A U-Boat Killed 763 American Soldiers on Christmas Eve in 1944. The Army Kept It Secret for 50 Years
The Belgian troopship SS Léopoldville had just slipped beneath the English Channel after being hit by a torpedo. Gerald Howard went down with the ship. The 23-year-old rifleman nearly drowned under the frigid water like hundreds of his comrades. He fought his way back to the surface. “I was on the ship until it went […]
The Battle of Chipyong-ni: When American and French Troops Halted the Chinese Advance in Korea
Colonel Paul Freeman’s regiment was exposed and exhausted. Chinese forces were massing nearby. On Feb. 13, 1951, Lieutenant General Edward Almond, X Corps commander, authorized a withdrawal 15 miles south. Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway overruled Almond. The Eighth Army commander reversed the order after meeting General Douglas MacArthur, agreeing that the communists had to be […]
The Battle of Hamel: Australian Soldiers Taught American Doughboys to Fight Germans in WWI
At 3:10 a.m. on July 4, 1918, American soldiers climbed out of their trenches in northern France. Most had never seen combat before. They had arrived in Europe weeks earlier. Now they were attacking German positions alongside battle-hardened Australian troops and were under the command of an Australian general. For the first time in American […]
Seven American and German Soldiers Sat Down and Enjoyed a Christmas Dinner Together During the Battle of the Bulge
Elisabeth Vincken had listened to artillery fire for eight straight days before someone knocked on her cottage door on Christmas Eve in 1944. She opened it to find three lost American soldiers, one with a gunshot wound. Hours later, four German Wehrmacht soldiers showed up as well. The German woman forced both groups to surrender […]
He Risked His Life for American Soldiers in Afghanistan. Would America Let Him In?
Barely half an hour had passed since the flight landed at O’Hare International Airport, and the Army combat veteran’s palms were already sweating. Spencer Sullivan, 38, situated himself at the front of a crowd of people waiting near the exit for international arrivals. He knew it could be hours before his friend got through customs. […]
How a North Korean Assassination Attempt on South Korea's President in 1968 Led to the Deaths of Four American Soldiers
Thirty-one North Korean commandos slipped past American and South Korean sentries on Jan. 17, 1968, cutting through the DMZ fence on a mission to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung-hee. Four days later, disguised as South Korean soldiers and wearing civilian trench coats over their weapons, they reached a police checkpoint 100 meters from the […]
German Officer Sacrificed His Life Trying to Save an American Soldier in the WWII Battle of Hurtgen Forest
During the bloody battle for Hurtgen Forest in late 1944, a 23-year-old German lieutenant heard a wounded American soldier crying for help in a minefield. Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld ordered his men not to shoot any American medics who might try to rescue the man. When no help came after hours of listening to the man’s […]
Native American World War II Veteran, Final Member of Unit, Dies at 101
As the number of remaining World War II veterans continues to dwindle, Gilbert “Choc” Charleston, one of the last Native American WWII soldiers and the final surviving member of his unit, died on Thanksgiving night at age 101. The news of Charleston’s passing was confirmed by the Choctaw Nation, of which the veteran was a […]
The American Senator and Three Tanks That Took on Rommel Before Operation Torch
In the summer of 1942, the British Eighth Army was losing the war in North Africa. Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps had smashed through the Gazala line, captured Tobruk, and sent the British reeling back toward Egypt. Among the soldiers scrambling to retreat in the desert heat were three American tanks with American crews — an […]
The Only WWII Land Battle Fought on American Soil: The Forgotten Fight for Alaska
When most people think of the Pacific Theater of World War II, they envision tropical islands, heat, and jungle combat. However, the 18-day campaign in May 1943 to retake a remote Aleutian island from Japanese occupation was the total opposite. The fight over the frozen island became the only land battle of World War II […]