WWII
Valor Friday
In my studies on the topic of military valor, I’ve become acquainted with the various awards issued by our allies, or at least their top-level decorations. I’ve become quite familiar with the British (and by extension Commonwealth) awards and decorations. The British system is complex, with both civil and military medals as well as other […]
Valor Friday
For fighter pilots, downing five enemy aircraft makes one an “Ace.” During World War II, the tank became a major fixture of land warfare. Though introduced in World War I to power over trenches and through the obstructions erected in No Man’s Land, the tank faced significant growing pains. By the time of the Second […]
WWII crash site ID’ed
2LT Lester Lowry was a fresh pilot on January 26, 1944 when he took off in his P-47 in Essex. He never returned. Not an unusual story leader – we lost lots of pilots in WWII, especially over Europe, and between horrendous crashes and losses over water many have never been recovered. DPAA says […]
Valor Friday
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) is one of the most decorated of all American military units. They received eight Presidential Unit Citations (five of them in a single month), and 21 men of the unit received the Medal of Honor. They did this in less than two years. The 442nd RCT was made up […]
Valor Friday
Born in 1912 in Portland, Oregon, Hazel Ying Lee was the child of Chinese immigrants. The family owned a Chinese restaurant, and Hazel was one of eight kids. As a kid she played ball, swam, and was an avid card player. After high school in 1929 she took a job as an elevator operator at […]
Valor Friday
Today’s article is a little different. Paul Douglas was a 50 year old man when he enlisted into the Corps to fight in World War II. The he begged for a combat role. Talk about hardcore. Military.com has the story; At 50, He Survived Marine Boot Camp — Then Fought at Peleliu and Okinawa When […]
Tuesday reunion, Friday suggestion
Eighty-three years ago, April 13 August 27, 1942, a Marine automatic rifleman named Robert Joseph Budd was killed on Guadalcanal, along with his best friend Thomas Phillips, and both were buried there. The next morning, the friends were buried side by side in a coconut grove. A burial party noted a broken-down fence as a […]
Jessie Mahaffey, USS Oklahoma survivor, passes
Not sure how we may have missed this at the time, but Jessie A. Mahaffey, a seaman on the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor, passed May 1 at the age of 102. Mahaffey joined the Navy in the summer of 1941 after graduating high school in Louisiana. After attending boot camp in San Diego, […]
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