Airmen's Search for Remains Recalls Top Secret WWII Mission to Turn Planes into Flying Bombs
Dozens of U.S. airmen in England assisted with an archaeological dig earlier this year aimed at finding the remains of an Army pilot lost there during World War II, and in the process helped shine a light on one of the war’s most ambitious and ill-fated secret operations against the Nazis. The search for Army […]
Texas Family of WWII Prisoner of War Receives Long-Awaited Medals: ‘This Means Everything’
FORT WORTH — Growing up, Mike Shaffer knew little of his great uncle, his grandfather’s brother. His family rarely spoke of the horrors of war or even of Elbert Knox, who earned the nickname “Toughegg” for his propensity for fighting and his rough-and-tumble reputation. As a teenager, Shaffer first learned his great uncle had been […]
US Army Honors Nisei Combat Unit that Helped Liberate Tuscany from Nazi-Fascist Forces in WWII
ROME — The U.S. military is celebrating a little-known part of World War II history, honoring the Japanese-American U.S. Army unit that was key to liberating parts of Italy and France even while the troops’ relatives were interned at home as enemies of the state following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Descendants of the second-generation […]
WWII Soldiers Posthumously Receive Purple Heart Medals 79 Years After Fatal Plane Crash
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — The families of five Hawaii men who served in a unit of Japanese-language linguists during World War II received posthumous Purple Heart medals on behalf of their loved ones on Friday, nearly eight decades after the soldiers died in a plane crash in the final days of the conflict. “I […]
POW Gets a Pair of Jump Boots, the Best Gift a WWII Vet Could Want
ROCHESTER, Minn. — For Albert “Ken” Axelson, April 2 has always been a very special day. Axelson, a World War II combat medic, turned 21 on the same day he was liberated from a Nazi prisoner of war camp in 1945 in the waning months of the war. The two anniversaries have been intertwined ever […]
Ghost Army Members Who Staged Secret WWII Battlefield Deceptions Awarded Congressional Gold Medal
DALLAS — With inflatable tanks, radio trickery, costume uniforms and acting, the American military units that became known as the Ghost Army outwitted the enemy during World War II. Their mission was kept secret for decades, but on Thursday the group stepped out of the shadows as they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at […]
10th Mountain Soldiers Honor Legendary WWII Predecessors by Skiing 24 Miles in Their Tracks
Eight decades after 10th Mountain Division soldiers trained at Colorado’s historic Camp Hale for combat in World War II, Army Staff Sgt. Cam Daniels stood on a snow-covered mountainside west of Vail Pass and reflected on the legend they created in the rugged but picturesque landscape between Leadville and Vail. One of them was his […]
Russell Hamler, Thought to Be the Last of WWII Merrill’s Marauders Jungle-Fighting Unit, Dies at 99
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The reputed last member of the famed American jungle fighting unit in World War II nicknamed the Merrill’s Marauders has died. Russell Hamler, 99, died on Tuesday, his son Jeffrey said. He did not give a cause of death. Hamler was the last living Marauder, according to a biography published by the […]
US Historians ID a New Mexico Soldier Killed During WWII, but Work Remains on Thousands of Cases
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After years of combing through military records and making some key deductions, a team of U.S. government historians and researchers has finally put a name to case file X-3212, identifying an Army private from eastern New Mexico named Homer Mitchell who died during World War II. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency this […]
Nearly 80 Years After Going MIA in WWII, US Soldier Accounted For
BOSTON — A U.S. Army soldier from Massachusetts reported missing in action while his unit was involved in fighting against German forces in Italy during World War II has been accounted for, the military said. The remains of Pvt. Wing O. Hom, of Boston, were identified in April using both anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis, […]
