Real Soldiers
Valor Friday
This week Captain Larry Taylor was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War. Let’s see why he’s been belatedly honored. Larry Taylor grew up in the St Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee. His roots in the area extend back generations. His great-great-grandfather had served in the Civil War, his great-uncle […]
Valor Friday
Born in 1696, Samuel Whittemore is perhaps one of the most interesting characters of the American Revolution. This may be surprising, as the oldest man among the Founding Fathers is accepted to be Benjamin Franklin, nearly a decade younger than Whittemore. Whittemore owned a farm in Menotomy, Massachusetts. Menotomy would eventually be renamed Arlington, as […]
Belgian Beer Bearing Battered Bastard of Bastogne dies, age 98
We talked about Private Vince Speranza several years back, and his cheeky brand of “aid and comfort to the wounded” during the 101st’s legendary stand during the Battle of the Bulge. The above pictured beer was made by the locals decades later in his honor. Unfortunately, word came in yesterday that he’d passed away at […]
World War II veteran reunites with 1st love in France 75 years after meeting: ‘You never got out of my heart’
I’ll just leave this here, its a few years old now but still a great story: K.T. Robbins, 97, of Mississippi, was visiting Normandy for the 75th anniversary celebrations for D-Day, and he had one wish — to reunite with the girl he’d left in France, but never forgotten. In 1944, Robbins met Jeannine Ganaye in […]
Valor Friday
Sometimes while writing one of my articles, someone in the comments surprises the heck out of me and mentions a personal connection to a subject. In the case of Larry Thorne/Lauri Allen Torni, we have a longtime member whose father was his commanding officer and friend for a while. For last week’s article, another longtime […]
Patton death anniversary
Today, beside being the Winter Solstice and the traditional shortest day of the year, marks the anniversary of the death of one of our greats, George S. Patton, Jr. in 1945. Arguably the greatest armor commander in any army, he was 60. Patton was paralyzed in an auto accident on Dec. 9. “Old […]
Military Times Foundation’s Soldier of the Year is a Stud
Maj. Nicholas Dockery is one of only two U.S. officers to receive two Silver Star’s post in the 9/11 era (the other is SEAL CDR Stone, since deceased). His resume is equally as distinguishe: two Purple Hearts, two other awards with ‘C’ devices indicating they were received for combat action, he’s led an Operational Detachment […]
D-Day 77 years ago
Seventy-seven years ago was 6 June, 1944. It’s a good day to re-read some of our old articles on the topic of Operation Overlord which commenced that day, better known as D-Day. Overlord was the Allied invasion of Fortress Europe on the coast of Normandy. It would be a marked success and the largest amphibious […]
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