America's North Shore Journal » World War II
USS Carr completes visit to Murmansk
The guided-missile frigate USS Carr (FFG 52) departed Murmansk, Russia, Sept. 5, after completing its third port visit to Russia since late June. During their visit, Carr sailors participated in a community service project and hosted a reception on board for local government officials and special guests. Among those guests were veterans of the Polar Convoys. During World War II, the men who ran these convoys supplied much-needed aid, from the Allies, to the Soviet Union … Read entire article »
Filed under: Military, World War II
Our Best: Following in grandfather’s footsteps
For many years the United States Army has been a melting pot of soldiers from different cultures, races and religions, all joining the Army for reasons as different as their diverse backgrounds. For Pfc. Chelsea Draper, Forward Support Command, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, joining the military followed in the footsteps of her grandfather. A member of the Navajo tribe located in Chinle, Ariz., Teddy Draper Sr. served in the U.S. Marine Corp over 60 years ago, utilizing the Navajo language, or Diné Ke’Ji, to transmit coded messages as a code talker. Code talkers were Native Americans who served in the Marines from World War I to Vietnam. Used to transmit coded messages over radio and telephone, the languages they spoke were unwritten and undecipherable … Read entire article »
Filed under: Iraq, Military, Our Best: Military Women, War on Terror, World War II
North African battles still have lessons to tell today
Col. Stephen Mariano looked down into a foxhole carved atop a rocky hill near El Guettar, where in March 1943, troops from U.S. Army II Corps battled German panzers. Nearby, retired Army Col. Len Fullenkamp conjured tales of U.S. Army Rangers under Lt. Col. William Darby marching through darkness along a nearby ridge to surprise sleeping enemy infantrymen with fixed bayonets. Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division hacked fighting positions from solid rock as enemy tanks rumbled into the valley. U.S. Army artillery units skimmed shells across the desert at approaching German armor. Mariano began to wonder, “Had my grandfather dug one of these foxholes? Was his artillery position somewhere nearby? Did he fire on Germans coming through this gap?” Mariano, 45, of Redlands, Calif., was among several U.S. Army Africa officers who … Read entire article »
Filed under: Military, World War II
Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day 2010
Sunday is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. There have been ethnic cleansings throughout human history, some far more thorough than this. What sets the Germans apart is their damn efficiency at the process. No German living within 20 miles of a camp could have not known of it. The traffic to and from, the guards coming in to town on leave, the odor of the dead and dying. Germans are human, too, and I suspect they were glad it was being done to someone else and not them. Germany is in the process of erasing the dozens upon dozens of sub-camps that were associated with each of the major camps. For every Dachau, there were a host of smaller camps that were grouped about the main site. The Germans have preserved a … Read entire article »
Filed under: History, World War II
Jap subs attack Pearl Harbor, bombers also attack
The PBS series, NOVA, broadcast a show on January 5, 2010 about the mysteries around the Japanese submarine attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I was able to participate in an interview with the researchers behind the work discussed on the program. While that show was generally accurate, there were some differences in emphasis and timing that did not agree with those of the original research. Historians have recognized since 1941 that the Japanese augmented their air attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor with a submarine attack. Some twenty submarines were deployed around the Hawaiian Islands, and five mini submarines were launched in an effort to penetrate the harbor and attack. The public, fed by movies and a brief history lesson in school, believes that the attack on … Read entire article »
Filed under: American History, History, Military, World War II
Our Best: Torch and the WASPs
It’s been more than 60 years since the Women Air Force Service Pilots or WASP took the skies by storm as the first women in U.S. history trained to fly American military aircraft, overcoming inequality and changing the face of aviation forever. On July 1, these aviation pioneers were recognized by President Barack Obama, who presented the Congressional Gold Medal as long-overdue recognition of the historical “Fly Girls.” Here at JBB, a 21st-century “Fly Girl,” Maj. Gina Sabric, an F-16 fighter pilot, couldn’t be more pleased with the recognition. “I think it is amazing that they were presented [with the Congressional Gold Medal],” said Sabric, currently deployed here as the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing flight safety officer from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. “It is definitely well-deserved and probably a little overdue, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Military, Our Best: Military Women, World War II
A Veteran of D-Day and a Lady – reprinted from Aug 2006
On my safari yesterday, I had the pleasant surprise of meeting a World War II vet. My first thoughts were, unfairly, “They don’t allow her kind in the Army.” She was there at D-Day, in combat. And here she is, over sixty years later, still looking good and serving in her own way. My dad, a vet of the same war, would have been both astonished and pleased to have met her. This is the first thing I saw. Needless to say, it wasn’t a marking I expected to see. And it wasn’t the wackiest ship in the Army, but a working ship, with an honorable record. Historic Naval Ships Association Built to serve during WW II, USAT LT-5 moved military cargo under the Army Transportation Corps. She served in both the Atlantic and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Heroes, Military, World War II
US Paras Liberate Sainte Mere Eglise
It was the middle of the night and the town of Sainte Mere Eglise was on fire. Occupied by the Germans since June 18, 1940, the town had survived several allied air raids. A stray incendiary bomb from one of those raids had set a building near the town square on fire and it was spreading. The townspeople formed a chain to ferry water from the pump in the town square to the fire. At about 1:30 a.m. that day — June 6, 1944 — the sky filled with hundreds of American paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division. Well lit by the flames beneath them, the paratroopers were easy targets for the startled German soldiers on the ground. One of those paratroopers was Pvt. John Steele of F Company, 3rd Battalion, 505th … Read entire article »
Filed under: History, Military, World War II
Our Best: WWII Babes Edition
Just as the men who fought World War Two are heading home to God in increasing numbers, so too are the women. The Air Force has done a nice thing by seeing that some of these courageous pioneers are recognized and get to fly at least one more time. Maj. Jennifer King escorts Kay Gott, an original member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots from World War II, during the WASP’s final flight on a C-130 Hercules Sept. 25 at Irving, Texas. Major King is a C-17 Globemaster III pilot with the 315th Airlift Wing from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Dawn Price) Capt. Roseanne Teckman escorts an original member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots from World War II during the WASP’s final flight on a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Military, World War II
Coming Soon: Future Posts
- Declaration of War 1812 (in 130 days)
- USS President vs HMS Belvidera (in 135 days)
- General Hull Invades Canada (in 154 days)
- First Battle of Sacketts Harbor (in 161 days)
On Y!CN
- Radioactive Gravel from Japanese Nuke Disaster Used in Buildings
- Fuel Supplies Reach Nome
- Fuel Convoy Reaches Nome
- Russians Sail to Rescue of Ice Bound Alaska Community
- Pope Embraces Anglicans in U.S. with New Ordinariate
- Nebraska Nuke Plant Placed on Special Inspection Status
- Radioactive Water Leaks at Japanese Nuke Site
- Japan Damaged Nuke Plants Still Not Under Control
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