May 22, 1939 Honolulu **
More than a hundred men were out on the town for one more night of fun. Some were trying to find agreeable female companship, while more were taking their wives out for dinner, dancing and a night in a fine hotel. They would be boarding the transport Raymond in the morning for a six month contract on Wake Island. Their primary goal was to dredge a channel into the lagoon and then clear enough space in the coral to allow a dozen large ships to anchor. A pier and a loading dock would also be be built.
The contingent was lightly armed with half a dozen rifles for shark shooting during swim breaks and a dozen shotguns for rail hunting.
June 14, 1939 Chester, Pennsylvania
A new cargo ship to the Maritime Commission C-3 design was laid down. She would be ready for sea by early winter.
July 20, 1939 Fort Devens, Massachusetts
The Massachusetts National Guard was at summer camp. Private Patrick Donohue shuffled in the sun as the weight of a M-1903 Springfield rifle bore on his shoulder Devans was not far from Lowell but this was as far west as he had ever travelled. The National Guard had accepted him when the Marines would not. The pay was not as good as he still had to go back to the mill next week, but it was better than nothing.
Fourteen thousand men had mustered throughout Massachusetts for field training this week. That sounded impressive, but the division should have been able to put over 20,000 men in the field. Two-thirds of the gap had official excuses or were medically unable to drill while the remaining 2,000 men had not been recruited. The division had relied on recent recruits like Patrick with bad teeth, bad backs, weak hearts to fill out the numbers. He had been on the rolls for three months and had just gotten to a point where he would not stab himself with the butt much less the bayonet of his rifle.
** Stealing shamelessly from A True and Better Alamo Redux https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=9643846&postcount=1
More than a hundred men were out on the town for one more night of fun. Some were trying to find agreeable female companship, while more were taking their wives out for dinner, dancing and a night in a fine hotel. They would be boarding the transport Raymond in the morning for a six month contract on Wake Island. Their primary goal was to dredge a channel into the lagoon and then clear enough space in the coral to allow a dozen large ships to anchor. A pier and a loading dock would also be be built.
The contingent was lightly armed with half a dozen rifles for shark shooting during swim breaks and a dozen shotguns for rail hunting.
June 14, 1939 Chester, Pennsylvania
A new cargo ship to the Maritime Commission C-3 design was laid down. She would be ready for sea by early winter.
July 20, 1939 Fort Devens, Massachusetts
The Massachusetts National Guard was at summer camp. Private Patrick Donohue shuffled in the sun as the weight of a M-1903 Springfield rifle bore on his shoulder Devans was not far from Lowell but this was as far west as he had ever travelled. The National Guard had accepted him when the Marines would not. The pay was not as good as he still had to go back to the mill next week, but it was better than nothing.
Fourteen thousand men had mustered throughout Massachusetts for field training this week. That sounded impressive, but the division should have been able to put over 20,000 men in the field. Two-thirds of the gap had official excuses or were medically unable to drill while the remaining 2,000 men had not been recruited. The division had relied on recent recruits like Patrick with bad teeth, bad backs, weak hearts to fill out the numbers. He had been on the rolls for three months and had just gotten to a point where he would not stab himself with the butt much less the bayonet of his rifle.
** Stealing shamelessly from A True and Better Alamo Redux https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=9643846&postcount=1