By Janet Romaker The Blade, Toledo, Ohio Published: May 22, 2014
TOLEDO, Ohio — On Nov. 29, 1950, an artillery shell blasted a Marine unit near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, killing Cpl. Harold W. Reed two days shy of his 24th birthday.
For 63 years, the Marine’s remains were buried with several hundred unidentified Korean War veterans.
Today, Corporal Reed is coming home. Read more
“On August 28, 1939, the Mona Lisa left the Louvre and on September 3, as war had been declared, a decision was taken to ensure that all of the most precious works would leave the premises by the end of the day. During the war, Leonardo da Vinci’s smiling maiden would move another five times before being brought back safe and sound in 1945. (below) It was an unprecedented journey for the world’s most famous painting.”
The Louvre is evacuated before German invasion in 1939, its works returning in 1945
#throwbackthursday
“War?’ The word held too much definition for three letters.”
― Shannon A. Thompson, Seconds Before Sunrise
I’m sharing this album of the US Marines and the Howitzers because, first, they’re great pictures! Second, I live 20 minutes from Camp Pendleton USMC Base and like Twenty-nine Palms the Marines hone their conventional war fighting skills through exercises with the Howitzer–Anyone within a 5+ mile radius knows this by the distant “BOOM,” shaking buildings, and rattling windows–these pictures hit close to home for me.
No pun intended. Read more
The Battle of Hamburger Hill was a battle of the Vietnam War that was fought by the United States and South Vietnam against North Vietnamese forces from May 10–20, 1969. Although the heavily fortified Hill 937 was of little strategic value, U.S. command ordered its capture by a frontal assault, only to abandon it soon thereafter. The action caused an outrage both in the American military and public.
The battle was primarily an infantry engagement, with the U.S. Airborne troops moving up the highly sloped hill against well entrenched troops. Attacks were repeatedly repelled by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) defenses, weather, friendly fire, and accidents. Nevertheless the Airborne troops took the hill through direct assault, causing extensive casualties to the NVA forces.
Welcome to Hamburger Hill ~#throwbackthursday
D-Day: The Normandy Invasion. Army Air Corps photographers documented D-Day beach traffic, as photographed from a Ninth Air Force bomber on June 6, 1944. Note vehicle lanes leading away from the landing areas, and landing craft left aground by the tide. www.army.mil/d-day
#throwbackthursday
“The time to love a Warrior is not when the enemy is at your gate.” ~Unknown
via: Business Insider
U.S. Navy admiral and University of Texas, Austin, alumnus William H. McRaven returned to his alma mater last week to give seniors 10 lessons from basic SEAL training when he spoke at the school’s commencement.
McRaven, the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command who organized the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, stressed the importance of making your bed every morning, taking on obstacles headfirst, and realizing that it’s OK to be a “sugar cookie.” Read more
DUFFEL BLOG: By Lee Ho Fuk | May 15, 2014
NORTHERN NIGERIA — In an attempt to remain relevant in the face of NBA race scandals and celebrity elevator brawls, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau agreed to release his school girl hostages as soon as the #BringBackOurGirls campaign reached 10 million retweets, sources confirmed Thursday. Read more
The first major wagon train to the northwest departs from Elm Grove, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail.
Although U.S. sovereignty over the Oregon Territory was not clearly established until 1846, American fur trappers and missionary groups had been living in the region for decades. Dozens of books and lectures proclaimed Oregon’s agricultural potential, tweaking the interest of American farmers. The first overland immigrants to Oregon, intending primarily to farm, came in 1841 when a small band of 70 pioneers left Independence, Missouri. They followed a route blazed by fur traders, which took them west along the Platte River through the Rocky Mountains via the easy South Pass in Wyoming and then northwest to the Columbia River. In the years to come, pioneers came to call the route the Oregon Trail. Read more
The poems of Tyrtaeus exercised an important influence upon the Spartans, quieting their dissensions at home, and animating their courage in the field.
For no man ever proves himself a good man in war
unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter,
go close against the enemy and fight with his hands.
Here is courage, mankind’s finest possession, here is
the noblest prize that a young man can endeavor to win,
and it is a good thing his city and all the people share with him
when a man plants his feet and stands in the foremost spears
relentlessly, all thought of foul flight completely forgotten,
and has well trained his heart to be steadfast and to endure,
and with words encourages the man who is stationed beside him.
Maiden on the Midway 
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