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<div> Another pleasant development from the Jan. 2 WSJ
article about Barry Popik is that he was contacted by an army officer
who has long been interested in "the whole nine yards."
Barry forwarded his e-mail to me, and with permission granted from
both parties, I now share the message with ADS-L. Its main
importance is that it places "the whole nine yards" back
into a an Air Force context, even though there are still no
attestations from World War II.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>--Gerald Cohen</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="right">Fort Bliss, Texas<br>
</blockquote>
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January 2001</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">Mr. Barry
Popik</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">Re:
The Whole Nine Yards</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Barry,</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> <span
></span> I read your feature in the 2 January 2001 issue
of The Wall Street Journal and was immediately attracted to you quest
for the origin of 'The Whole Nine Yards."</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> <span
></span> I am a soldier the United States Army Sergeants
Major Academy at Fort Bliss, Texas and this has also become a quest
for several of my fellow senior NCOs. Internet searches include
the size of cement mixers that you mentioned, stationary ones, used
in the late 1940s, not trucks, the length of a bolt of cloth, and the
distance between masts on sailing ships.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> <span
></span> One of my fellow soldiers said he read about the
term in a book on WWII, Guadalcanal, maybe. Since the printing
of your feature I have researched the Battle of the Aleutian Islands,
great reading about brave soldiers, but no cigar. No Whole Nine
Yards, either.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> <span
></span> On the down side, my father was an armorer for a
P-51 Mustang unit during WWII and I never heard him use the
term. But then he never talked shop about his army experience,
only upbeat stories relating to off duty activities. My father
died in 1985 and I don't know if any of his comrades are still
living. I'll have to ask my mother.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> <span
></span> Now, here is where I can help you, and it fits
into the small world department. In the fall of 1964 I was a
freshmen at the University of Missouri and sitting in an ROTC
classroom, the building was (still is) Crowder Hall, the instructor
was a Captain Samples, he got a promotion to major a few weeks later
and the Professor of Military Science a colonel( full bird) named
Carlisle, or Carwile, memory is a little foggy on that. We had
a briefing by a young air force officer (pilot). Here again, I
don't remember if he was a 2nd lieutenant, 1st lieutenant, or
captain, and I don't remember if he was on his way to Vietnam or
had just returned, but he was a graduate of Missouri University
(MU). A 2lt would have made him a 1992 or 1993 graduate while a
captain would roll him all the way back to around 1960. I
wasn't too focused on the military Š..yet. For me Vietnam was
still four years away.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> <span
></span> During his briefing this young officer used the
term, 'The Whole Nine Yards,' not just once but repeatedly.
At the time I thought he was referring to University of Missouri
football.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> To
get back to business, that was in the fall of 1964. The young
pilot had to have picked up the term somewhere and I would think Air
Force flight gunnery school, which would move the appearance of the
term back from the date of 1966 you mentioned in your
feature.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> I
don't know Professor Gerald Cohen but I'll probable try to
contact Him. I graduated from MU in June 1968 and went of
active duty for what was to be a two-year obligation. That was
almost 33 years ago. I think my two-year obligation is up two years
from June of this year.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite
> <span
></span> Good
Luck. <span
></span
> <span
></span
> <span
></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Thomas L. McRoberts</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Sergeant Major</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>United States Army</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
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