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Awarded several medals for bravery, along with a Purple Heart, for a severe leg wound he’d received as he and fellow marines fought in the jungles of Iwo Jima, When our new geometry teacher entered the classroom, we high school seniors almost laughed out loud. Well over six feet tall, Mr. Gordon was skeleton skinny, his clothes hung on him like a suit on a scarecrow, he walked with a wobbly limp, and the meek expression on his thin, bony face, along with his subdued, kindly tone of voice, convinced us he was a wimp. How wrong we were. To...

A 98-year-old survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack would regularly visit the USS Iowa near his home in Southern California, but health issues recently kept him away -- so in a viral video, the Navy came to him.

Fellow FReepers, I have just been told that my Grandpa is breathing his last breaths on this Earth. Everyone must pass, but what makes this one tough is that he was my own personal WWII hero. His name is John and on his first bomber mission over Germany in WWII, he was shot down and was a POW in Stalag 17B for the rest of the war. He had one of his hands smashed by a German rifle butt, he had some teeth kicked out by German Army boots, and he suffered severe frost bite on his lower legs. He...

Kurt Konnegut has died

Richard Hyle says his military training from WWII helped him resist a robber recently. When you've struggled to regain control of a plane spiraling 20,000 feet over Italy, there's not a lot left to be afraid of, says 82-year-old Richard Hyle of Clifton.  So when a robber burst into a local newspaper store two years ago, the decorated veteran wasn't about to give in without a fight.  "A guy comes in with his sleeve over his hand, like he has a gun," recalled Hyle, sitting in his living room as he flips through an album of photos from his...

His name was Gregory Boyington. Some called him "Pappy." He served as a combat pilot in World War II with the 1st Squadron, American Volunteer Group. This squadron was known as the Flying Tigers of China. Boyington later served as a combat pilot for the U.S. Marine Corps. He commanded Marine Fighting Squadron 214. Perhaps you've heard of this squadron. It was called the Black Sheep Squadron and was later featured in a TV series called "Baa Baa, Black Sheep." Boyington shot down 26 Japanese aircraft while serving in the Pacific. He was later shot down and spent 20 months...

Dying doesn't bother John "Jack" Livingston -- at least that's what he says as he talks about the cancer that's slowly destroying his blood and bone marrow. Maybe it's because this World War II vet has come close too often as he dodged the bullets fired by the enemy and by his aging frame. However small, Livingston owns a piece of history. He's a member of the Greatest Generation that beat back the Nazis as though it was business as usual. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, about 1,050 WWII veterans will die each day this year. Livingston thinks...

Servicemembers and veterans were among those who got a sneak peek of the film that promotional materials say tells the story of the "most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: 'the great raid on Cabanatuan.'" The raid was conducted to rescue the more than 500 U.S. prisoners of war who had survived the Bataan Death March through the jungles of the Philippines. Lt. Col. Henry A. Mucci, working from 6th Army Headquarters in Luzon in the Philippines, was charged with figuring out how to free the POWs before the Japanese army's "Kill All" policy was enforced....

“Memory n. 1. The mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experience; the ability to remember. 2. An act or instance of remembrance; a recollection… see smer in Appendix.” “smer – to remember. In Germanic murnon, to remember sorrowfully, in Old English murnan, to mourn.” I remember Chuck Meerholz and the day I was supposed to drive. After four months with B Company, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor; four months of on-the-job-training for a guy trained as an infantrymen, I was being taught to drive our tank. B Company was to participate in a big operation centered on the village of...

Steve Rasmussen stood earnestly, his voice cracking with emotion describing his father’s love for the U. S. Military Academy and his privilege to witness something that meant so much to his father with the hope it will mean the same to its new owner. His father, James Asa Rasmussen, USMA class of 1945, who died October 26, had a last wish of contributing his class ring to the Class Ring Memorial Program. His ring was included among the 12 present at the ring ceremony conducted at the Pease & Curren Refinery in Warwick , R.I. , March 8. In four...

A tribute to fallen HEROES  from the staff and visitors at FreeRepublic.com, FreedomUSA.org and Veterans for Constitutional Restoration (VetsCoR)  During the course of this country's history brave men and women have stepped forward from time to time, answering the country's call to fight against would-be tyrants, dictators and despots,  and to defend the individual freedom that is our birthright.  Many of these brave men and women have paid the ultimate price. It is to these brave men and women of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine that we dedicate this page, and to...

ALTAMONT, New York (AP) -- A soldier held in Japanese prison camps in World War II secretly painted stars and stripes on pilfered paper hidden from his captors, then held the flag up high to greet American planes flying overhead when his camp was liberated. After returning home, Cpl. Millard Orsini consigned the object of his secret work to a closet. He rarely mentioned the war or the moldering flag, and died in 1978 from a heart attack. "He was really a hometown hero who got lost in the cracks," said Tony Ferraioli, who led the effort to restore the...

One of the seminal American comic artists. He also did training guides for the U.S. Army during WW2.

From Associated Press "I did my share, my part, to liberate the country from Hitler, and this is the way that they repay me," said George Wilson, 80". Full story: French Medal Returned in Protest (More Info Than Yahoo! Story)