Jesse Beckett

Jesse Beckett is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE

Articles by Jesse Beckett:

617 Squadron’s Last Pilot Lawrence ‘Benny’ Goodman Dies Aged 100

Lawrence ‘Benny’ Goodman, the last surviving pilot from Britain’s beloved 617 Squadron, responsible for the Dambuster raids, has died, aged 100. His passing makes Leonard…

This Unstoppable Tank Fought Without Interruption From D-Day To VE Day

Picture of Bomb, a Canadian Army Sherman Tank. It is preserved in Sherbrooke, QC. Seen here in april 2015.

Not many tanks from the 1940s were known for exceptional reliability, especially heavy tanks like the German Tiger and King Tigers. However, if there was…

General Eisenhower Once Lost A Bet To Montgomery And Had To Pony Up A B-17

War is not normally a time for playing games and making bets, but that’s exactly what happened in 1943 between General Dwight D. Eisenhower and…

MoH Recipient Singlehandedly Destroyed A Tiger Tank And Captured 17 Germans

Van T. Barfoot was a true war hero, whose exploits saved many of his comrades’ lives and even those of the enemies he captured. He…

Security Of President’s ‘Nuclear Football’ To Be Reviewed

A military aid with the "nuclear football" follows US President Joe Biden to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House July 21, 2021, in Washington, DC.

The security measures for the U.S. President’s nuclear football are under review by the Department of Defense’s Inspector General six months after the Capitol was…

A Look Back At The Army’s Portable Reactors — Is It Time To Try Again?

In 1954 the U.S. Army initiated the Army Nuclear Power Program, which sought to research and design relatively small portable nuclear reactors that would provide…

Cold War Fun: A 1950s Science Kit That Contained Real Uranium

Gilbert u-238 atomic energy lab

When the U.S. successfully harnessed the virtually limitless power of the atom with the Trinity atomic bomb test in 1945, it seemed that there wasn’t…

Remains of US Soldier, 19, Lost In The Hürtgen Forest Have Been Identified

The remains of a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who was killed during WWII have been officially identified. The remains have been identified by the Defense…

When The Air Force Needed A Supercomputer, They Built It Out Of PS3 Consoles

The Condor Cluster, a PS3 supercomputer

In late 2010, the U.S. Air Force built their own supercomputer that would drastically reduce the time needed for pattern recognition, image analysis, and artificial…

Celebrities You Might Not Have Known Served In the Military

Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding in 'The Shawshank Redemption' + Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in 'Wonder Woman 1984' + Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

When it comes to celebrities who have served in the military, there are usually two types: famous veterans and veterans who are famous. The former…

The Ajax Is Still Deafening Troops — Defence Secretary Vows To Fix It

The British Defence secretary Ben Wallace has promised to fix the huge list of worrying problems that are plaguing the development of the Ajax armored…

The United States Unknowingly Predicted the Attack on Pearl Harbor Years Before It Happened

USS Maryland (BB-46) afloat beside a capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37)

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th century, possibly in human history. The assault brought the…