Men of the US 99th Fighter Squadron (“Tuskegee Airmen”) and a P-40 fighter in North Africa, 1943 (US Air Force photo: 25502027)
80 Years Ago—June 2, 1943: Combat debut of US 99th Fighter Squadron, the first Black unit in the Army Air Force (“Tuskegee Airmen”), in a Twelfth Air Force mission from Tunisia to the island of Pantelleria.
Publicity photo of Leslie Howard for Gone with the Wind, 1939 (public domain via Wikipedia)
80 Years Ago—June 1, 1943: German Ju 88s shoot down a DC-3 airliner flying from Portugal to England, killing 17, including British actor Leslie Howard (Gone With the Wind) and Wilfrid Israel, a German Jewish businessman who played a significant role rescuing Jews from the continent; Howard once told Israel, “You are the Scarlet Pimpernel. I’ve only played the part.”
Col. Florence Blanchfield becomes superintendent of the US Army Nurse Corps. (See my four-part series on the US Army Nurse Corps in World War II).
Frank Sinatra signs with Columbia Records as a solo artist.
Col. Florence Blanchfield, US Army Nurse Corps (US War Department photo)
Allied air raid on Pantelleria Island in the Mediterranean, May-June 1943 (US Army Center of Military History)
80 Years Ago—May 31, 1943: British ships begin naval bombardment of island of Pantelleria between Tunisia and Sicily, adding to the aerial bombardment started May 18.
Movie premiere of Cole Porter musical Du Barry Was a Lady, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Virginia O’Brien, and Gene Kelly.
“Archie” comics are first broadcast on the radio.
Map of US Army operations on Attu in the Aleutians, May 1943 (US Army Center of Military History)
80 Years Ago—May 30, 1943: US Army secures Attu in the Aleutians, 700 Americans and 2600 Japanese have been killed (only 29 Japanese surrender).
Dr. Josef Mengele, “the angel of death,” arrives at Auschwitz.
All-American Girls Baseball League begins its first 108-game season with four teams (Rockford, Kenosha, Racine, and South Bend).
Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, 29 May 1943 (Fair use via Wikipedia)
80 Years Ago—May 29, 1943: Japanese launch a banzai counterattack on Attu in the Aleutians, which is repelled by US forces.
Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” appears on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post (Read more: “A Tribute to Rosie the Riveter”).
Light carrier USS Cowpens, 1945 (US National Archives: 80-G-468977)
80 Years Ago—May 28, 1943: Light carrier USS Cowpens, nicknamed “The Mighty Moo,” is commissioned at Camden, NJ.
Lt. Louis Zamperini, bombardier, inspecting a hole in his B-24D Liberator, Superman, damaged over Nauru, 20 Apr 1943; photo taken at Funafuti in Gilbert Islands (US National Archives: 342-FH-3A42817-23780AC)
80 Years Ago—May 27, 1943: In Paris, Jean Moulin presides over the first meeting of the National Council of the Resistance.
US Seventh Air Force B-24 on a sea search between Hawaii and Palmyra ditches; pilot Russell Phillips and bombardier Lt. Louis Zamperini (Unbroken) will spend 45 days at sea before being captured by the Japanese.
Germans burn 516 pieces of “degenerate art” in the garden of Jeu de Paume in Paris.
Edsel Ford, 1921 (Library of Congress: cph.3b29704)
80 Years Ago—May 26, 1943: Edsel Ford, President of Ford Motor Company, dies, age 49; his father, Henry Ford, resumes the presidency.
First Allied convoy completes passage of the Mediterranean without loss, arriving in Alexandria, Egypt.
On Attu in the Aleutians, Private Joseph Pantillion Martinez earns the first Medal of Honor awarded to a Hispanic-American in WWII (posthumous).
Canada begins meat rationing.
Movie premiere of My Friend Flicka, starring Roddy McDowall.
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the White House during the Trident Conference, Washington DC, 24 May 1943 (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum)
80 Years Ago—May 25, 1943: At the Trident Conference, Allied Combined Chiefs decide to plan for a 1 May 1944 invasion of Europe.
In Mobile, Alabama, white shipyard workers riot after 12 Black workers receive promotions—all 12 of these men are hospitalized due to injuries.
“The Kill” by Robert Benney: TBF Avenger drops depth bombs around a U-boat (Navy Art Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command: 88-159-AP)
80 Years Ago—May 24, 1943: The Battle of the Atlantic officially ends as German Adm. Karl Dönitz withdraws his U-boats from the North Atlantic toward the Azores after losing 40 U-boats in 3 weeks.
US cheese rationing is expanded to all but cream and cottage cheeses. (Read more: Make It Do—Meat and Cheese Rationing in World War II)
“Sundin’s craft is inimitable, and her literary finesse radiates from every page.”—Booklist starred review for The Sound of Light