Letters from a WWII Soldier to His Sweetheart Offer an Intimate Picture of Love During Wartime
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Highlights from a trove of more than 200 love letters that tell the story of a couple’s courtship and marriage during World War II are now on display digitally through the Nashville Public Library, offering an intimate picture of love during wartime. The letters by William Raymond Whittaker and Jane Dean were […]
The WWII Battle of Manila: The Deadliest Urban Battle of the Pacific War
Japanese Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi carried a heavy burden. In November 1942, the USS Washington’s guns had sent his battleship Kirishima to the bottom of the ocean off Guadalcanal. He survived. In Japanese military culture, that survival brought immense disgrace. Two years later, commanding naval forces in Manila, Iwabuchi saw his chance at redemption. General […]
The Battle of Kasserine Pass: The Humiliating WWII Defeat That Transformed the US Army
American soldiers dug foxholes into the ridgeline at Djebel Chambi. They had only arrived in North Africa a few weeks ago and faced light resistance from Vichy French troops. The infamous Afrika Korps under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had just launched a massive offensive the day prior. The Americans knew what was coming. They were […]
Remains of WWII Medal of Honor Recipient, Killed as a POW, Finally Comes Home
Capt. Willibald C. Bianchi, an Army Medal of Honor recipient who survived many obstacles in World War II, only to be killed in a terrible mistake, will finally return home to receive proper burial 80 years after he was declared missing in action. Bianchi, whose remains were properly identified on Aug. 11 by the Defense […]
Operation Cowboy: When U.S. Cavalry and Germans Fought Together in WWII to Save 1,200 Horses from the Soviets
American soldiers and German troops fought Waffen-SS units together in Czechoslovakia on April 28, 1945. The mission was to rescue some of Europe’s rarest horses before the Soviet Red Army arrived. Operation Cowboy stands as one of only two documented occasions during World War II when U.S. and Wehrmacht forces fought alongside each other against […]
Death by Firing Squad: Eddie Slovik Became the Only U.S. Soldier Executed for Desertion in WWII
Eddie Slovik made a series of decisions that turned him into the only American soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War. He wrote and signed a confession admitting his crime. He refused five offers to escape punishment. He told his judge advocate he would desert again. And his case reached General Dwight Eisenhower’s desk […]
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 […]
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 […]
From Pearl Harbor to Japan: How 25th Infantry Division Earned its 'Tropic Lightning' Name in WWII
Sgt. Kenneth Nine was scheduled to ship back to the states that Monday morning. After partying until 5 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, the 27th Infantry platoon sergeant sat exhausted in front of Schofield Barracks. Then Japanese planes flew overhead, strafing everything in sight. Nine’s commanding officer ran up and said, “Get in the saddle […]
The WWII Mystery Behind the 1942 Battle of Los Angeles: Axis Planes, Aliens or Mass Hysteria?
Not even three months after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Americans on the west coast thought they were under attack. Sirens sounded across Los Angeles in the early morning hours of Feb. 25, 1942. Within minutes, searchlights swept the sky while thousands of air raid wardens rushed to their posts. Then anxious gun crews […]