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| James W. Taylor's WWII Experiences |
| Donor | Original Source | PIMA ID | Donor ID | Category |
| Richard P. Ellinger | James W. Taylor | NA | RPE-44026 | OCR-DA-P |
| or ampi-theatre. Each weekend there was usually a live show of some sort for the entertainment of us dog faces. I noticed that the coming weekend, Judy Garland would be the featured star. She was to be accompanied by a bevy of "Hollywood Starlets''. We were all eager to go.She was our ideal, our age, and we knew her from the movie, "The Wizard of Oz". We went down but we were seated so far from the stage, that it could have been the wicked witch of the west that we were seeing. The M.C. told the audience that "Judy" would appear at the U.S.O. afterwards and we were all invited to stop in. We left the bowl early to be able to get into the small U.S.O. When we got there,Judy was already there, seated at a table with two of her starlets. They were surrounded by a crowd of awe struck G.l.'s like me. The "starlets" were seated to Judy's right. They were dressed in frothy, filmy, dresses that were cut very low and revealed a great amount of cleavage. Starlets in the movies were always young. Those two looked more like they had passed their 50th birthdays and what was being revealed with all that cleavage looked like wrinkled, dried apples. So much for Hollywood makeup and expert camera work. To Judy's left was a G.l. a California type, --blond---tall and tanned who was trying to get her to remember a birthday party that they had both attended. She didn't seem to remember the event. The thing that was most shocking to me however was the fact that she was puffing away on a cigarette. She hadn't smoked in Kansas or at the Emerald City of Oz. So much for learning about the real world.
We did have some final details to be resolved before we were to load onto a ship for the overseas journey. One of the more interesting details was to prepare us for the possibility that we might get shot down and need to find our way back to friendly lines. We were issued escape maps, printed on silk, a choice of a small c compass that could fit in your ear or one that looked like a pencil clip. I chose that one.
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We also had our picture taken in civilian clothing to be used by the underground for use in making a fake passport. Photo supplies were in short supply by the underground. We all looked like a refugees, but the Germans probably were not fooled by the hair cuts and clothing. The coat was cut up the back and tied for the photo. I wonder how many airmen wore that same coat for their fake passport photo. Happily, I never had to use it.
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RTU: - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - Savannah, New York: - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - Ocean Trip: - 28 - 29