Military Campaign Stories

PFC Ross Andrew McGinnis, U.S. Army (2004–2006)

Global War on Terror, Profiles in Courage

On the afternoon of Dec. 4, 2006, a Humvee rolled through the narrow streets of Adhamiya, a tense neighborhood in northeast Baghdad. It was one of hundreds of patrols that had blurred together for the men of 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment. The mission that day was the same as it had been for months: show presence, deter sectarian violence, and make it just a little harder for insurgents to own the streets. Ross Andrew McGinnis Grew Up Wanting to Be a Soldier In the turret, behind the big Ma Deuce machine gun, stood a 19-year-old private first class from Pennsylvania: Ross Andrew McGinnis. He was tall and lanky, with a kid's face that didn't look old enough for combat gear. By the time he reached Baghdad, everyone knew his backstory. When he was in Kindergarten, his teacher told the class to draw what they wanted to be when they grew up. McGinnis drew a soldier. He meant it. He joined the Army on his 17th birthday through the Delayed Entry Program, went...

94th Fighter Squadron

Famous Military Units, World War I

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."Eddie Rickenbacker, Major, USAAS The 94th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force 1st Operations Group located at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. The 94th’s primary weapon system is the F-22 Raptor at this time. Throughout its full course and its precursor units, the 94th has been assigned to 70 different stations worldwide, and since its inception, has flown 43 different airframes. The 94th was officially the first American squadron representing American air forces to arrive on the WWI Western Front. The emblem design was adopted because it was symbolic of Uncle Sam throwing his hat into the ring—the Squadron insignia, Hat-in-the-Ring, suggested by Capt. Paul M. Walters, Med. Corps Surgeon was adopted, and Lieutenant Wentworth was assigned the task of drawing the proposed insignia. The squadron was previously using the 103's emblem. Just prior to the group’s deployment...

Capturing Skunk Alpha By Raúl Herrera

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

In "Capturing Skunk Alpha: A Barrio Sailor's Journey in Vietnam," author Raúl Herrera does something a lot of Vietnam books promise but very few deliver: he keeps you at "deck level" the whole time and still shows you the bigger war. Capturing Skunk Alpha Brings the War Down to Deck Level On the surface, it's the story of one mission: the July 1967 hunt for a North Vietnamese resupply trawler, codenamed "Skunk Alpha," and the small Swift Boat, PCF-79, that helped stop it cold off the coast of Quang Ngai. A Navy patrol plane spots a "suspicious trawler" heading toward a shoreline with no port as a four-ship task force forms inside the 12-mile limit. When warnings are ignored, PCF-79 is ordered to open fire, leading to a nighttime ship-to-ship brawl that ends with the trawler forced aground at the mouth of the Sa Ky River, more than 90 tons of ammunition and supplies denied to VC and NVA forces. That alone would justify a book; it's the kind of compact, kinetic action story that...

Service Reflections of CMCS Daniel McKinnon, U.S. Navy (1976-1997)

Cold War, Navy Reflections

My decision to join the Navy was heavily influenced by my stepfather, a seasoned World War II and Korean War Navy veteran who retired as a Boatswain’s Mate First Class (BM1). After my mother remarried, he was transferred from the Navy shipyard in Boston to the Navy shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, just when I started high school, and it was not an easy transition for me. During my senior year of high school, his no-nonsense advice was clear: he strongly encouraged me to enlist, telling me to visit the recruiter because, upon graduating from high school, I’d need to leave his house. His experience as a crusty old salt and his ‘firm guidance’ (nice way of saying it) steered me toward a Navy enlistment.

Sgt Alvin York – An Unlikely Hero

Profiles in Courage, World War I

Alvin Cullum York was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nests, killing at least 25 enemy soldiers, and capturing 132 during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. He was also a conscientious objector. Alvin York Grows Up in Rural Tennessee Shaped by Hardship York was born on December 13, 1887 to William and Mary York of Pall Mall, Tennessee and raised in a two-room log cabin in a rural backwater in the northern section of Fentress County. He was the third oldest of a family of eleven children. Like many families in the county, the York family eked out a hardscrabble existence of subsistence farming supplemented by hunting. York's father, also acted as a part time blacksmith to provide some extra income for the family. In the wake of his father's death in 1911, York, as the eldest still living in the area, was forced to aid his mother in raising his younger siblings. To...

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Send Us More Japs!

Military Myths and Legends, World War II

The defense of Wake Island in December 1941 became one of the only bright spots in a month of disasters for the United States and its Allies in the Pacific. A tiny garrison of Marines, Sailors, Army radiomen, and civilian contractors held out from Dec. 8–23 and even stopped the first Japanese landing attempt cold, sinking two destroyers and inflicting heavy casualties in the process. Early war coverage turned the defenders of the tiny atoll into instant heroes. Wake Island Myth Became A Wartime Rallying Cry Perhaps the most famous line to come out of the siege of Wake Island is an apocryphal reply to a supposed message from higher headquarters. When the defenders of Wake were asked what they needed after their stunning rebuff of the Japanese invasion, the Marines allegedly replied: "Send us more Japs!" It's a killer quote, up there with Gen. Anthony McAuliffe's "Nuts!" answer at Bastogne and Oliver P. Smith's Korean War line about fighting in another direction. But as cool as Wake...

Taco Rice and the Legacy of Marines on Okinawa

Military Myths and Legends, World War II

In 1984, Matsuzo Gibo added traditional Mexican-style spices to ground beef and put the spicy meat mixture on a bed of rice, then added lettuce and shredded cheese. He started selling it from his food stall as a quick lunchtime meal. The simple dish, now known the world over as "taco rice," conquered Okinawa faster and with far less resistance than the U.S. military did during World War II. How Taco Rice Became a Beloved Dish Near Camp Hansen Gibo, who died in 2014, was the owner of the Parlor Senri food stall outside of Camp Hansen's Gate 1 in Kin Town, Okinawa. Being just a mile away from the gate, his primary customer base was U.S. Marines and had been for a long time. The fight for Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II and was also one of the war's bloodiest. On Apr 1, 1945, the United States landed Marines and soldiers on the island. It was the largest amphibious landing of the Pacific War. For a little over three months, the United States, with Allied naval...

Everything You Never Knew About the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Service Reflections of SGT Troy Horn, U.S. Army (1990-2007)

Army Reflections, Global War on Terror

I’ve traced my family history back to the Battle of Hastings – my family has chosen military service for as far back as I have been able to trace. I guess it’s in the blood. But really, my decision to enlist in the Army was deeply shaped by the unwavering support and inspiration from my family and friends. Growing up, I was surrounded by loved ones who valued service, discipline, and patriotism, with many sharing stories of their own experiences or expressing admiration for those who served.

5 Unsung Heroes of the U.S. Marine Corps

Profiles in Courage, World War II

When it comes to famous Marine Corps veterans, everyone remembers Lewis "Chesty" Puller, John Basilone, Sgt. Maj. Daniel Daly, and a slew of other legendary devil dogs. But to celebrate the Marine Corps' 250th birthday, it's important to remember that the Corps has no end of heroes, many of whom fade away further and further with time. So we don't forget the Marines who fought with distinction, but may not have been as quotable as Chesty, as political as Smedley Butler, or as smart as John Glenn, here are a few more worth remembering. 1. Brig. Gen. Joe Foss Joe Foss earned his wings in March 1941, months before America officially entered World War II. After Pearl Harbor, the young Marine aviator shipped out to the South Pacific and joined the Cactus Air Force over Guadalcanal, where the air was thick with heat, malaria, and Zeros. Across three brutal months, he hunted enemy bombers and fighters, sometimes limping home with holes in his Wildcat, ditching in the drink and getting...

WW II – Buna Gona: MacArthur’s Jungle Slugfest in the Pacific

Battlefield Chronicles, World War II

The first full year of World War II was a hard-fought one for the Allies in the Pacific Theater. In 1942, Thailand, the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, and more were in Japanese hands, as were tens of thousands of American, Australian, and British prisoners of war. In January of that year, Rabaul fell to the Japanese, alarming Australians as Imperial Japan advanced on Papua New Guinea. Buna Gona Forces Japan to Halt Its Advance The enemy reached the heights overlooking Port Moresby, New Guinea's largest city, but advanced no further. American landings on Guadalcanal and the threat of an Allied assault on the other end of New Guinea forced the Japanese to make some hard decisions. American and Australian forces had checked the overland thrust across the Owen Stanley Range on the Kokoda Track by late September 1942, then turned the Japanese around at Ioribaiwa and chased them back through Isurava and over the jungle-sawtooth ridges to the Papuan north...

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