WWII
Vaughn Drake Jr. died, age 106
Probably asking yourself “Who is Vaughn Drake”? I was…and then found he was believed to be the oldest Pearl Harbor survivor extant. Not a huge surprise at 106; that age stands out in almost any crowd. Vaughn Drake Jr., an esteemed Central Kentuckian believed to be the oldest survivor of the 1941 attack on Pearl […]
DPAA, Arlington
We’ve often referred to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and the tremendous work they do identifying the remains of our fallen. Last Friday, April 4th, a C-20G jet landed at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, carrying the remains of 80 Marines killed in the battle for Guadalcanal. The plane was greeted by […]
Another bomber found
The wreck of an Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Martin 187 “Baltimore” bomber lost in WWII has been found in the Aegean in 61 meter-deep water after 82 years. They were returning from a photo-reconnaissance mission December 3, 1943, when they were attacked by two Messerschmidt Bf-109 fighters and shot down. Three of the multinational […]
WWII Bletchley vet dies
Some of you are probably aware of Bletchley Park, the World War II British code-breaking site. Like the OSS was the ancestor of our CIA, Bletchley can be considered the parent of the Brits’ version of NSA, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). I suspect from some of the comments that several of you DWs […]
Three vets pass on
Joe Harris, believed to have been the oldest surviving WWII Paratrooper, died March 14 at the young age of 108. 72 jumps before he got out – hardly a 5 jump chump. SGT Harris was a member of A Company of the 555th Parachute Infantry, aka the “Triple Nickels” or sometimes the “Buffalo Nickels.” They […]
Valor Friday
The humble looking enlisted man you see before you with a CIB has a distinctive little ribbon just below that among his fruit salad. Even without the photo being in color, the brilliant light blue ribbon with its five white stars stands out among the other awards on display. Bill Crawford was a young private […]
Sad end of an era
John “Paddy” Hemingway, 105, the last Battle of Britain pilot, passed away Monday. He joined 85 Squadron flying Hurricanes in December 1938 and went with the squadron to France on the outbreak of war. Based near Lille, the squadron flew sector reconnaissance flights and exercises with the French Air Force during what became known […]
WWII pilot to be laid to rest
1LT Herbert G. Tennyson, a pilot from Wichita, KS will finally be repatriated and laid to rest. In 2017, off the coast of present-day Papua New Guinea, crews were running out of time to find those killed in action in World War II. “We were getting nervous, we didn’t know where this specific plane was,” […]
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