Military Campaign Stories

Gen George S. Patton, U.S. Army (1915-1945)

Patton had his first real taste of battle in 1915 when leading cavalry patrols against Poncho Villa at Fort Bliss along the Mexican border. In 1916 he was selected to aide John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Mexico. In Mexico, Patton impressed Pershing by personally shooting Mexican leader Julio Cardenas during the Battle of Columbus. Pershing promoted Patton to captain and invited him to lead Pershing's Headquarters Troop once they left Mexico. In 1917, during WWI, Patton was the first officer assigned to the new American Expeditionary Force Tank Corps. Tanks had proven effective in France at the Battle of Cambria. Patton studied this battle and established himself as one of the leading experts in tank warfare. He organized the American tank school in Bourg, France, and trained American tankers to pilot the French Renault tanks. Patton's first battle was at St. Mihiel, in September 1918. He was later wounded in the battle of Meuse-Argonne and later...

Service Reflections of SSG Kevin Lipinski, U.S. Army (2002-2018)

Army Reflections, Global War on Terror

I wanted to serve my country, but it took about a year after 9-11 to decide, and I was still on the fence, so I did the National Guard first, and I found out I loved it and went active. I also have a strong family military tradition that is important to me. As they say, the rest is history

WW2 – The Malmedy Massacre

Battlefield Chronicles, World War II

In the last German offensive of World War II, three German Armies conducted a surprise attack along a 50 mile front in the mountainous and remote Ardennes Forest beginning on December 16, 1944, and quickly overtook thin U.S. lines during what became known as the Battle of the Bulge, the deadliest battle in the European campaign. On December 17, men from Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were ordered to move from Schevenhutte, near Aachen, to St Vith in the Ardennes. Their route took them near to the town of Malmedy. On their journey, on the N-23 St Vith road that passed to the east of Malmedy, Battery B met up with Lt. Colonel David Pergrin of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion. Pergrin had heard that the Germans were along the route which the men from Battery B were taking. He advised them to take a different route to St Vith. However, the officers in charge of the battery decided that they had their orders and, ignoring Pergrin's advice, continued along...

PO3 Isaac Sidney (Sid) Caesar, U.S. Coast Guard (1939-1945)

Celebrities Who Served, World War II

Born in 1922, Sid Caesar was the youngest of three children born to the Ziser family, who were Jewish immigrants who settled in Yonkers, NY. His parents ran a 24-hour luncheonette, and Caesar spent a lot of time around its diverse clientele. From a young age he developed a knack for imitating the cadence and accents of the customers, while speaking in gibberish vaguely reminiscent of their native languages. Caesar himself spoke only English and Yiddish, but could perform this ‘double-talk’, as he called it, to mimic Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Hungarian, French, Lithuanian, and Bulgarian. At the age of 14, Caesar performed in a band called The Swingtime Six as a saxophonist. In 1939, Caesar graduated high school and left home to become a musician. After establishing residency in New York City, working as a saxophonist at the Vacationland Hotel in the Catskill Mountains, he joined the local musicians’ union. Mentored by the resort’s social director, Caesar learned to perform...

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

Celebrities Who Served, Vietnam War

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...

Reflections of Valour by James Elsener

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

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...

Cold War – The Berlin Airlift (1948)

Battlefield Chronicles, Cold War

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...

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

Celebrities Who Served, Cold War

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,...

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

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

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...

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

Military Myths and Legends, World War II

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...

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

Air Force Reflections, Cold War

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.

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

Global War on Terror, Profiles in Courage

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,...

MENU