RSSHistorical

Name that ribbon rack

| August 20, 2024 | 35 Comments
Name that ribbon rack

A while back I did a movie magic analysis of a screen used awards rack. As I was cleaning up my computer today I noticed a couple of old pictures I’d tucked away and then completely forgotten about. You may have noticed that the recent hullabaloo around Walz has disrupted some of our regular programming. […]

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And now for something completely different. Woooo woooo!

| August 17, 2024 | 37 Comments
And now for something completely different. Woooo woooo!

Total change of track today – y’know, when much of what you write about is dickheads, losers, and  liars, you start to think everyone is a running politician jerk. So today we go for smiles, for at least a few of you DDWs. The Big Boys were the biggest steam locomotives ever built, weighing in […]

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Valor Friday

| August 16, 2024 | 4 Comments
Valor Friday

Longtime readers will know that I have a soft spot for the heroism of those in the chaplain and medical corps. Today’s feature hits both. A recent Military Times article highlights some of the incredible battlefield bravery of Doctor Orlando Petty. While serving at an aid station at the front, Petty, a Navy doctor attached […]

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Valor Friday

| August 9, 2024 | 10 Comments
Valor Friday

In the first couple of years of World War II, many Americans disagreed with the isolationist stance of the federal government. A lot of young men would hear the call to service pre-war, and enlisted into the American military. The armed forces were rapidly expanding long before the Attack at Pearl Harbor, with America already […]

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Valor Friday

| August 2, 2024 | 5 Comments
Valor Friday

It’s the end of September, 1918. At about the same time that the German high command is trying to tell the Kaiser that they will lose to war and it’s best to capitulate now, an American all-black infantry regiment is attempting to take Hill 188. Hill 188 is a tall, well defended German post overlooking […]

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Valor Friday

| July 26, 2024 | 4 Comments
Valor Friday

You never really know where your military service will take you. That’s especially true in wartime. John Galvin (pictured) was a Naval Aviator during World War II. Serving in the Pacific Theater, he ultimately shot down seven enemy fighters (and thus a fighter Ace) and earned four Distinguished Flying Crosses (among other awards). In the […]

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Valor Friday

| July 19, 2024 | 11 Comments
Valor Friday

I’m currently reading Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart’s memoirs Happy Odyssey, so I figure it’s as good a time as any to refresh everyone on the story of this amazing chap. I also learned a new bit of old British slang. While at an all-boys school, he complained about “fagging“, which is not what you might […]

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Valor Friday

| July 12, 2024 | 9 Comments
Valor Friday

Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis of Staten Island, NY was on his last day in Afghanistan. It was his third combat deployment, and he was only 24 years old. He’d enlisted seven years prior in the Army infantry, getting his parents’ permission to enlist at 17. Soon after he saw Iraq and then Afghanistan, with this […]

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