TogetherWeServed.com Archives - TogetherWeServed Blog

Bayonet Charge

Following World War I, Americans reached the conclusion that our country's participation in that war had been a disastrous mistake, one which should never be repeated again. This resulted in a major segment of the population becoming "isolationist" hoping to avoid dragging the country into another disastrous foreign war. Lewis Lee Millett Enlisted Before America Entered the War Even when Nazi German invaded Poland in 1939 and began conquering and controlling much of continental Europe, most...

Korean War – Night Fighter Team

Battlefield Chronicles, Korean War

On January 21, 1953, during Korea’s Winter War. Night fighter team "George" of composite squadron three (VC-3) was operating from USS Oriskany (CVA-34) in the Sea of Japan. The Night Fighter Team Filed a Misleading Report Excerpt from combat report: Saw 75-100 trucks on G-3, seven trucks seen damaged. Meager to intense AA, much rifle fire was seen. The plane hit by 30 cal. Item - Lt. James L. Brown, USNR assigned F4U-5N #124713. One-night landing aboard without incident. 2.6 combat hours....

The Defiant One: Col Robin Olds, U.S. Air Force (1942-1973)

Korean War, Profiles in Courage, Vietnam War

Fighter pilots used to say that there was a glass case in the Pentagon building to the precise dimension of then-Colonel Robin Olds, who would be frozen in time and displayed wearing his tank-less flight suit, crashed fore and aft cap, gloves, and torso harness with .38 pistol and survival knife. Beside the case was a fire ax beneath a sign reading: "In case of war, break glass." Born for War and Raised to Fly It was something of an exaggeration, but it contained an element of truth: Robin...

Cpl Carl Reiner, U.S. Army Air Forces (1942–1946)

Celebrities Who Served, World War II

Carl Reiner was a multifaceted American entertainer, celebrated for his significant contributions to comedy, television, film, and literature. But did you know that Carl Reiner was also a veteran? Carl Reiner’s World War II service took him from a Signal Corps radio classroom to the Army’s Special Services entertainment units, where he used humor to boost morale across the Pacific instead of fighting on the front lines. That experience not only kept him out of some of the war’s deadliest...

Gulf War – The Battle of Khafji

Battlefield Chronicles, Gulf War

By late January 1991, the "war" part of the Gulf War still looked strangely distant. Since Operation Desert Shield transitioned to Operation Desert Storm, the war appeared very one-sided. Coalition jets had been pounding Iraqi command posts, radars, and armored columns in Kuwait and southern Iraq. That was all about to change. Saddam Hussein aimed to strike back in The Battle of Khafji On the ground, Saddam Hussein still had large forces dug in, and he wanted to prove they could strike...

The Kandahar Giant

Military Myths and Legends

The story of the Kandahar Giant sounds like something from a pulp adventure novel. According to this modern military legend, a unit of U.S. Army Special Forces encountered an enormous, red-haired humanoid in the remote mountains of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, in 2002. Over the years, the tale has spread far beyond military circles, capturing imaginations but lacking any hard evidence. Soldiers Reported Finding The Kandahar Giant As the legend goes, an American patrol had gone missing in...

Service Reflections of Lt Col Arthur Wedra, U.S. Air Force (1962-1984)

Air Force Reflections, Vietnam War

The draft was on! I dreamed of being an Air Force pilot… had several training flights during my first two years of Air Force ROTC at Gettysburg College (PA), a detachment that trained only pilots in 1956-1957. After completing my second year of ROTC, I was subjected to a complete physical, in which I discovered that I was color-blind and consequently would never be able to fly as an Air Force pilot. I was disappointed, but shortly thereafter learned that the Navy had an easier-to-pass color-blindness test… so I arranged for a physical at the Philadelphia Navy Base… it was an all-day exercise; the last event was the color-blindness test. The testers brought out what I knew was the same test the Air Force testers used. Surprised, I asked about the different tests and replied, “Oh, we found out that this one is more reliable.” And so ended my desire to be a military pilot. I put the whole idea of military service on the back burner until my senior year, in the spring of 1962…following two dropouts for lack of funds to return.

Break in the Chain-Intelligence Ignored by W.R. Baker

Military Book Reviews, Vietnam War

W.R. "Bob" Baker's "Break in the Chain — Intelligence Ignored: Military Intelligence in Vietnam and Why the Easter Offensive Should Have Turned Out Differently" is both a war story and an indictment. It's part memoir from the cramped intel bunkers of I Corps in 1972, and part after-action review of how a major enemy offensive can roar through a command system convinced that it "can't happen here." Break in the Chain shows how one analyst made a difference Baker isn't an armchair critic...

Anglo-Zulu War: Wolseley And Rorke’s Drift (1879)

Battlefield Chronicles

I recently reviewed a biographical history of the men who flew on the famous Doolittle Raid of 1942 where I professed strong approval of that kind of book. Rorke's Drift Emerges as More Than a Single Famous Battle We now must jump back further to the year 1879 for a similar and equally effective work by the respected Zulu War historian James W Bancroft. This book, "Rorke's Drift: The Zulu War, 1879", is the sum of decades of work, provides biographies of the men awarded the Victoria Cross for...

Service Reflections of Sgt Howard Johnson, U.S. Marine Corps (1969-1973)

Cold War, Marine Reflections

One of my family members served with Washington in the Revolutionary War, John Cahoes. He was actually on a sortie to capture an English General. They had to cross from New York to New Jersey in a rowboat, crossing between English warships in the dark of night. Intel had it that the British general had a kept maiden at a local pub, and the Americans caught him with his pants down. His troops were encamped just down from the pub. They caught him in bed and hauled him back down to the bay before they let him put his pants on. Then they rowed back across the bay between the warships.

War in the Pacific – The Battle of Manila

Battlefield Chronicles, World War II

On February 3, 1945, American forces entered the outskirts of Manila, capital of the Philippines, beginning the Battle of Manila, a ferocious and destructive urban battle against the Japanese that would leave Manila the second-hardest hit Allied capital (following Warsaw) of World War II. The Road to Manila and the First Days of Battle As part of his campaign to retake the Philippines from the Japanese (who had captured it from the Americans in 1942), General Douglas MacArthur first...

WWII – The Defense of Wake Island