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US Center of Military History Bookshelves: The US Army in Vietnam -- All of the volumes currently published, except the photo book, by the US Army Center of Military History are available online at: http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/collect/usavn.html Research materials and two chapters from the next Combat Operations volume on Tet are available online at: http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/vw.html

When American Sniper went into wide release, I promised to get a thread going, after a few weeks, so that FReepers could have a discussion about the movie, Hollywood, the effect of the story on us as veterans and civilians and whatever else. I hope that most of FR has had a chance to see it. There will probably be spoilers in this discussion.

Yuri Pivovarov, the director of the institute which holds 10 million documents and texts, described the fire as a disaster. He said in remarks on Russian television the extent of the damage was still unclear but the main storage which contained rare medieval Slavic texts didn't seem to be affected.

A Fort Worth funeral home is being forced to return a coffin that held the body of Lee Harvey Oswald to his brother after attempting to sell it for $87,468, according to news reports. By concealing the coffin’s existence from Oswald’s family members and later offering it for sale, Allen S. Baumgardner Sr., the owner of Baumgardner Funeral Home, engaged “wrongful and wanton and malicious conduct” Judge Donald J. Cosby of the District Court in Fort Worth ruled, according to the New York Times. Oswald was originally buried in the pine bluff casket after killing President John F. Kennedy on...

In 1606, Guy Fawkes convicted of treason for his part in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed. And, in 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Gold Reserve Act.

On January 31, 1865, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery in the United States. On the 150th anniversary of the vote, look back at the evolution of President Abraham Lincoln’s support for the 13th Amendment and his behind-the-scenes dealings to ensure its continued path to ratification. Although he believed slavery to be immoral, Abraham Lincoln was not an abolitionist when the Civil War broke out in 1861. The president’s stated goal in the early years of the war was strictly the preservation of the Union. Granting freedom from bondage to the nearly 4 million...

Nature experts have discovered a remarkable submerged forest thousands of years old under the sea close to the Norfolk coast. The trees were part of an area known as 'Doggerland' which formed part of a much bigger area before it was flooded by the North Sea. It was once so vast that hunter-gatherers who lived in the vicinity could have walked to Germany across its land mass.

Arnold Johnson and his Orchestra play "After My Laughter Came Tears," recorded on February 28, 1928.

Op.68 -- Freiburger BarockorchesterI post this with a humble heart. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. I think it is as close to meeting heaven and Christ as I will get to on earth. 15:30 of talented, dedicated, wonderful musicians giving their all to a piece by Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713)

1906 Advance Steam Traction Engine. Lovingly restored by Jay's friend Orman Rawlings, this 104-year-old steam-powered vehicle weighs 13 tons and clocks about 4 mph. If you need traction for your more rugged outdoor projects, this engine recently hauled a 55,000-pound sled!

A century and a half after it sank and a decade and a half after it was raised, scientists are finally getting a look at the hull of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship. What they find may finally solve the mystery of why the hand-cranked submarine sank during the Civil War. "It's like unwrapping a Christmas gift after 15 years. We have been wanting to do this for many years now," said Paul Mardikian, senior conservator on the Hunley project.

On Jan. 29, 1945, First Sgt. Leonard Funk, Jr. faced a determined German army officer ready to kill him with a pistol. Armed with a Thompson M1A1 submachine gun, the U.S. Army paratrooper had just led an assault against 15 houses occupied by German troops in Holzheim, Belgium. It was part of an operation by the 82nd Airborne Division to clear German soldiers from the area following the Battle of the Bulge. Leading a makeshift headquarters platoon of clerks, Funk and his unit captured 30 prisoners. He left them with several dozen more prisoners—under guard—and returned to the fight. While...

Rare, colorized photos of historical events. Full screen, sound on. These are fantastic.

The discovery of a 55,000-year-old partial skull of a modern human in an Israeli cave, the first sighting of Homo sapiens in this time and place, offers skeletal evidence to support the idea that Neandertals and moderns mated in the Middle East between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. What's more, the skull could belong to an ancestor of the modern humans who later swept across Europe and Asia and replaced the Neandertals. The find supports a raft of recent genetic studies. A 2010 analysis, for example, found that up to 2% of the genomes of today's Europeans and Asians consist...

In addition to Genghis Khan and his male descendants, researchers have previously identified the founders of two other highly successful Y-chromosome lineages: one that began in China with Giocangga, a Qinq Dynasty ruler who died in 15823, and another belonging to the medieval Uí Néill dynasty in Ireland. Jobling's team made a systematic search for genetic founders by analysing the Y chromosomes of more than 5,000 men from 127 populations spanning Asia... because lots of data were available and there was already evidence of such lineages. The team identified 11 Y-chromosome sequences that were each shared by more than 20...

Priest tells of training as kamikazi, human torpedo, and suicide bomber during WWII Naha, Okinawa, Dec. 9 at Camp Hansen, Okinawa. CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Paul Saneaki Nakamura prepared three times to carry out a suicide attack for Japan during World War II. It took the country’s near-death for him to find religion and become a priest. Nakamura recently shared his experiences — which included training as a kamikaze pilot, human torpedo and suicide bomber — with about 300 Marines at Camp Hansen to help them see war from a different perspective.

Spanish archaeology students have discovered a 2,200-year-old moat in what is now the Catalan town of Valls, filled with objects providing evidence of the presence of troops of the Carthaginian general Hannibal in the area. The moat, which surrounded the Iberian town of Vilar de Vals, contained coins and lead projectiles, researchers said in a statement. It is estimated the moat could have had a width of 40 metres (131 feet), a depth of five metres, and a length of nearly half a kilometre. Jaume Noguera from the Prehistory department at the University of Barcelona, and Jordi López, from the...

Thea Aschkenase Auschwitz survivor, Worcester State College graduate, Commonwealth Corps volunteer "After five days, the train stopped and it said Auschwitz. There was a sign in Auschwitz “Work makes Free,” “Arbeit Macht Frei,” by which one assumes it’s a working camp. But it wasn’t. When we were marched into Auschwitz, there was this infamous Dr. Mengele, maybe you have heard of him, he did the experiments on people and he selected the people that entered Auschwitz and who would live and who would die. So we entered, my father, my brother, my mother and I, with no idea what was...

Exclusive: Secret tapes undermine Hillary Clinton on Libyan warJoint Chiefs, key lawmaker held own talks with Moammar Gadhafi regime First of three parts Top Pentagon officials and a senior Democrat in Congress so distrusted Secretary of State ...

The History channel’s new miniseries, Sons of Liberty, will anger the purists and the prudes. But it will delight the swashbuckler in the rest of us. It is a big, bodacious screening with superb production values that covers the lead-up years to the American Revolution, 1765-1775. Yes, certain liberties are taken with some of the facts and events.