Sustaining the Wings

by: Lisa Philbrick

References

Many, many, many online references were used. Most of these sites contain the various "tidbits" of information that I gathered together for this project.

Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller -- 20th Century History (Glenn Miller bio)

The Stars Wore Stripes (Gives some interesting insight on Miller's training at Fort George G. Meade as part of the Specialist Corps....and Miller's opinion of it all. LOL.)

USAF People -- USAF Museum (Some more on Miller with pics during the war)

Glenn Miller History (Another bio as provided by the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society)

Glenn Miller: The Lost Recordings (This 2-CD set has close to 40 selections from the six ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) broadcasts that Miller's AEF band took part in in October/November of 1944. This site basically reproduces the CD liner notes that cover a brief history of the ABSIE and of Miller's involvement.)

PBS - JAZZ a film by Ken Burns: Selected Artist Biography - Glenn Miller (Basic bio on Glenn but has a nice audio file about the roots of the song "In the Mood")

Glenn Miller (Star of the Month (and apparently has been for several. LOL) on the Harry Warren website. Harry Warren (with Mack Gordon) wrote many of the Miller hits including "Chattanooga Choo Choo" "I've Got a Gal In Kalamazoo" "At Last" and "Serenade in Blue". Nice bio on Glenn with a few photos from the two movies.)

Tribute to Glenn Miller (Another nice bio with photos and pics from the Jimmy Stewart movie "The Glenn Miller Story." Also has some pics from the Glenn Miller AAF Band display at the The United States Air Force Museum located on Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, OH.)

Swing music as Nazi propaganda

Propaganda Swing: Dr. Goebbels Jazz Orchestra (This came as a complete and total surprise. I figured my little plot line of the Nazi's using Miller and swing music for propaganda against the Germans was ludicrious and I was about to totally change the idea until I found this site. Guess what? The Nazi's really did use swing music as propaganda! Both against the Allies and the German people. The surprise comes from the fact that the Nazi's considered swing music to be "degenerate" and "the art of the subhuman." It was banned in Germany and in all occupied territories. So why the hell then would Goebbels use swing music in propaganda? Well...because he knew there was an audience out there. Of course, the lyrcis to various songs were changed to reflect that of the Nazi point of view (blatantly offensive, I might add). Goebbels brain child swing orchestra was known as "Charlie and His Orchestra.")

PBS - JAZZ a film by Ken Burns: Jazz in Time - World War II (Basic overview of Jazz and Swing during WWII but also includes a section on Jazz/Swing music in Occupied Europe and Goebbels' use of Swing as propaganda, including an example of Nazi-fied lyrics to a Jazz song, which is both offensive and ridiculous at the same time)

Swinging for Goebbels ( "Charlie and his Orchestra")

War Songs - A Discography of Patriotic and Pacifist Propaganda (a little blurb on "Charlie and his Orchestra")

Swing music as resistance

Swinging in America and Germany: Lifting up the Spirit (How swing music was part of the resistance to Nazi Germany) *dead link June 2007*

The Swing Movement in Nazi Germany

The Real Swing Kids (a brief overview of what Swing Youths indured in Nazi Germany...and how Swing music survived the war)

Hitler Youth

The Hitler Youth (brief overview of the Hitler Youth)

The Hitler Youth & Volkssturm Reenactor Page (another brief overview of the Hitler Youth) *dead link June 2007*

The History Place -- Hitler Youth (A five part history on the Hitler Youth, from it's beginning to the Nazi's use of the Hitler Youth in military units in the last desperate days of WWII)

Hitler Youth Links (provides several other links to personal stories, histories, the 12th SS Panzer Hitler Youth division and other military exploits of the Hitler Youth, photos, ceremonies, ect.)