Can you name a film from the 1940s or 1950s where the actors did not smoke, sometimes throughout the movie? Probably not. Besides giving characters something to do with their hands, Hollywood considered smoking to be sophisticated and sexy. Thankfully, today, with greater awareness of the hazards of smoking, and noble efforts by the American Cancer Society, we see much less tapping of cigarette packs, … Continue reading Cigarettes in War and Peace
Memorial Day is often thought of as the beginning of summer, although the official start is still three weeks away. And this weekend, after the long months of pandemic-induced isolation, many Americans will gather the kids and head to the beach or the mountains with bicycles strapped to the bumper and the trunk full of beach blankets. With amusement parks and barbecue bake offs calling, … Continue reading Memorial Day x 3 in Georgia
What we know to be true about UFOs and Norden Bombsights In January 2021, the CIA released a trove of previously “secret” documents on unidentified flying objects. And then, as CIA representatives pushed their chairs back from the table, they claimed to have disclosed everything they have. But after looking at the videos about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, most of us would say, “nothing to see … Continue reading Precision Research: UFOs and Bombsights
Research is at once the bane of my existence (so much information and so little time) and a passion that I pursue day in and day out. It is also a necessary endeavor for those who write about history. I am one of those writers, and it is all I can do to tear myself away from following another scatter of breadcrumbs or a tiny … Continue reading Searching for Patsy
Aaron, Hubert Charles Titus is the first name listed on the memorial at Pearl Harbor. Zwarun, Jr, Michael. is the last. Two very different men, as no doubt all 1,177 who perished aboard the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941 were. Yet they shared something in common then, both were young, twenty-somethings, both had chosen to join the navy, both were seamen, both perished. And they share … Continue reading Pearl Harbor: A to Z
At 0300 on June 25, 1943, a jeep crept quietly through the dark to one of the Niessen huts at Thorpe Abbotts airfield. The sergeant on board, entered, reached the bunk of Lt. Stanley O. Morrison placed a hand on Morrison’s shoulder and nudged him awake. Not that anyone in the barracks was asleep. Each of the dozen or more men lying on his own … Continue reading The Luck of the Draw. The Roll of the Dice.
“All in all I would like to be appreciated as a man” Recently Virginia Tech and the National Endowment for the Humanities launched a project to transcribe the handwritten comments of a thousands of soldiers who responded to a survey during and in the aftermath of World War II. The results were published in 1950 under the title The American Soldier, a four volume series by … Continue reading In Their Own Words
By now I imagine and, having done my part, fervently hope, everyone knows 2020 is the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. If not, there’s one more opportunity to catch up on the events, the issues, and the ordinary and extraordinary people who lived through the war years. On August 30, the New York Times devoted its Book Review to books … Continue reading Like Minds — A WWII Reading List
From a even a quick glance at Anthony J. Marchione’s photo, the man’s youth is evident. He was a handsome young man, too, slightly built, all of five foot six and 125 pounds. He’d celebrated his twentieth birthday in Okinawa on August 12, 1945, an American airman in the prime of his life. Three days later, the Japanese surrendered. Six days later he was dead. … Continue reading The Last Airman to Die in WWII
You might not think of our men and women in uniform as “readers,” but you would be wrong. The army, navy, marines, air force, and coast guard all consider reading (and reading widely) as critical for career advancement. Courtesy of DODReads.com, a site dedicated to furthering reading and lifelong learning—especially for those who aspire to a career in the armed forces—you can peruse the list … Continue reading Soldiers as Readers? Indeed.
