Tag: History

The United States military is arguably the most formidable fighting force ever assembled in the history of the world.  However, since the beginning of the war on terrorism and specifically over the past eight years of this Administration, it has increasingly drifted away from its core mission of defending our nation and more towards nation-building, […]

The campaigns leading up to yesterday’s presidential election will certainly be remembered as being among the most controversial and divisive in American history. Partisan politics, name-calling, accusations of corruption, and drudging up unflattering bits of each candidate’s past all took center stage in this election. Regardless of who you decided to vote for, or who […]

UNESCO confirms ISIL is partially funded by the sale of ancient Artifacts. These items, culturally significant, will enter the Black Market, robbing cultures of their own history. The funding of terrorism and its complexities is an important topic. Moreover, it’s the root of the evil – and maybe the most important aspect of terrorism. It’s […]

 The Damascus incident isn’t the only accident recounted in the movie, or the most frightening. In 1961 a nuclear-armed bomber broke apart over Goldsboro, North Carolina. One of the bombs was saved from going off by a single safety switch, of the kind you use to turn your lights on and off. And then there were the false alarms that almost led the United States or the Soviet Union to launch an all-out nuclear attack. In researching his book, Schlosser obtained a never-before released government assessment that revealed that between 1950 and 1968 alone there had been over 1,000 accidents, large and small, involving nuclear weapons.

Lieutenant Hess explains the division was responsible for the defense of Bastogne leading up to the Battle of the Bulge. As Lt. Hess recounts the action, we see snow-covered scenes of the battle and the frozen bodies of soldiers killed in action. Lt. Hess tells of one of the most famous events in WW2 history.

On December 22, 1944, German emissaries asked for the American surrender, to which General McAuliffe answered tersely, “Nuts!” (Lt. HessHess explains that it was “just GI American for ‘Go to hell!’”) A few days later the skies cleared, allowing Allied air forces to retaliate and to drop much-needed food, medicine, and weaponry to ground troops. On Christmas Eve, the Americans allowed the Germans to get as close as possible before opening fire. “You could hear them hollering, ‘Comrade!’ Begging for mercy. Asking for a break. Oh sure. We gave ‘em a break,” says Lt. Hess as the film shows the dead, frozen bodies of Nazi soldiers in the mud and muck. “The German supermen. They didn’t know what the hell had happened.”

70 years after World War Two, it is easy to take a stand against Nazism. In Germany during 1935, it was not. Those who did not fall in line were subject to liquidation, as Landmesser found out.

The legacy of this tough group of volunteers is being carried forward by members of the 75th Ranger Regiment, whose crest is the Merrill’s Marauder patch, which has never officially been authorized.

Launched in 1942, the Independence served in the Pacific during the war, carrying planes that attacked Japanese forces. It was even torpedoed, in 1944, but managed to stay afloat, and was repaired.

The M4 was the most produced American tank during World War II, with 50,000 units made. It was nicknamed Sherman by the British-it was distributed through a U.S. war supply program to Allies including the British Commonwealth-after William Tecumseh Sherman, an American general in the Union Army during the U.S. civil war. This model was restored by the museum and is in running condition.

He maintained steady hit and run tactics on the Iraqi Army with and without his tank while working with Bedouin and varied anti-Saddam militias in Southern Iraq.

Every map has a Who, What, Where and When about it. But these maps had another element: Why? Since they were primarily ‘about’ something other than geography, understanding the map required finding the reasoning behind it.

Once a center of learning and culture, the city housed a priceless collection of manuscripts: volumes of poetry, encyclopedias, and even sexual manuals that invoked the name of Allah. Threatened with destruction, the manuscripts were spirited out of the city to safety in a thrilling, cloak-and-dagger operation.