It was July 31st, 1861. Federal troops were just north of Manassas, Virginia. There were many who thought they would send the Rebels reeling, putting an end to the rebellion. The day was Sunday, and a throng of civilian sightseers had come down from the U.S. capitol, just 25 miles away. Lieutenant Tibdall commanded a […]
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George Washington paused and said, “Gentlemen, you must pardon me.” But I get ahead of myself. It was 1782. Except for some skirmishes, hostilities in the Revolutionary War had ended with the surrender of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown. But a peace treaty had not not yet been negotiated and signed, and British garrisons were still on American […]
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Tony saw plenty of combat in the Pacific. But he is most famed for his actions at the Battle of Iwo Jima. A son of immigrants, Tony Stein enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942, becoming a Paramarine. Paramarines were an experiment to test the idea of dropping Marines into battle. His regiment saw plenty […]
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Retired Army Colonel Van T. Barfoot loved his country and had served it bravely in three wars, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. So, he proudly flew his American flag on a 21 foot pole in the front yard of his Virginia home. But in December 2009, his local homeowners’ association told the veteran, now 90 years […]
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How tough do you have to be to survive a Nazi concentration camp, defend a hilltop against wave after wave of enemy troops – twice – then spend 2 ½ years in another hellish prison camp, and still live through it? Hard as nails tough, Corporal Rubin tough. That’s him in the photo. Hungarian-born Tibor […]
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Francis Marion went to sea at 15. He once spent seven days on a lifeboat, drifting in the Caribbean after his ship was smashed apart by a whale. In 1754 he joined a militia in South Carolina, where he learned about guerilla warfare. When America declared Independence in 1776, Marion and his men helped build […]
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In Vietnam, he was part of an operation to battle and stop the Viet Cong’s resupply line along the coast. Within a year the enemy had to go inland to move supplies, using the tortuous Ho Chi Minh Trail as it wound through Laos and Cambodia. Chief Warrant Officer Bernard Webber added that victory to […]
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Before the Battle of the Bulge of WWII, American forces fought the Battle of Hurtgen Forest – the longest single battle in the history of the US Army. When the Germans were defeated in France in August 1944, GIs began to believe the war would be over by Christmas, but when the Americans reached German […]
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No one today can doubt how important George Washington’s leadership was in the battle for American freedom. But he had enemies who wanted to take him down. After a couple of battlefield defeats, some thought they saw their chance. One of them was Dr. Benjamin Rush, the Father of American Psychiatry. In January of 1778, […]
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This is the second story about “The Filthy 13.” If you missed the first one, you can read it here. Known for their disregard of military discipline, they didn’t take a lot of baths, didn’t keep their barracks clean. Too busy going AWOL. They were members of the 101st Airborne, as you can see from the left […]
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