World War 2 Trivia Continued

In my current writing project, the first nonfiction book I’ve written, I’ve been learning about World War 2. This was my parents generation, and I had heard interesting stories before but not to the extent as I have from the veteran I’m interviewing who was also a prisoner of war and liberated by the Russians. Here are a few pieces of trivia I’ll share.

There are numerous definitions of the acronym GI including “Government Issue,” “General Infantry,” or “Galvanized Iron,” since it at one time referred to equipment made from galvanized iron.

To provide logistics support for the Allied army, the Red Ball Express became a twenty-four hours a day supply line of trucks. The system operated from August 25 to November 16, 1944, when the port facility at Antwerp, Belgium, reopened. The name comes from the red balls that marked the routes for these trucks (and not civilian vehicles) and the red balls on the trucks themselves.