Command Posts

Honoring Those Who Fought Nazi Germany’s “Greatest Lost Battle” of WWII

Stephen Frater — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:28:09 +0000

June 28, 2012, members of the Royal House of Windsor will be on hand for the unveiling of the RAF Bomber Command’s $12 million memorial in a park close to Buckingham Palace.

It’s a long-overdue gesture; only about two percent of the quarter-million men and women of the WWII era Bomber Command are alive.

Until D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allied strategic bombing campaign was the only way in which Britain, and after 1942, The United States, could hit Nazi Germany, then the overlords of continental Europe.

Images of the Day: Specialist Leslie H. Sabo, Jr., U.S. Army, Posthumously Awarded the Medal of Honor

Callie Oettinger — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:45:05 +0000

Medal of Honor Ceremony for Specialist Leslie H. Sabo, Jr., U.S. Army.

May 15, 1942: Formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps

Sylvie Murray — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:52:30 +0000

In addition to providing service on the home front, women were called to join the military when on May 15 , 1942, Roosevelt signed a bill authorizing the formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps.

The incentive to include women formally in the armed forces had come from organized women and female politicians who were determined to reap rewards for their wartime military service.

Military leaders, most prominently Chief of Staff General George Marshall, appreciated the advantages to be gained from an influx of women into the armed forces, especially given the composition of the modern military organization, which required extensive support personnel for every combatant (88 percent of army personnel were in noncombat positions during the war).

President Kennedy, 1961: Berlin, Laos and “Flexible Response”

Alan Brinkley — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:52:46 +0000

Late in May 1961, Kennedy decided to present a second State of the Union address—only four months after his first.

He explained the unusual timing as a result of “extraordinary times.”

His January speech had focused mostly on domestic affairs. But his May speech included only a cursory call for “economic and social progress at home.”

Instead, he devoted the bulk of his long speech to international issues.

He called for America to help economic progress abroad; for military reorganization and disarmament; and for the exploration of space, which he saw as part of how to “win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny.”

Mother’s Day Takes Off In 1918, With The U.S. Armed Forces

Clint VanWinkle — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:47:56 +0000

In May 1918, an estimated 1.4 million deployed troops wrote letters to their mothers. They were put on the fastest ships and sent to New York. All had “Mother’s Letter” written in place of a stamp.

The deluge of Mother’s Day letters that arrived was especially out of the ordinary in 1918.

Championed by Anna Jarvis, a pathological mourner who wanted to memorialize her dead mother, Jarvis’ version of Mother’s Day was first observed in 1908. Recognized as a U.S. National Holiday in 1914, Mother’s Day still hadn’t gained much traction outside of Protestant pulpits and Sunday schools by the time the troops started writing.

May 3, 1918, The Stars and Stripes began to promote the fledgling holiday on its front pages, which brought American moms to the forefront of everybody’s mind.

The Sea Witch

Stephen Coonts — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:53:19 +0000

In Sea Witch Stephen Coonts weaves three unforgettable tales of men and women at war, with the sort of dramatic military action and undercover technology for which he is known. Included in this collection are:

The Sea Witch, The 17th Day and Al Jihad.

In The Sea Witch, a young Dauntless dive-bomber pilot is sacked for reckless behavior and reassigned to a Black Cat squadron as the co-pilot of a giant Catalina seaplane, The Sea Witch.

He’s thrown into a whole new world, where a Catalina carries five tons of bombs, a half-dozen machine guns, and a crew that walks a fine line between valor and a death wish.

A daring night bombing mission against Rabaul forces the crew of The Sea Witch to band together as never before. Each man will soon find out what he’s made of—and not everyone will make it back alive.

Okinawa 1945: “It’s a bastard to be here”

Sterling Mace — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:50:38 +0000

Okinawa, May 2, 1945.

Suddenly we’re running across a dry rice paddy. Thip thip thip thip! Japanese bullets come in from the left and spin up tufts of dirt in front of us. Christ!

“Stay loose! Don’t stop!” I yell.

We run right through the spray of Nip bullets as if we are invisible. Like hell! The Japs can see us as plain as day, across a field like this! Forty yards of open ground. The earth heaves—a cauldron boiling over with a company of sprinting marines. All kinds of crap zips through the air. Explosions fall, left and right, but I am only vaguely aware of the din. Nip artillery and gunfire cancel each other out in a field bled of sound. That’s the truth—in the middle of it all, it’s life within a vacuum. No time to think. No time to feel.

Or let me put it this way before I run out of time:

This is southern Okinawa— and it’s a bastard to be here.

Images of the Day: V-E Day, May 8, 1945

Callie Oettinger — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:54:40 +0000

View the instrument of surrender and images of V-E Day, May 8, 1945.

Welcome to Basic: “Your Heart May Be Home With Your Momma, But Your Ass Is Mine”

Jack Jacobs — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:25:57 +0000

The history of basic military training is incomplete and erratic. Generally though, the introduction of organized military training is credited to Chinese general Sun Tze, the author of The Art of War, at about 500 B.C.

According to legend, King Helu of Wu hired Sun Tze to teach the approximately 180 women living in his palace close order drill and the proper use of the dagger-axe.

Sun Tze appointed unit leaders, and when the troops failed to follow his orders those unit leaders were beheaded—thereby setting the standard for drill instructors that any recruit can easily identify with.

The Far Reaches

Homer Hickam — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:10:12 +0000

The year is 1943 and World War II in the Pacific rages on, with Americans engaged in desperate battles against a cunning enemy. Coast Guard Captain Josh Thurlow is on hand at the invasion of Tarawa, as the United States Navy begins throwing her Marines at island after bloody island across the Pacific. But nothing goes as planned, and young Americans go up against fanatical defenders.

As blood colors the waters around Tarawa, Josh flounders ashore through a floating graveyard of dead men and joins the survivors. Critically wounded, Josh expects to die. Instead, Sister Mary Kathleen, a pretty Irish nun, nurses him back to health, then shanghais Josh, sidekick Bosun Ready O’Neal, and three American Marines to a group of tropical islands invaded by a brutal Japanese warlord.