A small note on the etymlogy of Willie Pete...

[Jackpine Radical]

Willie Pete's slightly more formal name is Willie Peter. This name derives from the WWII-era military alphabet in which W was pronounced "Willie" and P="Peter." Thus Willie Pete(r)=WP=White Phosphorus, a thoroughly nasty anti-personnel weapon that has been in our arsenal for a long time.

The old WWII alphabet went Abel, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, etc. & by Vietnam was supplanted by a different version that went Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, etc., but the abbreviation "Willie Peter" stuck (no pun intended). If it had been modernized to the Vietnam-era military alphabet, it would have been called "Whiskey Papa."

[babylonsister]

1. The things I learn here. Thanks! nt

[afdip]

2. true, i used to carry a willie peter rifle grenade for my m-14 in

vietnam just to give me the ability to mark a target when necessary.

[MN ChimpH8R]

3. Somewhere along the line

the military adopted the ham radio alphabetic phonetics. Hams have used Alpha, Bravo, Charlie for as long as I can remember.

[Dead_Parrot]

4. Whiskey Papa?

Surely that refers to a drunkard commander in chief? Oh wait, never mind...

[Jackpine Radical]

5. As a charitable sort, I always like to leave a few easy shots for others.

[lapfog_1]

6. Nope...

WWII military alphabet W is Whiskey, and P is Poppa.

My father was a WWII vet, whose initials happen to be W.P., and
his nickname was "Whiskey Poppa" (though he never drank).

William and Peter were in use in the British military:

(From the Able-Baker Story)
That looks like the alphabet that I learned from "The Complete Morse Trainer (with a section on Semaphore)", by F. Tait (Telegraphist and Wireless Operator, Central Telegraph Office, London), published in London by Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1944. The exercises in the book are almost all of a military nature, and there are several other hints that the intended audience was largely composed of military folk, so it seems plausible that the phonetic alphabet presented in the book was in official use by the British military during WW2. Here's the alphabet: able baker charlie dog easy fox george how item jig king love mike nan oboe peter queen roger sugar tare uncle victor william x-ray yoke zebra.

There are many other differences as well, for example India instead
of Item, etc.

[MsTryska]

7. strange.....i've heard it referred to as

whiskey pete.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. The GI on the video referred to it as whiskey pete.

[MsTryska]

9. what video?

i've been keeping up with this strictly in text.

So i know i didn't get it from him. Are Peter and Papa used interchangeably (unofficially)?

[sinkingfeeling]

11. The Italian video that brought this to the forefront....Fallujah

http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

[serryjw]

13. Do you know anything about this movie?

http://www.beyondtreason.com/

[bananas]

12. also, excerpts and interviews on tuesdays democracynow

listen, watch, or read transcripts
http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl?issue=20051108

[enigami]

10. "Willie pete"

Thats what we called it in the 70's. I was a Forward Observer, USMC. Hate to break it to everyone, but it is a very common and much used artillery incendiary munition against personnel and armor.

Nasty shit. Looks real pretty at night though.