This is probably as famous among our listeners as our Christmas playlist is, and Rat Patrol Radio was one of the first webcast stations ever to present these historic broadcasts in this format. This year marks our ninth year saluting the men who stormed Fortress Europe to put an end to Nazism. Join me as we relive the electrifying events of one of the most momentous events of the 20th Century.  (I still choke up and get goosebumps at 10pm when FDR leads the nation in prayer.)

photo San Diego Union-Tribune

After 14 years of fundraising, a memorial to the 52 US submarines lost in action in WWII has been dedicated in San Diego. Located at Liberty Station, a mixed-use development on the grounds of the former naval training center in San Diego, the “52 Boats Memorial” consists of 52 black granite memorials, each devoted to one of the lost subs and listing their crew. Behind each memorial is a Libery Elm tree.

90% of the funds raised to remember the sacrifices of the lost submariners were from private donations. Over 3,500 US submariners lost their lives in WWII, one out of every five who served.

10 news San Diego story

San Diego Union-Tribune photo gallery

As some folk know, I work as a freelance historical researcher. I wanted to share this particular item with all my listeners. This is a very rare Honolulu Star-Telegram newspaper from December 7, 1941.

I’ll be posting more things on my business site, FreelanceHistorian.com, as I get photos taken. All these items are scheduled to be listed on eBay this week, and I’ll have links to each auction at Freelance Historian.

While loading groceries near Thanksgiving, World War II veteran Jacob R. McClenny accidentally left his walking cane in shopping cart.

The 89-year-old retired Lt. Col. McClenny returned to the Walmart on Old Fort Parkway to search for the cane but couldn’t locate it, said grandson Bill Dunn, a sergeant with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office. McClenny is offering a reward for its return.

McClenny’s daughter, Joyce Anderson, said her father purchased the cane in 1976 in Germany.

“The approximately 1-inch medallions (on the cane) represent the places he has been,” Anderson said. “This cane is very special to him and I really would like to see him get it back.”

Dunn described the cane as being a light-colored natural wood.

“It’s very distinctive,” Dunn said.

McClenny flew B-17s in World War II that contributed to his hearing loss.

“His equilibrium is off now,” Dunn said. “He’s pretty unstable. He needs the cane to support him. He uses it from the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed.”

People who have knowledge about the cane may call Anderson at 896-2828.

“We hope whoever found it will call and return it,” Dunn said.

McClenny purchased a cheaper cane so he could get around.

“It meant a whole lot to him,” Dunn said of the sentimental value. “He’s just heart-broken about losing it.”

Mufreesboro Post photo of Lt Col McClennt

(Awesome photos of a restored Jeep, too. I love the old “meatball” emblem.)

According to recently declassified Soviet documents, the Soviet Army discovered the bodies of Hitler and Braun in a shell crater outside the Reichstag Bunker, where the Germans had burned them.  After forensic examination, the bodies were secretly buried in a forest near Rathenau, Germany in June 1945.  The next year, the remains were exhumed and buried in a secret location on a Soviet Army base in Magdeburg, East Germany.

As long as the remains were on property of the Soviet Army, their existence could be hidden. But when the decision was made in 1970 to turn the Army base over to the East German government, Soviet leadership feared the possibility of the remains being discovered and becoming a shrine to Hitler. Therefore, the bodies of Hitler, Braun and the Goebbels family were exhumed by a special KGB contingent, burned in a large bonfire, ground to dust and dumped in the Biederitz River.

Gen. Khristoforov told Interfax that the only physical remains of the Nazi Fuhrer are a piece of jawbone and a skull fragment that are in FSB archives.  He dismissed the claims of two US scientists questioning the authenticity of the remains, noting that they did not receive any DNA samples from the remains, and in any event “even if you take the fragments kept in our custody, it is unclear what these data can be compared with.”

CNN report on this story, with photos.

Churchill's Cigar and Conference Placards

Excerpt of the article:

At over six inches long the cigar has never been touched by its owner, who keeps it safe in a sturdy wooden box.

It was taken from a historic meeting between Churchill and the other Allied leaders at the famous Casablanca Conference.

Placecards bearing the names of the world leaders taken with the cigar from the conference combined with Mr William senior’s testimony helped the authentication of the cigar.

Mr Williams, a student at Lincoln College who lives in nearby Horncastle, said he felt like he owned a piece of history.

He said: “I’ve kept the cigar a secret and completely to myself since my grandad gave it to me all those years ago….

Mr Williams senior, who served in the 8th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, had been asked to act as butler to the Prime Minister for the conference in 1943.

The first is a link to buying a VIP Membership to Live 365, our hosting service for the station. A VIP Membership will not only let you listen to RPR commercial-free, but also allows access even if the station is at the listener limit. Not only does it work for RPR, but also for every one of the thousands of stations on the Live 365 network!

The second link is for PayPal donations. If you don’t care for PayPal, you can always purchase a Live 365 Gift Certificate for whatever amount you wish, which will go directly towards the bill for the broadcast service. Under “recipient’s email” use the hotmail address “ratpatrolradio.”

The third link is to the Rat Patrol Radio Post Exchange, aka our Cafepress store. Any item purchased gives RPR $2.00.  I have personally ordered the coffee mug, tshirt, notebook, and large poster, and have been extremely pleased with them all.

The only things left to do are to get the RPR Pinup Girl logo on the masthead of the site, and decide whether to actually have an image gallery or not. Speaking of our “mascot”, she is on all the Cafepress items. Here is a close-up of the logo: