The Liberator

Division insignia of the 45th Infantry Division

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An email list group I'm a member of was discussing this movie recently and therefore I watched it.  It frankly exceeded my expectations quite a bit.

The Liberator is a feature length animated movie based on the memoirs of Texas born Felix L. Sparks who joined the Army in 1936 during the Great Depression and served for two years as an enlisted man. The film doesn't go into his prewar history, but just to complete that after Sparks was discharged he went to the University of Arizona and then reentered the Army at some point as an officer.

I'm not personally familiar with Sparks' story.  It appears that he was stationed for a time at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma (which is something I share in common with him) and that he may have been an artilleryman at one time who moved over to infantry.  On that I'm not sure, but he did end up a commissioned officer in the 45th Infantry Division, which was a National Guard Division heavily made up of Oklahomans, including a fair number of Native Americans, but also including other National Guard units in its make up that came from the Southwest.  Famous cartoonist Bill Mauldin was in early in World War Two, having joined a New Mexico National Guard unit that was folded into it just as it was being called up, something that was fairly common in World War One and World War Two.  Mauldin started off his cartoon career with the 45th Division News.

At any rate, the film portrays Sparks as being assigned a group of hard luck soldiers in a fashion that's heavily reminiscent of The Dirty Dozen.  It follows them through the war, starting off with combat in Italy (in reality Sparks was taken from Oran Algeria to Sicily in Operation Husky aboard the USS George Carroll, which was the ship that my coworker who had the office next to me for many years was on during the war).  The combat scenes thereafter strongly recall the film The Big Red One, including combat in Italy and later in Germany, featuring the liberation of a concertation camp.  Along the way Sparks is given a double barreled Lupara, a sort of short barreled Sicilian shotgun associated with the Mafia.  In real life, Sparks was apparently nicknamed "The Shotgun".

The film concludes, fwiw, in a fashion that's very reminiscent of Band of Brothers.

I'll be frank that I was prepared to dislike this film, but I liked it. The animation is very realistic, so after a person gets used to it, it's not distracting.  It's pretty clear that real actors were used for the characters movements, and it'd be interesting to know the background reason for that.  I suspect that either COVID 19 prevented filming with actual actors, or budgetary concerns simply made this a cheaper option for a film that didn't have a large budget.  Another factor may simply be that the plot, while based on real events, is somewhat "light" and it tracks pretty closely to plot elements found in other films, which might say a lot for them actually, as it would tend to show that those details were generally fairly accurate.

All in all, it works.

In terms of historical accuracy, while I've noted several other films that this film seems to lean on, it seems that it tracks pretty closely to Sparks actual history during the war, but with clear exaggerations, particularly as to the origin of his initial company.  While I haven't looked into it, the "hard luck" nature of the initial infantry company is a little too close to The Dirty Dozen to really be fully believable, but perhaps I should read the memoir and see if Sparks recalled in that fashion himself.  Sparks did command troops in the noted unit during the war, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the war's end.  Locations seem to be based on actual ones as well.

In terms of material detail, this film is remarkable for an animation.  By and large most of the material details are correct, showing that somebody had done a fair amount of research in order to get such details right even though the number of people who would pick up on them is slight.  There are a few errors, but they are not numerous.

FWIW, in real life Sparks left the Army after the Second World War and went on to law school, graduating from the University of Colorado's law school in 1947.  He stayed in Colorado thereafter and ended up being a Colorado Supreme Court Justice.  He retired from military service with the Colorado Army National Guard at the rank of Brigadier General.  

The film is well worth watching.

Strife

Denver put a curfew in place and the Colorado National Guard has been called out to address riots in the Centennial State's capitol city.

National Guardsmen of the 40th Armored Division, California National Guard, August, 1965.

The riots stem from several recent incidents of violent deaths of African Americans, the most recent at the hands of a policeman in Minneapolis Minnesota.

Those riots have spread all across the urban United States.  It's hard, from a distance, to grasp why hundreds of miles away from the scene of the offense riots take place against a community that didn't participate in the offense.  It points to something underlying, and the pundits will be full of analysis over it over the next several weeks.

But on the topic in general, distant riots aren't calculated to achieve anything and end up punishing the communities that were affiliated by them.  Businesses move, employment drops, and those who were deprived to start with are more deprived.  It's a compounding tragedy.

And its one that, in this context, we should be well past.  And yet we're not.

1st Battalion, 148th Field Artillery, mustered out of service and discharged at Ft. D. A. Russell.

Wyoming and Colorado National Guardsmen of the 1st Battalion, 148th Field Artillery, those being the Wyoming and Colorado Guardsmen assigned to the 148th, were mustered out of service and discharged on this date in 1919.  The were civilians once again.

The Wyoming Tribune for March 31, 1917: Colorado Guardsmen entrain for home.

The Cheyenne State Leader for March 27, 1917: Wyoming National Guard Called Back into Service

After just a couple of weeks of civilian life, the Guard was called back into service.  A Colorado unit that had never demobilized was being retained at Ft. D. A. Russell.

Things were back on.

The Wyoming Tribune for March 26, 1917: Guardsmen Return To Service

Guardsmen nationwide was the headline in the Wyoming Tribune, as opposed to the State's troops as discussed in the Laramie Boomerang. 

Cheyenne's paper was noting that Colorado cavalry, just arrived at Ft. D. A. Russell fresh from border service, was now set not to muster out at all.  Late in the process of mustering out, it didn't look like they were going to.

The Wyoming Tribune for March 20, 1917. Colorado Cavalry at Ft. Russell. Lack of coat lethal?

Wyoming was contemplating adding cavalry to its National Guard, but Colorado had it. 

Colorado cavalrymen were disembarking at Ft. D. A. Russell.  They were demobilizing late in comparison to the Wyoming National Guard.

And one Wyoming National Guardsmen wouldn't be called back up for World War One.  He'd died of pneumonia. 

Pvt. Charles Schmidt of Company B, Lander Wyoming, had become ill after having to turn in his overcoat at Ft. D. A. Russell.  Apparently a lot of men were sick, and that likely explains the delay we recently read about in discharging from active service the men from Laramie, who made up the medical company.

March in Wyoming is cold and these papers have had stories of a cold spell being in the works in this time frame.  It seems a lot of men were sick and frankly viruses going through troops is a pretty common thing in military units.  Overcoats were an item of equipment, not a uniform item, which may sound odd to readers who have no military experience, but that's exactly how field jackets were viewed when my father served in the Air Force during the Korean War and how they were viewed when I was in the National Guard in the 1980s.  The National Guard had denied that it was taking the coats from the men when the story broke, but obviously there was some truth to the story for some units.

Would an overcoat have kept Pvt. Schmidt alive?  It sure couldn't have hurt.

The Cheyenne Leader for March 6, 1917: Deming's approval of Wyoming's troops

Wyomingites were cheered that Deming New Mexico appreciated the qualities of their National Guardsmen.

Meanwhile, a big party had occurred for the returned Colorado and  Wyoming Guardsmen in  Cheyenne.

And the Leader claimed that Americans were solidly behind Wilson's policy of "armed neutrality".

The Cheyenne State Leader for March 3, 1917 Troops arriving home

The Leader was also reporting on the Wyoming Guardsmen arriving home, and that the Colorado Guardsmen were enjoying Ft. D. A. Russell.

Villa was back in the news, reportedly getting ready to nab Carranza.

The Cheyenne Leader for March 2, 1917: National Guardsmen having a good time at Ft. D. A. Russell.

After the early spat about it, Colorado Guardsmen, we learned were having a good time at Ft. D. A. Russell.  Wyoming Guardsmen were about to arrive there.

Keep in mind that Wyoming Guardsmen were not allowed to muster there when they were called into service, oddly enough.  The post is just outside of Cheyenne.  But they were being allowed to demuster there.

And, in other news, things were looking pretty grim following the release of the Zimmerman Note, which makes a person wonder why the Federal Government was demustering troops that logic dicated they'd be calling back into service shortly.

The Cheyenne Leader for March 1, 1917: German-Jap-Mex Plot?

On March 1, 1917 the news all over the country was on the release of the Zimmerman Note and what it meant.  But, oddly, there was apparently a feeling that the Japanese were tied up in it, which wasn't the case.

And the Colorado National Guard arrived at Ft. D. A. Russell for demobilization.

The Cheyenne State Leader for February 22, 1917: Denver Guard Protest "Silly"

People were getting embarrassed about the snit over the location for the demobilization of the Colorado National Guard.

And the importation of booze from "wet" states to "dry" ones was getting Federal attention.

Pershing's rise continued, in the wake of the death of Gen. Funston.  And a terrible crime happened in Cheyenne.

The Cheyenne State Leader for February 20, 1917: The news about Gen. Funston hits the headlines and Colorado protests a Wyoming demobilization.

The news of Gen. Funston's death hit the front page of the paper the day after.

And Colorado was upset about Colorado National Guardsmen being sent to Ft. D. A. Russell for demobilization, rather than a location in their home state.

Dogs were barred entry into the state by Governor Kendrick due to concerns over rabies.

The Wyoming Tribune for October 31, 1916: Wyoming Guard returning?

On the last day of October, the Wyoming Tribune was reporting rumors that the Wyoming and Colorado National Guard would be returning to Wyoming to muster out.

A big Russian offensive in the war was big news, and the Tribune was campaigning for the Republican candidates.

Douglas Enterprise for October 10, 1916. A letter from a Guardsman

The Wyoming National Guard, what was it doing and where was it going?

I posted this item two years ago on the Mid Week at Work Thread.  It occurs to me that it may very well be appropriate for the Wyoming National Guard was going through in Cheyenne these few days, a century ago:

Mid-Week at Work: U.S. Troops in Mexico.

All around the water tank, waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home, sleeping in the rain
I walked up to a brakeman just to give him a line of talk
He said "If you got money, boy, I'll see that you don't walk
I haven't got a nickel, not a penny can I show
"Get off, get off, you railroad bum" and slammed the boxcar door

He put me off in Texas, a state I dearly love
The wide open spaces all around me, the moon and the stars up above
Nobody seems to want me, or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco, going back to Dixieland
My pocket book is empty and my heart is full of pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home just waiting for a train.

Jimmy Rodgers, "Waiting for a Train".

As can be seen from my entry yesterday, there's some indication the Guard entrained on September 26, 1916.  And I've reported that elsewhere, years ago.  And maybe some did leave on September 26, but I now doubt it.

Rather, in looking at it more fully, the typical Army hurry up and wait seems to have been at work.  The Guard was supposed to entrain on September 26, but the cars didn't show up or didn't in adequate numbers.  It appears, also, that the Colorado National Guard was entraining at the same time, and that may have played a role in this.  Be that as it may, I now think the September 26 date that I have used, and others do use, in in error.

What seems to have happened is that most of the Guardsmen entrained on the night of September 27, late.

But where were they going? 

That will play out here as well, but original reports in these papers said they were going to San Antonio. Then it was reported that nobody knew where they were going.

Well, they went to Deming New Mexico, which isn't far from where this all started off, in Columbus.

Rodgers didn't record Waiting For A Train until 1928, and he wasn't recording in 1916.  Too bad, this would have been a popular song with those troops.