If you saw a sailor with a broomstick strapped to his leg ascending and descending stairs aboard a ship, you’d certainly wonder why such a strange event was taking place. It all made sense to those aboard the USS Missouri as they prepared for the Japanese surrender ending WW II…
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September 2nd, 1945. The Japanese were ready to sign documents officially ending World War II. That event took place aboard the USS New Jersey–at least that’s what many thought would happen. Here’s the story of how that event was moved to another ship…..
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For the next few days we’ll take a look at an event that took place 65 years ago this week–the formal surrender of Japan. The event took place aboard a ship that would serve in three wars spanning six decades…
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Most people have heard of Chuck Yeager, but most have not heard of his good friend Jackie, a pilot who set more aviation records that any other aviator…
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Thousands of boxcars crisscross the country each day with a variety of cargo. But these boxcars were truly special, because of the cargo they hauled during the world war and because of the cargo that was inside when they were sent back to the U.S….
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The term 40 & 8 doesn’t mean much to most Americans–unless you happened to serve in France during one of the World Wars. But the 40 & 8 still has much meaning today and the story is important to all…
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Andrew and Paula McCrea pose with Tom Crosby and his wife Nancy at the Veterans Museum in San Deigo.
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It is difficult to imagine the conditions for POWs like Tom Crosby in the weeks leading up to their camps liberation. Some had already died from malnutrition, and now they feared they might lose their life in the American forces attempt to free them…
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In January of 1942, eight year old Tom Crosby, along with his brother, mother and grandmother, Americans living in Manilla, were taken prisoner by the Japanese who had invaded the Philippines. For the next three years we would experience life as a child POW…
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Life was good for eight year old Tom Crosby, an American living in Manila in 1941. Then December 7th came, and his life changed forever…
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Most prison camps wouldn’t want their detainees digging tunnels to freedom, but at Ed’s camp, it was a way to keep the prisoners occupied…
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Ed believed he was a well informed pilot flying for the United States. Then the German captured him and told him things about himself that he’d never known.
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Ed Davidson got to cross the Atlantic on the Queen Mary, but his trip wasn’t for pleasure…
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They were prisoners of war, yet they were paid for their work; many of them forged friendships with the locals that would last for the rest of their lives….
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Stu Hedley may have believed that once he left his ship, the West Virginia, in Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941 that he was out of harm’s way. More obstacles were still to come…
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We’ve heard of the events of December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. Today, we meet one of the men who survived aboard one of the battleships stationed there…
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Jerry Coleman served his country as a pilot during World War II, then returned home to play professional baseball. 1949 marked the first of five consecutive World Series Championships for the New York Yankees; Jerry Coleman was on those teams and remembers some of the biggest names in baseball…
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It is difficult to fathom the changes that took place in everyday life in the United State, yet alone Hawaii, after December 1941. Sports took a back seat to the war, of course, yet professional teams still played with depleted ranks…
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Jerry Coleman was a high school senior when the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor. He was drafted the very next year, but not by the military. Here’s his unique story of service to country and America’s favorite pastime…
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Al Bodenlos can tell you plenty about building airport runways. Of course, most of those he helped build were on surfaces like coral, under the threat of attack by the Japanese…
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