MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, APR.6/98 INDEX: ANNOUNCEMENTS; WW-II ISLAND SURVIVORS TELL STORY; MIL SPECS FROM ROME; MEMBERS WRITE; ARLB022 Spectrum Protection bill introduced; HUMOR; *********************************************** ANNOUNCEMENTS; This message was received from Juno a couple days ago: Thank you for your note. The problem of multiple taglines interrupting messages was quickly detected and resolved; you should have no further inconvenience of this sort. Thanks for your feedback, and for your continued support of Juno. Regards, Ned M. Member Services Juno Online Services, L.P. By "quickly detected" they meant one week, I'd sooner think that it was a marheting ploy that backfired. *********************************************** WW-II ISLAND SURVIVORS TELL STORY; A new book, mentions air dropping radio to downed aircraft survivors. Bill Howard Decades later survivor, savior meet By AMELIA DAVIS © St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ELLEAIR -- Fifty-three years ago on an island halfway around the world, Lt. John McCollom and two other survivors of a military plane crash were waiting in a jungle for a savior. It was World War II, and there was everything to fear: the Japanese, an unfamiliar, treacherous terrain, native tribesmen said to practice cannibalism and the worsening of injuries suffered in the crash that killed 21 others. Three days passed and finally the survivors were spotted by a military search plane in part of New Guinea called Hidden Valley. A young Army Air Forces officer, Ed Imparato, now of Belleair, was told to figure out a way to get them out. Forty-seven harrowing days later he did. Imparato and those he rescued never met -- until noon Monday. That is when McCollom drove from his home in Delray Beach to shake Imparato's hand. "It's good to see you Ed, finally after all these years," McCollom said. Over lunch, the two men talked of the May 13, 1945, crash and its permanent effect on their lives. McCollom, who suffered only a broken rib, had a twin brother who died in the crash. Like the others, Robert McCollom is buried at the crash site. Imparato wrote a book about the incident. Titled Rescue >From Shangri-La, it was published last year. McCollom, 79, told Imparato, 81, and three friends who joined them Monday, that he had kept in contact with the other two survivors through the years. Cpl. Margaret Hastings, who was severely burned in the crash, died of cancer in 1978, he said. Tech. Sgt. Kenneth Decker, who came out of the crash with a deep head gash, broken elbow and severe burns, lives in a retirement home in Seattle. McCollom said he will join Decker for his upcoming 87th birthday. As Imparato was preparing to write his book, he traced McCollom to his winter home in Delray Beach. "I never knew who Ed was until he called me up one day," McCollom said. Imparato's book describes the 47-day ordeal before the three were air-lifted in a glider from a clearing the size of a football field. It tells how they existed on hard candy and water for five days until canned tomatoes, a radio and other supplies could be airdropped through the jungle foliage. It also tells about their first encounter with the island natives. McCollom talked about that meeting Monday. "We looked up and there over a ridge were about 30 of them lined up," McCollom said. "We smiled. They smiled. We moved a little closer. They moved a little closer." Finally, McCollom stepped forward and offered his hand to the nearly naked man who appeared to be the leader. As it turned out, these islanders were not the headhunters they had feared. They were a friendly tribe who over the course of the next weeks traded them sweet potatoes and pigs for colorful shells McCollom had requested in the airdrops. Two shells got them a pig. One shell, enough sweet potatoes for a meal. While Imparato planned their eventual rescue, military medics who parachuted into the jungle treated their injuries. Other paratroopers arrived to clear the strip of land for the glider. When McCollom and the others were well enough to hike 47 miles to the takeoff site, the rescuers were ready. "I never doubted we'd get out," McCollom said Monday. "At least I knew I would. I figured if Maggie and Ken didn't make it, I'd build a raft and float out. I'd seen a river." Now there's talk of a movie. Imparato has an agent and reported there is some interest in his book. So who would McCollom choose to portray him in a film? "Me," McCollom said. "I still have my hair." Submitted by THE WILLIAM L. HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM e-mail wlhoward@gte.net Telephone AC 813 585-7756 ********************************************** MIL SPECS FROM ROME; How Mil Specs Live Forever The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates. Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts. So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United State standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification (Military Spec) for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. MilSpecs and Bureaucracies live forever. So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's rear end came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war horses. Submitted by Dave Sundheimer ********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; GRC-9 at Action, Dennis: The complete/excellent GRC-9 with all accessories on the auction site went for $288. Fifteen people competed for it. 73 Dave AB5S ed)What's the world comming to? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raytheon Systems Company, Dennis, thought this might interest you. If not, the delete button is handy. Raytheon Wins $18.5 Million TacGA Radio Contract LEXINGTON, Mass. (March 31, 1998) - A consortium of Raytheon Systems Company (RSC), a unit of Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTNA, RTNB), and Hunting Engineering Ltd. of the UK, has been awarded a firm, fixed-price contract by the United Kingdom ministry of Defence to produce in excess of 1,000 Tactical Ground to Air (TacGA) radios for the British Armed Forces. The overall contract value to Raytheon is approximately $18.5 million. The TacGA radio is an advanced multiband, multimode manpack radio covering VHF and UHF bands, and includes HAVE QUICK Electronic Counter-Counter Measures (ECCM) and the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for timing and navigation. It has been tailored for use by the British Armed Forces on land and for vehicle installation. The radio will produced the Command, Control, Communications (C3) unit of Raytheon Systems Company in its facilities in the U.S. and Scotland. Hunting Engineering will act as prime contractor, system installer and integrator. "This is an important contract, as this product expands into the worldwide market," notes Raytheon program manager Tim Kearney. "This family of radios has previously been used in Turkey, but with this contract, the United Kingdom will be the largest user in the international marketplace." Raytheon Company, based in Lexington, Mass., is a global technology leader, with worldwide sales of more than US$20 billion and over 118,000 employees. The company provides state-of-the-art products and services in the areas of defense and commercial electronics, engineering and construction and business and special mission aircraft. Raytheon has operations throughout the United States and services customers in more than 80 countries around the world. George Humphrey Peace Pioneer 73s George KC5WBV gah@koyote.com "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" ed) it would be nice to know just exacly what radios they are pruducing. *********************************************** ARLB022 Spectrum Protection bill introduced; At the request of the ARRL, a bill has been introduced in Congress to ensure the availability of spectrum to Amateur Radio operators. The bill, HR 3572, the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 1998, would protect existing Amateur Radio spectrum against reallocations to or sharing with other services unless the FCC provides ''equivalent replacement spectrum'' elsewhere. The bill was introduced March 27 by Rep Michael Bilirakis of Florida, a Republican, with the cosponsorship of Rep Ron Klink of Pennsylvania, a Democrat. If approved, the measure would amend Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 to preclude reallocation of any primary Amateur Radio allocations or diminution of any secondary allocations, and would block any additional allocations within such bands that would substantially reduce their utility to Amateur Radio, unless the Commission at the same time provides ''equivalent replacement spectrum'' to the Amateur Service. The bill points out that a basic purpose of Amateur Radio is to provide ''voluntary, noncommercial radio service, particularly emergency communications,'' and that Amateur Radio has ''consistently and reliably'' provided emergency communication during and after disasters. The measure notes that the FCC has ''taken actions which have resulted in the loss of at least 107 MHz of spectrum to radio amateurs.'' HR 3572 has been referred to the House Commerce Committee. An effort is under way to enlist additional cosponsors for the measure. The full text of the bill is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.3572: NNNN /EX --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a copy of the comments I sent to Rep. Roy Blunt of the 7th MO congressional district. You might consider sending him or your representative a personal note on the issue. His Web page address is http://www.house.gov/blunt/ Click on "Contact Representative Blunt" to send him a message. Of course, if you are not in this district, please send it to your representative. Go to www.congress.gov to find the addresses. Woodie ---------------------------------------- Comments: I would like to urge you to become a co-sponsor of HR 3572, a bill to protect amateur radio frequencies. There are over 2000 licensed amateur radio operators in your district and I am sure they would be happy to know you were supporting this important legislation. Thanks and 73, Woodie Moore, Librarian, Evangel College. *********************************************** HUMOR; A man is driving down a deserted highway, and notices a sign that reads.. SISTERS OF MERCY HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION - 10 MILES He thinks it was a figment of his imagination... drives on. Soon, he sees another sign which says... SISTERS OF MERCY HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION - 5 MILES Realizing these signs are for real, he drives on, and sure enough, there is a third... SISTERS OF MERCY HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION - NEXT RIGHT His curiosity gets the best of him, and he pulls into the driveway. On thefar side of the parking lot, is a somber stone building with a sign on the door that reads... SISTERS OF MERCY He climbs the steps, rings the bell, and the door is answered by a nun in a long black habit, who asks..."What may we do for you, my son?" "I saw your signs along the highway, and was interested in possibly doing some business," he answers. Very well, my son. Please follow me," says the nun. He is led through many winding passages, and soon he is very disoriented. The nun stops at a closed door and tells the man,"Please, knock on this door" and leaves. The man does as he is told, and this door is opened by another nun in a long black habit, holding a tin cup. This nun instructs: "Please place $50.00 in the cup, then go through the large wooden door at the end of this hallway." He places the money in this nun's tin cup. He trots eagerly down the hallway, and slips through the door, pulling it shut. As the door locks behind him, he finds himself back in the parking lot, facing another small sign: Go In Peace. You have just been screwed by the Sisters Of Mercy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An old cowboy dressed to kill with cowboy shirt, hat, jeans, spurs and chaps went to a bar and ordered a drink. As he sat there sipping his whiskey, a young lady sat down next to him. After she ordered her drink she turned to the cowboy and asked him, "Are you a real cowboy?" To which he replied, "Well, I have spent my whole life on the ranch, herding cows, breaking horses, mending fences, I guess I am." After a short while he asked her what she was. She replied, "I've never been on a ranch so I'm not a cowboy, but I am a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning I think of women, when I eat, shower, watch TV, everything seems to make me think of women." A short while later she left and the cowboy ordered another drink. A couple sat down next to him and asked, "Are you a real cowboy?" To which he replied, "I always thought I was, but I just found out that I'm a lesbian." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An Irishman had been drinking at a pub all night. The bartender finally said that the bar is closing. So the Irishman stood up to leave and fell flat on his face. He tried to stand one more time; same result. He figured he'll crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that sober him up. Once outside he stood up and fell flat on his face. So he decided to crawl the 4 blocks to his home. When he arrived at the door, he stood up and again fell flat on his face. He crawled through the door and into his bedroom. When he reached his bed he tried one more time to stand up. This time he managed to pull himself upright, but he quickly fell right into bed and is sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was awakened the next morning to his wife standing over him, shouting, "So, you've been out drinking again!!" "What makes you say that?" he asked, putting on an innocent look. "The pub called - You left your Wheelchair there again." ED) I know there pretty bad, but I gotta get them out of the folder some way! *********************************************** (The preceding was a product of the"Military Collector Group Post", an international email magazine dedicated to the preservation of history and the equipment that made it. Unlimited circulation of this material is authorized so long as the proper credits to the original authors, and publisher are included. For more information conserning this group contact Dennis Starks at, military-radio-guy@juno.com) ***********************************************