Wikipedia

Special Services (entertainment)

For other uses, seeSpecial service (disambiguation).

Special Serviceswas the entertainment branch of the American military. The unit was created on 22 July 1940 by theWar Departmentas part of theArmy Service Forces.[1]Special Services not only used its own specially trained and talented troops but also would often engage local performers.[2]Among its activities were staging plays and stage acts, holding concerts, filming documentaries, and providing recreational opportunities for servicemen.

Special Services were one of the fewU.S. Armyunits to be racially integrated duringWorld War II.Special Services opened their first Recreational Officer school atFort MeadeMaryland on 1 April 1942.[3]

Within theUnited States Marine Corps,the Special Services Division was the forerunner of today's Special Services Branch. It was formed on 1 March 1943, to provide morale maintaining recreational and informational services to Marine Corps personnel.[4][5]As of at least 2004, the Special Services Branch was still active within the USMC.[6]

Roles

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Roles within the Special Services (defined asMilitary Occupational Specialties) included that of Entertainment Specialist (03B), Physical Activities Specialist (03C), Crafts Specialist (03D), and Recreation Service Senior Sergeant (03Z).

Special Service members

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Some personalities who served in the Special Services include actorsBurt Lancaster,Leonard Nimoy,Mickey Rooney,andSammy Davis Jr.;film directorAnatole Litvak,bandleaderGlenn Miller,tenorMario Lanza,folk singerPeter Seeger,and baseball sluggerHank Greenberg.

Expanded (partial) list

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Notes

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  1. ^P. 415 Emerson, William K.Encyclopedia of United States Army Insignia and Uniforms1996 University of Oklahoma Press
  2. ^p.57 Monod, DavidSettling scores: German Music, Denazification, & the Americans, 1945–1953UNC Press 2005
  3. ^"Home"(PDF).
  4. ^Page 82,Leatherneck- Volume 44, Issue 3
  5. ^"Shadow box".army.togetherweserved.Retrieved1 April2020.
  6. ^"United States Marine Corps (USMC): Officer Job Descriptions MOS 9913: Special Services Officer, who 'supervises and coordinates special services activities involved with command morale, welfare, and recreation programs,' among other duties".Archived fromthe originalon 21 September 2004.Retrieved14 April2020.
  7. ^Dabney ColemanatIMDb
  8. ^McLellan, Dennis (11 May 2004)."Phil Gersh, 92; Agent With Old Hollywood Instincts, Art Patron".Los Angeles Times.Retrieved18 January2017.
  9. ^Writer Carl Gottlieb on serving in the Army - TelevisionAcademy /InterviewsTelevision AcademyviaYouTube.Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  10. ^Whatever Happened To Richard Kline aka Larry From ‘Three’s Company’? (2022 Update)nedhardy. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  11. ^Kovner, Guy (26 March 2013)."Robert Nichols".The Press Democrat.Archived fromthe originalon 31 March 2013.Retrieved9 April2013.
  12. ^"Seeger, Pete, Cpl".Retrieved14 April2020.
  13. ^Koseluk, Chris (6 October 2019)."Rip Taylor, Flamboyant Comic and Host of 'The $1.98 Beauty Show,' Dies at 88".The Hollywood Reporter.Retrieved16 January2020.

Further reading

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  • Baird, Nancy Disher. "'To Lend You My Eyes...': The World War II Letters of Special Services Officer Harry Jackson."Register of the Kentucky Historical Society88.3 (1990): 287–317, a primary sourceonline
  • Cooke, James J.Chewing Gum, Candy Bars, and Beer: The Army PX in World War II(2009).[ISBN missing]
  • Cooke, James J.American Girls, Beer, and Glenn Miller: GI Morale in World War II(U of Missouri Press, 2012).[ISBN missing]
  • Kane, Liam. "Paving the Way to a 'Good Understanding': Recreation and Australian-American Army Cooperation in the South West Pacific Area, 1941–1945."Australasian Journal of American Studies37.2 (2018) pp 27–52.
  • Rorke, Margaret Ann. "Music and the wounded of World War II."Journal of Music Therapy33.3 (1996): 189–207.
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