January 19, 2021 by Jenny Ashcraft | 43 Comments
During the post-WWII era, many young boys entertained themselves playing army games. Ten-year-old Don Milne was more interested in learning about real soldiers. He devoured books about Patton, Churchill, McArthur, and Eisenhower. He particularly loved learning about ordinary Americans who … Continue reading
December 11, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 59 Comments
During WWII, the government commissioned propaganda posters to teach American citizens and soldiers that careless speech could endanger national security. Any American with knowledge of troop movements, military equipment, or any other information that might prove useful to the enemy … Continue reading
August 13, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 55 Comments
American journalist Ernest Taylor “Ernie” Pyle was one of the most famous war correspondents of WWII. Using his folksy writing style, Pyle connected with his readers and brought the realities of the battlefront to living rooms across America. At his … Continue reading
July 31, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 72 Comments
The morning of August 15, 1945, dawned with the realization that after a long war resulting in some 60 million deaths worldwide, WWII was finally over and Victory in Japan (V-J Day) had arrived. Hours earlier, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s … Continue reading
July 24, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 103 Comments
We’ve recently completed a publication that contains nearly 11 million records of U.S. Veterans gravesites that date back to the Revolutionary War. The U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2019 collection compiles records from a variety of sources and cemeteries for soldiers … Continue reading
July 1, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 113 Comments
On July 30, 1945, just days before the end of WWII, the USS Indianapolis was sailing from Guam to Leyte when she was struck by two torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank in roughly 12 minutes. Survivors … Continue reading
June 1, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 114 Comments
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a naval battle fought June 19-20, 1944, in the Philippine Sea several hundred miles west of Saipan near the Mariana Islands between the United States Navy and the Japanese Imperial Navy. It resulted … Continue reading