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The book blames foreign subversives for ideas long rooted in American life.Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, by Rachel Maddow, Crown, 416 pages, $32"American democracy itself was under attack from enemies within and without," Rachel Maddow writes in Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism. If you're not sure whether she is speaking of the past or the present, that's because she wants to conflate the two. Prequel is a deeply flawed and deceptively framed history of right-wing radicalism in the United States on the eve of American entry into World War II. Maddow's treatment of this well-worn topic draws principally...

While off the Japanese island of Chichijima on this day in history on Sept. 2, 1944, then-future President George H.W. Bush was the only survivor after his aircraft was shot down by enemy fire, according to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the time, Lt. Junior Grade George Bush was a pilot with Torpedo Squadron Fifty-One (VT-51) aboard the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), a light carrier that was deployed in the North Pacific, according to U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Bush’s squadron was conducting a bombing mission when it encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire, according...

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

The anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki present an opportunity to demolish a cornerstone myth of American history — that those twin acts of mass civilian slaughter were necessary to bring about Japan’s surrender, and spare a half-million US soldiers who’d have otherwise died in a military conquest of the empire’s home islands.Those who attack this mythology are often reflexively dismissed as unpatriotic, ill-informed or both. However, the most compelling witnesses against the conventional wisdom were patriots with a unique grasp on the state of affairs in August 1945 — America’s senior military leaders of World War...

Discover our selection of the best music for VE Day, featured on ‘Songs That Won The War’, including Dame Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’.On May 8, we will celebrate the anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. Nothing brings back memories, consoles, and conjures up an era quite as vividly and instantaneously than the popular songs of the day. Wherever they were sung – in dance halls or factories, on the radio, or the front line – they gave men and women the inspiration to carry on. Whatever happens, they said, we’ll have a barrel of fun, a lovely weekend, gather...

Battle of the Coral Sea, (May 4–8, 1942) World War II naval and air engagement in which a U.S. fleet turned back a Japanese invasion force that had been heading for strategic Port Moresby in New Guinea. By the end of April 1942 the Japanese were ready to seize control of the Coral Sea (between Australia and New Caledonia) by establishing air bases at Port Moresby in southeastern New Guinea and at Tulagi in the southern Solomons. But Allied intelligence learned of the Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby and alerted all available sea and air power. When the Japanese...

Page two reports that large formations of Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters are now flying across the Atlantic to reach combat units in Europe and North Africa. There is attrition, with several planes having mechanical issues or ditching in the ocean, and that brings up the logistics of how best to get everything from the United States to the front. You may not be terribly interested in the logistics of combat, but the economics behind the war can make just as important -- or even more so -- than the thrilling strategy and tactics. We had brilliant leaders and hard-nosed fighters....

Most people never have the opportunity to gain insight into what their parents were like during their younger days, but two sisters in New Jersey did after discovering letters written to their Navy veteran father from his best friend during World War II. Susan Sturm and Cindy Sommer were tasked with the responsibility of cleaning out their parents’ home following the death of their 96-year-old mother in January 2021. The women had lost their father, Al Sitarski, years prior in July 2012 at the age of 91. While in the attic, the sisters came across a brown envelope with the...

There are many unsung heroes throughout Welsh history. People who have fought for human rights, struggled against oppression and repression, challenged those in power, and championed the underdog. Importantly, there are also those who exposed corruption and told the truth. The erudite and courageous investigative Welsh journalist Gareth Jones, who was tragically murdered so young for telling the truth, certainly falls into the hero category. Today in Milan, a plaque was unveiled by the Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide (Garwio) to honour Jones as a defender of human rights and for his role in uncovering the horrors of the Great...

A World War II bomb exploded in the English town of Great Yarmouth on Friday as workers attempted to diffuse it, according to police. The device was discovered Tuesday in a river crossing in Great Yarmouth. It was located by a contractor working on the third crossing over the River Yare. And on Friday, Norfolk Police revealed there had been an “unplanned” detonation. No injuries were reported and police said all army and emergency service personnel were accounted for. Army specialists had been cutting the bomb using a technique that creates a slow burn of the explosives, police said. Workers...

One of the best kept secrets of the war involved the Japanese balloon bomb offensive. Prompted by the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942, the Japanese developed the balloon bombs as a means of direct reprisal against the U.S. mainland. The balloons, made of paper or rubberized silk, carried anti-personnel and incendiary bombs. The first operational launches took place on Nov. 3, 1944, and two days later a U.S. Navy patrol boat spotted a balloon floating on the water off the coast of California. Japan launched some 9,000 balloons during a five-month period, to be carried by high altitude...

Many conflicting and some untrue stories have been printed about General George S. Patton and the Third Army Prayer. Some have had the tinge of blasphemy and disrespect for the Deity. Even in "War As I Knew It" by General Patton, the footnote on the Prayer by Colonel Paul D. Harkins, Patton's Deputy Chief of Staff, while containing the elements of a funny story about the General and his Chaplain, is not the true account of the prayer Incident or its sequence. As the Chief Chaplain of the Third Army throughout the five campaigns on the Staff of General Patton,...

George Leonard “Johnny” Johnson was the last surviving original member of the famous “Dambusters” raid of 1943The last surviving Dambuster has died at the age of 101. George Leonard “Johnny” Johnson was the last surviving original member of RAF 617 Squadron’s famous “Dambusters” raid of 1943. He died peacefully at his care home in Westbury on Trym, Bristol, on Wednesday night surrounded by his family, a source told PA. He was a bomb aimer during Operation Chastise, which was tasked with attacking German dams during the Second World War. Around a third of the RAF Bomber Command crew did not...

Robert Laycock was helping renovate a home in a Sydney harbourside suburb when he found rare memorabilia from a 1920s physical culture performance hidden beneath the floor — and several old mortar shells. While the explosive discovery brought out the bomb squad and put a temporary stop to the renovation, it was the unearthing of a Bjelke-Petersen School (BJP) of Physical Culture program from 1924 that drew lasting attention. "It looked like it had just been discarded under the floor in an old area," Mr Laycock said. "It was covered up in the sand and it was very dry under...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia soldier killed during World War II has been accounted for, the military said. Army Cpl. Joseph H. Gunnoe, 21, of Charleston, was reported missing in action in November 1944 in Germany. He was declared killed in action after the war, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Tuesday. Gunnoe was assigned to Company G, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. His unit captured the town of Vossenack, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, on Nov. 2 but was forced to withdraw four days later. Scientists used DNA, anthropological evidence and circumstantial evidence to identify the...

Searchers have located the wrecks of five B-24 bombers that crashed into the Adriatic Sea during World War II, three of which are associated with 23 still-missing crew members. The search mission – conducted over a two-week period in August off the coast of Croatia – was a partnership between Project Recover and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. It was the culmination of a lengthy process of researching military records and obtaining needed permits from Croatia, Mark Moline, the mission leader and a cofounder of Project Recover, said in a phone interview Thursday. Along with the B-17, the B-24 Liberator...

WEST HOLLYWOOD—What if Adolf Hitler had just been an actor? In another rendition of history, he had all the makings for it. David Bowie, in his oft-forgotten national socialist phase, called Der Fuhrer “one of the first rock stars.” Bowie later said he was on a lot of cocaine. Pop historians would say as much of the high command. But it’s there: Hitler had “the look.” Not starting quarterback stuff (or whatever the non-Amerikaner equivalent), but a true aesthete’s presentation that was straight out of Hollywood. Was he even good-looking? It doesn’t matter, because we could not—still cannot—look away.

Poland estimates its World War II losses caused by Germany at 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.32 trillion), the leader of the country's ruling nationalists said on Thursday, and he said Warsaw would officially demand reparations. Poland's biggest trade partner and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO, Germany has previously said all financial claims linked to World War II have been settled. Poland's new estimate tops the $850 billion estimate by a ruling party lawmaker from 2019. The ruling Law and Justice (PIS) partyu has repeated calls for compensation several times since it took power in 2015, but Poland...

The United States is credited with building a battleship that, to this day, is certified as completely unsinkable. It sported four 14-inch naval rifles in two turrets with impressive arcs of fire, along with a variety of smaller guns in casemates along the sides. Though completely unsinkable, this battleship had one major drawback — it could not move. In fact, it was fixed in place in Manila Bay in the Philippines. It was also made of concrete. The name of this battleship was not New Jersey, or Missouri, or North Carolina. It was Fort Drum. If you visit the Philippines...

Much of what American soldiers fought for in World War II has “gone down the drain,” according to U.S. Marine Carl Spurlin Dekel, who celebrated his 100th birthday last week. Dekel says serving his country in WWII was the most important thing he ever did, according to Fox 13. The veteran and Silver Star holder says he wouldn’t hesitate to put his life on the line again, but regrets that the U.S. has slipped away from what he remembers. “People don’t realize what they have,” Dekel told the outlet. “The things we did and the things we fought for and...