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President's Proclamation for National Airborne Day, Aug. 16 WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2001 – Sixty-one years ago, 48 brave volunteer members of the U.S. Army Parachute Test Platoon pioneered a new method of warfare. Their successful jump led to the creation of a mighty force of more than 100,000 paratroopers. Members of this force were assigned to the legendary 11th, 13th, 17th, 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions and numerous other units that fought in every theater during World War II. The soldiers of the Parachute Test Platoon also forged a unique warrior spirit, a relentless passion for victory, and a reputation...

Hollywood duo Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck portrayed the American desire to avenge the infamous Pearl Harbour bombings playing two US pilots in Michael Bay's hit 2001 epic. But, the true devastation of the revenge attacks on Japanese forces in 1944 has been captured in one of the most ambitious underwater projects ever undertaken. Operation Hailstorm was two years in the making - but on February 17, 1944, American forces blitzed the Chuuk Islands, in the south western region of the Pacific Ocean, sinking 70 Japanese ships, 270 aircraft and killing close to 3,000 people - though the official death...

Fury at Churchill statue Storm ... statue has provoked fury     By JOHN TROUP THE family of war hero Winston Churchill yesterday slammed a statue of him in a STRAITJACKET. MP Nicholas Soames — his grandson — said: “It’s not only insulting, it’s pathetic.” Churchill is known to have suffered periods of depression which he called his “black dog”. And the charity Rethink put the lifesize statue on display in Norwich yesterday to symbolise how the mentally ill are stigmatised by society. But Mr Soames said: “This is probably a good cause in search of publicity and they have...