{"id":1451,"date":"2010-01-27T10:37:10","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T15:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2010-01-27T13:13:30","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T18:13:30","slug":"gis-particpate-in-soldier-shows-while-waiting-to-ship-out-for-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=1451","title":{"rendered":"GIs Particpate in Soldier Shows while Waiting to Ship Out for Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this fall an inquiry came to SC&A about the John C. Becher<\/a> Soldier Show Collection (see Veronica Fisher\u2019s post from Tuesday, October 20, 2009<\/a>). Further correspondence revealed that the researcher had actually taken part in the World War II soldier show \u201cFall Out for Fun.\u201d Excited by the prospect of learning more about the WWII Soldier Shows, we jumped on the opportunity to interview Joseph C. Siedlecki about his experience.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Soldiers in from of a USO Hostel in Kassel, Germany, 1945<\/p><\/div>\n

Joseph C. Siedlecki joined the army at the age of 19, and was stationed throughout Europe during WWII. After the war ended, there were serious problems with transporting the soldiers back to the United States. Many soldiers, including Sieldecki, were forced to wait months before returning to the U.S. The soldiers were forced to find ways to bide their time, and the soldier shows were one such activity that helped to keep them entertained. Siedlecki saw an ad calling for musicians to participate in a USO solider show based in Heidelberg, Germany and took advantage of the opportunity to use his abilities to play both the clarinet and saxophone in the show.<\/p>\n

The link below is an excerpt from my phone interview with Mr. Siedlecki explaining how he became involved with the soldier show, \u201cFall Out for Fun\u201d:<\/p>\n

Siedlecki_Excerpt_mp3<\/a><\/p>\n

Siedlecki performed with \u201cFall Out for Fun\u201d for about six months, touring Germany to entertain other soldiers waiting to go home. Finally in the spring 1946, he was given the “ok” to return to the States. Once home he attended college on the GI Bill and worked as an electrical engineer until retirement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Soldiers performing in a soldier show in Berlin, Germany, 1946<\/p><\/div>\n

The full interview with Joseph C. Siedlecki is available for listening at Special Collections & Archives. \u00a0Contact the Oral History Program at ohp@gmu.edu<\/a> for more information about oral history resources.<\/p>\n

To return to Vault 217 please click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this fall an inquiry came to SC&A about the John C. Becher Soldier Show Collection (see Veronica Fisher\u2019s post from Tuesday, October 20, 2009). Further correspondence revealed that the researcher had actually taken part in the World War II soldier show \u201cFall Out for Fun.\u201d Excited by the prospect of learning more about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,5],"tags":[160,159,122,104,107,75,161,158],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oral-history","category-scrc-interest","tag-160","tag-european-theater","tag-germany","tag-oral-history","tag-soldier-shows","tag-theater","tag-us-army","tag-wwii"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-np","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":976,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=976","url_meta":{"origin":1451,"position":0},"title":"Comic Relief","author":"admin","date":"October 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A researcher inquiry recently led me to review the John C. Becher Soldier Show Collection and get a few laughs in the process.\u00c2\u00a0 The collection illustrates the various ways the U.S. military used comedy to maintain high morale during World War II.\u00c2\u00a0 Spanning the years 1940-1953, the collection includes poems,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "SCRC interest"","block_context":{"text":"SCRC interest","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"Soldier Shows","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Beacher-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7809,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7809","url_meta":{"origin":1451,"position":1},"title":"The Jerome Epstein Papers – Part One","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"August 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The post was written by Ben Brands, the 2018 L. Claire Kincannon Intern at the George Mason University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. He holds a B.A. in History from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. in History at George Mason University, and is currently a PhD\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Internships"","block_context":{"text":"Internships","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=516"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/JEps-and-Family.jpg?fit=705%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/JEps-and-Family.jpg?fit=705%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/JEps-and-Family.jpg?fit=705%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/JEps-and-Family.jpg?fit=705%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":775,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=775","url_meta":{"origin":1451,"position":2},"title":"What am I?","author":"Bob Vay","date":"September 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This unidentified object, part of the Alexander Haight Family Collection, was found alongside a broken handcuff and chisel in western Fairfax County, Virginia. Speculation is that a fugitive, possibly a slave, possibly a captured soldier, hid in the woods and used the chisel to break through the handcuff, leaving this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"miscellaneous","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=93"},"img":{"alt_text":"Can you identify this image?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/IMG_1125_12.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7564,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7564","url_meta":{"origin":1451,"position":3},"title":"V-E Day – The Jerome Epstein Collection","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"May 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by Ben Brands, L. Claire Kincannon Graduate Intern. Ben has a Bachelors of History from the College of William and Mary, a Masters of History from George Mason University, and is currently a PhD candidate in History at George Mason University. As the inaugural L. Claire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital Collections"","block_context":{"text":"Digital Collections","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=557"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5351,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=5351","url_meta":{"origin":1451,"position":4},"title":"Oral History Interview with Mr. Robert Flanagan","author":"admin","date":"October 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The George Mason University Oral History Program staff conducted an interview with Mason alumnus, Robert Flanagan (BIS, 1979 and MFA, 1983) on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015. The interview took place in Mason's Gateway Library at the One-Button Studio in the Johnson Center. The interview focused mainly on his experiences as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GMU Fairfax Campus"","block_context":{"text":"GMU Fairfax Campus","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=272"},"img":{"alt_text":"flanagan blog post","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/flanagan-blog-post-240x167.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7783,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7783","url_meta":{"origin":1451,"position":5},"title":"Adventures in Processing – The Randolph H. Lytton Collection","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"July 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by Bill Keeler, Processing Student Assistant. Bill is studying History with a focus in American History at George Mason University. Hello! During my last blog post I highlighted the Randolph H. Lytton Historical Virginia collection, including items that exhibited different emotions a soldier felt during the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fairfax History"","block_context":{"text":"Fairfax History","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=194"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/lytton3.jpg?fit=858%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/lytton3.jpg?fit=858%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/lytton3.jpg?fit=858%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/lytton3.jpg?fit=858%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1451"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1498,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions\/1498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}