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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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Valor Friday

| July 5, 2024 | 7 Comments
Valor Friday

It’s the spring of 1862. The United States has been cleaved in two, with the southern states secceeding from the Union a year previously. With Lincoln in the White House, the Union is waging a war to reunite the country. The Civil War was in its infancy, but already the war had claimed more American […]

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Biden to award two MoHs tomorrow

| July 2, 2024 | 29 Comments
Biden to award two MoHs tomorrow

On Wednesday, 3 July, two of Andrews’ Raiders will receive posthumous Medals of Honor for their role in the successful Union raid. Prior to this, Lieutenant (Brevet Lieutenant Colonel) Alonzo Cushing was the Medal of Honor recipient most divorced from the date of action (3 July 1863) and date of award (19 December 2014), at […]

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Valor Friday

| June 28, 2024 | 115 Comments
Valor Friday

I don’t have the time this week to devote to a proper Valor Friday column, so I thought we could have a little fun with some celebrities and their military records (some that might surprise you). We all know that Mr. Rogers was a body stacking Navy SEAL in Vietnam, but he wasn’t. He was […]

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