“It affords me very great satisfaction to be able to inform you that…I received the sword-belt and scabbard which were taken from your father’s body upon the field at Gettysburg,” wrote Dr. John Wilson Wishart from a field hospital near Cold Harbor, Virginia. The recipient of the letter was 10-year-old Emma Roberts, a young girl…
On April 4, 1943, ten US service personnel outwitted their Japanese guards and escaped from a work camp in the Davao Region of the Philippines. One of those escapees, Lt. Commander Melvyn Harvey McCoy, kept a journal during his imprisonment. After his escape, he gave a detailed report of the brutal treatment of POWs and…
The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. With more than 50,000 casualties, it represented a turning point in the Civil War and ended Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s second attempt to invade the North. This coming July, in conjunction with the 158th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, we are…
In 1941, with the looming threat of war, Congress authorized the creation of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). The bill became law in 1942, but since the WAAC was an auxiliary unit and not governed by United States Army regulations, enlisted women were not eligible for overseas pay or government life insurance. In 1943,…
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have made significant contributions to the US military dating back to the War of 1812. May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and to honor those many contributions, we’ve highlighted the actions of just a few. Joseph Pierce: During the 1800s, job opportunities brought many Asian immigrants to the United…
The Battle of Crete began on May 20, 1941, when German forces began a massive airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete during WWII. Thousands of German paratroopers (called Fallschirmjäger) landed on Crete, where they encountered tenacious resistance from Greek troops assisted by Allies from Britain, New Zealand, and Australia – and determined Cretan…
We’re pleased to announce that we’ve added records for the 96th Bomb Group to our archives. The 96th Bomb Group was part of the United States 8th Air Force and flew B-17 Flying Fortresses with a Square-C tail marking. They flew 324 missions across occupied Europe during WWII and received two Distinguished Unit Citations. During…
