This post is for those of you who enjoy the cult classic movie Red Dawn. The Patrick Swayze version, not the wussified recent remake. (Thank you for that word, Jim.) I just learned this bit if trivia I hadnt known before. I LOVE that it ties in with real history. Enjoy. (Thank you to Tony Layne for this gem.) Copied and pasted from WikiAnswers: (From the movie) Radio Free America Announcer: Its 11:59 on Radio Free America; this is Uncle Sam, with music, and the truth until dawn. Right now Ive got a few words for some of our brothers and sisters in the occupied zone: the chair is against the wall, the chair is against the wall, john has a long mustache, john has a long mustache. Its twelve oclock, American, another day closer to victory. And for all of you out there, on, or behind the line, this is your song. [the Battle Hymn of the Republic begins to play] This style of codeword/phrase system was used in Europe during WW2 to send instructions to operatives behind enemy lines. The Chair is Against the Wall could mean that a set of railway tracks must be blown up or a supply drop was en route to a group of operatives. John has a long mustache is a direct reference to the Allied code phrase for Operation Overlord, the Normandy Invasion (D-Day, WW2). The signal, like many others, was sent over normal radio broadcasts; each codeword/phrase meant something to a specific group or individual listening in Nazi occupied territory. This specific code phrase was the signal to the French Resistance (the Maquis) that the invasion would begin the next day. To them, this meant that need to execute pre-arranged sabotage and other preparations as planned before the landings on the French coast. The whole sequence is an homage to the movie The Longest Day, in which French Resistance members are listening to the radio, and hear a sequence of the normally meaningless (to them) phrases, until they hear John has a long mustache repeated twice, and set in motion the pre-invasion plans. The Germans also realize the invasion is about to begin, but due to Allied deceptions, the Nazis are still unsure as to the landing site. In The Longest Day, the sequence was Molasses tomorrow will bring forth cognac, then John has a long mustache.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 04:10:23 +0000
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