He was an German language instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY (1974-1978).

Course: Military and scientific German (1976)
Term paper: EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) (non-classified material)

West Point exchange program with West German Officer's School (1976).
Senior summer: Committee on NBC, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare.
Senior International Relations paper: Policy analysis of the potential deployment of the neutron bomb

Henry Berg eventually made his way to a farm in Bainbridge, PA (near Nancy Baker), later moving to a farm between Elizabethtown, PA, and Maytown, PA. Henry worked at Newcomer Oil for many years. He told a co-worker, Benjamin Spickler, many stories.


During training he was standing in formation and listening to a speech by a training supervisor on what happens if a soldier deserts. The supervisor makes a soldier step forward and he is killed on the spot as an example on what happens to deserters. Written from recollections of discussions with Henry Berg by Ben Spickler, July 2018.

Henry made similar remarks to the Mennonite Society of Eastern Pennsylvania on January 18, 1981. There it was "not obeying orders immediately".

Military deaths from four months of Battle of Stalingrad:

• Soviet: 500,000 soldiers, 40,000 civilians
• German: 250,000 soldiers, 100,000 captured, 6,000 survived
• "USSR" is short for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".
• "Nazi" is short for "National Socialists" (Fascists)

[bad guy vs. bad guy, freshman term paper]

December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor, United States enters the war.

• Pacific theater: Japan, China, marines, aircraft carriers

Philippines: American surrender at Bataan, death march, death camp.

• Japan invades the Philippines. MacArthur ordered to leave.
• Surrender at Bataan. Death march: April 9-17, 1942, 65 miles,
• If you fell or were on the ground, you were shot. Prisoners the rest of the war.
• Deaths: about 600 American, 10,000 Filipino.
• MacArthur eventually retakes the Philippines.
• Japanese surrender: MacArthur and Wainwright (1883-1953)

2LT William E. Walter, 12th Signal Company, surrendered his troops.

• Death march: April 10-21, 1942.
• Liberated: September 9-10, 1945.

He ended up marrying a nurse who helped care for him on his recovery and way back to the states.

Before surrendering, he looked around. He saw New York boys who would never survive in the jungle. He decided they should take their chances on surrender. Related by his daughter, 2023-11-12.
"It's a jungle out there".

The song "It's a jungle out there" is from 2003 by Randy Newman whose biggest hit was "Short people got no reason to live" in 1977.

Road where flash flood washed it and them out and back down the mountain.

[Island hopping strategy]

Douglas MacArthur (American military leader) (1880-1964) graduated at the top of the class in 1903 from West Point.

• Wars are caused by unprotected wealth.
• In war there is no substitute for victory.

DVD: MacArthur staring Gregory Peck, filmed and released 1977. The movie starts and ends with parade and dining hall scenes from West Point and his famous speech in the dining hall to the Corps of Cadets in 1962.

The military C-47 was a modified version of the commercial DC-3. C-47B-1-DL Skytrain Serial Number 43-16261 Tail Number 61, USAAF, ATC

Used to fly "The Hump" from India to China. These ideas later used for the "Berlin Airlift". (Floyd Reem story). 2LT Bill Myers was flying a Skytrain when it crashed into a mountain during a fierce storm.

• troop transport, cargo, paratroopers, towing gliders

C-47 were Skytrains, Goonie birds. Known in other countries as Dakotas, short form of Douglas Aircraft companies.

Built by Douglas Aircraft Company. Constructors Number 20727. Delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as C-47B-1-DL Skytrain serial number 43-16261.

Operation Tidal Wave: August 1, 1943, to destroy petroleum-based fuel to Axis powers. B-52 bombers. 7 hours to target, 27 minutes over Ploesti, near Bucharest in Romania, 7 hours back.

Treichler, William E. T/SGT - … on 23rd mission, flying at 300 ft. through machine gun fire, explosions, smoke, Treichler said, I heard Sulflow [pilot] say on interphone, Can't see anything. Shaw [bombardier] called steady, gave corrections, then Bombs away. Pilots took us down on deck. I saw Politte [gunner] hit by machine gun fire, double up. Flames flew up at me from bomb bay tanks. Flak hitting up front pitched us violently. Then we exploded. I woke up couple days later in a hospital. Treichler was the sole survivor. …

He remained a POW in Romania until near the end of the war.

William Treichler (1912-2011) later moved to Elizabethtown and was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church. His son Ronald ran the water treatment plant in Elizabethtown for many years.

In this situation, at least the next of kin knew what had happened to the others in the plane.

• Pilot: Sulflow
• Bombardier: Shaw
• Gunner: Politte

Sometimes nothing was ever known.

D-day was June 4, 1944.

[Yogi Berra was on naval support ship]

On July 4, 1944, 1,100 US guns fire 4th of July salute at German lines in Normandy.
The Norman invasion from France to Britain was in 1066 by William, Duke of Normandy. The decisive battle was at Hastings on October 14, 1066.

[North men] [Armistice Day in 1917] [Eisenhower, enigma message] [John Smith at Antietam] [beach landings]

My idea: "D-Day" came from slang for "The day".

Normandy is named for the "North men" or "Norse men", Vikings who invaded the north coast lands of what is today France (and many other areas).

On the day of the Armistice in 1917, fighting continued with over 11,000 casualties, more than on D-Day in 1944.

Many soldiers fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Some did not make it home for Christmas. Some 120 were massacred at Malmedy on December 17, 1944. There were some survivors.

• PFC William F Reem (1923-2003) from Elizabethtown PA. His daughter was in the EAHS class of 1974.
• PFC Harold Billow (1923-2022) from Marietta, PA, later living and working in Mount Joy, PA. He was known for flags every Memorial Day.

I met Harold Billow (1923-2022) at a restaurant in Mount Joy on December 13, 2016, and talked to him for a while. At the time, he was the only living survivor of the Malmedy massacre.

A survivor from December 17, 1944, a week before Christmas was PFC William F Reem (1923-2003) from Elizabethtown PA. His daughter was in the EAHS class of 1974.
December 17, 2019 (75 years later): ... the daughter of Pfc William F Reem, is in Malmedy Belgium memorializing her father. Today by chance, she encountered a similarly aged American on the tour who was the son of a soldier in the Jeep that encountered and saved PFC Reem on his dangerous return to American troops ....

The brother of William Reem would have his own day during the Korean war.

William Reem had a brother, 2nd Lt Robert Dale Reem (1925-1950), of Elizabethtown, Naval Academy graduate and Medal of Honor posthumous recipient from Korean war, falling on a hand grenade to save his men during the advance of the Chinese to the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War;

Wilbur Jackson "Jack" Myers, Anti-Tank Gunner, 104th ID, European theater, World War II. Same United Methodist church for 99+ years.

• 100 years old at the time of the talk (October 6, 2023)
• Jumped out of a plane at age 95.
• Did not talk about the war for more than 40 years.
• Tiger tanks were almost impossible to destroy. (October 6, 2023)
• Following orders to take out church steeple, later a sniper (captured).
• Sang Christmas carols with German soldiers and band across the river, December 24, 1944 (October 6, 2023)
• Twin soldier and meeting descendant.

My uncle Donny was in World War II in the European Theater in France and Germany late in the war.
The 71st Infantry Division was assigned to XX Corps an April 20, 1945.
He saw limited combat action, but had unforgettable memories, of which he rarely spoke.

Uncle Donny saw limited combat action, but had unforgettable memories, of which he rarely spoke.
71st Infantry Division: Participated in the liberation of concentration camps including one in Austria called Gunskirchen Lager, a subcamp of Mauthausen, on 4 May. A pamphlet was produced by the US Army after they liberated the camp, called "The Seventy-First came to Gunskirchen Lager". The book recounts in detail, and with graphic photos, the tragedy they found in the camp. Wikipedia: (as of 2022-11-05)

How did uncle Donny take photos of the Americans and Russians together?

Wikipedia provides an answer: ... The 71st organized and occupied defensive positions along the Enns River and contacted Russian forces east of Linz, 8 May, the day before hostilities ceased, having gone further east than any other U.S. Army unit. … (as of 2022-11-05)

The Elizabethtown High School band was near the front of the parade on August 17, 1946. Color film restoration and recovery credit: Phillip P. Clark.

Only a few seconds of film were taken for each part of the parade. Only the first part of the band is somewhat clear.

• Friday, August 16, 1946: 10,000 people killed in Calcutta during Direct Action Day protest (Gandhi on the Hindu side).
• Saturday, August 17, 1946: First test of an ejection seat in US Army Air Forces.
• Saturday, August 17, 1946: "To Each His Own" by Eddy Howard hits #1.
• Sunday, August 18, 1946: First exhibition football game of the new AAFC (All America Football Conference)
• Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts later join the NFL.
• Others: New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Rockets, Los Angeles Dons, Buffalo Bisons, Miami Seahawks.
• Monday, August 19, 1946: Bill Clinton born
• Tuesday, August 20, 1946: Bob Feller of Cleveland Indians became first baseball player to have his pitch speed measured with radar - at 98.6 mph, in a game against the Washington Senators.

Horses going up Market Street from the square.

The trolley tracks can be seen.

Notice the signs for Acme, Moose Theater, Gulf gas station.

Movie: Too young to know

1945 movie: Too young to know with Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton
Plot: Two newlyweds are separated for three years when the husband is called to fight in the war in the South Pacific. While there, he learns that his wife has left him and given away the son he never knew about. He quickly gets a pass and flies home, where a good-hearted judge helps the family reunite. Wikipedia. (as of 2023-03-05)

The East High Street side of the Moose store building can be seen as soldiers march into the square.

Many soldiers and sailors (and others) marched by the Moose store building, then the "Franklin Store", on Saturday, August 17, 1947 for the World War II Victory Parade in Elizabethtown, PA.

A little girl, who would march in that parade years later, got to touch the Liberty Bell - guard said it was ok, lifting her up. It was at closing time, almost no one there.