Allies
The USS Laffey Survived Waves of Kamikazes Off Okinawa
By John WukovitsTwo warships have been named in honor of Seaman Bartlett Laffey, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. Read more
Allies
Skiing Off To War: A Squad Leader in the 10th Mountain Division
By Bruce K. Campbell with Glenn BarnettI was born in Los Angeles in 1924 and attended local schools. In high school I enrolled in ROTC and, when I could, I went skiing for fun. Read more
Allies
The Last Flight of the Lonesome Polecat
By Diane Condon-BoutierEvery February 11, Rouxmesnil-Bouteilles, a tiny town in Upper Normandy situated north of the Seine River a short distance inland from the coastal city of Dieppe and some two hours from the D-Day invasion beaches, pays homage to 10 American airmen who crashed into the town center, narrowly missing the local children assembled in their schoolhouse just a few yards away. Read more
Allies
The Silent Wings Museum: Honoring the Glidermen of WWII
By Donald AbbeDuring World War II, the use of airborne forces to “vertically envelop” the enemy went from an untested theory to a major part of offensive tactics, first for Germany and then the Allies. Read more
Allies
How Pearl Harbor Happened
By Richard G. HigginsCommander Mitsuo Fuchida, strike leader for Operation Hawaii and 20-year veteran of the Imperial Japanese Navy (Kaigun), strapped himself into the observer’s seat as his Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber, piloted by Lieutenant Mitsuo Matsuzaki, and lifted off from the carrier Akagi on the black morning of December 7, 1941. Read more
Allies
The Nevada and I Survived the War
By Charles T. SeheI am of Polish, Irish, and American Indian descent and grew up in the small (population 3,800) northern Illinois town of Geneva. Read more
Allies
The Band of Brothers: A Company to Remember
By Kevin M. HymelSomething about the series Band of Brothers struck a chord with television viewers all over the world. Read more
Allies
Book Reviews: Heroism of the Nisei Soldiers
By Christopher Miskimon Honor Before Glory: The Epic World War II Story of the Japanese American GIs Who Rescued the Lost Battalion(Scott McGaugh, Da Capo Press, Boston, 2016, 257 pp., Read more
Allies
On a Wing and Several Prayers: The Story of a B-17 Tailgunner
By Glenn BarnettOn August 25, 1944, Larry Stevens and the rest of his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crew completed their 35th mission over Nazi-occupied Europe. Read more
Allies
Fiery Fight for a Frozen Hell: Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg
By James G. Bilder
Described in one U.S. Army report as “the quiet paradise for weary troops,” the tiny nation of Luxembourg was viewed by American commanders in late 1944 much like Belgium—liberated, safe, and an ideal location for combat-worn troops to rest and for untested replacements to get exposed to outdoor living and military routine before being exposed to combat. Read more
Allies
La Gleize Battle of the Bulge Museum
By Michel De TrezThere is no shortage of museums in the Belgian Ardennes to record the region’s dark winter of World War II. Read more
Allies
Remembering a Day of Remembrance
By Flint WhitlockThis year, as I have done almost every year for the past 30 years, I took part in the Memorial Day ceremony at the 10th Mountain Division War Memorial near the division’s former training area high up in the Colorado Rockies. Read more
Allies
Polish Cavalry Myth Debunked: CNBC vs the Polish Embassy
Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money show, made a mistake on May 11th when he jokingly parroted a common misconception about the German invasion of Poland. Read more
Allies
The Lions of Carentan Part III: Operation Cobra
By Volker GriesserBackground: In this, the third and final installment of a three-part series excerpted from The Lions of Carentan, the 2011 book by a respected German military historian, Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6 (FJR 6) has been pushed out of Ste.-Mère-église, Read more
Allies
The Lions of Carentan Part II: Defending Carentan
By Volker GriesserBackground: Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6, under the command of Major Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, had the fortune (or misfortune) to be stationed in Normandy at the time of the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944. Read more
Allies
The Lions of Carentan Part I: Paratrooper vs Paratrooper on D-Day
By Volker GriesserBackground: Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6 was organized in February 1943, under the command of Major Egon Liebach. It was part of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Division and was stationed in France, where it trained in parachute and glider operations. Read more
Allies
Teddy Roosevelt Jr.: Rare Photos from His Funeral in Normandy
This picture was taken by Army Pfc. Sidney Gutelewitz roughly a month after the D-Day Invasion, according to the Los Angeles Times. Read more
Allies
The Codebreakers’ War in the Atlantic
By Gene J. PfefferThe Battle of the Atlantic was a life-and-death struggle between the German Kriegsmarine and the Allied navies that was fought for control of Britain’s lifeline to its empire and to the United States. Read more
Allies
LIFE Photographer Ralph Morse’s War
By Susan ZimmermanIn an age before television and instant communications, Americans wanted to see what was going on in the world’s “deadliest conflict in human history,” and LIFE magazine was making a name for itself as THE war magazine during World War II. Read more
Allies
Battle of Graignes: An HQ Company’s Heroic Last Stand in Normandy
By Martin K.A. MorganSome 16 million Americans served during World War II, and tens of thousands of sons of the State of Louisiana served in every branch of the U.S. Read more
