This Day in WWII 18 October 1939 - 1945

[Donster]

Martha O'Driscoll*

1939: The Russians prepare to hand over 30,000 Polish soldiers and refugees to the Nazis who respond with their own prisoner exchange.

1939: The first Jewish ghetto is established in Lublin.

1940: Britain reopens the Burma road, which had been closed for three months on the condition of progress being made towards peace between Japan and China. This hadn’t happened.

Martha O'Driscoll

1941: German units are now only 80 miles west of Moscow.

1941: Raids began against sub pens on Bay of Biscay, to protect North Africa invasion, but pens survived with 12-foot concrete roofs, defended by Luftwaffe's Me109 and FW190 fighters.

1942: Hitler orders German troops to shoot all captured allied commandos, ‘to the last man’.

1942: An advance party of four Norwegian Special Operations Executive (SOE) Commandos are dropped by parachute to reconnoitre the area around the German ‘heavy water’ (atomic weapons development) plant at Telemark, Norway.

Martha O'Driscoll

1942: The advance by Army Group A toward the Black Sea port of Tuapse is halted due to difficult terrain and stubborn Soviet resistance.

1942: After intensifying their raids during the early part of the October, German and Italian daylight bombing raids over Malta are finally suspended. The drain on aircraft being sent to other fronts has left little alternative.

1942: Vice Admiral William F. Halsey named as the new commander of the South Pacific Area, in charge of the Solomons-New Guinea campaign.

1943: Japanese troops go on a murderous rampage in China, burning to death the populations of several villages and forcing peasants to jump blindfolded off cliffs.

Martha O'Driscoll

1944: The call up for the Volksturm begins in Germany, with all able-bodied men from 16 to 60 to be conscripted. German radio says 50,000 officers have been killed so far in war. Himmler becomes Commander-in-Chief, Forces of Interior.

1944: German forces thrust into Slovakia.

1944: Russian troops cross the Norwegian frontier.

1944: Lt. General Joseph Stilwell is recalled from China by president Franklin Roosevelt.

1944: Fourteen B-29s based on the Marianas attack the Japanese base at Truk.

1945: The first open session of the International Military War Crimes Tribunal indicts 21 top Nazis.

*Martha O'Driscoll was born on March 4th, 1922 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Another gorgeous "B" movie blonde who came and went uneventfully in the 40s, the beautiful Martha O'Driscoll started off modeling as a child. Her parents were nonprofessionals. Trained in singing and dancing, she was discovered by choreographer Hermes Pan in a local theater production in Phoenix, which led to unbilled bits in musical movies from 1935. Once she had her foot in the door, she was groomed in more visible parts and began pitching products for Max Factor and Royal Crown Cola, among many others, in magazine ads, while such endorsements promoted her upcoming pictures in return. She attracted film offers from both Paramount and Universal studios in her twelve Hollywood years, which included musicals, silly slapstick and horror films. She appeared as "Daisy Mae" in the first screen version of Li'l Abner (1940) and proved a sexy foil for Abbott & Costello and Olsen & Johnson in their comedy vehicles. She played the pretty prairie flower to a couple of notable western film stars including Tim Holt, and was terrorized by the Wolfman, Dracula AND the Frankenstein Monster in her most notable feature House of Dracula (1945). In 1943, she married a Lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy but they separated ten months later. Following her last film, Carnegie Hall (1947) and a final divorce decree from her first marriage, she married a second time to Chicago businessman Arthur Appleton, heir to an industrial empire, and retired completely. She was only 25. The marriage produced three sons, James and John of Dallas, and William of Hawaii and one daughter Linda Potter of San Diego. In Chicago, she became one of the city's more civic-minded leaders, an interest which would last for more than four decades. She also served as an executive for many committees, including the Sarah Siddons Society, and on the Board of Directors for a few of her husband's companies. From time to time, she even appeared in nostalgia conventions.

She and her husband, Arthur I. Appleton, started Bridlewood Farm, in Ocala, Florida. Bridlewood quickly became one of the top Thoroughbred Breeders in the nation. Bridlewood is the proud owner and breeder of Florida Horse of the Year and G1 winner FORBIDDEN APPLE. The achievements of his illustrious dam NORTH OF EDEN earned her the title of Florida Broodmare of the Year.

Arthur & Martha Appleton's Bridlewood Farm is the breeder of close to a hundred stakes winners so far, many of them graded, and their Bridlewood homebreds have earned in excess of $50 million. Under the late Mr. Appleton's guidance, Bridlewood Farm was and still remains recognized as one of the leaders of the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry.

Martha and Arthur enjoyed a life-long love of travel and art collection. She and Arthur built and donated the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, Fl, in 1987. Its intention was to preserve their collection for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

Martha O'Driscoll died on November 3, 1998, in Ocala, Florida. She was entombed in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery. She is also survived by her two stepsons, Tom of Los Angeles and Arthur Jr. of San Francisco.

[Madman]

Mmmmmmm...........Martha!!!!!