Official blog
TWS Website
TWS Website
U

MENU

Military Campaign Stories

AFN Patrick Leonard Sajdak (Pat Sajak), U.S. Army (1968-1969)

AFN Patrick Leonard Sajdak (Pat Sajak), U.S. Army (1968-1969)

,

Pat Sajak, best known as the longtime host of the “Wheel of Fortune,” has held many jobs. Early in his career, Sajak was a weatherman, talk show host, and DJ. Wheel of Fortune, which debuted in 1975, became the longest-running syndicated game show on American television, turning Sajak and his co-host, Vanna White, into pop-culture icons. But not many know that before his showbiz career began, Sajak served our country in the military during the Vietnam War.  Pat Sajak’s Early Life On October 26, 1946, Patrick Leonard Sajdak, who will one day be known to millions of game-show fans as the Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, was born in Chicago. Patrick would later drop the “d” in his last name for professional reasons and to ease pronunciation. Unfortunately, Pat’s father died when he was still a young boy and the family lost a wage earner in addition to a dad. Sajak found his start in broadcasting through Columbia College Chicago. While attending, an instructor helped him get a job...

read more
Reflections of Valour by James Elsener

Reflections of Valour by James Elsener

,

Reflections of Valour is a tale of untested lovers from different backgrounds during the tumultuous early days of the Vietnam War. Brenda Walker attends an exclusive East Coast women's college and enjoys the trappings of her wealthy suburban environment. John Briggs is from a modest Midwestern working-class family, dedicated to his career as a Marine. Despite their differing worldviews and priorities, their relationship develops and deepens. When he is called to war, Briggs is torn between a sense of duty and having to leave behind the woman he loves. When he departs to serve his country overseas, their future is thrown into uncertainty. In Vietnam, Briggs emerges as a leader among the young troops trying to survive combat. The reader experiences the exhilaration, the boredom, the confusion, and the horrors of war. Briggs witnesses many atrocities and tragedies, from the murder of Vietnamese civilians to the death of his brothers-in-arms in a tragic accident. He narrowly escapes...

read more
Cold War – The Berlin Airlift (1948)

Cold War – The Berlin Airlift (1948)

,

After World War II, the Allies partitioned Germany into a Soviet-occupied zone, an American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone, and a French-occupied zone. Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four sections. In June 1948, the Russians–who wanted Berlin all for themselves–closed all highways, railroads, and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France, and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the "Berlin Airlift," lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin. The Berlin Airlift: The Partitioning of Berlin As World War II came to an end in 1945, the...

read more
SA David ‘Sinbad’ Adkins, U.S. Air Force (1979-1983)

SA David ‘Sinbad’ Adkins, U.S. Air Force (1979-1983)

,

SA David ‘Sinbad’ Adkins (U.S. Air Force, 1979-1983) is best known for his body of work as a comedian and film & TV actor. He became known in the 1990s for being featured on his own HBO specials, appearing on several television series such as Coach Walter Oakes in A Different World, and as David Bryan on The Sinbad Show, and starring in the films Necessary Roughness, Houseguest, First Kid, Jingle All the Way, Good Burger, and Planes. Prior to this success, however, Sinbad spent some time in the military. TogetherWeServed examines how a failed basketball prospect became one of the 90s’ most prominent Black comedic actors. Sinbad’s Early Years David ‘Sinbad’ Adkins born in Michigan in 1956, the son of a Baptist minister. David Adkins graduated Benton Harbor High School in 1974. He visited an Air Force installation in Colorado, but llost interest in enlisting upon learning he would have to give up his afro. Instead, he went to college at the University of Denver, CO on an impulse,...

read more
Vietnam, The Memoir of a Sandlot Soldier by W. Thomas Burns

Vietnam, The Memoir of a Sandlot Soldier by W. Thomas Burns

,

Like many young men who came of age in the late 1960s, W. Thomas Burns, the author of "Vietnam, The Memoir of a Sandlot Soldier", joined the military and found himself in Vietnam. Burns, despite the title of his memoir, was a United States Marine who joined the Corps in 1967. By May of 1968, he was in-country, fighting with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.   "Vietnam, The Memoir of a Sandlot Soldier" isn’t a book about strategy, tactics, or the history of the war. Unlike many books about the Vietnam War, it has no political slant. Bruns wrote a book about what serving in Vietnam was really like. It reads more like a diary, without explicitly being one, but it’s not just a diary of his own experiences. Burns relates the experiences of other troops who fought in Vietnam alongside him.  About the Author of Vietnam, The Memoir of a Sandlot Soldier At just 19 years old, Burns was wounded after eight months of slugging it out with the enemy in the jungles and...

read more
BG William Douglas Dunham, U.S. Air Force (1941-1970)

BG William Douglas Dunham, U.S. Air Force (1941-1970)

,

Brigadier General William Douglas Dunham was a highly decorated US Air Force hero. His achievements during World War II and beyond are well-documented. However, his most notable act arguably concerns an act of kindness rather than aggression. William Douglas Dunham Spared His Enemy's Life Back when he was a Major in 1944, Bill "Dinghy" Dunham - approaching his mid-twenties - was at the controls of a Republic P-47D. Flying over the Philippine Sea, he had a clear shot at a Japanese parachutist making a descent. The pilot was a sitting or rather falling duck. Dunham put him in that position in the first place, having shot down his Nakajima Ki-43. Now all he needed to do was deliver the killer blow. Fresh in his mind was the brutality of the Imperial Japanese Forces. They'd been known to attack pilots dangling from their parachutes. Dunham may well have felt anger growing inside him, seeing a natural opportunity to take revenge on his ruthless opposition. An eye for an eye. Then...

read more
Service Reflections of Maj Robert Hayden, U.S. Air Force (1964-1985)

Service Reflections of Maj Robert Hayden, U.S. Air Force (1964-1985)

,

Two different reasons or experiences. While I was a small lad, we lived about 90 miles from Wichita, where my grandmother and great-grandmother lived. Immediately after WWII, when I was about four years old, we would drive up to visit them and would drive by the line after line of B-29’s, huge and shiny, that the Boeing company had built but not delivered to the military for the war. I still remember thinking how neat it would be to get to fly one of those airplanes.

read more
“Let’s Roll” Todd Beamer – Hero of UA Flight 93

“Let’s Roll” Todd Beamer – Hero of UA Flight 93

,

The years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have seen a lot of changes in the cultural fabric of the United States and in the armed forces. With the 20-year anniversary of that tragic day, it’s important for us to look back and remember some of the heroes that emerged from the ashes of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Flight 93. One of those heroes was a civilian named Todd Beamer. Beamer died when United 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. But his memory carried on, giving the U.S. military, American police officers, and firefighters around the world a new battle cry: "Let’s Roll." In many ways, 32-year-old Todd Beamer was the quintessential American. He was born in Michigan to middle-class parents who moved around the country wherever their work took the family. He was a Christian and an athlete who studied business in college. When he graduated, he got a good job with a major corporation and taught Sunday school in his spare time.  On Sept. 11,...

read more
4 Vietnam War Myths Civilians Believe

4 Vietnam War Myths Civilians Believe

,

Movies and television have painted a deeply embedded picture of Vietnam veterans in the American collective consciousness. Somehow, despite the numerous books, articles, and documentaries produced about the war and those who fought it, some of them are simply untrue. The false ideas aren't just small myths, either. These misconceptions paint a distorted picture of who fought in Vietnam and the ability of the enemy and shaped how we perceived war for decades after the conflict ended. Here are the most common myths about the Vietnam War that civilians really believe, along with the truth about them. The U.S. Won Every Battle of the Vietnam War But Still Lost the War If anyone told this myth to the veterans who fought at Lang Vei in 1968, Kham Duc later that same year, or Fire Support Base Ripcord in 1970, they'd probably get a sharp, curt history lesson in logistics and math. Movies and television make it seem like the Viet Cong (VC), and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) attacked in...

read more
We’ll All Die As Marines by Colonel Jim Bathurst

We’ll All Die As Marines by Colonel Jim Bathurst

,

For seventeen-year-old high school dropout Jim Bathurst, the Marine Corps reputation for making men out of boys was something he desperately needed when he enlisted in March of 1958. What began as a four-year hitch lasted nearly thirty-six years and included an interesting assortment of duty stations and assignments as both enlisted and officer. We'll All Die As Marines narrates a story about a young, free-spirited kid from Dundalk, Maryland, and how the Corps captured his body, mind, and spirit. Slowly, but persistently, the Corps transformed him into someone whose first love would forever be the United States Marine Corps.  We'll All Die As Marines is not only his leadership, service, and training but also regales many tales of his fellow Marines that will have the reader laughing, cheering, and at times crying. In this memoir, Bathurst reveals that for him-a former DI who was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V", Purple Heart, and a combat commission to...

read more
Service Reflections of Capt Frank Farr, U.S. Army Air Corps (1943-1945)

Service Reflections of Capt Frank Farr, U.S. Army Air Corps (1943-1945)

,

I was born in a tiny apartment somewhere behind the screen of a movie theater in Picher, Oklahoma, on March 3, 1924. I am told that as my mother’s labor pains intensified and came more frequently, the theater owner/manager sent the patrons home and locked the doors so she could have some privacy in her travails. My father was working in the mines in and around Picher, which was booming in the 1920s, and the little apartment was the only residence they could find at the time.Despite them being similarly reserved and not the type of men to brag, I could hardly wait to visit them so I could beg them to tell me war stories. The experiences they shared with me made a lasting impression during my early childhood, which further aroused my desire to serve my country.

read more
Service Reflections of CAPT James Garrett, U.S. Navy (1966-2008)

Service Reflections of CAPT James Garrett, U.S. Navy (1966-2008)

,

I was graduating from Westminster High School in a few months (1966) and knowing that I would not be able to afford college, I thought enlisting in the military would be a good thing, especially if it was possible to get college paid for afterwards. Being landlocked and with Lowery Air Force Base across town, the recruiting ads I thought the Air Force might be a good place to go. The Air Force recruiter came to my house to talk with me but to my amazement the recruiter told me there was a waiting list, imagine that with the Vietnam War going on.

read more