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The Christy Collection

Military Stories and Articles

Famous Military Unit: American Forces Network (AFRTS)

Famous Military Unit: American Forces Network (AFRTS)

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In 1984, the first commercially available DynaTAC audio-only cell phone cost just short of $4,000, with each call billed at 45 cents per minute. Forty years later, anyone in uniform accesses audio-visual news from thousands of sources using a personal cell phone throughout the world, wherever a signal and transmission tower can reach. Yet, for eighty years, the most reliable military broadcast remains the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). AFN Was Founded in 1942 as the Armed...

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Capt. Kristoffer Kristofferson, U.S. Army (1967-1975)

Capt. Kristoffer Kristofferson, U.S. Army (1967-1975)

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Kristoffer Kristofferson is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night", all of which were hits for other artists. But considering his family background and his education, Kristofferson seemed destined to become a military officer. The son of an Air Force major general, he served as a captain and helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army during his...

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The First Indochina War – The Battle of Dien Bien Phu

The First Indochina War – The Battle of Dien Bien Phu

"The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, fought from March 13 to May 7, 1954, was a decisive Vietnamese military victory that brought an end to French colonial rule in Vietnam." The causes of the Vietnam War trace their roots back to the end of World War II. A French colony, Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia) had been occupied by the Japanese during the war. In 1941, a Vietnamese nationalist movement, the Viet Minh, was formed by Ho Chi Minh to resist the occupiers. A communist, Ho Chi Minh, waged...

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PO2 Jeff Bridges, U.S Coast Guard Reserves (1967-1975)

PO2 Jeff Bridges, U.S Coast Guard Reserves (1967-1975)

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Jeff Bridges is an Academy Award-winning actor, a musician, a photographer, and a philanthropist. He served in the US Coast Guard Reserves between 1967 and 1975, but he was a showbiz presence before he ever put on a uniform. The son of renowned Hollywood actor Lloyd Bridges, both his brother Beau and Jeff made appearances with their father on the TV series Sea Hunt between 1958 and 1960. Perhaps it was his father’s Coast Guard Auxiliary experience, combined with the Coast Guard role Lloyd...

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Famous Veterans Who Died in 2022

Famous Veterans Who Died in 2022

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Honoring Famous Veterans Who Passed Away In 2022 As 2022 draws to a close, we have a lot of memorable losses to reflect on. When a celebrity dies, we go through the cycle of public mourning. Experts say that the loss of a celebrity is personal and undeniably real. It is a sadness that transcends missing their acting, their voice, or comedic timing. At TogetherWeServed, we would like to take a few minutes to remember three famous veterans whose passing was a loss to the entertainment community...

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The Revolutionary War – Washington Crossing the Delaware

The Revolutionary War – Washington Crossing the Delaware

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The American Revolution did not start off the way the Americans had hoped. By Christmas night, 1776, morale was lower than it had ever been. The British Army had captured New York the previous summer, and men were beginning to desert as Washington's Army camped across the Delaware River from occupied Trenton (Washington Crossing the Delaware), New Jersey.  What men Washington had left were largely inexperienced, as most of the veterans from the Battle of Long Island went home when their...

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PO3 Isaac Sidney (Sid) Caesar, U.S. Coast Guard (1939-1945)

PO3 Isaac Sidney (Sid) Caesar, U.S. Coast Guard (1939-1945)

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Born in 1922, Sid Caesar was the youngest of three children born to the Ziser family, who were Jewish immigrants who settled in Yonkers, NY. His parents ran a 24-hour luncheonette, and Caesar spent a lot of time around its diverse clientele. From a young age he developed a knack for imitating the cadence and accents of the customers, while speaking in gibberish vaguely reminiscent of their native languages. Caesar himself spoke only English and Yiddish, but could perform this ‘double-talk’, as...

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AFN Patrick Leonard Sajdak (Pat Sajak), U.S. Army (1968-1969)

AFN Patrick Leonard Sajdak (Pat Sajak), U.S. Army (1968-1969)

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Pat Sajak, best known as the longtime host of the “Wheel of Fortune,” has held many jobs. Early in his career, Sajak was a weatherman, talk show host, and DJ. Wheel of Fortune, which debuted in 1975, became the longest-running syndicated game show on American television, turning Sajak and his co-host, Vanna White, into pop-culture icons. But not many know that before his showbiz career began, Sajak served our country in the military during the Vietnam War.  Pat Sajak’s Early Life On...

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SA David ‘Sinbad’ Adkins, U.S. Air Force (1979-1983)

SA David ‘Sinbad’ Adkins, U.S. Air Force (1979-1983)

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SA David ‘Sinbad’ Adkins (U.S. Air Force, 1979-1983) is best known for his body of work as a comedian and film & TV actor. He became known in the 1990s for being featured on his own HBO specials, appearing on several television series such as Coach Walter Oakes in A Different World, and as David Bryan on The Sinbad Show, and starring in the films Necessary Roughness, Houseguest, First Kid, Jingle All the Way, Good Burger, and Planes. Prior to this success, however, Sinbad spent some time...

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Famous Army Unit: 563rd Transportation Company

Famous Army Unit: 563rd Transportation Company

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The complexion of war has changed significantly through millennia of human conflict and continues to evolve with new technologies and lessons learned on the battlefield. But despite this changing environment, one constant does exist: effective logistics and supply chain integrity can change the tide of battle and determine outcomes. Until World War II, a historical reliance on fixed fortifications led to straightforward solutions for combat support; however, the global scale of conflict and...

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Blue Boy by Buck Cole

Blue Boy by Buck Cole

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Every veteran has a unique and interesting story to tell. Many of us are plucked out of our lives in the United States and sent to join our chosen branch of service, where we often travel around the country and around the world, engaging our senses in a series of new experiences. Air Force veteran Buck Cole is one of us.  Cole is not only a veteran; he's a retired history teacher, which gives him a unique perspective on what to teach us about the lessons he's learned and - more importantly -...

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Col Ola Lee Mize, U.S. Army (1950-1981)

Col Ola Lee Mize, U.S. Army (1950-1981)

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Ola Lee Mize was born August 28, 1931, in Albertville, Alabama as the son of a sharecropper. He was forced to leave school after just the ninth grade to help his family put food on the table, as was very common throughout the United States in that era. Mize's Military Service Mize tried several times to enlist in the Army but was rejected for being too light at just 120 pounds. He finally got in when his mother signed an affidavit to affirm his age since a tornado had destroyed all his town's...

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