Historical
Valor Friday
The above is an artist’s rendering of what a lone survivor looks like. The plane is “Squawkin’ Chicken”, a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, and on one April day in 1944 it was the only plane from its squadron to return. They set out on a mission with hundreds of other bombers. The mission was especially […]
Valor Friday
After Charlie Kirk’s assassination this week, President Trump announced that he will be posthumously awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I’ve briefly talked about this award in the past, but wanted to delve a bit deeper in this week’s piece. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the highest honors of the American […]
Valor Friday
I wrote about Philip Conran a while back. He’s a personal hero of mine, and the efforts to get his Air Force Cross upgraded to a Medal of Honor continues. News broke a month or so ago that legislation was (again) introduced in Congress to that effect. Closer to home, Conran’s home county of Santa […]
Valor Friday
I talked a while back about one of Norway’s greatest heroes, Captain Gunnar Sønsteby. During World War II, as a member of the Norwegian Resistance, he thrice earned that nation’s highest honor of the War Cross with Swords, among many other awards. The War Cross with Swords is analogous to an American Medal of Honor […]
Valor Friday
For the several thousand men who landed at Normandy on 6 June 1944, many wouldn’t make it to VE Day just shy of one year later. As with the men that fought, the equipment was even more disposable. So it’s unusual that a tank like the M4 Sherman pictured above, named “Bomb”, would make it […]
Valor Friday
If there’s a more Civil War-era name than Galusha Pennypacker, it’s his given name of Uriah Galusha Pennypacker. He was born somewhere in the vicinity of 1840-1844, the dates are uncertain. His gravestone lists 1 June 1842 as a birth year. His family had deep roots in his native Pennsylvania. His great-great-grandfather had immigrated from […]
Valor Friday
I came across the story of Cathay Williams, the only known female Buffalo Soldier, and found it interesting. From the National Park Service; Cathay Williams was born to an enslaved mother and a free father in Independence, Missouri in 1844. During her adolescence, she worked as a house slave on the Johnson plantation on the outskirts of […]
Valor Friday
Here’s a cool story I happened across. Lieutenant Crane’s B-24 Liberator gave out on him over Alaska in the winter. Somehow he managed to survive alone, for months, and walked his way to rescue. It’s a story that sounds worthy of a movie. From Military.com; How This Airman Survived 3 Months in the Alaskan Wilderness […]
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