Military Campaign Stories

Heroines Under Fire

On July 29, 1918, field nurse Linnie Leckrone jumped on a truck headed for the front as part of Gas and Shock Team 134 in the battle of Chateau-Thierry northeast of Paris during the Great War. As German artillery rained down, she tended the wounded. For her “conspicuous gallantry in action,” Leckrone was awarded what was then called the Citation Star in a certificate signed by Gen. John (Black Jack) Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force.

Emperor of Nicaragua: William Walker

Civil War, Military Myths and Legends

On November 8, 1855, in front of the Parroquia Church in the town square of the Nicaraguan city of Granada, a line of riflemen shot Gen. Ponciano Corral, the senior general of the Conservative government. Strangely, the members of the firing squad hailed from the United States. So did the man who had ordered the execution. His name was William Walker. Though later generations would largely forget him, in the 1850s, he obsessed the American public. To many, he was a swashbuckling champion of Manifest Destiny. To others, he loomed as an international criminal. In Walker's own mind, he was a conqueror destined to create a Central American empire. His bizarre career would leave a legacy that shadows the relationship between the United States and Central America to this day. Biography of William Walker Walker was born in 1824 in Nashville, Tennessee, to James Walker and his wife, Mary Norvell. His father was the son of a Scottish immigrant. His mother was the daughter of Lipscomb...

Famous Navy Units: USS Halibut by A3C Michael Bell

Cold War, Famous Military Units

The United States government organized the American Volunteer Groups to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The only unit to actually see combat was the 1st AVG, popularly known as the Flying Tigers. Air Force TWS to date lists thirteen remembrances for deceased members of this unit.

EM2 Nick Adams, U.S. Coast Guard (1952-1954)

Celebrities Who Served, Korean War

Nick Adams, who served in the US Coast Guard between 1952 and 1954, came from humble beginnings to try and make a Hollywood star of himself. Cohort of James Dean and Elvis Presley, Adams also came to an unfortunate end chasing their caliber of fame. Nevertheless, he was a dutiful member of the Coast Guard during the Korean War and following. Nick Adams Chases Hollywood Dreams Nick Adams was born Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock in 1931 in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, a company town for coal mining. Abjectly poor in the heart of the Depression, the Adamshocks left the town after Nick’s coal miner uncle was killed in a mining accident. The family drove until they could drive no more, ending up in Jersey City, NJ. The family was still poor but had better prospects. Unlike his brother Andy, who went into medical school, Nick was a dreamer with plans of revolutionizing his family’s fortunes with a big break, be it as an athlete or a star. He was a capable high school athlete but spurned a job...

Unlikely Warriors by Lonnie M. Long and Gary B. Blackburn

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

At the peak of the war, over 6,000 Army Security Agency (ASA) soldiers were assigned to every major U.S. Army unit operating in Vietnam. They were sworn to secrecy and, for the most part, never receiving any recognition for the magnificent job they did. That, however, changed over the last few years, allowing two ASA veteran authors, Lonnie Long and Gary Blackburn, to chart the years that ASA operated in Vietnam – occurring from 1961 to 1973.

Service Reflections of HM2 Bill Sheehan, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1970)

Marine Reflections, Vietnam War

Just a few days after graduating from high school, I left for college for the Summer Quarter at Ohio State. I wasn’t ready for college. I was only ranked 51 out of 99 in my high school class. I was in Pre-Med and took Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. I lasted three quarters and then flunked out. They called it Academic Dismissal. I knew I would be drafted since it was in 1966, and all healthy, able, non-students without wives and families were feeding the war machine in Vietnam.

Service Reflections of 1st Lt David G. Poedel, U.S. Air Force (1971-1990)

Air Force Reflections, Cold War

In June 1971 I planned to enlist in the Navy Reserve as a Personnelman, which was guaranteed because I was a Navy Sea Cadet and did US Navy Reserve Boot Camp in 1968 and did a 2 week cruise on the USS Lexington (CVT-16). A complication for my future is that I decided I wanted to become a Hospital Corpsman. That meant Class A School, then Fleet Marine training and then 2 years active duty. Well, I was 6’3″ and weighed 136lbs.. Me hauling a Marine out of a firefight was laughable with my physique and I had my first existential crisis.I. The only logical thing to do (given my age and the fact that my draft lottery #32) enlistin the Air Force for 4 years and by the grace of God and my big mouth, I bypassed Air Force BMT and did the briefest amount of medical training the Air Force offered: Medical Helper. It was pretty amazing Drill Sergeant, I don?t intend to be disrespectful, but I already know this stuff; in fact I taught it in my Navy Sea Cadet unit?. His response: Would you like to become an assistant drill Airman or some such thing (I got a 100% on the test)? No Sergeant, I enlisted to become a medic. A year or so later I found out that the Air Force took my entire BMT Flight and made them all Security Policemen. My evidence was a Security Clearance form with the AFSC for Security Police. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me my assertive and fearless mouth and mind to seldom take for an answer.

Service Reflections of SGT James Casey, U.S. Army (1971-1979)

Army Reflections, Cold War

I was honored to serve when my country called on me. I really didn’t think they would draft me. I was hoping to get some college behind me to have more options. I did not have good grades in school; my dad had me working at “The Big Cone” fast food restaurant, which we owned when I was fourteen to sixteen years old, so I didn’t have time to study; it was after school every day till 10 pm and every weekend. At seventeen, on September 8, 1968, I was in a single-car crash that claimed four friends: Max Pearson, Mickey Rushing, Nancy Ingram, and Kathy Lewis. I was not driving, and Mickey was driving. I was the only survivor. I made no plans to avoid the draft; in fact, I thought I would not be accepted, even if I tried to enlist, because of my injuries, both physical and mental, from the accident. What a miscalculation on my part! I believe I went through BCT and AIT with a compression fracture at the eighth thoracic vertebra from the car crash less than three years earlier. The crash and injuries are clearly documented on my entrance physical exam. I guess it was true that “All you need is a trigger finger.” Project 100,000, also known as McNamara’s Misfits or McNamara’s Morons, was a DOD program in the 1960s to recruit soldiers who would previously have been below military physical and mental standards. The number mobilized was 320,000-354,000, and they died at three times the rate of others serving in Vietnam. The program ended in December 1971.

SFC Paul Ray Smith, U.S. Army (1989–2003)

Global War on Terror, Profiles in Courage

Despite the years of civil war and insurgency that followed, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a well-planned and well-timed operation, so successful in its initial phases that American and Coalition forces had captured Baghdad within just three weeks. Major combat operations famously ended on May 1, 2003, in less than two months. But despite the speed and skill of the Americans, it was not without considerable effort – or losses. SFC Paul Ray Smith: A Soldier's Journey One of those losses was SFC Paul Ray Smith, a veteran of both the first Gulf War and the Kosovo War. In April 2003, Smith was leading the men of B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, to capture the international airport in Baghdad. While blocking the highway between the city and the airport, he found himself in a crossfire between counterattacking Iraqi forces. Unable to withdraw, he fought against overwhelming odds, giving his life to prevent an aid station from being...

The Gunner and the Grunt: by Michael Kelley and Peter Burbank

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War, World War II

“The Gunner and the Grunt” is a unique Vietnam War memoir because it’s actually two memoirs. Two men from Massachusetts join the Army to do very different jobs, train for those jobs, and both go to Vietnam to serve their country. The book is written in two distinct voices, both members of the same reconnaissance unit, the 1st Cavalry Division, providing two very different perspectives of the war. One flies an armed helicopter above, while the other pounds the ground through the jungles below.

The Lost Battalion

Military Myths and Legends, World War I

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the final push of World War I on the Western Front, lasting from Sept. 28, 1918, until the end of the war, Nov. 11, 1918. The allied forces of Britain, France, and the United States advanced all along the front, making the largest offensive in U.S. military history, involving more than 1.2 million troops. It was also the deadliest, inflicting 350,000 casualties in less than seven weeks. The allies made relatively major gains, considering the course of the war until that point, but it was not without errors – and one of those errors meant the loss of a battalion-sized force. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Advance into Argonne Forest The men of that battalion came from the 77th Division, made up mostly of men from New York City. During the allied push, they fought their way into the dense Argonne Forest, where a counterattack soon left them surrounded and cut off from friendly lines. Thinking the unit had been lost, allied artillery shelled their position...

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

Battlefield Chronicles, Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War Battle at Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina is not just an important moment for American independence; it's a good lesson for everyone to remember. There are times when, no matter how hard you fight or how badly you want to win, you might still lose. But that loss could lead to an even more important battle—and a greater, more important victory. The British Strategy Before the Battle at Guilford Courthouse After its 1777 loss at the Battle of Saratoga, the British Army's strategy to put down the colonial rebellion refocused on the south, where support for the mother country was strongest. Although the campaign itself was more successful than in the north, the British under Lord Cornwallis still suffered some heavy defeats. American militia held their ground at Cowpens, and the collapsing British lost a quarter of their overall strength in the southern colonies. Focused solely on destroying American Nathaniel Greene's Army, Cornwallis burned his baggage...

MENU