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HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed Bill 7, declaring the City and County of Honolulu a “Purple Heart City” to honor recipients of the Purple Heart. The bill was passed on April 17 and was signed on Friday. According to the City and County of Honolulu, those who were injured, wounded, or died in the line of duty receive the Purple Heart for their bravery and sacrifice. “I’m just really grateful to all of you, not only for your service and what you represent but for having the opportunity to become a Purple Heart City and all that...

The idea of a target-influenced fuze was not new; similar fuzes for bombs and rockets existed at the outbreak of World War II. The proximity fuze functions as a small radio station in the shell’s nose. The basic components are a vacuum tube (six inches long and three inches in diameter) a battery, and a radio transmitter and receiver; a small glass tube filled with electrolyte solution acts as the battery. After the shell is fired and begins rotating, centrifugal force pushes the solution to the outside of the tube, where a chemical reaction occurs with small pieces of metal...

On May 14, 1944, an A-20 havoc (serial number 42-86768), with a crew of three and one passenger, departed Momote Airfield, Los Negros Island, for a courier flight to Nadzab Airfield, New Guinea. For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea. Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft's nose hit the water hard. Three men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash. One crew member survived and was rescued by a passing barge. An aerial search the next day found no...

The sole living survivor from the sinking of the USS Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack that brought the US into World War II has now died. Lou Conter, who lived in Grass Valley, was 20 years old at the time of the attack on Dec. 7, 1941. There were 2,403 Americans killed in the attack – including 1,177 of Arizona's crew. Conter was one of the only 335 officers and crewmen who survived. Over the years, Conter shared his experiences and visited Hawaii for remembrance ceremonies. "Minute it happened, we sounded general quarters and they were in there and...

Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102. Conter passed away on Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California, following congestive heart failure, his daughter, Louann Daley said, adding she was beside him along with two of her brothers, James and Jeff. The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines in the 1941 attack that launched the United States into World War II. The battleship’s dead account for nearly half of those killed in the attack.

David Walker from Norfolk, Va., was 19 years old when Japanese torpedoes sunk his battleship at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Walker was presumed dead following the attack on the Hawaii naval base, but his body was never recovered — that is, until recently. Officials announced on Thursday that Walker's remains were finally accounted for, thanks to scientists at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) whose mission is to recover and return missing service members from past conflicts. In a news release, the DPAA said that in 2018, military officials exhumed the unidentified remains of 25 people who were from Walker's...

Dick Higgins, the Bend resident and Pearl Harbor survivor whose public appearances and first-person recollections of that infamous day – Dec. 7, 1941 – became ever more special with every day, week and year, passed away early Tuesday at the age of 102, his grieving yet grateful family announced."Gramps went home to be with Jesus this morning. He was a humble, generous, funny and loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend. This community has celebrated and honored him and we are forever grateful for the impact he has made on all of us. At 102 years old, we have...

Dated May 25 and delivered by plane while the Yorktown was about a hundred miles from Oahu, the report that Nimitz read was sobering...One day ahead of schedule, on May 27, the Yorktown limped into Pearl Harbor. The next morning, after Nimitz had cut orders voiding the safety rule of spending a day purging her tanks of stored aviation fuel, the Yorktown eased into Drydock Number One. The caissons closed behind her, and pumps began draining out the water. With at least a foot of water still remaining in the drydock, men in waders gathered to inspect the hull. One...

World War II depth charges, smoke floats and munition cases are among the latest eerie relics to be discovered on a deep-water survey ten miles off the coast of LA. High–resolution cameras found a massive dumping ground of munitions from the Pacific War which were tossed overboard warships before they could endanger the ports they were returning to. A team from the University of California's San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography found the objects up to 3,000ft down between LA and Catalina Island, in the same area where thousands of barrels of the outlawed pesticide DDT were discovered three years...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet declared Oct. 31 that the sunken submarine recently discovered by divers in the Western Pacific is, indeed, the World War II submarine USS Wahoo (SS 238). "After reviewing the records and information, we are certain USS Wahoo has been located," said Adm. Gary Roughead, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander. “We are grateful for the support of the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, and appreciate greatly the underwater video footage of the submarine provided by our Russian navy colleagues, which allowed us to make this determination. This brings closure to the...

A newly-opened museum in India houses the remains of American planes that crashed in the Himalayas during World War Two. The BBC's Soutik Biswas recounts an audaciously risky aerial operation that took place when the global war arrived in India. Since 2009, Indian and American teams have scoured the mountains in India's north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, looking for the wreckage and remains of lost crews of hundreds of planes that crashed here over 80 years ago. Some 600 American transport planes are estimated to have crashed in the remote region, killing at least 1,500 airmen and passengers during a...

[Video] Schab has returned for the 82nd commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Pearl Harbor survivor “Ike” Schab is back in Honolulu. The 103-year-old was greeted with applause Sunday as he got off his flight from Portland. Schab has returned for the 82nd commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack. It’s a trip that almost didn’t happen because of an illness, but Schab was determined to make it to this year’s ceremony. While it’s been more than eight decades since the Pearl Harbor attack, Dec. 7 still brings back his memories of being there. ”And they’re not necessarily...

Guadalcanal Diary is the first real American combat document of World War Two, written by a war correspondent who had gone ashore with the Marines in the first U.S. ground offensive in the Pacific. Richard Tregaskis wrote it for an audience who were desperate to know what their sons, husbands, brothers and friends were experiencing as soldiers, fighting an enemy they probably hadn't given much though to just over a year earlier.It's an actual diary, compiled from Tregaskis' notes, and amidst the accounts of encounters and movement and excitement and discomfort you'd expect from a diary, it has occasional moments...

This week Seth, Bill, and frequent and always welcome Wingman Jon Parshall take a look at the recently released underwater archaeological video footage of the wreck sites of AKAGI, YORKTOWN (CV-5), and KAGA. The trio breaks down what we see in the footage, how the damage shown relates to the battle, what happened in these historic locations, and much more. Tune in and see what the team has to say about the incredible video footage and (we think) pretty cool commentary.

The remains of a 24-year-old U.S. pilot who never returned from a bombing mission in World War II have been accounted for and confirmed, officials from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Monday. Charles G. Reynolds was a U.S. Army Air Forces first lieutenant from Bridgeport, Ohio, the agency said in a news release. In late 1943, he was a pilot assigned to the 498th Bombardment Squadron in the Pacific Theater. On Nov. 27, 1943, the plane that he was a crewmember of did not return from a bombing mission near Wewak, New Guinea, the agency said, because the aircraft...

On November 11, 1999 The Washington Post reported: "Two weeks ago Captain Earl R Fox learned that he is the last world war II veteran still on active duty in the US armed forces." The Post wrote that Fox described himself as "the last direct physical link between today's military and the warriors of Midway, Normandy and Iwo Jima."Dr. Earl R Fox: The last WWII Veteran Still on Active Duty in the US Armed Forces | 11:51The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered1.27M subscribers | 175,201 views | June 21, 2023

This is a recording from the 35th Annual Admiral Nimitz Symposium: 2022.35th Annual Admiral Nimitz Symposium - 2022: Jonathan Parshall Keynote Speaker | 55:10National Museum of the Pacific War4.01K subscribers | 63,395 views | December 26, 2022

CNN CNN He was shot down in the Pacific Ocean in WWII. Almost 80 years later, his remains are finally home Story by Sara Smart • 8h ago Almost 80 years after Anthony Di Petta’s plane was shot down by enemy fire in World War II and over 70 years after he was declared “non-recoverable,” he’s finally home. The remains of the sailor arrived back in the US on Friday afternoon, according to an agency of the US Department of Defense. Di Petta, from Nutley, New Jersey, served as a US Navy Aviation Ordnanceman during World War II, according to...

Battle of Midway, (June 3–6, 1942), World War II naval battle, fought almost entirely with aircraft. The Midway Islands were claimed for the United States on July 5, 1859, by Capt. N.C. Brooks. The coral atoll—consisting of Eastern Island and the larger Sand Island to the west—has a total land area of just 2.4 square miles (6.2 square km). Midway was formally annexed by the U.S. in 1867. A coal depot was established for transpacific steamers, but it was never used. It was World War II which conclusively demonstrated the strategic importance of Midway. In 1940 the U.S. Navy began...

PLUMSTEAD TWP., Pa. - "We’re excited to see more of these dedications for deserving military members," said Leigh Bleam, Nephew of WWII Vet Albert LeRoy Angeny. Bucks County native, Albert LeRoy Angeny, was a World War II Veteran. He served our nation in the Pacific Theater, and was just in his early 20s when he lost his life in 1945. The ship he serving on was hit by a Japanese Kamikaze warplane. He was one of 95 sailors lost at sea that day.