World War II

With Memorial Day right around the corner and many veterans organizations and schools holding programs celebrating our veterans service to the United States, the next small event is one we hadn’t heard of before but was well worthwhile. The Freemasons of Massachusetts and the 24th Masonic District for the past four years have put together […]

The small town of Orange, Massachusetts was the scene of a large Armed Forces Expo over the weekend complete with battle reenactments from the Civil War, World War I and World War II. They even had a flyby with a C-47 Skytrain, complete with markings from the D-Day invasion. A few lucky visitors got to […]

One of Winston Churchill’s most iconic speeches took place on this day in 1940. Europe was embroiled in the beginnings of World War II, which Britain, France, and Belgium were ill-prepared for and were about to be swept from the mainland under the onslaught of the German blitzkrieg. Churchill addressed Parliament in the House of […]

Gary Rose was a Green Beret medic in Vietnam and was recently awarded the Medal of Honor from President Trump for actions he performed in a particularly hazardous and dangerous mission there in 1970. Rose and eight other Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations troops were honored by being named “distinguished members of the Regiment” […]

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the culminating piece of the guerrilla war fought between the French and the Viet Minh from 1949 until the garrison was overrun and the French withdrew from the country. After fighting a losing guerrilla war, the French dropped paratroopers and Foreign Legionnaires into Dien Bien Phu, a small […]

The West German military during the Cold War planned to stockpile vast amounts of chemical weapons to stave off a Soviet Union invasion into the west. They also planned on using them, despite long-time denials by the government. War, Auschwitz, chemical weapons: never again. This was what the newly formed Federal Republic of Germany swore […]

In telling the stories of war, we have a natural inclination to focus on the action, the drama of the front lines. Heroes, villains, and violence unlike most people have ever seen has a unique way of grabbing at the human attention span, luring us in with via own aspirations of heroism, or our own […]

On April 12, the world remembers the millions who died in the Holocaust during World War II at the hands of the Nazis and their sympathizers. In the state of Israel, it is known as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, where it is observed as Israel’s day of commemoration for the […]

Today’s USSOCOM (United States Special Operations Command) operates in nearly 100 countries a day as Special Operations troops from all of the combined services do their part in defending U.S. interests abroad. Special Operations troops are taking on the lion’s share of the fighting in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan as they are an integral part […]

Irving Isaacson was one of America’s OSS operatives during World War II serving with the Dutch, but after the war, he traveled across Europe and spied on the Soviets. He passed away last week in Maine at the age of 102. Like his wife, who died three years ago, Irving Isaacson did what he knew […]

Operation Chariot (also known as the St. Nazaire Raid) was a very successful if highly costly Commando raid on the port of St Nazaire in German-occupied France on March 28, 1942. The Royal Navy and Royal Marine Commandos targeted the German naval base there because it housed not only a fully equipped submarine base but […]

On March 25, 1961, Elvis Presley did a benefit concert for the Arizona Memorial which raised over $62,000 and helped to restart public funding for the war memorial that so many Americans visit every year. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States quickly rebuilt its facilities there and raised […]