We Remember
Valor Friday
Time for a wee bit of good news for Minnesota. It’s been a rough couple of weeks months years for the state. I spoke about Captain Willibald Bianchi a few months back when it was announced that his remains had been identified and were coming back home. Bianchi you might recall received the Medal of […]
WWII vet identified
This one is a little different than the norm. Meet Luis Gilberto Robledo, originally hailing from El Paso. Robledo’s skeletal remains were discovered close to a SuperAmerica gas station in Albert Lea off Interstate 90 in April 2015. At the time, local detectives thought the cause of death was suspicious. According to the DNA […]
Operation Cowboy
Military.com did a pretty interesting article on the real story of Operation Cowboy. Doesn’t sound familiar? To many of a certain age, “The Miracle of the White Stallions” was an entertaining Disney movie – like anything they did then, a but sanitized, but for Disney, not far from the real story. Let’s open with […]
Valor Friday
During World War II, Ireland remained neutral. This has become a hallmark of Irish foreign policy since they split from Great Britain. Some Irishmen, both from Ireland proper and Northern Ireland (which remains part of the United Kingdom) joined the British military to fight in the war. Today’s story isn’t about any of those men. […]
The Christmas Truce
We’ve all heard of it, the Christmas miracle in 1914. On a cold clear Christmas Eve, German and British troops laid down their arms, sang “Silent Night” and “Kumbaya” together (I know, I know… just setting the mood) and peace reigned across the battle fields. Well, sort of. I had planned a somewhat saccharin retelling […]
Ira Schab, Pearl Harbor survivor, passes
Ira Schab, 105: originally a tuba player in the USS Dobbin’s band, died Saturday. The 21-year old (born July 4, 1920) Mr. Schab expected a quiet Sunday morning. One of his two younger brothers, assigned to a nearby Naval radio station, was coming to visit. Schab had just showered and donned a clean uniform when […]
Valor Friday
I’ve talked about some missions where the bulk of the men earned a valor award. Usually this is for some particularly daring mission, usually by a small group. For example, George Glober‘s entire 10-man B-17 crew received the Distinguished Service Cross for a daring photo reconnaissance mission over the enemy-held Wake Island in 1942. In […]
Valor Friday
Last week I talked a bit about fighter aces. One category of ace that is confined to the First World War is that of balloon ace (aka balloon buster). These are the pilots who took out enemy observation balloons. As with the other categories of ace, a balloon ace shot down at least five enemy […]
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