Thursday, 25 November 1943
1000 hours local
Happy Thanksgiving
We wish to welcome all of the officers and enlisted personnel of the 918th Bombardment Group (H) and the 120th Provisional Combat Bombardment Wing at Archbury, England to our Thanksgiving fest ivies.
I would like to thank your commanding officer, Colonel Shannon Lucky for giving the 120th Provisional Combat Bombardment Wing
the opportunity to host this 1943 Thanksgiving celebration and feast at Archbury, England.
We give thanks for the folks back home in the states who are sacrificing today for their military men and women serving around the world.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/11/a-world-war-ii.html
I would like to read the
Thanksgiving Proclamation
From our Commander-in-Chief.
THANKSGIVING DAY, 1943
By the President of the United States : a Proclamation
Gods help to us has been great in this year of march towards world-wide liberty. In brotherhood with warriors of other United Nations our gallant men have won victories, have freed our homes from fear, have made tyranny tremble, and have laid the foundation for freedom of life in a world which will be free. Our forges and hearths and mills have wrought well; and our weapons have not failed. Our farmers, Victory gardeners, and crop volunteers have gathered and stored a heavy harvest in the barns and bins and cellars. Our total food production for the year is the greatest in the annals of our country...
Franklin D. Roosevelt
And now a short story and a prayer from our chaplain, Captain Father Dominic Twombley.
My father, Isadore Twombley, was a native of Cheshire, England. He brought his family to America in 1925, settled in Chicago and opened a tire business. He loved America with all of his heart.
In August 1943, my older brother, Richard M. Twombley, was killed in action in World War II. A lieutenant in the Army Air Force, he was shot down during a raid over the Ploesti oil fields in Romania. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart for the mission that cost him his
life.
In the period following my brother's death, my father wrote a Thanksgiving prayer. He would read the prayer aloud as our extended family gathered for the Thanksgiving meal.
At our urging, he sent a copy of the prayer to local newspapers. In the 1940s, the Chicago Sun-Times published it. At that time, he wrote some words of introduction:
"There is a particular love in each of us and that crisis gave me the power to write it. You cannot write something like this unless you have that power. ...
"The prayer is my way of thanking America. I had a dream and I found it in the United States. ...
"Most of the people don't find it, but it is the realization of my dream. Where else in the world could you find a country such as this? Freedom is here. The country is young. It has its ups and down, but there is such a tremendous strength in the country that we can consider them growing pains. The country is strong and sound and can take a lot of hard knocks yet."
I hope you find it meaningful as we prepare for this most American of holidays.
'A Prayer of Thanksgiving'
By Isadore Twombley
Children, today is Thanksgiving. Before we eat and enjoy ourselves, let us give thanks. Your father and mother came to this country a few years ago, penniless, homeless and friendless. Even today we are not rich. But the Lord did not ask for riches. He asked only for daily bread. This country has given us the blessing of our daily bread. Let us be thankful!
Great schools have opened their doors to you. When you grow up, your country will offer you unlimited opportunities. May you always use your education and your opportunities to live as upright Americans and honor the American Constitution. Let us be thankful!
Do not cast your eyes down when other people call you sons of immigrants. None of their ancestors were here either when Columbus discovered America. There is only one kind of true American in this country. It is the one who lives and dies for the U.S. Constitution.
Yet do not forget that your parents came from another part of the world. You can be good Americans and still remember the native hills and rivers where your family has emigrated from. And when in the hearts of your children and children's children, every memory of the old homestead will be gone and forgotten, teach them that it is the duty of every true American to send his brotherly love and helping hand to the four corners of the Old World, which has been the ancestral home of all of us.
Now let us rise and offer our Thanksgiving prayer!
Oh Lord, bless this country!
We saved ourselves from bigotry, hatred and persecution in this free land of the setting sun. Preserve our liberty!
Bless every stone in our soil; bless every piece of earth that we turn with our shovel. Bless equally the president and his counselors in their seats of the mighty and the poorest farmer in his lowly hut!
Accept our thanks on this day of Thanksgiving, for Thou hast given us bread to still our hunger, clothes to shelter our bodies and Thou hast made our nation strong on air, sea and land.
Unite our creeds and races into one nation indivisible, and let our American Constitution of the brotherhood of man shine in every heart so that Thy kingdom of love and peace may soon be established on earth as it is in Heaven.
Amen.
And now The Turkey Trot preformed on the piano by our very own Captain Gayle Hill, M.C., Flight Nurse.
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/thanksg.htm
Cookie and his men have prepared a Thanksgiving feast that youll be able to tell your grandchildren about in 2008.
All enlisted personnel are admitted to the mess hall free of charge. All officers will pay a very equitable remuneration of $.25.
WORLD WAR II THANKSGIVING ON THE HOME FRONT
NUT-SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
4 to 6 sweet potatoes
2/3 cup dark corn or maple syrup
1 orange, sliced
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/3 cup chopped nut meats
Peel sweet potatoes; then slice into a buttered casserole, arranging them in layers with orange slices and chopped nut meats. Dot each layer with butter and season with salt and pepper. Pour syrup over them. Bake in moderate oven for 1 hour. A little water or orange juice may be added if needed. Serves 4 to 6.
From: Cooking on a Ration,
by Marjorie Mills.
Houghton Mifflin, 1943.
MILITARY COOKING 1941
TURKEY, ROAST
70 pounds turkey, undrawn or 50 pounds dressed and drawn
4 pounds onions, minced, browned
2 pounds fat, butter preferred
15 pounds bread crumbs
2 pounds flour
Singe, and then clean the turkey well, saving heart, liver, and gizzard, which should be cooked and then minced for use in gravy or dressing. To make the dressing, moisten the bread crumbs with water, mix with onions and giblets, and season with pepper and salt, sage, thyme, or other spices. The bread may be soaked in oyster liquor and oysters added to the dressing. Celery, currants, or raises may be used instead of onions. Lemon juice or nuts may be added. Stuff the turkey well with dressing. Sew up with strong thread and tie wings down to the body. Make a batter with the flour and fat, season with salt and pepper and rub the turkey with it before placing in oven. Roast in a slow own (200-250 F. -- 18 to 20 counts). After the turkey has been in the oven about 20 minutes, add a
little hot water and baste every 15 minutes until done. This generally requires about 2 1/2 hours, depending upon the quality of the fowl. Last few minutes of cooking should be at high heat to brown the outside of the turkey. Carve and serve hot with gravy.
From: Manual of Mess Management,
Military Service Publishing Co., 1941.
Cranberry sauce
Mashed potatoes
Coffee and tea
Water for Brigadier General Timothy Pappy Dunavin.
Doctor Higginbottem Elixir and shot in the arm energizer, one free per customer and thereafter $.25 per shot, limit 10 shots.
Specials for the ladies:
Scotch Malt Whiskey for Captain Robin Waldron, M.C., Flight Nurse
Stump Jump Wine from Caledonia, Missouri for Captain Gayle Hill, M.C., Flight Nurse
Good luck, happy landings, and Happy Thanksgiving,
Harry B. Higginbottem
Harry B. Higginbottem
Colonel, Air Corps (ren.)
Deputy Commanding Officer
120th Provisional Combat Bombardment Wing
Archbury, England
918th Bomb Group (H) Yahoo group
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/918archbury/
918th Bomb Group Web site
http://www.918archbury.com/
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