WWI
Valor Friday
David forwarded this story of heroism in the skies over Europe during the Great War. I’d never heard of William Vail, and agree that this is a great tale to share. From Military.com; Gregory Vail grew up listening to his father’s war stories, watching him struggle with a prosthetic leg and agonizing phantom pain, hearing […]
Valor Friday
Here’s something you might not have heard of, because I hadn’t, and I like to think myself well-versed on the topic of American military history. The above photo is a World War I propaganda poster from the YWCA (which was never made famous like the YMCA, thanks for nothing The Village People). Bet you didn’t […]
The Butt of the Joke?
Seems some folks have to try and go a leetle bit further. Today we look at a French fella who seems to have “fundament”ally broken new ground in his search for fun. A 24-year old French guy hobbled into the Toulouse hospital complaining of pain. I can understand why… Rushed into surgery, the doctors soon […]
We almost lost the Unknown Soldier?
Gonna give a hat-tip to Jeff LPH for this one. Certainly a bit of history they don’t teach very much, if at all. We decided to select an Unknown Soldier to represent the many unidentified war dead from WWI. There were certainly many available – by 1921, there were still 1,237 unidentified. The English had […]
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 […]
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 […]
Note from the Past
Message in a Bottle: Letter From Troops Heading to First World War Floats Home After 109 Years MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Messages in a bottle written by two Australian soldiers a few days into their voyage to the battlefields of France during World War I have been found more than a century later on Australia´s […]
Valor Friday
In honor of the holiday today, let us take a moment to look at some valor awards earned for actions on America’s Independence Day. Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Charles Capehart earned the Medal of Honor on 4 July 1863 at a little place you might have heard of; Gettysburg. Technically, part of the retreat from […]
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