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Q: "Greenland Pool" ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   3 Comments )
Question  
Subject: "Greenland Pool"
Category: Reference, Education and News
Asked by: mccook-ga
List Price: $5.00
Posted: 18 Jul 2003 18:33 PDT
Expires: 17 Aug 2003 18:33 PDT
Question ID: 232657
A World War II veteran was talking with me the other day and mentioned
something called "the Greenland Pool." I neglected to ask him what it
was. What, in fact, was it?

Also, I know that in the Coast Guard and Navy, the rating for
Boatswain's Mate is "BM". What does "BMCS" stand for? A variation on
Boatswain's Mate Second Class?"

Request for Question Clarification by filian-ga on 18 Jul 2003 20:53 PDT
Greetings, mccook-ga!

I found your questions to be most fascinating and I've been searching
for "The Greenland Pool" and have not yet come up with anything
although I did find something called "the Morse Pool" which refers to
Morse code, so we could be on to something there. Can you tell me what
context this phrase was used in? Was this something that existed
during World War II and does it still exist today? Could you provide
any other details of the conversation that point me in the right
direction? I'm extremely curious to find out what this mysterious
"pool" refers to.

As for your second question, "BMCS" means "Senior Chief Boatswain's
Mate" according to this page from the Coast Guard:

US Coast Guard Enlisted Rank/Rating Insignia
http://www.uscg.mil/images/graphics/ranks/enlisted.htm

I hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you so I
can figure out what the "Greenland Pool" is!

Thanks again,

Filian-ga

Clarification of Question by mccook-ga on 19 Jul 2003 08:12 PDT
Filian-ga: Thanks for your interest and enthusiasm. Here is what I
know: The gentleman I was interviewing was a Coast Guardsman, fresh
out of Boatswain's Mate school in September 1942. When he graduated,
he said, he ondered where he was going to be assigned -- "a sleek new
cutter, or the horror of being sent to the Greenland Pool? That was an
option nobody wanted, especially me."

I am writing a magazine story about him, and might be able to get a
fuller description of what this thing was in the next couple of weeks.
But at the moment he is hospitalized, and I don't want to trouble him
with questions I might be able to get the answers to elsewhere. I
don't know any more about the "Greenland Pool" than that. And haven't
been able to find anything relevant on the Web. I assume that it was
something -- a flotilla, a base? -- set up in Greenland during the
war, and I assume it was gotten rid of after the war. But why was the
prospect of it a "horror" (apart from the weather)?

If you can be of assistance, I'll be very grateful. Thanks very much
for the information about what BMCS stands for. We're halfway there!

Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 19 Jul 2003 08:36 PDT
Mccook --

I've found references to a Greenland pool as a meteorological issue,
though one reference notes that it started around 1960 -- obviously
too late to be of concern to a World War II sailor.  That said, I
suspect that the study is myopic in not realizing that the "Greeland
pool" effect had long been known.

I'll gladly post what I've found -- but only if you have some
confidence that it would help here.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Request for Question Clarification by knowledge_seeker-ga on 19 Jul 2003 11:38 PDT
I've sent an email to someone I know who is a WWII veteran and
actually served in Greenland. Will let you know if I learn anything
from him.

-K~

Request for Question Clarification by knowledge_seeker-ga on 19 Jul 2003 13:54 PDT
Got an email back -- 

"Haven't the foggiest idea" 

Oh well..it was worth a shot. 

Good luck! 

-K~

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 19 Jul 2003 16:31 PDT
mccook --

I am pretty sure I have found what you are looking for (famous last
words), but it's not a "pool."  Rather, I think your friend was
referring to the "Greenland Patrol," a World War II operation that is
described in a Coast Guard history site as follows:

"In 1940, most Americans who knew that Greenland existed thought of it
as a nondescript white blob near the tops of their world maps. That
the place might have any military significance to the great powers had
occurred to scarcely anyone - least of all to the people who lived
there. But in the next five years Greenland was to become a small but
significant theater of war, and was to confront the U.S. Coast Guard
with some of the most arduous duties it had ever been called upon to
perform."

U.S. Coast Guard: "The Coast Guard and the Greenland Patrol"
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/h_greenld.html

After looking at this site, if you agree that this is the information
you want I would be happy to post an answer and tell you how I found
it.  (I would of course share the fee with filian-ga, who found the
meaning of "BMCS.")

markj-ga

Clarification of Question by mccook-ga on 19 Jul 2003 19:08 PDT
Thanks to everyone for the terrific help. I've never encountered a
situation in which two researchers deserve payment for an answer; I
guess this why you are supposed to ask only one question per question.
I linked them as one because I thought they might, through some
stretch of logic, be relevant.

How about this? I pay Filian five bucks for his answer in re. Senior
Chief Boatswain's Mate and five to Markj for his more than satsifying
answer to Greenland Patrol (which I would like to have formally
posted). If acceptable, how do I do this? Through a tip? Or some other
way?

Thanks also to Omnivorous, who has been quite helpful to me in the
past and will be again in the future. Ditto K~ and Pinkfreud.

McCook-ga

Request for Question Clarification by filian-ga on 19 Jul 2003 20:12 PDT
McCook-ga,

That's very generous of you! One way to do it would be to have
markj-ga officially answer this question, then post a new question
with a note similar to "For Filian-ga Only" in the question area. You
can add any question you like, really. That would count for the "BMCS"
portion of the question (you could always repost the BMCS question
asking that I answer it specifically, that way other researchers would
know not to work on it). It's up to you on how you'd like to do it.
I'm not sure of another way but maybe markj-ga pr pinkfreud-ga would?

Thank you so much, mccook-ga, and I'm glad I could help. I'm also very
pleased that markj-ga was able to identify the "Greenland Pool". This
has been an interesting journey!

Sincerely,
Filian-ga

P.S. I'm a woman :)
Answer  
Subject: Re: "Greenland Pool"
Answered By: markj-ga on 20 Jul 2003 04:54 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
mccook --

Thanks for your clarification and the opportunity to post an answer to
your fascinating question.

As filian-ga suggested, a straightforward way of assuring that she
gets compensated for her resourceful contribution is to post a new
question with "For filian-ga only" as the subject line.  It doesn't
matter what, if any, "question" you actually pose; anything she posts
in the "answer" box will trigger payment to her based on how you
priced the new question.

Now, as I was saying, I am confident that I have found the explanation
you are seeking regarding the "Greenland Pool."  I believe that your
friend was referring to the "Greenland Patrol," a World War II
operation that is described in a Coast Guard history site as follows:

"In 1940, most Americans who knew that Greenland existed thought of it
as a nondescript white blob near the tops of their world maps. That
the place might have any military significance to the great powers had
occurred to scarcely anyone - least of all to the people who lived
there. But in the next five years Greenland was to become a small but
significant theater of war, and was to confront the U.S. Coast Guard
with some of the most arduous duties it had ever been called upon to
perform."
U.S. Coast Guard: "The Coast Guard and the Greenland Patrol" 
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/h_greenld.html 


There is a substantial amount of other online information about this
operation, which you can browse through using the following simple
Google search:
"coast guard" "greenland patrol"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22coast+guard%22++%22greenland+patrol%22&btnG=Google+Search

I would just point you here to one other source that might be of
particular interest in connection with your article.   That source,
which is also available at the Coast Guard's website, is titled "Death
of a Wooden Shoe: A Sailor’s Diary of Life and Death on the Greenland
Patrol, 1942", by Thaddeus D. Novak, edited by P.J. Capelotti.  The
editor of that diary writes in his introduction:

"The diary that follows is one of the few first-hand accounts that
survives from the early crisis period of the Greenland Patrol, and the
only such first-hand account from the perspective of an involved young
enlisted seaman. Therefore, it occupies a unique place in the history
of the U.S. Coast Guard, of U.S. naval operations in the Arctic, and
of the Second World War."
U.S. Coast Guard: Death of a Wooden Shoe
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/WoodenShoe.html#September%201942


Search Strategy:

I naturally began with a variety of Google searches using as terms
various combinations of the clues you provided in your question: 1942,
"Greenland Pool", "Coast Guard" WWII, etc.  None of them turned up
anything useful, and I decided to eliminate the word "pool" as a
search term on the basis that it was the most likely of the clues to
have been misheard or misremembered.  That led quickly to the
following successful search, which turned up my first citation above
as its first "hit:"

"coast guard" 1942 greenland
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22coast+guard%22+1942+greenland


Then another, more focessed search (also cited above) turned up
information almost exclusively limited to the Greenland Patrol
operation:

"coast guard" "greenland patrol"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22coast+guard%22++%22greenland+patrol%22&btnG=Google+Search



Thanks again for the opportunity to answer your question and good luck
with your article.


markj-ga
mccook-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $2.00
Intrepid, sharp and comprehensive. Solved every problem I face except
how to eliminate the electoral college. Thanks very much for the help.

Comments  
Subject: Re: "Greenland Pool"
From: pinkfreud-ga on 19 Jul 2003 15:52 PDT
 
Many years ago, I had a co-worker who was a retired veteran. He often
used the phrase "sent to Greenland" in reference to an employee who
was transferred to an undesirable location in lieu of being fired.

I wonder whether "the Greenland pool" may be a variant of this. If you
offend a superior officer and he wants to get rid of you, he has you
shipped off to Greenland. You've joined the Greenland pool (by analogy
with the motor pool, the steno pool, and such).
Subject: Re: "Greenland Pool"
From: pinkfreud-ga on 19 Jul 2003 17:16 PDT
 
Somehow, "being sent to the Greenland Pool" reminds me of this line
from "The Princess Bride":

"When I found you, you were so slobbering drunk you couldn't buy
brandy. And you: friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless. Do you
want me to send you back to where you were, unemployed... in
Greenland?"
Subject: Re: "Greenland Pool"
From: markj-ga on 20 Jul 2003 12:52 PDT
 
mccook --

Thanks very much for the five-star rating and the tip.

markj-ga

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