TogetherWeServed.com Archives - TogetherWeServed Blog

The Ghost of Kyiv

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, they came with an estimated 190,000 troops across Ukraine's border with Russia. Minutes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the Russian invasion, Russian aircraft from Belarus struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. The Russians had launched a northern front across the border with Belarus. The target of the north front was Kyiv, and Russian forces were trying to break the will of Ukraine's people and its armed forces. But stories began...

Cpl Eugene Hackman (Gene Hackman), U.S.Marine Corps (1946 – 1951)

Celebrities Who Served

Gene Hackman is an American retired actor, known for his rugged looks and his emotionally honest and natural performances. During his acting career spanning over 49 years, Gene was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two of them. Hackman has starred in some of the most iconic films in Hollywood history, including The French Connection, The Conversation, and Unforgiven. However, before he made it big in Hollywood, Hackman served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. In...

Service Reflections of SP4 David Jordan, U.S. Army (1958-1961)

Army Reflections, Vietnam War

Knowing that, as young men, we all faced Universal Military Training, otherwise known as the draft. After my first year of college, I decided that if I really wanted to serve in the armed forces of the United States, it would be better to do it while still young.

PVC Anthony Dominick Bennett (Tony Bennett), U.S. Army (1944–1946)

Celebrities Who Served, World War II

Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Tony Bennett is a jazz legend, with a career spanning over half a century. He is also a painter, and the founder of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York. But did you know that before entering the music business, he served in the United States Army? He was sent to Europe to participate in the...

Col Pierre Julien Ortiz, U.S.Marine Corps (1942-1954)

Celebrities Who Served, World War II

The first thoughts that come to mind when one thinks about World War II Marines is them landing on bloody beaches and fighting in steamy jungles of the Pacific. But this was not the role of Marine Pierre Julien Ortiz, who served in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. His exploits and dare-devil attitude were things of fiction yet they were all real. He was an American and a Frenchman with a Spanish name and he lived in remarkable times and did remarkable things. His life was a series of...

Escape from Libby Prison: The Largest Successful Prison Break of the Civil War

Civil War, Military Myths and Legends

On February 9, 1864, more than 100 Union prisoners tunneled their way to freedom in an audacious escape from Libby Prison in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. More than half of the prisoners made their way to Union lines while others were recaptured and returned to the confines of Libby. Libby Prison started as an old food warehouse on Tobacco Row along the James River. Captain Luther Libby, along with his son George W. Libby, leased the three-story brick building where they...

Service Reflections of EM3 Douglas McQuaid, U.S. Coast Guard (1971-1975)

Coast Guard Reflections, Vietnam War

William McCrystal (a good family friend) and I worked together when I was a senior in high school. He used to tell stories of his time in the service. Vietnam was still going on, and I had just received my draft number. Rather than getting drafted I picked my service and joined the USCG at the end of the summer after graduation.

PV2 Robert Duvall, U.S. Army (1953 – 1954)

Celebrities Who Served, Korean War

Robert Duvall is best known for his 70-plus years in Hollywood, playing such iconic military roles as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now," Maj. Frank Burns in "M*A*S*H" and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in the TV miniseries "Ike: The War Years." But did you know that before his acting career took off, Robert Duvall served in the Army, shortly after the end of the Korean War? Robert Duvall’s Early Life Actor and filmmaker Robert Duvall was born in San Diego, but grew up a Navy brat — an...

The American Indian Wars – The Battle of Bear Valley

Battlefield Chronicles

When we think of the Indian Wars that pitted the American Indian tribes against the United States Army, we tend to think of U.S. Army Cavalry, wearing their trademark stetson hats, sabers gleaming, riding into battle. They're usually fighting Native tribesmen who are shooting rifles while riding bareback across the Great Plains. That may have been how some of those battles looked, but after the closing of the frontier in 1890, it looked a lot different. The last great battle (The Battle of...

Where Are the Alien Bodies?

Cold War, Military Myths and Legends

By now, we all know the gist of the story. An unidentified flying object crashed in the desert near Corona, New Mexico, in 1947. Military and government agents from nearby Roswell Army Air Field rushed to the site and found alien bodies hidden among the wreckage and debris. Then, they immediately covered it up and left the American public in the dark. The Army didn't help matters any, releasing a report claiming to have captured some kind of "flying disc." It immediately retracted that claim,...

WW2 – The Battle of Saipan

Battlefield Chronicles, World War II

War inevitably equals mass casualties, whether numbering in the dozens or the hundreds, or the hundreds of thousands - this truth that has accompanied war for thousands of years. A generally accepted fact is that these casualties, whether civilian or military, are usually the direct result of enemy soldiers attacking, disease, and famine in the wake of an invasion. Sometimes, however, other means account for mass deaths in war. Such was the case of the Battle of Saipan in the Second World War...

The Hero Dog Of Verdun

Military Myths and Legends, World War I

A courageous World War I war dog was widely hailed a hero, after battling bravely through no man's land to deliver a life-saving message to French troops during the Battle of Verdun in WWI. The Hero Dog Of Verdun Service The wonder dog - named, oddly enough, Satan - was assigned the dangerous task of delivering the message from French commanders that contained the words that would bring vital relief to the besieged soldiers under heavy attack by the Germans. The life-saving message read: " For...

MENU