On August 29, 1945, the USS Benevolence sailed into Tokyo Bay. She was the first American hospital ship to arrive in Japan to evacuate American, Allied, and civilian POWs from two internment camps following the end of WWII. After spending the fall onboarding patients and caring for them, the Benevolence set sail for the US…
During the Civil War, more than 400,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were held at prisoner-of-war camps, with a tragic death toll of 56,000. Among these captives was a Confederate soldier with a remarkable tale of escape from Point Lookout POW camp in Maryland. Thirty-six years later, this soldier embarked on a journey to revisit the…
J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American physicist known for his groundbreaking work in quantum mechanics and theoretical physics. Oppenheimer was tasked with organizing the Manhattan Project, a top-secret program to develop nuclear energy for military purposes during WWII. The project resulted in the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Following the war, Oppenheimer came…
If you have ancestors who have served at a military base in Washington State, you’ll love our new collection of US, Washington State Military Records, 1855-1950. This collection contains more than 140 thousand records for servicemembers in Washington State. These records reveal rich details, including birthdate, occupation, family members, military service, and more. The collection…
Sydney Herbert Davies is a veteran of the Civil War. Still, this soldier has the unique distinction of having served in three different nations – Great Britain, the United States, and New Zealand. Born in Dorset, England, in 1838, Davies was the eldest son of Royal Navy Admiral George Davies and Julia Hume Davies. Following…
During WWII, the US Fifth Army liberated Rome on June 4, 1944. Rome had been considered the heart of Fascist Italy under Mussolini’s rule, and the liberation dealt a blow to Nazi Germany’s morale. Rome was one of three Axis capitals and had been under German control since 1943. Not only was the liberation symbolically…
We have some exciting news to share. Ancestry® and the National Genealogical Society® have recently finalized a contract with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to resume digitization of the War of 1812 Pension Files. Like so many other things, this ongoing project came to a screeching halt during the closure of NARA due…
