“It was close to two o’clock in the morning when I heard the engines. It wasn’t like the sound a single plane makes as it comes toward you then dies off as the plane passes. The sound filled the air and went on and on. The sky was so full of planes, they blacked out the stars. All I could see were the dark outlines … Continue reading The Invasion Had Started
Live with Dave Hamilton! Dave piloted a C-47 into Normandy on D-Day carrying as he calls it a “stick” of paratroopers into the battle. During a webinar today, he recounted his experiences from signing on to fly, crossing the Atlantic to his station in Europe, to participating in the Normany invasion and the Battle of Bastogne. He describes his experiences of dodging anti-aircraft fire, landing … Continue reading D-Day Re-envisioned
50 million men registered for the draft during World War II. 16 million men and women served in uniform. There were 400,000 casualties. The US sent 1.5 million vehicles and 85,000 aircraft overseas to support our troops. The numbers are astounding in and of themselves. But the quantities are hard to grasp when simply put down on paper. The National World War II Museum in … Continue reading Making Numbers Live
This is history. Not history 101 like you may have suffered through in your freshman year at college, but living, breathing history. In this eminently readable 500 page book, Groom braids together the events that led to and transpired during World War II as witnessed and influenced by three bigger than life men. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin rise from the pages with details of character and … Continue reading The Allies
Quick! In what city is The National WWII Museum located? If you answered, Washington, DC you would be wrong. New Orleans has the honor of hosting the museum. New Orleans? Why, other than it is a great place to visit? Think Higgins Boats, those low slung, battleship gray, flat bottom barges with ramps for unloading men and material. Those very same boats portrayed in WWII … Continue reading The National WWII Museum
FDR and MacArthur (and me) Two men we could use today. Although they had their disagreements, they left this country better than they found it. Both were larger than life and both suffered greatly in their rise to greatness. Their lives were perhaps mirror opposites. FDR, struck with polio at the age of 39, fought to overcome his disease, hiding it from the public–a feat … Continue reading Bring ’em back
Frank Merrill, William Darby, and James Rudder. Who were they and what do they have in common? Frank Merrill’s name is perhaps the most well-known of the three, the man having been the subject of a number of books and Hollywood movies. Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill headed the 5307th Composite Unit in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II. The unit, also known as “Galahad” … Continue reading WWII in Our Backyards – Georgia
