Today starts the 3-day holiday weekend in the U. S. where we celebrate Memorial Day, honoring all the military dead who are responsible for keeping the freedom and independence that our country enjoys.  Thousands of communities will be hosting parades, most of them on Monday, as a way of showing their gratitude.  And whenever there is a parade, there will be fire engines both current and antique in the line of march.  If any of you participate or watch the parade in your town, send us a pic of your firetruck in the parade so we can share it.

Two other events that are anchored in the Memorial Day weekends are the usual opening of swimming pools and a celebratory visit to the ocean beaches and recreational lakes around the country.  And of course, the staging of the major automobile race, the Indianapolis 5oo that is also billed as the Memorial Day Classic.

Edward Uhl

This is a good time for me to pass along a news item from earlier this week about the passing of a man who was instrumental in the Allied success in World War II.  The announcement was made just recently that Edward Uhl died on May 9 at age 92.  He was one of those thousands of individuals whose contributions to the war effort had profound results.  Then-Lieut. Uhl and a colleague were the men who invented the weapon that is most recognized by its nickname, the bazooka.

An obituary story in the Washington Post relates:

He joined the Army in 1941 shortly after graduating with honors from Lehigh University, where he majored in engineering physics. He was assigned to the ordnance corps and began serving in a special weapons unit with Leslie Skinner, who would retire from the Army as a colonel.

In 1942, the pair received orders to design an antitank weapon that could penetrate four-inch steel plating used on German tanks. At a small shop in Indian Head, Md., they went to work on developing the bazooka, officially known as the M1 rocket launcher.

Physicist Robert Goddard is often credited with designing the prototype for the tube rocket launcher, but his innovation was poorly timed. He presented his device to military officials in Washington in November 1918, the month World War I ended.

Inspired by Goddard’s earlier work, Skinner and Mr. Uhl planned to design an inexpensive and mobile launching system. They created projectiles by attaching grenades to miniature rockets that flew at 300 feet per second.  But when it came to a viable launching method, they were stumped.  The weapon needed to be lightweight, accurate and, above all, safe. Mr. Uhl and Skinner were struggling to find a way for a soldier to fire the launcher without being burned by the thrust of hot gas created when the rocket’s propellant was ignited.

One day, Mr. Uhl was stumbling through an old junkyard when he saw a metal tube about five feet long and had a brainstorm.  Mr. Uhl remembered saying: “That’s the answer! Put the tube on a soldier’s shoulder with the rocket inside and away it goes.”  He and Skinner added a shoulder stock and a hand grip. Mr. Uhl tested the weapon first by firing a round into the Potomac River while wearing a welder’s helmet and mitts.

An Army official requested a live demonstration at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, where Mr. Uhl and Skinner would fire at a tank 125 yards away, moving at 20 mph.  After six other antitank systems had a try — all missing the tank or failing to fire — it was Mr. Uhl’s turn. It was a perfect shot.  “I hit the damned tank dead center,” Mr. Uhl said.

U. S. Army Signal Corps photo

After he left the Army in 1947 as a Lt. Colonel, he went on to work for the Glenn Martin company designing guided missles, then in 1961 he went to work at Fairchild Industries, eventually becoming Chairman of the defense contractor.

When you get the chance, read the entire story in the Washington Post HERE.
The Wall Street Journal has MORE.

Ok, let’s get the equipment checked out now before it gets late.  I’m going to get the coffee started.  See ya’ back in the day room.