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Military Campaign Stories

Service Reflections of Sgt Frank Vanacore , U.S. Marine Corps (1958-1964)

Service Reflections of Sgt Frank Vanacore , U.S. Marine Corps (1958-1964)

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I had a cousin who is a Marine. He was on Embassy duty somewhere in Germany or Austria, I believe. I was a senior in high school at the time and didn’t know the time that he was a Mustang. I still don’t know all the details. When I decided college wasn’t for me, I decided to join the service. I picked the Marine Corps because of my cousin. I asked him for some advice on boot camp. I still remember his words, “Keep your ears open and your mouth shut.” Great advice, and it worked. I do know that he retired as a Major and still lives in Orange County, California.

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Valentine’s Day by Charles A. Van Bibber

Valentine’s Day by Charles A. Van Bibber

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In the late nineteen sixties, the author made a life-altering journey that led him out of Texas and into the U.S. Marine Corps and eventually into the jungles of Vietnam as a machine gunner during the tumultuous year 1968.   'Valentine's Day' (so named because Van Bidder's unit, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, departed Camp Pendleton for Vietnam on February 14, 1968) is a very excellent read.  What makes it so is the straightforward accounting by the author on the horror, boredom, camaraderie, humor, heroism he witnessed. He also is brutally honest about his own discomfort with war in general. However, this is not just an account of Marines in combat; it's also looks at changes in participants affected by war. This is true of every war that has ever been waged. For the warriors of old and those veterans of Vietnam and the Middle East, the war touched their lives forever, leaving an indelible mark in their hearts and minds. Van Bibber's book reflects this reality...

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Vietnam War – LZ Hereford (1966)

Vietnam War – LZ Hereford (1966)

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Twenty-three Montagnard mercenaries led by Special Forces Sergeants Burton Adams and David Freeman moved quietly through the front gate of the Vinh Thanh Special Forces camp on May 15, 1966, and slipped into the early morning darkness and light fog. Like other patrols sent out over the past week, they were hoping to find anything that would confirm a captured Viet Cong's claim that a combined North Vietnamese Army/Viet Cong force would soon attack their camp. The patrol members moved to the shores of the Song Con River, climbed into small boats and paddled across the deep river making as little noise as possible. On the other side, they picked up a trail heading northeast toward the high, green mountains shrouded in thick morning clouds. Within several hundred yards, the trail narrowed and became steeper and more heavily vegetated. The night slowly gave way to daylight. Troops Landed at LZ Hereford for a Critical Mission The men drew their machetes to cut through the tangle of vines...

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The Curse of the Willy Dee

The Curse of the Willy Dee

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The crew of the USS William D. Porter should have had better things to do than worry about some silly "curse." The ship was a Fletcher-class destroyer, one of more than a thousand warships built after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the United States was fighting a world war. But many of the crew were more concerned with surviving the ship, and not the war. The "Willy Dee" (as it came to be called) appeared to be cursed almost from the day it was launched. Willy Dee Earns a Cursed Reputation While an argument could certainly be made about the ship's bad luck, there are myriad stories to be found online that only seem to pile onto the Willy Dee's no good bad days. The truth can be hard to suss out, but rest assured – the USS William D. Porter had its share of hard luck. Readers can decide for themselves if it was an actual curse.  The vessel's first real mission came in November 1943. The USS William D. Porter was assigned to escort the battleship USS Iowa as it ferried...

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WW2 – The Battle of Iwo Jima

WW2 – The Battle of Iwo Jima

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Japan’s ambition as a world power began in the late 1800s, but lacking in raw materials (oil, iron, and rubber) necessary to make it a reality, it seized material-rich colonies and islands. Ensuring they kept what they seized, Japan established naval and army bases throughout the Pacific. Following long-standing complaints from the United States about their laying claims on territories that did not belong to them, Japan’s military leaders unwisely decided to attack America, beginning with the infamous surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the naval officer, tasked with planning and carrying out the attack, said: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” His insightful prophecy became a horrible reality for Japan.

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Chiune Sugihara – Japanese Schindler Helped 5,580 Jews Escape The Holocaust

Chiune Sugihara – Japanese Schindler Helped 5,580 Jews Escape The Holocaust

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Although Japan was one of the Axis Powers during WWII, one Japanese diplomat did his best to mitigate the horrors of his country's ally, Nazi Germany. Before the war ended, he saved thousands of Jews from concentration camps but ended up selling lightbulbs in order to survive. Chiune Sugihara Helped Jews Escape Lithuania Chiune Sugihara was first assigned to Harbin, China in the early 1930s as Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister where he learned German and Russian. Despite a promising career, he resigned his post in protest over how his country treated the Chinese. Due to his experience and linguistic abilities, however, he was reassigned in 1939 to Kaunas, Lithuania as vice-consul; though his real job was to report on German and Soviet movements. Japan never trusted either country, which is why Sugihara also maintained ties with Polish Intelligence. After the Soviet invasion of Lithuania on June 15, 1940, the Japanese consulate began dismantling itself since they already had an embassy...

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Five Myths About The Vietnam War

Five Myths About The Vietnam War

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Ken Burns and Lynn Novick say their multi-part PBS documentary about the Vietnam War was intended to unpack a complex conflict and to embark upon the process of healing and reconciliation. The series has catapulted the Vietnam War back into the national consciousness. But despite thousands of books, articles and films about this moment in our history, there remain many deeply entrenched myths about the Vietnam War. How the Vietnam War Revealed Viet Cong’s True Strength "Vastly superior in tools and techniques, and militarily dominant over much of the world," historian Ronald Aronson wrote about the hegemonic United States and the impudent rebels, "the Goliath sought to impose on David a peace favorable to his vision of the world." Recode recently compared the Viet Cong to Uber: "young, scrappy and hungry troops break rules and create new norms, shocking the enemy." In reality, the Viet Cong, the pro-North force in South Vietnam, was armed by both North Vietnam - which planned,...

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MSG Jerry M. Shriver, U.S. Army (1962–1969)

MSG Jerry M. Shriver, U.S. Army (1962–1969)

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When Jerry Shriver left the United States for Vietnam, the only reason he ever came home was because the Army forced him to get some R&R. Even then, Shriver spent his time stateside talking tactics with fellow soldiers and looking for weapons to use in his unconventional, often personal war against the communists of Southeast Asia. He earned the nickname "Mad Dog" from Radio Hanoi for his fierce raids into enemy territory, his ability to fight his way out, and his refusal to use long-barreled weapons, instead preferring a short-range fight. Jerry Shriver Became a Legend Before Disappearing It was when the Army believed it had located the communists' Central Office for South Vietnam – the long-hunted holy grail of enemy targets – inside Cambodia that Shriver met an uncertain fate. His name lives on as a fabled, legendary member of the Army's Special Forces, but sadly, his remains have never been recovered.  Shriver joined the Army in his late teenage years, first becoming a...

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Cpl William Thomas Perkins Jr., U.S.M.C. (1966-1967) – Vietnam War Combat Photographer

Cpl William Thomas Perkins Jr., U.S.M.C. (1966-1967) – Vietnam War Combat Photographer

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The only Medal of Honor to be awarded to a combat photographer is now on display in the Medal of Honor Gallery in the "Price of Freedom" exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. William Perkins Jr’s Medal of Honor at the Smithsonian Marine Cpl. William Thomas Perkins Jr. died at the age of 20 on Oct. 12, 1967, when he flung himself on a grenade to preserve the lives of three other Marines during Operation Medina, a Marine search and destroy operation in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. The Marine Corps posthumously awarded him the Medal of Honor for "his gallant actions." Perkins' mother, Marilane Perkins Jacobson of Lexington, Ky., donated the medal, her son's letters and other personal effects to the museum's permanent Armed Forces Collections in 2015. "I didn't want his possessions to end up in somebody's brown box in a basement," Jacobson said. "I figured they should go to the Smithsonian." Perkins' award, his Purple Heart, and photography are exhibited...

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Service Reflections of CDR Allen W. Miller, U.S. Navy (1967-2010)

Service Reflections of CDR Allen W. Miller, U.S. Navy (1967-2010)

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My dad, who had served in the Army’s 100th Infantry as part of a mortar crew, serving in the southwestern region of Germany in 1944-45, suggested that if I had to go (I had received my draft notice in the fall of 1966), then anything would be better than the Army. His reasoning was that it was better to die in a clean bunk than a dirt foxhole. Upon my return from my initial medical screening at Fort Knox, I knocked on the door of the only recruiter in town —the Navy.

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JD Vance (Cpl. James D. Hamel), U.S. Marine Corps (2003-2007)

JD Vance (Cpl. James D. Hamel), U.S. Marine Corps (2003-2007)

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JD Vance, the Vice President-elect of the United States in 2024, is widely recognized for his bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy and his role as a U.S. Senator from Ohio, has a lesser-known but significant chapter in his life: his service in the United States Marine Corps. This period was a pivotal time for Vance, providing him with discipline and a profound sense of purpose that shaped his future endeavors. JD Vance’s Early Life: From Middletown to the Marines James David Vance was born on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, a town struggling with the decline of the American manufacturing industry. His early life was marked by significant challenges, including his parents' divorce and his mother's battles with drug and alcohol addiction. Eventually, his mother changed his middle name to David, and he took on his mother’s maiden name, Vance, as his surname.  Vance grew up primarily under the care of his maternal grandparents, who had moved to Middletown from eastern Kentucky's...

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