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Disney design for WWII Women Marines Aviation Squadron


Bob Hudson
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I wonder if this design is on anything from the era.

 

....Kat

 

Out there somewhere, in someone's grandma's basement....

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There is a patch for this unit using that design.

 

Ooohhh.....Do you have one or a picture of one? I would LOVE to see it.

 

...Kat

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Ooohhh.....Do you have one or a picture of one? I would LOVE to see it.

 

...Kat

 

Turns out there's one shown in a forum discussion of rare USMC patches: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/28997-what-are-the-rarest-wwii-usmc-patches/?p=279951

 

Six years ago one of these sold for over $400 (Flying Tiger Antiques has a repro for $6).

 

post-376-1234883826.jpg

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I just read the whole poem for the first time: it's especially funny and poignant if you've been to El Centro, a Spanish name meaning "Where the heck am I?"

 

It is California desert (and not the pretty kind), 120 degrees in the summer but never a lick of humidity. And the crickets....well the poem captures that El Centro experience.

 

NAF El Centro is the Blue Angels winter home and they have the Fat Albert transport, manned and maintained by Marines. Those women in the WWII AVIATION WOMAN MARINES SQUADRON 3 probably helped pave the way for for Marine aviations there. The nearest thing to a bigger town is Yuma, Arizona which has a pretty active Marine aviation operation.

 

These Blues are rolling through typical terrain in El Centro, sometimes with some ugly scrubs thrown in. There are beautiful places in the desert, but again this ain't one of them.

 

blues.jpg

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I like that this design is for one the little-known WR AVIATION squadrons (searched this foru, and in all these years the AWRS have been mentioned only three times before now). I did some googling and found that during WWII 40% of the Women Marines held jobs in aviation, doing everything except flying. The National Park service has a nice summary of the Aviation Women's Reserve Squadrons at

http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003129-00/sec10.htm

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  • 3 months later...

Missed this one. ARWS-3 items are not common. I have a large grouping belonging to Louise Rada (1943-45) who spent most of her time at El Centro as an aerographer/aide/other in 1944-45. She kept photos, clippings, post cards, even an invite to the White House for tea, not to mention tags/uniforms/other and serves as a nice time capsule for this period. I will have to post her grouping sometime, since I have not seen anything quite like it.

post-3673-0-85676300-1434591128.jpg

post-3673-0-22813000-1434591164.jpg

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I have a large grouping belonging to Louise Rada (1943-45) who spent most of her time at El Centro as an aerographer/aide/other in 1944-45. She kept photos, clippings, post cards, even an invite to the White House for tea, not to mention tags/uniforms/other and serves as a nice time capsule for this period. I will have to post her grouping sometime, since I have not seen anything quite like it.

 

Amazing! I really look forward to seeing the grouping. Definitely post it when you get a chance.

 

...Kat

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