I wasn’t expecting there to be more nodes and links in this silly diagram. In the previous version, I didn’t find much about this Lt. Nicholas Biddle apart from that he was from the fabulously rich “Biddle Clan” and his father was Anthony Drexel Biddle. But now there’s more about him:
Nicholas Biddle’s draft card:
Nicholas Biddle was living at 1009 5th Ave, New York and he was a Harvard student.
Ah? 1009 5th Ave New York sounds close to where Lewis Nixon lived before 1930s.
Yep, these two families were neighbors:
The Biddles lived much more extravagantly than the Nixons. The 1009 5th Ave was a palace-like mansion. Nicholas Biddle’s parents divorced when he was 9 and the 1940 census showed that 18 yr old Nicholas Biddle lived alone at this mansion with 6 servants.
Nicholas Biddle was at Harvard University in the same year (The Class of 1944) with David Kenyon Webster and his major was also English, which means he and Webster were classmate. Nicholas Biddle and David Kenyon Webster were in the same yearbook, on Page 214 an 278, respectively.
I think now it’s safe to assume Nicholas Biddle, Lewis Nixon and David Webster all knew each other. One more question, was Nicholas Biddle serving in the same outfit with them?
Nicholas Biddle married in 1947. In his wedding announcement it said he was also a paratrooper (in 82nd airborne division) and served in Europe, and he made from private to captain throught the war:
However, he was definitely still stationed at camp mackall (and throwing parties every now and then) up until Jan 1944!
He was a lieutenant in 1944 and a captain after the war, so he must be shipped out to the front line and did some heroic acts to win the promotion, right? How was it possible in such a short timespan?? The other paratroopers in 101 were shipped out since Sep 1943! If he was in 82nd he should be in Italy as early as April 1943. In Nov1943, part of the 82nd was in Italy and the other regiments in 82nd moved to the UK to prepare the liberation of Europe. If he was still in Camp Mackall in Jan 1944, he wasn’t in time for Normandy. Maybe with the replacement for Market Garden?…
Now I feel sorry for Norman Dike...
It turns out that Norman Dike didn’t have to actually lead an attack to get a promotion.
Portrait of Nolwén de Janzé (1922-1989) and Paola de Janzé (1924-2006). They were roomates with Lewis Nixon near Camp Mackall. (I was googling “Paola de Jonze” but google led me to their mother Alice, a wealthy America heiress who entered French aristocracy when she married Count de Janzé in 1921. Her wikipedia page is full of promiscuity, drug abuse and several suicide attempts and murder attempts. One of the murder case (The Lord Erroll murder in 1941) inspired the film <White Mischief>
About Kathy renting a house near Camp Toccoa and how disconnected people state-side from people at war
Source: Biggest Brother; Conversations with Major Dick Winters; Social notes in Pinehurst North Carolina newspaper “The Charlotte Observer” 1943-1945
Biggest Brother: “Winters knew her somewhat. She had taken a house near Camp Toccoa while the 506th was in training, and Nixon had often invited Winters to the house for meals or conversation.”
Conversations with Major Dick Winters: “Nixon had been married, but he had no love at home. I went to his house many times. He would invite, not just me, but he would invite a group of officers and company to his home on weekends.“
This house was actually near Camp Mackall & Fort Bragg in North Carolina (or, it’s possible that Kathy rented houses in both Toccoa and NC)----but the place discussed here is the one in North Carolina.
The house was called “Primrose Cottage” in a neighbourhood named “Cottage Colony” (somewhere near Cherokee Rd, Pinehurst, North Carolina)----20min by car to Camp Mackall; 40min by car to Fort Bragg.
Miss Paola de Janze (who later became the Countess de Rougemount) was living at Primrose Cottage with Kathy and Lewis Nixon. She was a grandniece of Simeon Brooks Chapin (a famous financier and philanthropist who founded the Pinehurst Soldiers’ Lounge). She was an ethusiast of equestrian and Polo match. She was also a socialite and quite acitive in high society, and that’s why we can find Lewis Nixon’s name in the social notes of North Carolina.
Kathy was living in Pinehurst from March 1943 to March 1945 (Lewis Nixon was shipped to England in Sep 1943 but she was 8-month pregnant back then so she can’t travel back to Arizona. Michael was born in Pinehurt NC in Oct 1943. She lived in Pinehurst until March 1945, then she moved to CA to live with Mrs Stanhope Nixon (only for a brief time before the divorce).
I was thinking the cottage was like a modest 2-bedroom townhouse, but now I think I might be very WRONG. and prob it’s not only Kathy that Dick didn’t like. It’s probable that Dick didn’t like the whole neighborhood. Here is why:
Dick mentioned that he was invited to Nixon’s place along with other officers. I was thinking it’s Harry and Hester and other officers from 101. But probably not only them. Here in the social notes showed whom Mrs Lewis Nixon dined with: 12 Dec 1943 "Following cocktails in the Pine Room at The Carolina, Miss Paola de Jonze gave a dinner in honor of her sister...Her other guests were Mrs Lewis Nixon, Lt. Nicholas Biddle......” This Lt. Nicholas Biddle was the son of renowned Anthony Drexel Biddle, who was a US ambassador, from the famous Biddle family of Philadelphia (Norman Dike’s mother pretended to be from this Biddle family but she was actually not).
Also living in the “Cottage Colony” neighborhood was Liet Col. J. Stillman Rockefeller (James Stillman Rockefeller) from the Rockefeller family.
On 17th December 1944, German invaded Bastogne, and on the same day these activities were going on in Pinehurst: "Christmas is in every Pinehurst plan. The hotels and cottages alike look to a gala holiday, with many servicemen on leave...For Christmas Day an equestrian afternoon is schedules, with a horse show in the Carolina ring...The Golf club's annual turkey shoot will be held on Saturday...Miss Paola de Janze, who lives at Primrose cottage with Capt. and Mrs Lewis Nixon, shot the goal which made the difference between win and tie when she played at the Pinehurst polo match."
In summary, at the Pinehurst Soldiers' lounge and Country Club there was endless bridge games, dinner parties, golf tournaments, polo matches, horseback ridings (all the prominent horse owners are “wintering their horses” here) There were equestrian matches and polo games between Camp Mackall and Fort Bragg, in 1944! On 1st Jan 1944 “a soldier escaped prison in Camp Mackall on a thoroughbred mare”, and on 16 Jan 1944: "Pinehusrt's servicemen's lounge seemed "a bit o' Heaven" last week to the airborne troops completing their maneuvers in this vicinity and coming in from the "battle" area after a bout with sleet and snow, as well as a four-day fight with an imaginary enemy. All day Saturday and during part of Sunday, busy hostesses served sandwiches, cookies, cakes and hot coffee to the boys.”
I mean, when I read Dick’s book about Fort Bragg “You would think that after two months of not sleeping on a bed, dirty clothes, and trudging up and down the Tennessee hills, one would relish the peaceful surroundings of Fort Bragg.”----I was like “OK, so Fort Bragg has clean beds and hot shower” but then when I read about social activities at Pinehusrt's servicemen's lounge in old newspapers I was like “IS THERE A WAR???OR IT’S IN A PARALLELE WORLD???” From the social notes of Pinehurst locals, the life in Camp Mackall was like a holiday resort! No suprise Kathy thought her husband abandoned her to have all the fun in war games
Airborne, Camp MacKall The original idea for an American airborne came from Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1918. His commander, Gen. Pershing agreed, but …The Army Airborne and the start to Camp MacKall
The Army Airborne and the start to Camp MacKall
Images Of Border Crisis Released! Project Veritas Obtains Never Before Seen Images Of Donna, Texas Immigration Facility.
Former President Donald Trump said…
