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World War II

WW2 – Operation Centerboard

WW2 – Operation Centerboard

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In 1944, Col. Paul Tibbets was summoned to Wendover Army Air Field in Utah for what must have seemed like an impossible mission. He was ordered to create and organize a combat group with the sole purpose of delivering a weapon that didn't even exist yet. Operation Centerboard Trained Crews on Nonexistent Bombs Tibbets' name might sound familiar to World War II history buffs. He would pilot the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay as it dropped the atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy" over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. But before he could fly into the history books with the first nuclear weapon, he had to figure out how to get it to Japan.  Tibbets and his aircrews not only had to train on delivering a then-nonexistent bomb with an unknown explosive size or payload to an undetermined but (presumably) heavily defended enemy city, they also had to do it using aircraft specially designed to carry those nonexistent weapons. His aircrews all practiced at least 50 bombing...

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The Second Most Decorated Soldier of WWII

The Second Most Decorated Soldier of WWII

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The 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division (known as "The Cottonbalers" from their use of a cotton bale breastworks during the Battle of New Orleans under Andrew Jackson), has served in more campaigns than any other infantry unit in the United States Army. In World War II, the regiment fought German forces on three fronts, North Africa, Italy, and Northwest Europe, quite probably serving more time in combat than any other regiment in the U.S. Army during the war. The regiment's numerous WWII actions include four separate amphibious landings against enemy beach defenses, earning the coveted spearhead device on the campaign streamers awarded for each of these operations: Morocco in November 1942 as part of Operation Torch (the Allied campaign to clear the Axis powers from North Africa); Sicily in July 1943 as part of Operation Husky, and Anzio in January 1944 as part of Operation Shingle - where the regiment conducted a breakout and drove towards Rome (both landings in the Allied...

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National Purple Heart Day 2025

National Purple Heart Day 2025

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It might come as a surprise to many, but the United States did not offer its troops medals or ribbons as uniform decorations until the Medal of Honor was introduced by President Lincoln during the Civil War. It was only offered to enlisted troops in July 1862, but by December, it was made available to officers who displayed exceptional gallantry.  Until that point in U.S. military history, military medals were more of a European tradition. Medals and ribbons were seen as a custom practiced by the armies of foreign monarchies. The United States, with its democratic government and egalitarian principles, frowned on such ties to Europe's royal heritage, from which the Americans fought hard to separate themselves.  During the Mexican-American War, a 'certificate of merit' would be issued to soldiers who distinguished themselves in action, but no uniform item existed to identify them. It was simply a certificate. It was discontinued after that war ended in 1848.  Despite a...

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Distinguished Military Unit: USS Langley (CV-1) By A3C Michael Bell

Distinguished Military Unit: USS Langley (CV-1) By A3C Michael Bell

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The USS Langley (CV-1), as the first carrier vessel in the U.S. Navy, was pivotal in the history of naval aviation warfare. It served as a test bed for developing procedures and technologies still used on aircraft carriers today. It was originally nicknamed “Covered Wagon” by its crew due to its appearance. Following World War I, the growing importance of aviation in naval warfare led to authorization to convert the USS Jupiter (AC-3), a collier (coal tender), into an aircraft carrier on 11 Jul 1919. The conversion was carried out at the Norfolk Navy Yard, involving the addition of a flight deck and aircraft elevators. The large coal holds of the collier proved suitable for conversion into aircraft hangars. The retrofitted ship’s dimensions were 542 ft. length, sixty-six ft. beam, draft of twenty-four ft. with a displacement of more than 15,000 tons; fully loaded, it carried twenty-two to thirty-six aircraft and four .50-cal. deck guns. The carrier could make about 15 knots, and its full complement (including the air arm) was 468. On 11 Apr 1920, the ship was renamed USS Langley (CV-1) in honor of aviation pioneer Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American scientist and inventor, and was recommissioned on March 20, 1922.

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Irena Sendler

Irena Sendler

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Often, non-combatant civilians risk their lives by performing quiet yet extraordinary acts of selflessness and gallantry that require just as much bravery as a soldier charging head-on into enemy fire. Irena Sendler was one such civilian. She was a gentle but determined Polish social worker who managed to smuggle 2,500 children out of the Warsaw Ghetto during the Second World War. As amazing as this feat was, she was only internationally honored for her immense bravery toward the end of her life. Irena Sendler Drew Strength from Her Father’s Sacrifice Sendler was born in 1910 in Warsaw, Poland. Her father’s dedication to doing the right thing regardless of the risk involved must certainly have made an impression on the young Irena, despite the tragic consequences of his unshakable devotion to good. In 1917, he died from typhus, contracted while treating patients’ other doctors refused to treat. Many of his former patients happened to be Jews, and in gratitude for what he had done,...

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The Muslim Princess Spy

The Muslim Princess Spy

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Noor Inayat Khan was born New Year’s Day 1914 in Moscow to Hazrat Inayat Khan an Indian Sufi mystic of royal lineage and his American wife, Ora Ray Baker, half-sister of Perry Baker, often credited with introducing yoga into America. On her father’s side, she was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Tipu Sultan, the celebrated Muslim ruler of Mysore, who in the 18th Century successfully fought the British, stemming their advance into South India. He was killed in battle in 1799.

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Distinguished Military Unit: 56th Fighter Group By A3C Michael Bell

Distinguished Military Unit: 56th Fighter Group By A3C Michael Bell

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This storied unit, “Zemke’s Wolfpack,” by itself is represented on Air Force TWS with sixty-four registered members. However, its history with, currently, sixty-eight other numerically associated air and ground units (e.g. Wing, Supply, Medical, etc.) includes hundreds more airmen under and bearing the original insignia right up to the present time with 56th OG. A summary of its full parent lineage, not including subordinate squadrons, would include: AAC 56th Pursuit group 1940-41, then the AAF 56th FG itself until 1946, redesignated 56th Fighter Interceptor Group 1950-52, 56th Fighter Group (Air Defense) 1955-1961, 56th Tactical Fighter Group 1985-1991, and 56th Operations Group 1991- present.

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Japanese Soldier Surrenders 30 Years After End of WWII

Japanese Soldier Surrenders 30 Years After End of WWII

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By the summer of 1945, the Japanese navy and air force were destroyed. Its army had been decimated. The Allied naval blockade of Japan and intensive bombing of Japanese cities had left the country and its economy devastated, it's people suffering. The Aftermath of WWII and Hiroo Onoda’s Mission After the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack, factions of Japan's supreme war council favored unconditional surrender but the majority resisted. When the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito told the supreme war council to negotiate the unconditional surrender. To the Japanese his word was that of a god.On Sunday, September 2, 1945, more than 250 Allied warships lay at anchor in Tokyo Bay. Just after 9 a.m. on board the USS Missouri General Douglas MacArthur presided over the official surrender ceremony as Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed on behalf of the Japanese government. General Yoshijiro Umezu then signed for the Japanese armed...

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The Only U.S. Woman POW in WWII Europe

The Only U.S. Woman POW in WWII Europe

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On September 27, 1944, a C-47 assigned to the 813th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron lifted off from England into the clear morning sky. Its destination was a landing field at St. Trond, Belgium, to pick up casualties. Since the aircraft usually carried military supplies and troops on the outbound flight and casualties on the return trip, it was not marked with the Red Cross. Aboard the aircraft was 24-year-old Texas-born Second Lt. Reba Whittle, an experienced flight nurse with 40 missions and over 500 hours of flight time. POW Nurse Survived a Deadly Crash and Enemy Aid Somewhere along the way to Belgium, the plane strayed far from its intended route, entering German airspace where it was hit by German flak a couple of miles outside Aachen. The crew braced themselves as the plane gained and lost elevation from heavy shrapnel tearing through its thin-skinned fuselage and disabling an engine. Whittle held onto her seat for dear life as they began to nosedive. On impact, Whittle was...

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The Forces Pin Up – GI Morale Boosters

The Forces Pin Up – GI Morale Boosters

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America’s entrance into World War II back in 1941 triggered the golden age of pinups, pictures of smiling women in a range of clothing-challenged situations. The racy photos adorned lonely servicemen’s lockers, the walls of barracks, and even the sides of planes. For the first time in its history, the US military unofficially sanctioned this kind of art: pinup pictures, magazines, and calendars were shipped and distributed among the troops, often at government expense, to “raise morale” and remind the young men what they were fighting for.

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Historic Japanese Internment Camps At Risk!

Historic Japanese Internment Camps At Risk!

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Because of proposed cuts in the United States budget for 2019, the National Park Services would be severely reduced. This may have a negative impact on many NPS sites, including those where Japanese Americans were confined following America's entry into WWII in 1941. Japanese Internment Camps Began With Fear and Prejudice In 2006, the government set up the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants Program via the National Parks and set aside thirty-eight million dollars to educate the public as to the importance of remembering this sometimes-controversial story in the nation's history. The grant money is typically used for site preservation, research, preserving oral and written histories, museums, educational materials, and archeology. As the years go by, fewer and fewer formerly incarcerated Japanese Americans are left to tell the stories. To keep those stories from fading away, work must be done, and that costs money. Ever since Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act in...

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VADM John D. Bulkeley, U.S. Navy (1933-1975)

VADM John D. Bulkeley, U.S. Navy (1933-1975)

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John D. Bulkeley was a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy and one of its most decorated naval officers. Bulkeley received the Medal of Honor for actions in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was also the PT boat skipper who evacuated General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor in the Philippines.  VADM John D. Bulkeley Led Daring WWII Missions John D. Bulkeley was born in New York City and grew up on a farm in Hackettstown, New Jersey, where he graduated from Hackettstown High School. He was a 1933 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. At the dawn of World War II, Bulkeley was a Lieutenant in command of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a Philippine-based detachment of six motor torpedo boats. He hit his stride as a daring, resourceful and courageous leader. He picked up General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and his immediate staff, who had been ordered to flee the Philippines, and took them aboard PT 41 and other 77-foot (23 m) motor torpedo boats through...

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