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World War II

Dutch Girl by Robert Matzen

Dutch Girl by Robert Matzen

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Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, "The war made my mother who she was."  Audrey Hepburn's war included participation in the Dutch Resistance, working as a doctor's assistant during the "Bridge Too Far" battle of Arnhem, the brutal execution of her uncle, and the ordeal of the Hunger Winter of 1944. She also had to contend with the fact that her father was a Nazi agent and her mother was pro-Nazi for the first two years of the occupation. But the war years also brought triumphs as Audrey became Arnhem's most famous young ballerina.  Audrey's own reminiscences, new interviews with people who knew her in the war, wartime...

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Russian Sniper Roza Shanina

Russian Sniper Roza Shanina

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In the deep silence of the vast Russian pine forest, a small, lonesome figure was walking. It was just a few years before the outbreak of the Second World War. She had set out alone, without the permission of her parents, carrying only enough food to keep her on her feet for the long march. She was used to walking. Every day for years she had walked eight miles to and from her school in the little village closest to her home; she knew she could do it. Her self-belief and determined spirit drove her steadily on. She was fourteen years old. This was Roza Shanina. She walked one hundred and twenty miles all alone, at last reaching a train station. From the station, she took the train to the city of Arkhangelsk, where she enrolled in the city's college. She loved the city. The cinemas, the lights, the people and the bustle were worlds away from the isolation of her early years. She was friendly, quick, talkative, and highly intelligent, and so she made many friends. Often, she would...

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Did World War II Soldiers Mutiny after V-J Day?

Did World War II Soldiers Mutiny after V-J Day?

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On May 8, 1945, the Allies accepted the formal surrender of Nazi Germany. The capitulation of the last Axis power in Europe marked the end of World War II there. The war in the Pacific, however, was still raging. American troops, along with the rest of the Allies, began to reorient their forces to concentrate on fighting the Japanese. But they didn't have to work for very long. Just a few months later, the Japanese Empire also surrendered. On August 15, 1945, the Japanese forces officially surrendered, and World War II was finally over (V-J Day). The Allies had won the war.  What Was before V-J Day? Over the course of four years, the United States had enlisted, trained, equipped, and shipped some 7.6 million men and women overseas. They had done their duty, and they were ready to go home - they wanted to make it home by Christmas.  Unfortunately, four months was not enough time to move millions of men from the four corners of the globe back to their stateside homes. Many...

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Eileen Nearne – British WWII Heroine

Eileen Nearne – British WWII Heroine

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The "Croix de Guerre" or "Cross of War," is a French military decoration honoring people for their resistance against the Nazis in WWII. Furthermore, being appointed a "Member of the Order of the British Empire" by King George VI for services rendered in France during the enemy occupation was a high British honor. Any man who was awarded such honors must have been a remarkable one. Only, in this case, we are dealing with a woman and a brave and tenacious one at that. The Perilous Life of Eileen Nearne in WWII Eileen Nearne, the woman who received these accolades, lived a perilous life in WWII. To a large extent, her exploits mirrored those of Charlotte Gray in the 2001 movie bearing the same name. The film, based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks, features the adventures of female agents in German-occupied France. But why have most of us never heard of Eileen Nearne? Is it because her missions were so top-secret that information never leaked out? Or is it like many events during the...

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Col Edward McMahon, U.S. Marine Corps (1941-1966)

Col Edward McMahon, U.S. Marine Corps (1941-1966)

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Ed McMahon, the iconic television personality and beloved sidekick to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show," was not only a legendary entertainer but also a dedicated patriot who served his country with honor and distinction. Let’s review the remarkable life and military service of Ed McMahon, a man whose laughter resonated across generations. Ed McMahon’s Early Life Born on March 6, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan, Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. grew up in a modest household during the Great Depression. His childhood revolved around traveling from town to town with his parents, as his father was a professional fundraiser for charity projects. At a young age, McMahon worked for three years as a carnival barker in Mexico, Maine, before serving as a fifteen-year-old bingo caller in the state. As a boy, he dreamed of becoming an entertainer and did impersonations of stars, using a flashlight as his microphone and his dog, Valiant Prince, as his audience. At 17, McMahon landed his first job as a...

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SSG Wilson Watson, U.S. Army (1942-1966)

SSG Wilson Watson, U.S. Army (1942-1966)

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Within the ranks of the military, there exists a certain rivalry between those who serve on the front lines and those who serve in the rear with the gear. While all jobs contribute to putting Americans in the fight, the Marines have long prized their beloved infantry above all. In modern terms, it is referred to as the "grunt versus POG debate" with POG referring to "persons other than grunts." In Vietnam, one might have heard the term REMF. Whatever one might call those in the rear, it would serve students of history well to hold their tongue before calling men like Army mess hall cook Wilson Watson a POG or REMF. Little would they know that they would be speaking of a former Marine who fought the Japanese Army alone for 15 minutes on Iwo Jima before the rest of his platoon caught up. The cook serving up a healthy dose of S.O.S on a plate had previously served up violence on Iwo Jima that would lead to the deaths of 60 enemy soldiers. Yes, quite literally, the soldier cracking eggs...

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Witness to the Storm by Werner T. Angress

Witness to the Storm by Werner T. Angress

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On June 6, 1944, Werner T. Angress parachuted down from a C-47 into German-occupied France with the 82nd Airborne Division. Nine days later, he was captured behind enemy lines and, concealing his identity as a German-born Jew, became a prisoner of war. Eventually, he was freed by US forces, rejoined the fight, crossed Europe as a battlefield interrogator, and participated in a concentration camp's liberation. Although he was an American soldier, less than ten years before, he had been an enthusiastically patriotic German-Jewish boy. Rejected and threatened by the Nazi regime, the Angress family fled to Amsterdam to escape persecution and death, and young Angress then found his way to the United States.  In Witness to the Storm, Angress weaves the spellbinding story of his life, including his escape from Germany, his new life in the United States, and his experiences in World War II. A testament to the power of perseverance and forgiveness, Witness to the Storm is the compelling...

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General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Meteoric Rise

General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Meteoric Rise

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Speaking of Eisenhower, Field Marshal Lord Montgomery once said, "nice chap, no general." General George Patton once lamented that it was too bad that Eisenhower had no personal knowledge of war. General Omar Bradley would write that Eisenhower "had little grasp of sound battlefield tactics." That might seem like some pretty harsh criticism considering the West tends to look back on Eisenhower as the man who led the allies to victory in Europe. His iconic status was further cemented in history when he became President of the United States in 1952. However, the historical facts would prove that Eisenhower was but a LtCol at the start of 1941 and an officer who had never personally seen combat. Yet, that wouldn't stop him from getting the keys to one of the largest military force the world has ever known. General Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Mediocre Rise to Power Dwight D Eisenhower entered the halls of West Point in 1911 with a greater chance of becoming a football star than the Supreme...

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I Should Have Written a Book by Tom Grannetino

I Should Have Written a Book by Tom Grannetino

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One might think that by now, every World War II story there is to tell has already been told, but people tend to forget just how massive the scale of that conflict really was. More than 16 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War II, and each of them that came back did so with unique experiences.  William Grannetino had more than a handful of stories to tell. His son Tom grew up listening to the stories his father told about his service in the Second World War. In 2019, he gathered them into a compendium, using his father's mantra, his most used phrase whenever he discussed his exploits in the war: "I should have written a book."   That's how "I Should Have Written a Book: A Sailor's Journey From Omaha Beach to Japan During World War II" came to be.  "I Should Have Written a Book" is More Than Just the Accounts of the Battle Just like the title suggests, Grannetino's story begins shortly before the June 6, 1944, landings in Nazi-occupied Normandy. The sailor...

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2LT Beauford Theodore Anderson, U.S. Army (1942-1952)

2LT Beauford Theodore Anderson, U.S. Army (1942-1952)

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The tiny village of Soldier's Grove, Wisconsin, has a population of only 534 people, but it has a rich history. In the 1980s, it became the first town in America to get more than half its energy from the sun, making it the country's first "solar village." It's also where World War II veteran Beauford Theodore Anderson came of age.  The Heroism of Beauford Theodore Anderson Born in 1922, Beauford T. Anderson joined the Army at age 20 and was sent to the Pacific Theater. He returned to Wisconsin, briefly starting a floor sanding business before rejoining the Army as a recruiter. There could be no finer example of an American soldier than the one Beauford Anderson made. While fighting on Okinawa, he received the Medal of Honor for an act of valor that felt like it could only come out of a movie.  The invasion of Okinawa in April 1945 would be the largest amphibious landing of the entire Pacific War, called the "typhoon of steel" by those who fought there. With Allied naval support, the...

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Service Reflections of PFC Raymond Ringgold, U.S. Army (1943-1946)

Service Reflections of PFC Raymond Ringgold, U.S. Army (1943-1946)

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PRESERVING A MILITARY LEGACY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS The following Reflections represents PFC Raymond Ringgold's legacy of his military service from 1943 to 1946. If you are a Veteran, consider preserving a record of your own military service, including your memories and photographs, on Togetherweserved.com (TWS), the leading archive of living military history. The following Service Reflections is an easy-to-complete self-interview, located on your TWS Military Service Page, which enables you to remember key people and events from your military service and the impact they made on your life. Start recording your own Military Memories HERE. Please describe who or what influenced your decision to join the Army. By the time I graduated from high school in 1942, World War II was well underway. My father was an air raid warden, and when there was a blackout drill, we walked the neighborhood to make sure all curtains were drawn tight and there were no visible lights. The Government decided...

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Service Reflections of AOM2C Barnett Solomon, U.S. Navy (1944-1946)

Service Reflections of AOM2C Barnett Solomon, U.S. Navy (1944-1946)

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PRESERVING A MILITARY LEGACY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS The following Reflections represents AOM2C Barnett Solomon's legacy of his military service from 1944 to 1946. If you are a Veteran, consider preserving a record of your own military service, including your memories and photographs, on Togetherweserved.com (TWS), the leading archive of living military history. The following Service Reflections is an easy-to-complete self-interview, located on your TWS Military Service Page, which enables you to remember key people and events from your military service and the impact they made on your life. Start recording your own Military Memories HERE. Please describe who or what influenced your decision to join the Navy. Join the Navy! I graduated from high school a couple of months before my 17th birthday. WWII was in its third year, and I wanted to join the Army Air Corps and become a pilot. My parents refused to sign the permission papers necessary to join the armed forces at 17. After...

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