The 5th Signal Center Team - 1944 CSI # 43
My entry for CSI # 43.
The colors, all 5, are taken from this week's requirements: black, white, pale green, sunny yellow, and medium green with a touch of olive.
My evidence includes:
- frame - the large old fashioned "typewriter" print framing the whole layout
- three transparencies framing the photograph
- something transparent - used 3 transparencies
- transparent soft gel medium
- rub ons - used 8 rub ons
My testimony:
- I used an old photograph and tied the past to the present with my journaling
- I documented a special event
My journaling:
"The group in the photograph was the 5th Signal Center Team. The photo was taken in May 1944, in Oran, Algeria, where the team was bivouacked prior to deployment to France as part of the Allied invasion of Europe from the south, in WW2.
This team was assembled and trained as a group at Camp Crowder, Missouri. All of the men were fluent in French, a necessity, as their job would be liaison between the Free French Army and the US 7th Army. They were skilled in the use of C-E equipment, enciphering and diciphering machines, radio teletype, teletype, and other communication equipment.
So here we see the team gathered together in the hot Algerian desert. That is my Dad, standing 3rd from the left, smiling broadly, looking youthful!! They were all in a strange place, a harsh climate and a foreign culture - but they all have the carefree and upbeat look of young men about to embark on an adventure!! They would later be tested in the European theatre, and their past sacrifices ensured my future well being. But for now, this is their Algerian adventure!
Dad would occasionally relate his Algerian experience, in a very simple manner and with little embellishment, and only when pressed!!! He recalled the huge tent camp as being HOT and dusty. The men wore fatigues and continued to drill despite the heat. They would get passes to go into the city, which he recalled was dirty, with flies everywhere, and many beggars. As a child of the depression era he was used to deprivation, but the city was a major shock for him. The team also had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of the French Foreign Legion.
As a child, I was always amazed and fascinated that my Father refused to eat dates! When questioned, his reply was always - "that's all I saw when I was in Algeria, dates in the marketplace covered with hundreds of flies, wouldn't eat a date if you paid me a million bucks!" To which I would express suitable repugnance and sympathy, but continue eating my date/nut bar!!"
My testimony, because it is going into my Dad's war book, is written on the page opposite the layout.
Creating a feeling of "heat" was an important element in making the background paper for this page. I used a semi-gloss gel medium with two different masks, then misted over this with layers of glimmer mists in various shades of yellow and pale green, to try to capture the shimmery effect of heat waves and mirages in the desert and the hot Algerian sun.
