He Continued to Play Despite Breaking his Neck: From Fallschirmjäger To English Soccer Hero
n 1942, after a few months of fighting, only 300 of the original 1,000 men of Trautmann’s unit were still alive. When American soldiers captured…
From Conscientious Objector To Medal Of Honor War Hero
York’s battalion was charged with capturing a number of German machine gun positions situated on the other side of a valley. Rare is the pacifist…
The VC Sergeant: He Charged the Enemy Armed Only With a Pocket Full of Grenades
“It is entirely fitting and in keeping with his wishes that our family should inter his ashes at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea,…
Whittling Time Away: Trench Art of WWI
Ostensibly, artillery shells were supposed to be recycled, but their use as an artistic material kept their reuse for war efforts minimal. The scale of…
WWI And The Paranormal: Spooky Tales From The Trenches
Certainly, men who were rendered insane by shellshock sometimes wandered aimlessly about No Man’s Land, screaming incoherently or moaning. Whether you’re a believer in the…
The Zippo Lighter: An Icon Of The Vietnam War
After an American M1 combat helmet with an ace of spades tucked into the strap, probably the next most iconic cultural image associated with the…
Audie Murphy: The Film Career of an American War Hero
Murphy was a Texan of Irish descent but was not what you might call a typical example. He always looked younger than his age and…
Ypres: The Last Post at the Menin Gate
Ieper, Ypres, or “Wipers” as it was nicknamed—I’ve been to the Belgian town dozens of times before. I can even remember my first visit here…
Schindler’s List “Girl in the Red Coat” was Left Traumatized After Watching Herself in the Spielberg Movie
Most of us have seen the iconic movie Schindler’s List, produced and directed by the famous filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Without a doubt the scenes, oftentimes…
No Artillery Support and a Casualty Rate of 75%: The Australians at Bullecourt WWI
Gough ordered 12 British tanks to precede the Australian advance, but many of them were either hit by German artillery of simply broke down. In…
The Massacre of the Katyn Forest
In April 1943, German soldiers discovered the first of the mass graves in Katyn Forest. In 1939, the Germans and Soviets signed a non-aggression pact…
When Six Canadians Were Awarded the Victoria Cross in a Single Battle in WWI
Fighting was often hand-to-hand and even took place underground in tunnels that had been dug in an abandoned chalk quarry. Last month, the Canadian War…