A Fortress in the Sky If you’ve ever wondered why the B-17 Flying Fortress earned its legendary reputation for toughness, look no further than the story of the All American. On February 1, 1943, this bomber and its ten-man crew took off from Biskra, Algeria on a mission to strike German supply lines near Tunis.
B-17 Flying Fortress survival story: A Bomber That Shouldn’t Have Made It Home Read More »
Don’t Be a Sucker (1947) is a powerful U.S. Army propaganda film that warns how hate, fear, and scapegoating can undermine democracy from within. Created just after World War II, the film uses an everyday café conversation to expose how fascist ideas take root and why vigilance, critical thinking, and civic responsibility are essential to preserving freedom.
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On December 23, 1944, twenty-five German POWs tunneled out of Camp Papago Park near Phoenix, Arizona, in the largest Axis prisoner escape on U.S. soil during World War II.
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William Clark Gable (1901-1960) was born to a protestant father working as an oil well driller and a catholic mother who died when he was 10 months old. As a young man, he worked at oil fields and as a horse manager until he gradually broke into the world of theater and screen acting. By
Clark Gable – WWII B-17 Aerial Gunner Read More »
Bill Mauldin was more than a wartime cartoonist—he was a frontline infantryman who captured the humor, hardship, and truth of the common soldier. Through his famous characters Willie and Joe, Mauldin gave voice to the mud-covered dogfaces of World War II and forever changed how the war was remembered.
Bill Mauldin: The Soldier Who Drew the War Read More »
The real life Desmond Doss. Desmond Thomas Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1919. During the Great Depression, he stopped attending school after the ninth grade to help out his family, working in a shipyard when WWII broke out. He could have gotten a deferment due to his employment, but he wanted to serve
Desmond Doss, the Pacifist Who Went to War Read More »
The U.S. Army Parachute Test Platoon: Quiet Heroes of a Military Revolution In the grand narrative of American military history, few units have left such a powerful legacy with so little public recognition as the US Army Parachute Test Platoon. Born in 1940 amidst rising global tensions, this elite 50-man unit ignited the spark that would
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Jumping on the night of D-Day, the 82nd Airborne had to capture the town of Sainte-Mère-Église. Holding the town, however, would have meant little without also holding the roads to and from it. One such route had a bottleneck: the La Fière Bridge a small stone bridge at La Fière manor, 700 yards to the west
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Dead Man’s Corner: The 101st Airborne and the Battle for Carentan After D-Day After the Allied landings on D-Day, the mission wasn’t over once the beaches were secured. The hard-fought push inland through the Normandy countryside began immediately. Troops had to capture key crossroads and towns to link up the separate beachheads and expand the
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The failure of the Dieppe Raid in 1942 made it clear for Allied war planners that the Invasion of Normandy had to be prepared as thoroughly as possible. One important part of this preparation was Exercise Tiger, a nine-day secret live fire rehearsal held in April, 1944. Exercise Tiger was held along the British coast
Exercise Tiger: The Slapton Sands Disaster Read More »
