WW2 Radio Dispatcher
George Barrett WW2 Album
I just got back from visiting my mother, Arline, in northern California. She and I were housesitting for my brother. I took Arline to see a neighbor, her friend, Lola. Lola’s 94. It was the first time I’d been next door to Lola’s house. She lives with her son, Richard Barrett in a beautiful hilltop home.
Lola, Richard and I got to talking about Lola’s courtship with her husband. They met after the war. Richard told me his dad, George Barrett, was a radio dispatcher in the South Pacific during WW2. His dad saved many mementos. Richard lent me his WW2 album with privileges.
What a collection! I couldn’t begin to say what I like best and found most interesting.
George Barrett 1940s Vintage
A radio log from Okinawa. August 15, 1945. George was on duty.
WW2 Radio Log Japanese Surrender
My brother told me that Morris told him that right after the announcement of Japanese surrender, he went AWOL. A crew invited him to fly over Japan and tour the damage. “Hey buddy, come check it out!” It’s in his letters. I’m not sure I realized he went AWOl for the chance. He was commander of the ship. His commander was often gone. What did it matter now?
Read MoreFather’s WW2 Love Letter from Subic Bay
It’s Father’s Day today, Summer Solstice of 2015. In October 1945 Mose writes Arline from his ship. WW2 Love Letter below. He’s anchored in Subic Bay. This is fun because I can google and see where he was. Mose is censor for his boat’s mail. Many envelopes from this period bear a navy censor stamp with his initials MAD. It’s probably not urgent to keep secret where he is now, which he otherwise carefully instructed Arline about on the eve of his disembarcation from San Fransisco. He mentions a milestone, one year ago he graduated naval school. In six months he’ll be a lieutenant. I read the letter. I walk my dog. I send love to Mose across time and space.
WW2 Love Letter from Subic Bay
WW2 Love Letter from Hamilton Hotel
It’s December 31, 2014
WWII Love Letter excerpt from Hamilton Hotel November 1944
It was a great Christmas trip. Check out was 12 noon at the Harbor Court Hotel in the Financial District of San Francisco. The Harbor Court is in the historic red brick YMCA building across from the ferry docks. It has views of the Bay Bridge. There was one thing left to do in San Francisco. I wanted to go see the Alexander Hamilton Hotel where Morris sent Arline his last letter before shipping off to the South Pacific in WW2.
My taxi driver got tangled in one way streets. This caused just the right delay so that as I peered into the Hamilton’s front security door, a resident was on his way out. He was curious. “Can I help you?” “Yes!” I gave him the quick story. Tom was not only kind, but he’s also a real estate agent. The Hamilton is now condos. But the Art Deco style of the hotel is totally preserved. Boys shipping off in WW2 got a last taste of America in Art Deco style at The Hamilton. My tour included the ocean view deck and there’s a piano in the lobby. I wondered which room Morris had occupied when he wrote the letter. I looked up from the roof’s deck and saw a star in one window.
Hamilton Hotel Entrance Martha in San Francisco
Hamilton Hotel Lobby
Hamilton Hotel Lobby
Thank you Tom!
Balcony over Lobby
Hamilton Hotel
Art matches the style at the Art Deco Hamilton Hotel
Hamilton Hotel Courtyard Art Deco Fountain
Hamilton Hotel Ballroom area
Hamilton Hotel Elevators
Hamilton Hotel Fireplace
The Roof Deck has an Ocean View. A Star was Shining in One Window.
Easter Bunny Leaves Love Letter
Easter falls on the 1st Sunday following the 1st full moon after the spring equinox, between 3/22 and 4/25. Copy that?
I went to church with Arline last week. I used to go, and was once a Christian. I walked out of the church when a substitute minister started preaching against abortion from the pulpit. It was too much. But I loved the service last week, the organ, the choir, the people greeting each other saying “Peace be with you.”
In 1945, Easter was April 1st. This year it’s tomorrow, the 20th. I pulled one of my father’s letters from April 20th 1945. Morris had been stationed in the South Pacific 5 months. He was engaged to Arline. They did it in letters. He sent the news of their engagement to his parents in a telegram. Arline had been at his folks home for dinner. In the letter Mose asks, “What were your first feelings when they read the telegram?” Awesome! Then he details his future pay as a lieutenant.
Morris’s memorial service was April 1st, 1999. I remember him every April Fools Day. He had a dry sense of humor. He had a way with puns. At the memorial service his brother Henry said, “Morris was the last of the good guys.”
Read MoreFlying Fish at End of Rainbow
Love Letter excerpt by Morris to Arline November 1944, of awe and gratitude.
Love Letter 1940
End of the Rainbow
WW2 Phonograph Photo and V-Discs
In 1940 vinyl was used as a record material, but mostly commercially for transcription discs. Practically no home discs were stamped with vinyl. In a “FLash of Army Life” report by the Associated Press, one soldier:
First Cook Lewis Lawrence Jr. brought a phonograph recording machine from Chicago and “is cashing in on the yen of his buddies to pour sweet nothings of sentiment into the ears of the girls they left behind. The soldiers speak into it. Their tender messages are registered on the discs. Finished products are mailed to sweethearts at home. The cook charged 35, 50, or 70 cents the amount–depending on the verbal and financial lengths to which the troopers are willing to go.”
Phonograph Machine in WW2
The War Department established the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) on May 26, 1942. On August 1, 1942, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) union went on strike against the major American recording companies over disagreements regarding royalty payments. The union called a ban on all commercial recordings as part of a struggle to get the royalties from record sales for a fund for out-of-work musicians.
AFM union led by trumpeter James Petrillo, had previously opposed the recording of music, or “canned music”. Musicians were being replaced with records in radio. In cafes and bars bands were being replaced with jukeboxes. For over a year no music was recorded by unionised musicians in America. The only important group of musicians not part of the union was the Boston Symphony.
But recordings made for the military, called V-discs (V for Victory), were immune and not affected by the strike apparently because V-disc recordings would not go to civilians.
During the strike no union musician could record for any record company. But the strike didn’t prohibit performances on live radio shows or in concert. While the move was seen as advantageous for musicians who wanted payment each time their songs were played in jukeboxes or on radio, PBS FCC chair James Fly suggested 60% of the country’s radio stations could go out of business. As the ban approached, numerous artists rushed to get in last-minute recordings in July 1942. Among them were Count Basie, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Benny Goodman, Guy Lombardo, and Glenn Miller.
When this stockpile was exhausted, record companies turned to re-releasing older recordings – some as far back as the dawn of the recording era in the mid-1920s. One of the most successful re-releases was Harry James “All Or Nothing at All” which featured Frank Sinatra before he became famous.
Decca and Capitol gave into the AFM in 1943, RCA Victor and Columbia held out but eventually backed down in 1944. It was over two years before the issues were resolved and the recording ban ended. Booms in record sales returned after World War II. Vinyl long play records were introduced which could contain an entire symphony. 45s usually contained one hit popularized on the radio, plus another song on the back “flip” side.
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