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World War II

Famous Marine Corps Unit: 1st Marine Raider Battalion

Famous Marine Corps Unit: 1st Marine Raider Battalion

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"Always Faithful, Always Forward" The Early History of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion The year was 1942, and a new type of unit was born in the US Marine Corps. Edson's 1st Raider Battalion was designated, and several days later, Carlson's 2d Raider Battalion was named. Later in the year, Liversedge's 3rd Raider Battalion and Roosevelt's 4th Raider Battalion were created. One hundred seventy-five members of Marines TWS are part of the United States Marine Raiders Association as members of one or more of the four Marine Raider Battalions during their respective periods of existence between 16 Feb 1942 and 31 Jan 1944 based on the Master U.S. Marine Raider Roster which contains about 7,710 Marine and 368 Navy personnel. As of 2023, a USMC battalion strength was about 900. Also, 127 current MTWS members had been assigned to the 1st Marine Raider Bn. A special TWS forum dedicated entirely to the late Raymond Louis Merrell (Sgt. USMC) titled "Raider Ray's Remembrances" includes...

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Vince Speranza’s Epic Beer Run During the Siege of Bastogne

Vince Speranza’s Epic Beer Run During the Siege of Bastogne

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The Siege of Bastogne was one of the most crucial fights of World War II, and it came amid the largest battle the U.S. Army has ever fought – the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans caught the Americans by surprise on Dec. 16, 1944, mustering more than 400,000 men, 550 tanks, and hundreds of other vehicles for one last offensive. The goal was to push the Allies back toward the sea and recapture the critical port of Antwerp.  The Siege of Bastogne: Defending Against the German Forces German forces overwhelmed American defenses as they poured through the Ardennes Forest, forcing the retreat of tens of thousands of shocked American soldiers. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower knew his supply lines were already thin, a blizzard negated Allied air superiority and the Ardennes area was full of green and exhausted troops – some who had been fighting since D-Day. Eisenhower declared that holding the Belgian city of Bastogne would be the single most important mission of the battle and sent the 101st...

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Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Ironwood (WAGL/WLB-297/NRPN)

Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Ironwood (WAGL/WLB-297/NRPN)

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On March 31, 1941, Marine Iron and Shipbuilding in Duluth, Minnesota, laid the keel for the first Coast Guard vessel of a Mesquite new buoy tender class, joining the so-called "Black Hull" fleet. The new vessel measured 180 feet overall and had a beam of 37 feet at the extreme. She had a displacement of 935 tons and drew 12 feet. Marine Iron and Shipbuilding made all but one, the Coast Guard cutter Ironwood (USCGC Ironwood), coming in for $1,388,277, was built at the USCG yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, and was launched and commissioned in 1943.  USCGC Ironwood in the Pacific Theater After shakedown, USCGC Ironwood departed Norfolk for War in the Pacific, arriving in Noumea, New Caledonia, via Bora Bora and Pago Pago in March 1944. During World War II, the Ironwood and her sister ships covered thousands of miles of open ocean, working to establish LORAN stations, moving and establishing mooring buoys, and carrying cargo, mail, and personnel between South Pacific islands. "Some...

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White Buses by Jack DuArte

White Buses by Jack DuArte

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During World War II, Sweden was sandwiched between Finland and its ongoing war with the Soviet Union and Norway, which fell to the Nazis in the earliest days of the war in Europe. Somehow, throughout the war, it managed to maintain its neutrality – but that doesn’t mean the country or its diplomats did nothing during that time.  The Lifeline in the Final Days of WWII A Swedish noble, Count Folke Bernadotte, was among the most active. He managed to negotiate a prisoner exchange, getting 11,000 POWs home through Sweden between 1942 and 1943. He also attempted to negotiate a peace deal between the Western Allies and Nazi Germany in 1945. His most lasting contribution, however, came toward the end of the war. The White Buses, as the operation has come to be called, saw 300 volunteer Swedes move an estimated 15,345 prisoners from German concentration camps to hospitals in Sweden.  Jack DuArte is a former Air Force officer who received the Bronze Star during his service in the...

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The Fall of Rome

The Fall of Rome

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In any normal war, capturing an enemy capital would capture the imagination of soldiers and the public back home. During World War II, capturing the capital of one of the original members of the Axis Pact should have been a defining moment. That moment was overshadowed by another defining moment: D-Day, the amphibious invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.   When the Allies captured Rome on June 4, 1944, however, the city was open because most of the fighting had taken place along the way – and the Allied soldiers paid dearly for their efforts almost the entire way. The Fall of Rome: A Pivotal Yet Overshadowed Victory of WWII Having kicked the Axis out of North Africa in 1943, the Western Allies' next target was Sicily, a resounding success that captured the island in just five weeks. They then prepared to move on to Italy, Europe's "soft underbelly" (as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called it). Their victory on Sicily caused the overthrow of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini,...

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The Cast of Band of Brothers Jumps into Normandy on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day

The Cast of Band of Brothers Jumps into Normandy on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day

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For the first time in 82 years, airborne training returned to Camp Toccoa, Georgia. Between March 25-30, 2024, eight actors from the hit HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers" conducted airborne qualification training in preparation for jumping twice into Normandy, France, on June 3 and June 8, 2024, as part of the commemoration for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. D-Day Commemoration: Actors from "Band of Brothers" Prepare for Historic Jumps The actors' experiences are being captured in a feature documentary called "The Jump: Currahee to Normandy." Numerous non-profit organizations, including the All Airborne Battalion, Tunison Foundation, and Walk Among Heroes, are supporting the project. The original soldiers depicted in the "Band of Brothers" miniseries were first made famous by historian Stephen Ambrose in his 1992 book "Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest." Though none of the original members of Easy Company...

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Service Reflections of ATC Walter Willey, U.S. Navy (1944-1986)

Service Reflections of ATC Walter Willey, U.S. Navy (1944-1986)

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I was just 18 at the time and qualified to enlist at the enlistment center in Manchester, NH in Nov 1944. My father Charles H. Willey, was Navy all the way. Dad received the Medal of Honor in 1932. He was born in East Boston, MA on March 31, 1889. At the age of 19, he enlisted in the US Navy. As a Machinist Mate 2nd Class and he sailed all over the world on his first hitch. During Dad’s 2nd hitch he made Warrant Machinist in 1914. He was awarded the Medal Of Honor for exceptional heroism performed aboard the USS Memphis during a hurricane off Santa Domingo City in 1916. He received many other medals.
Now, you can bet that certainly influenced my decision to join the Navy. I was a 139 lb boy at that time. I went to Boot Camp as the Pacific war was still raging.

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Famous Navy Unit: USS Parche (SS-384)

Famous Navy Unit: USS Parche (SS-384)

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The first USS Parche (SS-384) was a United States Navy submarine. She bore the name of a butterfly fish, one of at least 114 species. Butterfly fish have a large spot that looks like an eye on the tail end of their body. Their natural eye is often much smaller or camouflaged within other body markings. This is to trick a predator into thinking the fish will move in the direction of the false eye, thereby giving the small fish a chance to escape capture. USS Parche: World War II Exploits and Commander's Bravery USS Parche (Sp. pronunciation Pahr-cheh) was a Balao class submarine used during World War II. One hundred and twenty boats completed of that type, the largest class of submarines in the United States Navy. An improvement on the earlier Gato class, these boats had slight internal differences. The most significant improvement was the use of thicker, higher yield strength steel in the pressure hull skins and frames. Her first Commander, Lawson Paterson "Red" Ramage's, famous...

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I Will Tell No War Stories by Howard Mansfield

I Will Tell No War Stories by Howard Mansfield

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Howard Mansfield is an accomplished author and writer of a dozen books. However, his latest, "I Will Tell No War Stories: What Our Fathers Left Unsaid about World War II," is not his story. It belongs to Pincus Mansfield, his father, who lived the stories in the book during World War II. Howard knew his father had flown aboard a B-24 Liberator Bomber during the war, but like many of his generation, mum was the word when it came to talking about his wartime experiences.  "You're not getting any war stories from me," he'd say.  During a visit to England, his son got a taste of what World War II was like for the bomber crews who flew over Nazi-occupied Europe. He joined a British airplane enthusiasts' club for a screening of the 1941 Royal Air Force film "Target for Tonight." During the short film, he watched as bomber crews planned and executed a mission over the Rhine, and he saw just how dangerous his father's wartime profession really was. But he had never heard his father talk...

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The German Wehrmacht and U.S. Army Fought the Nazi SS Together at Itter Castle

The German Wehrmacht and U.S. Army Fought the Nazi SS Together at Itter Castle

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On May 3, 1945, a Yugoslavian handyman walked out of Nazi Germany's Itter Prison on a 40-mile trek to Innsbruck (in what is today Austria). His mission was to find any American troops he could and get them back to the castle. Itter Castle was a prison for the Reich's most high-value prisoners, including the sister of Gen. Charles de Gaulle and former French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier.  The Imminent Threat to Itter Castle With the end of the war soon coming, the prisoners had taken control of Castle Itter but knew that Hitler's most fanatical troops, the Waffen-SS, were still fighting – and were still a threat. They were right to be concerned. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division was operating in the area, killing military-age males and executing anyone who surrendered to the Allies. They now had their sights set on taking Itter and killing everyone inside. A motley crew of American tankers, French prisoners, German soldiers, and a former SS commander would fight the SS...

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American GIs Battle a German Sniper in Snowy WWII Thriller ‘Recon’

American GIs Battle a German Sniper in Snowy WWII Thriller ‘Recon’

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"Recon," a good old-fashioned World War II movie, turns out to be one of the few films that are trying to make a big impact in theaters this fall.  The movie follows four American soldiers over the course of a day after they are sent on a possible suicide mission over a mountain. An old Italian partisan leads them, and no one can be sure of his loyalties. The men witnessed their Sergeant kill an Italian civilian just before this assignment, so no one really knows whether they are supposed to succeed or perish. The producers have released the movie's trailer, and we can get now getting a sense of what the movie's like. The Allied campaign to take Italy from the German forces was both brutal and tedious. Young American soldiers are ordered to climb a mountain and bring back intel to their Sergeant. On their journey, they encounter an Italian partisan who offers to serve as a guide. After the group locates the German tanks, they hightail it back down the slopes to deliver the news....

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