Glen Echo Park and WW2

So I took a spin over to Glen Echo Park in MD last SAT to see, of all things, a puppet show. Situated next to the Clara Barton House in Glen Echo (near Cabin John), this place has been a destination since the 1890s. In fact, when queried, my father-in-law told me he used to ride the open-air street car in the late 1930/early 1940s out to the park and just chill out at the Crystal Pool (which is long gone: the only thing that’s left is the gate) and escape the heat of DC in the summer.   Many others ventured out by bus.  

More pix of the pool scene here, here, here, here, and here.He even told me about a rickety old roller coaster on the grounds, which I had a hard time envisioning. But a little web sleuthing confirmed this. The National Park Services has a close up of the trolley here.

One of the historical placards around the park (and there are many detailing the history of the park) shows the Spanish Ballroom in the 1940s bursting with locals and sailors, soldiers, and marines. The NPS web site says this about the war period: “During World War ll, with limitations on travel and large numbers of service men and women in the area, Glen Echo Amusement Park had an unprecedented number of visitors, most traveling by trolley from Union Station or Georgetown along the C&O Canal. The park was always ahead of the times, and one of the most popular spots in Washington. The rides and the ballroom attracted thousands - the pool alone held 3000 people.” Nosing around the Library of Congress pages yielded these pix of servicemen hanging out the the park: sailors, and sailor with two girls.

Walking around the park, as it is now, it’s hard to imagine the pool and the roller coaster. The space seems really small. Yet people came during the war years, and as I read, with all the servicemen, it was a destination spot. No doubt in other places, there were dozens of other Glen Echoes that helped fill the time, and as Fussell notes in Wartime, before having to go somewhere else…and wait.

Michael Korda’s Ike

A few months back, I linked to a book review in the Washington Post detailing Michael Korda’s new book, Ike: An American Hero. That post is here. In the December 2007 Smithsonian magazine, Korda writes about Eisenhower in a feature length piece that is most certainly visual, though it offers little in the way of “new” material.

Granted, this is well-worn turf, but I liked the article’s approach with the descriptions of players and circumstance generally. It’s worth a read.

The picture…well, we’ve all seen this one, and I’ll take any excuse I can to highlight those airborne lads.

The Greatest Battle (Audio book give away)

This is not SPAM, but a genuine offer made by the good folks over at the ww2db.com. So here’s the deal:

• go to a ww2-themed forum and drop some knowledge about the DB in a post;
• make a post in your blog about about the DB;
• Send an email to giveaway@ww2db.com with the URL describing what you’ve done.

This will put you in the running to win The Greatest Battle audio book, which is kind of cool if you are an ipod person or a commuter of any sort. All the details avaialble here.

Battlefield 1942

Every once and a while, I dig into a box filled with old computer games and load Battlefield 1942. I own a few WW2-themed FPS type games, but this one went above and beyond, especially on the multiplayer side of things. Now I don’t game much anymore (got to work), but I did enter the Market Garden map, which has this nicely rendered B-17 for any old Joe to fly. So during a game, I stowed away in the ball turret (cause I can’t fly in the game…I always crash after three seconds) and went for a ride. A more schooled player came along after a minute or two and we were off.  It’s surprising, too, after the game world has moved on to “bigger and badder” titles, that BF 1942 still has such a strong online community. I think this says a little about the game play on the MP side. So during the course of this 2 or 3 minute flight, one German plane jumped us thinking (s)he would get an easy kill. Not so as I scored on splash in a river.  At other points, I got to lay down some fire on some low level bomb drops on players out in the open. Wild stuff! Now of course, I know Market Garden and the B-17 follow different historical paths, but since I’ll never actually get to take a spin in one, I couldn’t resist.  Other vehicles in the game are drive-able/fly-able too, including the P-51 and the ME-109. Though I have to admit, my favorite ride in the game is this little gem…

It’s really one of the few ways to get around in the MG map (it’s quick) and not get blown up by the B-17 and P-51 patrolling the skies. And the learning curve is slight. Just get on, accelerate, and hold on.NOTE: for some reason, every time I make an edit to this page, the editor returns all text above the picture to one single, BLOB paragraph.  I’m officially tired of trying to fix the problem, after the tenth time as there is football to watch.

WW II Museums

Peter Chen over at ww2db.com recently visited the West Point Museum and Visitors Center in New York state.  A report of his visit is here.   In recent years, I’ve had the good fortune to visit the National Museum of the Marine Corp and the World War II Memorial in DC.  Both of these reports are hosted at the ww2db as well.  At the NMMC, the life-size displays throughout the museum were a highlight, and in DC at the WW II memorial, the bas-reliefs at the entry point were alone worth the trip.