Real Soldiers
Valor Friday
Continuing my series of people have fought for more than one army in modern times, this one is a doozy. Buckle up for the tale of Ivor Thord-Gray. Born Thord Ivar Hallström in 1878 in Stockholm, Sweden, he would later change his name to Gray in 1899 and to Ivor Thord-Gray in 1917. In 1893 […]
Merrill Marauder receives Congressional Gold Medal, dies that night
Poetrooper sends in the sad, but heartwarming story of Raleigh Nayes. He received the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of his old unit, the WWII Merrill’s Marauders. He was only one of three of the roughly 3,000 men that served in the unit that were still alive. The Marauders were a special operations force in […]
Army officer receives promotion to BG 100 years after his death
Here’s an interesting one. Charles Young is an inspiring historical figure. Born to enslaved parents in 1864 Kentucky he would become one of the first black men to attend West Point (scoring second-highest on the entrance exam). His father had escaped slavery in 1865 and served with the 5th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment […]
Valor Friday
On 9 April 1940, the Nazi German Wehrmacht launched an invasion of Norway. This was just a few months after the Invasion of Poland which set the world to war, just days before the Battle of France that would see that country fall to German control, which itself was followed by Operation Barbarossa (the Invasion […]
80 years ago today
Boomer reminds us that it was 80 years ago today that then-Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle led 80 men in 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers off the deck of USS Hornet. It was, from the outset, to be essentially a suicide mission. After bombing Tokyo, there were no plans to be recovered by American forces. At […]
General Charles Boyd passes, aged 83
Boomer sends word on the passing of an Air Force legend. General Charles Boyd, highly decorated for his time in Vietnam, has died at age 83. Commissioning in 1959, he went on to beccome a fighter pilot first flying F-100 Super Sabres and then F-105 Thunderchiefs. If would be in the latter airframe that he […]
“Russian warship go fuck yourself” Guard returns home a hero
Apparently the Ukrainian Border Guards from Snake Island, who famously told the Russian Navy to go fornicate themselves rather than surrender, have been repatriated after being taken captive. The man above, Roman Hrybov (alternately spelled Gribov, on right), was honored upon his return home. It had previously been reported that Gribov and the other guardsmen […]
Valor Friday
This week’s article subject comes by way of a request from Ex-PH2. He’s a man worth remembering, that’s for sure. Dwight Johnson was born in Detroit in 1947. He never knew his father. His mother raised him and his younger brother in a housing project in the Motor City. Along the way he got the […]
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