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After almost 80 years, a World War II sailor’s remains once declared “non-recoverable” were returned to his New Jersey home. Anthony Di Petta, a Nutley, N.J., resident who served as a US Navy aviation ordnanceman during World War II, was brought home on Friday, the Department of Defense said.

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...

In the final row of graves in an obscure cemetery in southern Spain, is a tomb dedicated to William Martin - a British officer killed during the Second World War. Except that Martin wasn't real. He was invented by British spies as part of a daring and successful plot to fool Hitler about the invasion of Sicily, using the corpse of an unknown man dressed up like an officer and carrying a case full of fake documents. Now, ahead of the release of new film Operation Mincemeat which documents the mission, calls are growing to exhume the grave so the...

Nato needs to brace itself for the prospect of Ukraine’s counteroffensive failing to achieve major success. Indeed, so far, Kyiv has attained only limited gains. But those who expected a lightning breakthrough were always going to be disappointed. This is not German panzers against Polish horse cavalry, nor is it American shock and awe against demoralised Iraqi forces in antiquated tanks with no air cover.Instead, we are seeing something closer to an attritional style of warfare, with attacking forces battering against heavily fortified defences. Current operations are at the stage of reconnaissance-in-force along four separate axes of advance, with Ukrainian...

The men at Omaha did not believe America had to be perfect to be good—just far better than the alternative. Seventy-nine years ago this week, the Allies assaulted the Normandy beaches on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Their invasion marked the largest amphibious landing since the Persians under Xerxes invaded the Greek mainland in 480 B.C. Nearly 160,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers stormed five beaches of Nazi-occupied France. The plan was to liberate Western Europe after four years of occupation, push into Germany, and end the Nazi regime. Less than a year later, the Allies from the West, and the...

79 years ago today, my grandfather jumped out of a plane. He was 17 years old when he joined the 101st Airborne Division, and at the ripe age of 18, he boarded a C-47 aircraft with the rest of his company destined for Normandy. On June 6, 1944, he jumped out of that plane onto Utah Beach, becoming a part of what would become the largest amphibious invasion in military history, Operation Overlord, or, as it's more commonly known, D-Day. Though only 18, my grandfather was one of the oldest soldiers in his company. He recounted how many, like himself,...

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Seventy-Nine years ago during the night Allied paratroopers landed behind the the beaches of Normandy, France, to be followed at dawn by thousands of amphibious troops landing on those beaches, I can not let this day go by without a tribute. June 6, 1944 was not just another day at the beach and for many it was their last day and for those who lived it was their longest day for the rest of their lives.

Every day, memories of World War II—its sights and sounds, its terrors and triumphs—disappear. Yielding to the inalterable process of aging, the men and women who fought and won the great conflict are now in their 90s or older. They are dying quickly—according to US Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, 167,284 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are alive in 2022.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived in London January 2, 1944 to command Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and to direct the last five months of planning for D-Day; the most difficult and complicated military operation ever attempted. Eisenhower’s study of leadership skills required he ignore opportunities for fear and doubt, which inevitably arise as strain and tension wear away endurance. He persevered to present confidence and optimism to those around him. For that reason, he brought with him a confident, battle tested team that had led successful landings in North Africa, Sicily, and Salerno, despite experiencing German counterattacks nearly...

D-Day was the name given to the June 6, 1944, invasion of the beaches at Normandy in northern France by troops from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries during World War II. France at the time was occupied by the armies of Nazi Germany, and the amphibious assault—codenamed Operation Overlord—landed some 156,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches of Normandy by the end of the day. Despite their success, some 4,000 Allied troops were killed by German soldiers defending the beaches. At the time, the D-Day invasion was the largest naval, air and land operation in history,...

(Last Updated On: June 5, 2023) D-Day D-Day is June 6 on the National Day Calendar and we are honoring those who fought on the beaches of Normandy, France. This historical day is a reminder of the day troops of Allied forces staged one of the most pivotal attacks against Germany during World War II. #DDay The Battle of Normandy was executed under the codename Operation Overlord and became known as the beginning of the end of World War II. The Battle of Normandy was along a 50 mile stretch of beaches, including Utah and Omaha Beach. While many explanations...

Time Ghost just started their 24-Hour D-Day As It Happened, they are in the 3rd Hour Now. https://www.youtube.com/@D-Day24Hours-sm5pe

It was Monday, May 7, 1945, and the headline of the Klamath Falls, Oregon Herald and News read: “Blast Kills 6, five children, Pastor’s wife in explosion”. The indiscriminate violence of World War II had come to America, and it was delivered by an unlikely source. A gun camera’s still frames of a Fu-Go balloon shoot-down by Kiska-based P-38 Lightning fighters. Image: NARA On Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, a 15-kilogram anti-personnel bomb had exploded in the midst of a group of children on a fishing trip with their local pastor and his wife: Edward Engen (13), Jay Gifford (13), Sherman...

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.

Eighty years ago, on May 16-17, 1943, an elite group of airmen, mostly from the Royal Air Force, but also with contingents from Canada and Australia, took off in nineteen Lancaster bombers from the RAF station in Scampton, Lincolnshire. Their mission was clear: Destroy three dams in Germany’s Ruhr Valley, thus taking out the hydroelectric power and the water supply to Germany’s industrial heartland, largely negating its value as a manufacturing center for the war effort. Recognizing their importance, the Germans had heavily fortified the dams, installing impenetrable torpedo nets below the waterlines to guard against an underwater attack, and...

Aviation fans gathered to see a World War Two Lancaster bomber fly over England as a memorial flight tours the country on the 80th anniversary of the 617 Squadron's legendary raids. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is commemorating the Operation Chastise attack on the Nazi Germany reservoirs which took place on the night of May 16, 1943. The 617 Squadron carried out the raid which involved 133 aircrew and 19 Lancaster Bomber aircraft unleashing bouncing bombs to deal a major blow to Adolf Hitler. Large crowds were seen standing with cameras as they prepared to witness the Lancaster bomber...

Overcrowding at Santo Tomas caused the Japanese to establish another civilian internment camp at Los Baños, some 25 miles southeast of Manila, in May 1943. The Japanese sent 800 young men, internees from Santo Tomas, to make the 40-acre site of the abandoned agricultural college habitable. Nash recalled the five-hour train ride in overcrowded, stifling boxcars: “As we stopped at different stations, they [the Japanese guards] would open the doors to let just a little air in. It was suffocating and maliciously unhuman.”On arrival at Los Baños, the internees found primitive conditions; almost everything that could be carried away had...

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...

On this date in 1945 in Berlin, a German woman named Charlotte Rebhun was executed by the Nazis. She had almost made it through the war: Berlin fell to the Russians the very next day. Charlotte, a Gentile, had been married to Max Rebhun, a Jew. They had two children: Wolfgang, born in 1927, and Adele, born in 1930. Following Kristallnacht, Max was deported to Poland. Charlotte and the children followed him in 1939, and after war broke out the entire family wound up in the Warsaw Ghetto. On August 20, 1942, during the Grossaktion that ultimately resulted in a...