#ww2bomberpilots – Miamilawyer1.com

December 8, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Monday, December 8, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

Surprises from History: 17,000 evacuated after huge WWII bomb found in Germany
Around 17,000 people are being evacuated from a residential area of Dortmund, Germany today following the discovery of a massive unexploded bomb thought to have been dropped by a British bomber during World War II.

The unexploded ordnance was uncovered in the city’s Hörde district during building work at a pump manufacturer. Everyone within a radius of 1.5km began to be evacuated at noon local time so the bomb could be be safely defused. Local authorities believe the type of explosive in the bomb is several times more powerful than conventional explosives, according to the Kolnische Rundschau newspaper.

Between 10% and 20% of all bombs dropped on Germany during World War II are thought to have not exploded on impact, which means ordnance continues to be uncovered 70 years later.

Read more here…

Helping Veterans: Gift from Katy Perry helps homeless Veterans secure housing
Thanks to the philanthropy of Katy Perry, 22 homeless veterans in Michigan and Texas will soon cross the threshold into permanent housing. Perry is a supporter of Veterans Matter, a growing national program that works with HUD and VA to house homeless veterans. As part of its fundraising efforts, Veterans Matter auctioned a Katy Perry Prizmatic Tour concert package with the winner, Scott Vaughn of Oakton, Virginia, getting to be the superstar’s VIP guest with concert tickets and to meet her backstage before her recent tour stop in Cleveland.

Read more here…

Historical Sacrifices: Six Months – Three Canadian Brothers – all killed in WWII
The Second World War took the lives of many young men who served in the military. But for the Wagner family, the loss was simply colossal. Sitting in her home in the hamlet of Teeterville in south-western Ontario, Lenore (Wagner) Floyd wondered how her grandmother coped with the ordeal while describing how all three of her sons were dead within six months of joining World War Two battles. Lenore’s great-uncles Howard, Ivan and Harry were all killed while fighting in Europe in the Second World War.

Read more here…

Veteran Advocacy: 11 tips for running a successful small business from one Veteran to another
Thomas Bernard is taking the skills that made him a successful soldier and applying them to his construction business — and wants to share what he’s doing with other veterans turned entrepreneurs. After serving two tours in Iraq, Bernard started ProCraft Interiors in 2010 with as he puts it, “$600 and a dream.”

Read more here…

History Maker: Lawrence Benner, the tail gunner tells his tale
Lawrence Benner, a crew member of the Lancaster bomber aircraft reflects on his journey as a tail gunner during the Second World War. A Tail gunner is a crew member of a military air craft who attacks the enemy fighters sitting at the back or tail of the aircraft. Lawrence Benner with his profound interest of becoming a pilot and serving the nation during the Second World War joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in September 1943. Benner is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was seventeen years old when he made this decision. However, now he say, “nobody likes war, it’s cost to many young lives.” “I wouldn’t want to go again, I sure as hell wouldn’t.”

Read more here…

History Movies: Mel Gibson, Andrew Garfield Set to Work on Upcoming WWII Film
Oscar-winning director and actor Mel Gibson will reportedly work with The Amazing Spiderman actor Andrew Garfield on upcoming WWII film about war vet Desmond T. Doss, the first ever conscientious objector and one of the only three to win the Medal of Honor for his bravery during the Second World War.

Mel Gibson, whose most recent movie was The Expendables 3, is billed to direct the said war film while Andrew Garfield, who became recently popular due to his role as Spiderman, is said to portray Desmond Doss’ character in the movie. The project has the working title Hacksaw Ridge.

Read more here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

December 1, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Monday, December 1, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

Gifts for History: How to Give a Gift that Gives More This Holiday Season
The holiday season is right around the corner. Why not give a gift that gives back?
From small gifts to large ones, every purchase supports The National WWII Museum’s mission of educating future generations on the war that changed the world. Show your support and find a unique gift for your loved ones that will truly get them excited this holiday season!

Read more here…

Veterans Advocacy: Ten things veterans should know about burn pits
Just five months ago, VA launched the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry in response to concerns that Veterans were experiencing a range of respiratory illnesses possibly associated with exposure to burn pits. The registry is open to many Veterans and active-duty Servicemembers who deployed to various locations. This post describes why you should participate in the registry and how it might help uncover links between exposures and certain health conditions.

Read more here…

This Day in History: 26 November 1944: US 116th Infantry Regiment on the ‘watch on the Roer’
In some parts of Northwest European the front was becoming increasingly static, as both sides dug in. The weather and extended supply lines had slowed down the Allied advance. Although the Germans were fighting tenaciously to defend their homeland, Allied intelligence believed they were largely contained. Many believed that the lines would settle down even more over the winter period.

Sergeant Bob Slaughter had landed with the 116th Infantry Regiment on Omaha Beach on D-Day, where they had suffered devastating casualties. They were still in the line, having fought all the way across France. Slaughter had been wounded in France and spent two months recovering in England before rejoining his regiment, along with many more replacements.

Now they found themselves holding an area on the west bank of the River Roer, one of the main natural barriers to Germany before the Rhine itself.

Read more here…

Legends of History: General George S. Patton confronts an SS General
The heavily fortified border city of Metz had been seized from the French in 1870, returned to the French in 1918 and again seized by the Germans in 1940. The US Third Army’s struggle to liberate it had taken nearly three months and heavy casualties.
Sergeant Leonard O’Reilly discovered SS Major General Anton Dunckern hiding in a brewery on the 20th Novemebr, during a thorough search of Metz following its occupation on the 19th. At first Dunckern demanded to be allowed to surrender to a senior officer but, with a cocked pistol prodding him in the stomach, soon changed his mind. He was later brought before General Patton.

Although Patton spoke German fluently he chose have the interview translated because he would not demean himself to speak to him directly:

Read more here…

History Maker: God, Whiskey, Cigars and Guns. WWII Vet Still Going Strong at 108
Richard Overton spent Veteran’s Day this year serving as grand marshal in the Austin, Texas parade alongside the mayor, another veteran. What makes Overton so special?

He is the oldest living male veteran in the United States. At 108 years old, this man from Texas rarely uses his cane to walk, is still doing his own yard work and driving widows to church every Sunday. He told a local TV station in an interview last March that he doesn’t take any medicine other than aspirin…and the “medicine” he puts in his coffee every morning. He told Fox News, “I may drink a little in the evening too with some soda water, but that’s it. Whiskey’s a good medicine, it keeps your muscles tender.”

Read more here…

Legends of History: Rommel saved me from being shot as a spy – and gave me cigarettes!
He was viewed as Hitler’s finest general, admired even by the Allies for his skills as a military leader. But to one captured British soldier, Erwin Rommel was the man who saved his life – and gave him beer and cigarettes. Captain Roy Wooldridge, from the Royal Engineers, has told how he was introduced to the ‘Desert Fox’ after being taken prisoner in France. He had been caught during a covert night-time reconnaissance mission ahead of the D-Day landings. Without uniform or identification due to the secrecy of the operation, he was treated as a spy and told he would be shot. But Field Marshal Rommel requested a meeting with the new prisoner and asked the Brit if there was anything he needed.

Captain Wooldridge said he replied: ‘A good meal, a pint of beer and a packet of cigarettes.’ To his astonishment he was then ushered into Rommel’s mess, where all three items were waiting for him. Capt Wooldridge, now 95, saved the empty cigarette packet as a souvenir and will recount his adventure on Sunday’s edition of Antiques Roadshow. He said: ‘I was told that Rommel always wanted to meet men who had been doing something unusual when they were captured. ‘I was meant to have been shot. I was told on several occasions during my interrogation that is what would happen unless I talked.

Read more here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

November 24, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Monday, November 24, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

Seeing History: Vietnam War – Combat Footage via WHO-Tube
Watch video here…

Final Salute to History Maker: WWII veteran, 98, dons uniform for final salute, sadly died the next day
On Veterans Day, Justus Belfield donned his Army uniform one more time, even though he was too weak to leave his bed at an upstate New York nursing home.
The 98-year-old World War II veteran died the next day.

The Daily Gazette of Schenectady reports that Belfield had worn his uniform every Veterans Day since he and his wife moved into Baptist Health Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Glenville, outside Albany, several years ago. On Tuesday, the former master sergeant wasn’t able to get out of bed to participate in the facility’s Veterans Day festivities, so he had the staff dress him in his uniform.

Read more here…

History Maker: WWII hero destroyed an enemy plane with a load of bricks
A 90-year-old veteran in Dundas goes by a curious nickname: The Brick Bomber. The nickname’s origins go back to one particular day in 1944 in the skies over Burma. Born in Hamilton in 1923, Art Adams wanted to become a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, but his eyesight was poor. Instead, he joined up and served as a kicker, the evocatively named precursor to what today’s force calls a leading aircraftman. Planes would fly supplies to where the British and Allied forces were, trying to stop the advance of the Japanese through Burma to India. Once they found the British, Adams and his fellow ground crewmen would kick or push the supplies out of the plane to deliver them via parachute.

They’d open the doors of the DC-3 plane, and out would fall food, munitions, medical supplies — even donkeys (“liquored up” before the drop to keep them calm). “They had no way of transporting stuff in the jungle, except for the donkeys,” Adams said.

Read more here…

History Maker: How An American Pilot Survived A 6-On-One Dogfight During The Vietnam War
Being the first genuinely supersonic naval aircraft, the Crusader was a single seat, single engine swept fighter that introduced an unusual feature, the variable incidence wing. Armed with four Colt Mk 12 cannons, the F-8 was called “The last gunfighter.” This firepower, combined with its high thrust-to-weight ratio and with its good maneuverability, made the Crusader a good dogfighter.

The Crusader showed its ability in close combat during the Vietnam war, especially on Dec. 14, 1967. As explained by Barrett Tilman and Henk van der Lugt in their book VF-11/111 Sundowners, on that day, Lt. Cdr. Richard “Brown Bear” Schaffert, the VF-111 Sundowners operation officer during the 1967 deployment onboard the CV-34 USS Oriskany, were involved in an aerial combat which became a classic dogfight of the jet age, even if it did not result in any MiG kill. Schaffert was escorting an A-4E Skyhawk, piloted by Lt Charles Nelson, tasked to an Iron Hand anti-SAM (Surface to Air Missile) mission in the area between Hanoi and Haiphong, when “Brown Bear” saw two MiG-17s (“Fresco” based on their NATO designation).

Read more here…

History’s Machines: 15 Things You Never Knew About The B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and exceeded the Air Corps’ expectations. Although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing’s design that they ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances.

Learn the 15 facts here…

Follow the war as it happenend (November 17, 1944): Just another day for 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron
Out in the remoteness of the Pacific the prospects of survival for any downed pilot were never going to be good. With the arrival of the USAAF 2nd Emergency Squadron flying out of Pitoe Strip in Morotai ( now Indonesia), the odds improved. Using OA-10A’s (equivalent to Navy PBY-5A’s) the Second Emergency Rescue Squadron retrieved over 300 airmen from death or capture during the first six months of its activity.

For the crew of the 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron flying boats, 17 November 1944 was a day like many others over the wide expanse of the ocean and remote islands. For Ensign John Drex, USNR it was to be very memorable, and he himself seems to have had quite a tale to tell: Continue story here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

November 14, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Friday, November 14, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

Remembering History Makers: Internet Rallies For 107-Year-Old WWII Vet Who Worried No One Would Attend His Funeral
Before Roscoe Cassidy died last week, the WWII veteran was concerned no one would attend his funeral. He needn’t have worried.

Cassidy, who died last Tuesday at 107, told his family he’d outlived so many of his friends there’d be no one left to show up at his funeral, reports WAVE. Thanks to groups like the Patriot Guard and Reddit, dozens of well-wishers attended Cassidy’s service on Saturday, armed with American flags and salutes.

“It’s important for us to be at these funerals and to support these veterans and show them that somebody cares and show the community that they’ve got a lot of people behind them,” Patriot Guard State Captain Danny Valentine told WKYT, explaining his group’s mission. Roscoe’s son, Mike, told Lex18 his dad “loved his shot of moonshine every day and he said that was his secret to life.” As for the strangers who came to see him off, Mike says “I think it would bring tears to [Roscoe’s] eyes. He would just be so pleased.” Read more here…

These Trees Do Talk: Tree Carvings Help Date World War II Site in Poland
Near the forest where trenches were discovered, are the remains bunkers built by the Germans shortly before World War II. The Międzyrzecz Fortification Region was a system of fortifications created by the Germans to defend the eastern borders of the Third Reich. It was built in the years 1934 – 1944. It did not play a large role during World War II, as the Nazis retreated earlier before the Soviet troops.

A few dozen carvings have been discovered on the beech trees. The researchers divided them into three groups. Those belonging to the first group were made even before the last world war. Dates that appear include “1915”, “1925”, “1930”, accompanied by initials, including one instance of initials with a heart surrounding them. The second group are the carvings associated with the period of World War II. The third group consists of carvings from the period after 1945. Among them is a Polish name and the date 1966/67. The most interesting were the inscriptions from the World War II period. Read more here…

Nisei Veterans: Fallen Japanese-American WWII are remembered
The Nisei Veterans Legacy Center has hosted an annual event honoring fallen WWII Japanese-American soldiers and their families since 2006. This year’s ceremony was held on the morning of September 28th, 2014 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, otherwise know as Punchbowl Cemetery.

Those recognized included troops who died in the line of duty while serving in four segregated units including: the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the 1399 Engineer Construction Battalion and the Military Intelligence Service. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, there were over 20,000 Americans of Japanese Ancestry who served in these units, the Eye Witness News reports. Read more here…

History Maker: As rear gunner, Martin Charters flew 40 missions under heavy fire is finally honored
As a so-called ‘Tail-end Charlie’ – a rear gunner in a World War Two bomber plane – Martin Charters had the most dangerous job in the most dangerous part of the UK’s armed forces. Not only did he survive almost 40 raids in the flak-filled skies over heavily defended Nazi-occupied Europe, he has now reached the age of 93. Now his service has been recognised with a special ceremony to award him a Bomber Command clasp.

It took so long for the government to honour the actions of the wartime bomber air crews that many of the Killyleagh man’s comrades did not live long enough to get the special clasps which have only been issued over the past two years. Moral questions over the bombing of residential areas in German cities 70 years ago meant that in post-war Britain the work of Bomber Command was never officially recognised by the authorities until the Queen backed moves by Prime Minister David Cameron for the Bomber Command Clasp in 2012. Read more here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

November 10, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Monday, November 10, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

Tales from History: Canadian Museum for Human Rights Shares Oral Histories
A new museum in Canada’s western prairies has amassed a unique collection of personal stories from genocide survivors, human rights defenders and others, and wants to share them.

Dedicated to the 60-year-old notion of human rights, a singular but intricate ideal, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba will open its doors on November 11.

It was conceived by now-deceased mogul Izzy Asper, who once controlled CanWest Global Communications Corp, one of the world’s largest media empires.

Over the past 15 years, the project has attracted both praise and protests, mostly from groups disappointed that their stories would not be included.

Read more here…

Remains of Vietnam veteran returned to family

He left Kenosha, Wisconsin, nearly 50 years ago to serve in Vietnam, but never returned home.

Missing in action all these years, James Vanbendegom is finally coming home. Watch the video here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

November 7, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Friday, November 7, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

Historical Reflections: Sword Beach – Seventy Years On It’s Time To Tell Their Story
What is On Sword Beach?
On Sword Beach is an independent feature film; a coming of age drama following four young soldiers during World War II as they travel across the remote English countryside in pursuit of a fellow soldier wanted for murder.

What begins as a simple and idealistic mission for the four friends soon takes a much darker turn; as they are faced with the complex morals of wartime and a killer whose Nazi-sympathies are far more cruel than they had ever imagined. This first mission quickly serves to mirror their purpose as Allied soldiers, something which is always at the forefront of their minds; the imminently approaching D-Day landings, when our four friends along with thousands more ultimately land together on Sword Beach and are tasked with liberating Western Europe…Read more here.

Historical What If’s: Nazi Files Uncovered: Veterans Established Illegal Army
It has been uncovered that manuscripts and documents had been created by Nazi Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS former members, describing and finalizing a secretive army which was put in place in order to protect Germany from the Soviet Russians.
During the beginning of a basic world peace, after the destruction of WW2, it seems that a tremendously large amount of former Nazis were not at all comfortable with the situation at hand involving Russian governmental instability. Read more here…

History Maker from a Tank: Fury: the real-life tank veteran
Many people are able to watch films set during the Second World War and eat their popcorn with ease. After seven decades, the war is now in that safe box marked “history”, its horrors no more immediate than those of the Battle of Waterloo.

This will be true for most who go to watch Fury, which stars Brad Pitt as the commander of a Sherman tank doing battle in Germany in April 1945. Set over just 24 hours, Fury is a film of many horrors, but they are horrors that happened a long time ago, and a long way away. For a few, though, the film is an all-too-real reminder of a time they’d rather forget. These are the men who have faced the ultimate fear and unimaginable horror, and survived. Today, they live in ordinary homes in ordinary towns through Britain. One such town is Littlehampton in West Sussex, where, in a smart bungalow near to the sea, lives a sprightly 90-year-old called Ken Tout. Read more here…

History’s Discards: Soldiers clear over six tons of explosives from WWII battle site at Bougainville
Australian soldiers have cleared more than six tonnes of unexploded hand grenades and mortars from a World War II battle site on the island of Bougainville, east of Papua New Guinea. The huge haul of munitions came in just the first week of Operation Render Safe 2014. The Australian-led international mission is clearing potentially deadly munitions from the villages and food gardens around Torokina, on the west coast of Bougainville. Read more here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

October 31, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Friday, October 31, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

History in Words: Message from George Patton to US 5th Infantry Division
“Concerning the former operation, I showed the scene of your glorious exploit to a civilian for whom I have the highest esteem. After looking at it for some time he said, “I did not believe there was enough courage in the world to achieve such a victory.” Knowing the Fifth Infantry Division, I was sure you would achieve it and you did.

Now that peace has been re-established I am sure all of you will continue through the remainder of your lives to stand for those great qualities of America which in war you so magnificently demonstrated.” Read more here…

History Awards: WW2 Veteran from New York Receives Medals Nearly 70 Years After Serving
Earnest Love literally had to wait a lifetime for recognition of his efforts during WW2. Nearly 70 years after Love was wounded in a fierce battle during a fierce battle in the pacific he finally received his 8 medals including the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. Love received his 8 decorations in May at the Binghamton office of Congressman Richard Hanna, who helped the veteran get the medals.

Love was only 18 at the time of his enlistment into the New York National Guard in 1939 and later served in the Army’s 27th Infantry Division when the United States entered the war. Love was still with the 27th when they fought alongside the marines on Siapan Island in June 1944 where he was wounded in a fierce battle. He has been accredited with killing over a dozen enemy soldiers on the beach of Siapan, the Fox News reports. Read more here…

Nightmares of History: 28 October 1944: An Italian family arrives in Auschwitz
Italy had a long established Jewish community that was almost completely integrated into society. It was not until late in the Mussolini’s regime that he passed anti-semitic laws. It was only after September 1943, when the Nazis effectively took control of the country, that real persecution began.

The Sonnino family from Genoa managed to evade the arrests and deportations for just over a year. When they were eventually discovered in October 1944 they were almost immediately put on a transport bound directly for Auschwitz.
Piera Sonnino was twenty-two years old when she arrived in Auschwitz with the seven other members of her family. Read more here…

History Under the Sea: U-boat and freighter found off coast of Cape Hatteras
A World War II German U-boat, sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic more than 72 years ago, has been discovered off the coast of North Carolina, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday. The German sub, the U-576, was found at the bottom of the Atlantic 30 miles off Cape Hatteras and just 240 yards from an American merchant ship, the merchant tanker Bluefields, which was part of a 24-ship U.S. convoy heading from Virginia to Key West, Florida, on July 14, 1942.

“This is not just the discovery of a single shipwreck,” said Joe Hoyt, chief scientist of NOAA’s Office of Marine Sanctuaries expedition, which found the vessels. “We have discovered an important battle site that is part of the Battle of the Atlantic. These two ships rest only a few hundred yards apart and together help us interpret and share their forgotten stories.”

Read more here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

October 27, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Monday, October 27, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

History Maker: WWII paratrooper recalls hair-raising time on Corregidor
Frank Keller twisted and contorted, loaded down by more than 100 pounds of equipment. Inside an airplane surrounded by cigarette smoke and pulsating with nervous energy, Keller hoped he would live long enough to defend himself against the entrenched Japanese. Keller was a 21-year-old private first class in D Company of the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team, whose mission was to jump onto and secure the topside of Corregidor, a tiny tadpole-shaped island in the Philippine archipelago. This was Feb. 16, 1945. World War II was raging in the Pacific, with no apparent end in sight. It wasn’t Keller’s first taste of combat, but it would be his toughest.

Read more here…

This Day in History: 27 October 1944: Wounded and on the run in occupied Holland
After being wounded quite severely in the stomach during the fighting at Arnhem, Brigadier John Hackett had been fortunate to receive the attention of a gifted Dutch surgeon while in German custody. He had only narrowly avoided euthanasia by a German doctor who thought him a hopeless case. Despite the very significant injury and the need for a long recovery the Dutch underground had managed to smuggle him out of the hospital and into hiding.
Hackett was now completely reliant on his Dutch saviours. His memoir describes how they went to enormous risks to nurse him back to health and help him…

Read more here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

October 24, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Friday, October 24, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

Honoring History: U.S. Veteran Fulfills Lifelong Dream by Honoring Russians Who Liberated Him During WWII
It took 69 years, but U.S. Army veteran Leroy Williamson finally made it to Moscow this week to honor the Russians who had liberated him from a Nazi prisoner of war camp near the end of World War II. Fulfilling a lifelong dream at age 93, Williamson laid a wreath Wednesday at the Monument to the Allies at Moscow’s Park Pobedi. In an emotional speech, he said he had the “extreme honor” to thank the 44th Guards Red Banner “Baranovichi” Rifle Division for liberating the 9,200 prisoners of war in 1945. “One of my greatest hopes in my life has been to honor those Russian soldiers who rescued more than 9,000 POWs on May 1, 1945 at Stalag Luft 1,” said Williamson, a proud Texan. “And I feel that my dream has been realized today.”

Read more here…

Bringing a History Maker Home: Remains of WWII pilot recovered in Italy
It is a 70-year-old mystery that began in the Midstate and just this week, halfway around the world, it began to yield clues. An excavation site in Italy turned up remnants of a plane and remains of a pilot believed to be Captain Arthur Halfpapp of Steelton. Halfpapp was in the Army Air Corp and was piloting a P-47 Thunderbolt in April 1945 when he crashed in the Po River Valley. Halfpapp and the plane were never recovered. Until now, according an Italian blog post that posted photos of the site and its findings including Halfpapp’s dog tags.

Read more here…

Saving History: Tips for Student Oral Histories
Oral histories are a wonderful way to make history come alive in the classroom and are an important way to preserve personal stories for future generations. Much like a museum collects artifacts, oral history interviews are a way for students and others to “collect” and record an individual’s memories about their life and historic events. Whether you are a teacher who currently has your students conduct interviews with veterans, or one who is thinking about creating a project like this, The National WWII Museum has some helpful oral history tips for you.

Read more here…

This Day in History: 21 October 1944: HMAS Australia hit by Kamikaze plane
Among the 700 ships in the invasion force that crowded the sea off the Phillipines was an Australian force including the cruiser HMAS Australia, fellow cruiser HMAS Shropshire and a number of destroyers and support ships. On this day she suffered the first assault that led to her being amongst the most ‘kamikazied’ ships in the Allied fleet during the war.

The pilot of the plane crashed onto the HMAS Australia is not believed to have been ordered to make the attack, but acted on his own initiative. The first ‘official’ Kamikaze attacks would not come until a few days later, when attacks began at the instigation of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Nor was this the first time that Japanese pilots had committed suicide in this way, there had already been a number of cases where this was apparent.

Read more here…

Living in History: Luxury Homes Made from WWII Bunker
At the site of a former RAF base in Oxfordshire, a WWII bunker has been renovated in order to create two high-cost luxury homes. Each of the homes costs nearly half a million pounds, having been refurbished to create a very different atmosphere than what one might generally associate with such a building. Each of the homes now boasts an open living space, far different from the relatively dreary conditions of the original WWII bunker.

The homes are located on a site in Caversfield, which was once home to a Royal Air Force base during the Second World War. Built near Bicester, Oxfordshire, the original building was made strong enough to maintain its structural integrity in the event that the site was subjected to bombings, gas attacks, or even chemical warfare. TheWWII bunker had incredibly sturdy walls, with a thickness of about four feet. As with most shelters of its type, the building was made without windows. When the large building was first built, all of the walls were bare and the floor was relatively muddy. In short, it was not the sort of building in which one might choose to live.

Read more here…

Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.

October 20, 2014

Weekly Review for U.S. Veterans for Monday, October 20, 2014

Here are some recent articles of interest that I found this week for U.S. Veterans. Enjoy!

WHO-Tube: Germany after the War, 1945-49
This powerful documentary explores the condition of Germany when the fighting stopped in 1945 and the subsequent four years of occupation and reconstruction. Views are taken from all sides, but German voices are given predominance. With some remarkable footage and moving testimony, this film is an important addition to the history of post-war Europe.

Read more here…

History’s Heroes: Italian Village Honors WWII US Bomber Pilots
Residents of an Italian village situated near the crash site of a WWII US bomber honor the two pilots of the ill-fated war plane nearly 70 years on.
Almost 7 decades ago, the WWII US Bomber B-25 Mitchell dubbed Maybe retained damages while in a bomb run near Trento at the height of the Second World War. The two American pilots at the war plane’s helm kept it steady until after the five other crew members were able to bail out. However, they did so at the expense of their own lives.

The crippled WWII US bomber slammed on to a northern Italian mountain killing the two pilots — Pilot Earl Remmel and co-pilot Leslie Speer.

Read more here…

Historical Friendships: World War II enemies become friends 70 years later
70 years ago, Arno Whitbread and Josef Hoettel were fighting against each other in a war that would change the framework of the world. On Saturday, they shook hands and met each other for the first time.Whitbread, 94, was a glider infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II, among the first troops to invade Normandy. He continued on with Allied forces through the rest of France and into the Netherlands and Germany during the rest of the war in Europe.Josef Hoettel, 90, was drafted into the German Army on his 18th birthday and served in Italy for most of the war before being taken prisoner by the Americans writes the detroitnews.com.

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History Book Reviews: A Foot Soldier for Patton Book Review | World War II Database
George Patton was a larger-than-life figure who many Americans continued to idolize through the recent years. I had a classmate who, upon learning that I had an interest in WW2 history, told me that “my grandfather said he was with Patton”; such simple sentence, lacking any description, showed the veteran’s pride in having fought under Patton’s command and his belief that simply nothing else needed to be said in order to make his point. When I thought of Patton, however, I would conjure up an image of tanks dashing forth, with the infantrymen being an after thought of sorts. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why US 2nd Infantry Regiment veteran Michael Bilder wanted to tell his story fighting from foxholes and in barns with A Foot Soldier for Patton.

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Eisenhower’s Jeep: Yours for just 3/4 of a million dollars!!
In a private collection for nearly 40 years and restored sympathetically to its original condition including its leather seats.

Presented to General Eisenhower in October 1946, along with an apartment in Culzean Castle on the West Coast of Scotland for his lifetime use. This was by way of thanks from the people of Scotland for his help and support during World War II. I have full provenance with this jeep by way of letters from the General and his aid and also from the National Trust of Scotland, who bought the jeep for him.

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Recovering the fallen: German soldiers killed during bloody Second World War Brandenburg battle are excavated
Still wearing their boots and helmets, and carrying their artillery, the bodies of German soldiers who died in the Battle of the Seelow Heights have finally been rescued from their wartime fate.

The battle was part of the Soviet assault on Berlin, lasting three days in April 1945.

Almost a million soldiers of the Red Army under the command of Marshal Georgi Zhukov, attacked the position known as the Gates of Berlin. Defending the German position were just 110,000 soldiers of the 9th Army.

Seelow Heights was where some of the most bitter fighting in the overall battle took place. Fighting began in the early hours of April 16 with a massive bombardment by thousands of artillery weapons.

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Thank you for reading (and sharing). Stay tuned for next week’s weekly review for U.S. Veterans.