The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star – the first jet fighter of the U.S. Air Force – had a significant impact in the final phase of WWII
The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star—later redesignated the F-80—made history as the first jet fighter to enter operational service with the U.S. Army Air Forces. While…
Women like Freddie and Truus Oversteegen played an important but overlooked role in the resistance movements of WWII
Throughout World War II, women played critical yet frequently overlooked roles within resistance movements across German-occupied Europe. They undertook some of the most hazardous assignments…
Lurking in the Vietnam jungle were horrifying hidden dangers that posed as much of a threat to American soldiers as enemy forces
Vietnam’s battlefield was unforgiving in ways that extended far beyond combat. American troops contended not only with enemy gunfire and sudden ambushes, but with a…
A simple mission to gather information on Thanksgiving 1968 spiraled into chaos when six MACV-SOG found themselves up against 30,000 enemy troops
While families across the United States sat down to Thanksgiving dinners in 1968, six members of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations…
Known as ‘Wisky’, the USS Wisconsin memorably lost her temper with a North Korean vessel and delivered a devastating broadside that obliterated the enemy’s guns
The USS Wisconsin (BB-64), an Iowa-class battleship, served as a formidable symbol of American sea power for over half a century, seeing action in World…
Some believe that before he was a children’s television icon, Mister Rogers had a secret military past
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968–2001) became a cultural touchstone for children and families across North America, earning widespread praise for addressing difficult topics—such as death, divorce,…
Developed during the pressures of the Cold War, the Sprint Missile was one of the fastest ever built, reaching levels of Mach 10 in seconds
Born from the intense pressures of the Cold War, the Sprint missile was designed to solve one urgent problem: stopping Soviet nuclear warheads in the…
The Tybee Bomb: How the U.S. Air Force lost a Mark 15 thermonuclear bomb in the waters of Wassaw Sound during a routine training exercise
What began as a routine U.S. Air Force training flight off the coast of Georgia in the mid-1950s unexpectedly turned into one of the Cold…
For 100 years, the tragic sinking of the USS San Diego was a mystery until the cause of the disaster was revealed by underwater archeologists
Shortly before midday on July 19, 1918, disaster struck the armored cruiser USS San Diego—formerly commissioned as USS California. A powerful explosion tore through the…
Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, the celebrated pilot who flew the Enola Gay, opted to have no funeral or gravesite when he passed away
In 2007, Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets—the aviator who piloted the Enola Gay during the atomic mission over Hiroshima—made a deliberate and unconventional decision about how…
Van Barfoot earned the Medal of Honor during WWII and went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam as a helicopter pilot
Van Barfoot’s actions in World War II remain a powerful testament to fearless determination in the face of overwhelming danger. Serving as a U.S. Army…
Going against orders to retreat, Paris Davis survived 19 hours of enemy fire to save his comrades
During the Vietnam War, Paris Davis distinguished himself through astonishing bravery, time and again choosing to face extreme danger rather than abandon wounded comrades under…