Poltrack Blog

I attended elementary school in the 1950s. We would see a fair number of 16mm educational films, which probably can be found on YouTube. However it was a lot more common to see filmstrips. These were spools of 35mm film projected a frame at a time. In some cases they were shown with record which would beep when the teacher was suppose to advance the film. Somewhere in my pickings I found a filmstrip. Coronet presents  HOMECOMING in full black & white. Coronet Presents Visit my website poltrack.net

Hazel Balch Moore compiled an album of New Ipswich  WWII veterans for the New Ipswich Historical Society. It may be viewed as a slide show below. If you have information about the men and women in this album I encourage you to enter comments to the Flickr Album (click on any photo to view in full screen)

We celebrate Memorial Day the Sunday before the official holiday. As in years past there is a morning ceremony at the Smithville Cemetery followed in the afternoon with a much larger parade. Here are some photos of the both events. Starting with Coffee and Nisu at Peter and BJ Aho's home. In attendance WWII veterans Eddy Aho and Peter Grippardi Then to Smithville Cemetery. Decorating the Souhegan river and 21 gun salute Mascenic Band member Ariana Holmes and two girls decorate the waters of the Souhegan to honor those lost at sea World War II veterans, Eddie Aho, Peter Grippardi and Francis Dorn

On April 16th, 1944 over three hundred bombers and fighters of the 5th Air Army took off on a mission to bomb and strafe the Japanese airfields located at  Hollandia , Dutch New Guinea. The mission was successful and no aircraft was lost to enemy action, however their safe return was blocked by a massive weather front. 37 aircraft were destroyed or went missing because of the bad weather.This event known as  Black Sunday  and marked the biggest operational loss due to weather in WWII. My uncle piloted a  B-25  on this mission. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Ed Poltrack's Squadron The experience of crews who did find an airfield was no better. Alfred B. Colwell,Jr., was the Navigator/Bombardier on a B-25 in the 38th Bomb Group based at Nadzab, New Guinea April 16 Mission #48 – Hollandia. … The whole area was full of planes-B-24s, B-25s, A-20s and P-38s. We got down to 50 feet above the coast and followed it towards Sa...