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Perspective on the Attack on Pearl Harbor
I’m reading the book OVERLORD: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy by Max Hastings and on the very first page of chapter 1 he says something that really gave me a new perspective on the attack on Pearl Harbor. He said “Then, in the dying days of the year, came the miracle of Pearl Harbor.” The attack on Pearl Harbor will never be forgotten by the United States, it was an inexcusable act by the Japanese that brought us into the war. As Americans, it is a very dark day in our history and I personally wish it did not happen as it did and I suspect most Americans feel the same. However, that is a very centralized and narrow view of that event. It does not look at the … Read entire article »
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Memorial Day 2009 Netherlands American Cemetery
I am at a loss for words to describe my feelings and emotions after visiting the … Read more »
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Fallen But Not Forgotten
I will post links to some good websites that I find through my surfing of the net. The one that I post today was actually sent to me by a friend from … Read more »
Memorial Day 2009 Netherlands American Cemetery
I am at a loss for words to describe my feelings and emotions after visiting the … Read more »
Malmedy Massacre
I wrote the below essay for a class I just finished on the Battle of the Bulge. Very interesting class and I hope to visit the bulge battlefields in June or July. The … Read more »
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Review: “Tears in the Darkness” The Story of the Bataan Death March and its Aftermath.
The first thing that I can say about this book is WOW! This is a book that I will read again. It was a story, a visual experience, and a historical experience. My hats off to the authors Michael and Elizabeth Norman for a well researched, well documented, and well written narrative that had me smiling at times, angry at times, and teary eyed at times. But most of all this book opened my mind to the horrors that our POW soldiers endured in the Pacific Theater of Operations. I am the first to admit that I am not an expert on WWII, especially the Pacific Theater, but I am a enthusiast that wants to learn … Read entire article »
60th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge
We are in the midst of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge and I would be ashamed of myself if I didn’t post some comments. The Battle of the Bulge is the more common name given to this offensive by us Americans but the official name of the operation was Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhein) by the Germans. This was Hitler’s last chance of the war to “save some face.” I don’t believe anything the Germans could have done at this point would have won the war for them; they had been fighting too long on too many fronts to have the manpower and resources needed to beat the Allies. One … Read entire article »
Republishing Nazi Newspapers
A while back I read a short article in the Stars and Stripes newspaper about a publisher in Europe that was reprinting Nazi articles in a current magazine. In the article, the publisher said that they just want to educate the current society on the atrocities of yesteryear. The German government and censors apparently went ballistic about these reprints and ordered police to raid newspapers stands to take all unread copies off the street. Obviously, by the title of this blog you know that I have a vast interest in WWII. I also have a interest in History, in general. So I usually look at instances like I mentioned above from a historical perspective. I can … Read entire article »
Pfc Joseph Lucas 882nd FA 70 Infantry Division
(This is a short synopsis that I wrote about my grandpa.) Joseph Lucas was born 13 December 1907 in Northbridge, Massachusetts. His parents were Polish immigrants, Roman Luksys and Catherine Paskruba. Joe (as he was called by friends and family) was the second oldest of their six children. They resided in Massachusetts until they moved to Michigan about 1911. Roman and … Read entire article »
Memorial Day 2009 Netherlands American Cemetery
I am at a loss for words to describe my feelings and emotions after visiting the Netherlands American Cemetery and participating in their Memorial Day ceremonies. It seems that, to many Americans, Memorial Day has become just another Holiday. Most Americans look at it as a day off work and a reason to fire up the grill and have a … Read entire article »
A visit to the Malmedy Massacre site
We took a long weekend mini-vacation to the Netherlands American Cemetery for their Memorial Day services. On the way I couldn’t pass up the chance to stop at the scene of the Malmedy Massacre. We hit Lignueville and followed the path, in reverse, of CCR (7th AD) and Pieper’s Battlegroup. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Baugnez 44 Historical … Read entire article »
Fallen But Not Forgotten
I will post links to some good websites that I find through my surfing of the net. The one that I post today was actually sent to me by a friend from AWON, American WW II Orphans Network. The website is called Fallen But Not Forgotten. This website is dedicated to paying tribute to the 8301 American heroes buried at the Netherland American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. The authors of this site want publish the story of every soldier buried there and make sure it is not forgotten. I browsed through the pages today and I am very impressed by the amount of detail and respect the site pays our fallen service members of WWII. I … Read entire article »
Malmedy Massacre
I wrote the below essay for a class I just finished on the Battle of the Bulge. Very interesting class and I hope to visit the bulge battlefields in June or July. The Malmedy Massacre is a very hard event to look at with an open mind, at least from the American viewpoint, due to the massive amounts of information that portray the Germans as merciless and murderers. The little bit that I have seen on documentaries or movies have shown that the PWs (Prisoners of War) that were shot were done so without cause and without provocation. However, in preparing for this class and this paper I have reviewed several sources of information about the … Read entire article »
Initial Posting
I created this weblog several months ago with the intention of posting at least weekly. I have not done so, obviously. One of my intentions with this blog is to write more in order to get better at writing. I enjoy writing and I enjoy WWII so why not combine the two in a way that I can improve in both. You can’t get better at anything unless you practice. So, I am no longer going to make excuses for not writing for this blog. I have a couple of essays that I’ve written over the past month or so for different classes so I will post them to get the ball rolling. var addthis_pub … Read entire article »
