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Ganderite said:
This is new history to me. I thought internment would have been in hotel-like conditions.
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With over 100'000 internee's in a country of about 4,5 millions, I don't think so.

Mostly they were treated really well and most of them spoke well of their time in Switzerland.

I feel sorry for those who were mistreated at those prison camps, especially because nothing was done about it.
 
American - er, Swiss - B17G, Serial 42-32073:

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Her history:

Delivered Cheyenne 23/1/44;
Billings 27/1/44;
Gr Island 21/2/44;
Presque Is 12/3/44;
Assigned 339BS/96BG [QJ-D] Snetterton 13/2/44;
Missing in Action Augsburg 13/4/44 with Bill Potter, Co-pilot: Don Malloy, Navigator: Loren Merrick, Bombardier: Jim Claire, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Dorris Cox{?KIA}, Radio Operator: Chester Lyskana, Ball turret gunner: Henry Gusmann, Waist gunner: Jessie Costa, Waist gunner: Clinton Rensau,Tail gunner: Beng Hallberg (10INT);
enemy aircraft KOd #3, force landed Dubendorf, Switz. Missing Air Crew Report 3767.
(Repaired and used by Swiss AF);
Returned to the USA 1377 BU Grenier 9/10/45;
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Walnut Ridge 7/1/46.

The Swiss gave her back in October, 1945. By January 1946 she was shredded, melted, and recycled. Makes you wonder why they even feckin' bothered.
 
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An Ethiopian soldier off to fight the Italians, 1935:

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Haile Selassie reviews the troops.

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So the locals had to feed 11 Mauser and 8mm Lebel into the logistical chain. Probably some 8mm Mauser as well in there someplace. Poor buggers. Must have driven the supply guys crazy. But at least they had armour...

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That's very cool - I had no idea.

This from Wikipedia:

The Kagnews served with great distinction, principally alongside the 7th Infantry Division, and by all accounts (including the enemy's) acquitted themselves well in battle, suffering 121 dead and 536 wounded during the course of the conflict.[3] At the conclusion of the war the Ethiopians were the only contingent that had no prisoners to collect from the North Koreans since no Kagnew soldier ever surrendered. They had the additional distinctions of having never been bested in battle during the war. The Kagnew Battalion engaged in combat 238 times and won every encounter, as both aggressors and defenders. Another distinction was that they never left their dead behind, and it was noticed that there never seemed to be dead bodies of Kagnew soldiers on the battlefield. This earned them the respect of their American colleagues, while fostering the belief among their opponents, who had often never even seen black people before, that they were superhuman. One of the feats S.L.A. Marshall thought worth noting was an Ethiopian patrol at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill in 1953 when "...under full observation from enemy country, eight Ethiopians walked 800 yards across no-man's land and up the slope of T-Bone Hill right into the enemy trenches. When next we looked, the eight had become ten. The patrol was dragging back two Chinese prisoners, having snatched them from the embrace of the Communist battalion..."
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Pretty feckin' hardcore, that is.
 
They were damned tough soldiers - even when they lost to the Italians in '36 (principally from a lack of modern weapons with which to resist the invasion).

They remind me of the Gurkhas - just less well known.
 
I work with some Ethiopians and even they are surprised when I mentioned about their fathers /grandfathers involvement in Korea.Things get forgotten over time :(
 
Hard fellows from a hard part of the world, and the oldest Christian culture extant. I hold Ethiopians in high regard generally. This adds to that.

What about Mexico? Apparently, they stayed largely neutral until May of '42 when Germany started sinking Mexican shipping. The only unit to see action was the 201st Air Fighter Squadron, the "Aztek Eagles". They got into to in March of '45 in the Pacific. Late, sure, but they showed up. :)

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Unit markings were the US national insignia plus a tricolour tail flash:

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Dark Alley Dan said:
Hard fellows from a hard part of the world, and the oldest Christian culture extant. I hold Ethiopians in high regard generally. This adds to that.

What about Mexico? Apparently, they stayed largely neutral until May of '42 when Germant started sinking Mexican shipping. The only unit to see action was the 201st Air Fighter Squadron, the "##### Eagles". They got into t in March of '45 in the Pacific. Late, sure, but they showed up. :)

Unit markings were the US national insignia plus a tricolour tail flash:
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The Armenians were the first Christian nation and have the oldest national Christian church in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Apostolic_Church The "Image of Edessa" BTW was probably what is now called the Shroud of Turin. Those who want to know can read Ian Wilson's books on the subject.

There were some earlier churches in what is now Israel and Syria of course. Before Syria blew apart with a little help from her friends, there were five villages where the language of Christ: Galilean Aramaic was still spoken. That by the way, was the language of the Hebrews at that time.
 
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Dark Alley Dan said:
That's very cool - I had no idea.

This from Wikipedia:



Pretty feckin' hardcore, that is.
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I had to laugh, "acquitted themselves well in battle, suffering 121 dead and 536 wounded" reminded me of a statement attributed to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson after he was informed of a subordinates death in a battle, "very commendable very commendable" .
 
In Korea the Ethiopians had a reputation for being able to deploy and recover night ambushes without any of their troops getting lost. Americans usually had at least one member of the ambush team get lost and separated in the dark, sometimes several. A liaison officer went too see how they did it. When the patrol went out to deploy the ambush they all held hands, dropping off each man in his position. When the ambush was over they linked up again for the trip back.

My farrier is a retired Navy cryptology operator. He said when he was in the Horn of Africa the Ethiopians would speak Morse code over the radio. He said they were almost too fast for him to take it down.
 
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