Jump Wings

Putting Artie Shaw together is like working a jigsaw puzzle with some crucial missing pieces and some hoaxes dropped into the mix.

I'm vexed by the absence of his complete Navy personnel file, apprently burned in a catastrophic 1971 fire that consumed millions of records at the National Personel Reord Center. (Though his medical records were spared, and proved invaluable in researching 'Nightmare in the Pacific.') I wish for unit records, diaries, correspondence; the absence of which leaves holes in the verfiable narrative.

One question mark that particularly eats at me centers on the cover photograph of the January 1944 issue of 'Metronome.' Artie was the subject, part of his being named the magazine's Musician of the Year. Artie appears to be sitting at a piano and is looking up at the photographer. He is in his dark Navy chief petty officer's uniform, with two ribbons over his left breast.

And over the ribbons there appear to be --could this be right? -- a set of jump wings. An inside photo on page 19 of the magazine multi-page spread show Arte in the same uniform, likewise displaying the coveted wings awarded to military paratroopers.

So what gives?

The magazine article gives no explanation. No in-depth written account of Artie's life, including Tom Nolan's excellent 'Artie Shaw: King of the Clarinet,' makes any reference to Artie as earning jump wings. No newspaper or magazine article during World War II mentioned what would surely have been front-page news, a big band leader qualifying as a paratrooper.

Here are some possibilities, accompanied by an entirely subjective rankling of their likelihood on a scale of 1 to 10:

-- Artie attended jump school and it simply was never reported or remembered by anyone who served with him. 1/10.

-- Artie did a single recreational jump with paratroopers he met in the Pacific, just for kicks, and it was deemed sufficient to earn him the wings. 1/10.

-- Those aren't really jump wings on his uniform; the eyes doth deceive. <1/10.

-- Artie just decided to pin on the wings himself. 1/10.

-- Paratroopers entertained by Artie's band in the South Pacific presented him with the jump wings as a sign of respect and gratitude. 6/10.