(The unofficial) Yank Archives |
What is Yank? Yank, The Army Weekly, was a magazine published during World War II for American military personnel serving around the world. It was published from 1942 to 1945. Headquartered in New York but distributed in various editions around the world, Yank was written mostly by servicemen. It featured a variety of articles covering everything from news from the homefront to first person accounts from the battlefront. The stories were richly illustrated with photographs and drawings. Yank also included cartoons and photos of pin-up girls and Hollywood starlets.
What is (the unofficial) Yank Archive? This website is an attempt to preserve and make known some of the content of this important historical publication. Our goal is to place searchable excerpts from Yank on the web for new generations to enjoy and for scholarly study by people with an interest in history.
Most recent articles posted: | ||
Date posted: | From issue: | |
Oct 18th, 2011 | Mar 28th, 1943 | |
They Fight with Film | ||
The military drafts Hollywood film makers to create films for soldiers. | ||
Date posted: | From issue: | |
May 14th, 2011 | Aug 22nd, 1943 | |
If You're Captured, Button Your ... | ||
Advice to soldiers on what to expect if captured. |
Click here for the article archive
Advertisements |
The source for fine chainmail.
Chainmail bikinis, jewelry,
and more!
Random Photos |
||
Click here for the photo archive | ||
Newsbite of the Week |
||
Feb 7th, 1943: Columbia Pictures at Hollywood announced that entomologists have been hired to conduct a nationwide search for a photogenic caterpillar. When the bug hunters finally locate the right caterpillar, a New York flea trainer will teach it to dance. The lucky bug will be co-starred with Rita Hayworth in "My Client Curly."
|
||
Click here for the newsbite archive |
Article of the Week |
From the issue dated Apr 18th, 1943.
Click here for a photo of the article.
Click here for a pdf of the article.
Here's One for Ripley — the Army
Runs A Navy Down in South America
This South American Navy consists of two sturdy old steamboats, manned by two officers and 60 soldiers from the Coast Artillery who would have called you crazy had you predicted a few years ago that they were going to grow up to be sailors in the Army.
They sail along the coast and rivers of British Guiana and Surinam, which used to be called Dutch Guiana back in our fifth-grade geography class and now is called by several other GI names, none of them printable.
The British Guiana vessel is the General R. N. Batchelder, near and dear to every soldier at the jungle base of Atkinson Field because it is their sole means of getting to Georgetown, the only place they can visit when they get a pass once a month.
Every day the Batchelder loads up a happy crowd of GIs, takes them down the river to town and waits overnight to carry them back, tired and broke and wondering if that girl at the USO dance will write as she promised. The Atkinson Field guys never miss the boat on the return trip. If they overstay their pass, they don't get out of the jungle again for three months.
The Batchelder is a 37-year-old Quartermaster harbor boat. "But don't mix us up with the Quartermasters," says Lt. John R. Malone of Lawrence, Kan., the officer in charge of the 32 soldiers who run it. "We're coast artillerymen from the mine-laying service, and we're sick and tired of this water taxicab business. It's like KP for us."
The skipper of the Batchelder is T/Sgt. Harold R. Brown of East Boston, Mass., who used to take the wheel of his father's tug boat in Boston Harbor before he knew how to walk. "Sgt. Brown can dock a boat faster than anybody in this part of the world," says Malone. "One of the best damn sailors I ever saw."
All the soldiers in Brown's crew would be making big money if they were in the Merchant Marine instead of the Coast Artillery. His first mate is S/Sgt. Lorin Livingston of Providence, R.I., and the chief engineer is T/Sgt. Philip Bray of Orland, Me., who's been at sea for 10 years. Sgt. Wilfred Manchester, the assistant engineer, is another old salt from the whaling town of New Bedford, Mass.
The only noncom on the Batchelder who doesn't give a damn for the sea is the bosun, S/Sgt. Joseph M. Laclaire of Moores Corner, Mass. He is sweating out a transfer to the Air Forces.
They left Brooklyn Sept. 26, 1941, and made Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in a month. They stayed at Trinidad for a while, then started out for South America and arrived in British Guiana in January, 1942. They came with the understanding that it was to be temporary duty. Civilian crews were supposed to take over their job and they were going back to mine-laying.
"We're starting our second year now and the civilians haven't shown up yet," Lt. Malone says, taking off his sun helmet and mopping his brow. "This is the longest stretch of temporary duty we've ever seen."
Like all soldiers here in South America, the crew of the Batchelder would give anything for a little action. They are a little jealous of their mates on the Army boat in Surinam, the General Thomas N. Jessup, named for the first quartermaster general in the Army. The Jessup actually hasn't been under fire but at least it has gone out to pick up survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship under the guidance of the Air Force.
The Jessup is another veteran from the Coast Artillery mine-laying service, also on long-term temporary duty, with a crew of 28 soldiers under Lt. John Keefer of Wilmington, Del. First Sgt. Henry M. Fowler of Hampton Bays, Long Island, N.Y., is skipper with T/Sgt. Charles Partridge of Baton Rouge, La., as mate and T/Sgt. Edson Dewhurst of New Bedford, Mass. as chief engineer. S/Sgt. Fred Smith of Manistee, Mich., is assistant engineer and S/Sgt. Jerome Staff of Milton, Fla., is bosun.
The Jessup had two first sergeants for a while, the other one being Butch, the black dog attached to the boat for rations, quarters and administration, who wears regulation dog tags on his collar. But Butch went AWOL for a month and was busted down to private.
Butch gets around with the crew whenever they go ashore. Recently, when the Jessup went into dry dock at Georgetown for repairs, he frequently was seen at all the leading places, including 223 South Street, where he seemed to be enjoying himself even though he wasn't particularly welcome.
The Jessup and the Batchelder plow along jungle rivers with native villages of thatched huts scattered along the banks. It looks like darkest Africa but the soldiers in the Army's South American Navy find it pretty dull and boring.
"We thought it was monotonous laying those mines back in the States," Brown says. "But at least we were carrying explosives. In this job we don't carry anything except GIs with hangovers."
Your name:
Type this word:
Comment policy: we reserve the right to remove or edit comments that are offensive, off-topic, or contain advertising. Do not use HTML tags in your comment.
Comments: |
No comments yet. |
Home | - | About | - | Articles | - | Photos | - | Newsbites |
© 2012 Yank Archives