US Army Archives - TogetherWeServed Blog

Rucksack Grunt by Robert Kuhn

Rucksack Grunt author Robert Kuhn served in the US Army between 1970 and 1972 in the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry. He ventured out of the suburbs of Pennsylvania into the dangerous jungles and mountains of Vietnam’s Central Highlands. In his book, Kuhn details the traumatic and even disturbing encounters he experienced as a ‘rucksack-carrying grunt’ on his tour of duty. Vietnam vets and those who love them alike have found common ground and insight in Kuhn’s writing. Kuhn was just a...

Angels of Bataan

Military Myths and Legends, World War II

When Americans woke up Sunday morning on December 7, 1941, they were stunned to learn Japanese naval aircraft had attacked Pearl Harbor. What they would soon find out that was only the beginning. Pearl Harbor was just one part of the Japanese plan for the day. Within hours, Japanese naval and ground forces attacked and invaded Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Singapore, Honk Kong, Thailand and Burma. Ten hours after the devastating surprise attack that crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at...

The Last Airborne Deployment of WWII

Military Myths and Legends, World War II

In the early morning hours of March 24, 1945, a massive WWII airborne operation known as Operation Varsity launched with an attempt to deploy 17,000 American and British Airborne troops across the Rhine River. It was the largest single-day airborne operation in history. C-47 Transport Planes Release Hundreds of Paratroopers during Operation Varsity. In the final months of WWII, Western Allied Forces advanced east into Germany. This meant crossing numerous rivers, many of which no longer had...

American Nurses in WWI

Military Myths and Legends, World War I

As a German plane buzzed overhead, nurse Helen Dore Boylston dropped face down in the mud. Boylston, an American nurse, serving at a British Army base hospital near the Western Front in 1918, had been running between wards of wounded patients that night, trying to calm their nerves during the air raid. Now, all she could do was brace herself for the hissing bomb that hurtled toward her. She covered her eyes and ears against the deafening roar and "blood-red flare." About a half-hour later,...

WWI Military Technologies Still in Use Today

MajGen. Keith L. Ware U.S. Army (1941–1968) – Medal of Honor Recipient

Profiles in Courage, World War II

Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware was born in Denver on November 23, 1915. His military career began on July 9, 1941, when he undertook his basic training at Camp Roberts, California, following his induction into the Army under the Selective Service Act. He attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry on July 18, 1942. Assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division, he sailed on October 22, 1942, from Hampton Roads, Virginia, and was part of the...

PVT Jimi Hendrix, U.S. Army (1961-1962)

Celebrities Who Served, Cold War

Jimi Hendrix was born in 1942 in Seattle while his father Al, drafted into the Army during World War II, was imprisoned in an Alabama stockade to prevent him from going AWOL for the birth of his son. Jimi’s parents were troubled by alcoholism and divorced when he was 9. Jimi was drawn to the guitar from a young age, but Al refused to buy him one. Jimi found a one-string ukelele in the trash that he taught himself to play by ear. He didn’t begin playing guitar until the age of 15, shortly after...

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