malthaussen
malthaussen's JournalWeird practices of WW2
Reading the War Diary of USS Maury (DD-401) of WW2, and came upon the following entry: "Carter, Fred (n), 618-28-78, AS(V6), USNR, was injured in line of duty..."
For those who don't know, the " (n) " appended to Fred Carter's name was the Navy's way of indicating in official documents that the man was a "Negro." This has always puzzled me.
I mean, why? Why was it necessary to know that the man who (in this case) broke his leg was a "Negro?" Didn't he bleed the same as his mates? I've never understood why some idiot in BuPers thought it was necessary, in the segregated Navy, to mention a fellow's race in all official documents. Nobody was going to read the bloody things anyway, except weird people like me who find such documents endlessly interesting.
I'd just say that, if any evidence were needed that racial prejudice is irrational, this quaint practice does exactly that.
-- Mal
Anybody have any experience with PadSplit or similar?
I'm looking to rent a cheap room in the Jacksonville area while a house is being built, and Pad Split was recommended as a good alternative to find such. I'm a little leery that they require my SSN to register, though. Does anyone know anything about them, or similar organizations for finding rooms to let?
-- Mal
