Army Archives - Page 2 of 17 - TogetherWeServed Blog

Maj Bernie Fisher – First Air Force MOH

A separate design for a version of the Medal of Honor for the U.S. Air Force was created in 1956, authorized in 1960, and officially adopted on April 14, 1965. Previously, members of the U.S. Army Air Corps, U.S. Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Air Force received the Army version of the medal. The first person to receive the new U.S. Air Force Medal of Honor was Major Bernie Fisher during the Battle of A Shau Valley in March 1966. He also received a Silver Star during the same battle. Into...

Service Reflections of SP5 Charles Morrison, U.S. Army (1964-1968)

Army Reflections, Vietnam War

I had worked as a fingerprint technician with the FBI in Washington, DC, from June 1962 through August 1964. I then called an ARMY RECRUITER and volunteered to join the Army. When speaking with the recruiter, I also selected the US ARMY SECURITY AGENCY. He warned me that I had to score at least 112 on my battery tests to be in the ASA MOS. Luckily, I scored 114.5. By the way, I was in the ARMY SECURITY AGENCY Honor Guard while going through my MOS schooling for THE ENTIRE year of 1965. I started out as just an honor guard member, then became a squad leader, a platoon Sergeant, and ultimately, the Field First, overseeing the entire Honor Guard, Companies A & B. The Honor Guard was Company “G” at Fort Devens. The attached picture was taken when I was Field First on NCO Day, when all companies marched to Soldier’s Field to listen to various speakers.

The Taliban Prison Revolt of Qala-i-Jangi

Global War on Terror, Other Military Articles

In the first chaotic weeks after 9/11, two Americans walked into a 19th-century Afghan fortress with nothing but a translator, a notebook, and the kind of quiet confidence you get from hard jobs and worse timing. Qala-i-Jangi Becomes the Center of a Deadly Encounter The place was Qala-i-Jangi, a sprawling mud-brick stronghold outside Mazar-i-Sharif where hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters had just "surrendered" to the Northern Alliance. And those Americans were CIA officers Johnny...

1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment By A3C Mike Bell

Famous Military Units

"We are obligated to live meaningful and purposeful lives. We will never forget them... We will earn what they have given us." George Benson, LtCol 1/6 USMC, 2012 Initially activated on 11 Jul 1917 at Marine Corps Base Quantico, the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines (1/6), sometimes called “Deathwalkers" or “Comanche" with the mottos “1/6 Hard" (a name derived from its commander at Belleau Wood, Maj. John Arthur Hughes, aka "Johnny the Hard") and “Ready to Fight" is an infantry battalion in the...

John J. Kelly Received Two Medals of Honor for the Same Action

Profiles in Courage, World War I

On Oct. 3, 1918, the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division, along with the French Fourth Army, advanced on Blanc Mont Ridge, the Imperial German machine gun death trap that the Entente forces had failed to capture over the past four years. The goal was to capture the ridge and push the Huns back over the Aisne River. It was a good plan, but like all World War I strategies, it was easier said than done. John Kelly Charged Through Fire to Make History The Americans stepped off toward the ridge...

SGM Manuel R. Beck, U.S. Army (1960-2003)

VA Military Memories Competition

What Was Your Favorite Memory of Returning Home After a Long or Temporary Deployment? What Made This So Special?:

We landed in Oakland, California, after a twenty-four-hour flight from Vietnam with one stop in Japan. The Army transported us to Fort Ord, where personnel records were taken from us, and we were directed to a large building for a uniform fitting. After that, men being discharged from the Army went to one building, while those going to further assignments went to another building. After completing all the paperwork and getting my discharge orders. I was sent back to get my Class A uniform. The Army can be very efficient. They took my military records to retrieve my awards and decorations and affixed my award ribbons to my new dress uniform.

1LT Steve C. Bailey, U.S. Army (1968-1971)

VA Military Memories Competition

What Was Your Favorite Memory of Returning Home After a Long or Temporary Deployment? What Made This So Special?:

The Freedom Bird was only an hour from landing on American soil. My mind raced from scenes of death and the sounds of helicopters to visuals of life and sounds of crowds cheering at a Yankees game. I was returning from a one-year tour as an Army infantry soldier in Vietnam. My next flight was a domestic flight to my parent’s home in Connecticut. I was 24-years-old and single. I visualized my seat assignment. In my mind, I was seated between two college coeds for the 3,000-mile flight home. With excited anticipation, I boarded and looked for the imaginary coeds. Instead, in my aisle were two nuns. I concealed my disappointment. One of them asked me what I missed most while I was in Vietnam. My response wasn’t profound; besides my family and friends, I missed taking showers with lots of soap and hot water and waking in the morning to the smell of bacon and brewed coffee and eating a leisurely breakfast of pancakes lathered in butter and maple syrup. Simple things. Maybe there had been divine intervention; it was an unexpected encounter. They were two strangers who helped me transition to civilian life. The nuns were wonderful seatmates–nonjudgmental and excluding love and compassion. Special things are sometimes spontaneous and happen when you least expect them.

Iraq War – Operation Restoring Rights – The Battle of Tal Afar

Battlefield Chronicles, Global War on Terror

In 2005, Al-Qaida in Iraq was the budding offshoot of Osama bin Laden's notorious terror organization. It would later become notorious worldwide, as AQI was the forerunner of what would eventually evolve into the Islamic State, spreading death and destruction across large swathes of Syria and Iraq. During the Iraq War, however, the group was just getting started. The Battle of Tal Afar Began With a Bold Assault Al-Qaida in Iraq controlled the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, a town filled with...

Service Reflections of SMSgt Dale L. Durnell, U.S. Air Force (1964-1991)

Air Force Reflections, Cold War

I graduated from high school when I was 17, and when I started Junior College, I was still 17. Just before my 18th birthday, dad asked what I was going to do in the spring, and I told him I sure wasn’t going back to college and that I was going to apply for a job with one of the many aerospace companies in the area (Rocketdyne, Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge, Lockheed, et al). Dad then said that no one was going to hire an 18-year-old, with the draft hanging over his head (there was no lottery in late 1963, and I’d never even heard of Vietnam), and I had no college deferment. He said I ought to just enlist, get my military service out of the way, and learn a skill.

Vietnam War – Battle of Camp Bunard (1969)

Battlefield Chronicles, Vietnam War

Gazing out the open cargo doors of the Huey flying over Phouc Long Province, boyish-looking Specialist 4 Robert Pryor took in an endless landscape of mountains, meandering rivers and rolling hills covered with dense evergreen vegetation, bamboo thickets, and triple canopy tropical broadleaf forests. The forbidding wilderness had an odd virginal beauty. It was also one of the most dangerous places in South Vietnam. This sparsely populated highland plateau, nestled along the Cambodian border...

Lt. Col. Stanley T. Adams, U.S. Army (1942–1970)

Korean War, Profiles in Courage

Mounting a knife on the end of a rifle might seem like an antiquated tactic, especially when the enemy is bearing down on you with automatic weapons, explosives, and whatever else they brought to bear. Running at these killing machines with sharp, cold steel might seem like suicide. Stanley Adams Chose a Bayonet Charge The only problem with that point of view is that bayonet charges still work on the battlefields of today's wars, because there's nothing that instills fear in the enemy like...

Service Reflections of SFC Thomas Reid, U.S. Army (2001-2021)

Army Reflections, Global War on Terror

My decision to join the Army was deeply influenced by the legacy of service in my family—especially my father, grandfather, and uncle, all of whom served as Vietnam veterans. Growing up, I saw the strength, discipline, and humility they carried from their time in the military. They didn’t often talk about their experiences, but when they did, it was clear how much serving meant to them and how it shaped who they were. Their sense of duty, sacrifice, and commitment to something greater than themselves inspired me to follow in their footsteps. For me, joining the Army is not just a personal goal—it’s a way to honor their legacy and continue the proud tradition of service in our family.

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