Smedley Butler may be the best-known double Medal of Honor recipient and one of the most popular military Generals in U.S. history. Butler served 33 years in the Marine Corps and had a role in the Spanish-American War in Cuba, the Philippine-American War in Manila, the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Banana Wars in the Caribbean, the Mexican Revolution, and World War I. Butler's first Medal of Honor was earned during the Mexican Revolution when the then-major fought block to block in the streets of Vera Cruz to rid the city of the resistance. 
His second award occurred a year later in 1915 when his Marines engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Caicos resistance, a lower society of miscreants who formed a gang to wreak havoc in Haiti.
His wartime heroics became legendary, and he is one of the most recognized Marines of all time. Butler also introduced the Marine Corps' first unofficial mascot, a bulldog named Jiggs, in 1922. It birthed a tradition, with all following mascots being awarded a service contract of "life" with duties of "sit, stay, and lie down." "The Fighting Quaker," which was a nickname for the Pennsylvania native, wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and Butler wrote several short stories in "War is a Racket," discussing how those in power profit from war.
Although he only served as the director of public safety in Philadelphia for one year, his impact helped establish police reform in the city, which was full of corrupt public officials. He was labeled as being "incorruptible" and formed his own ragtag group of bandit-chasing police. The squads patrolled in armored cars with radios and carried sawed-off shotguns. The 1920s were fret with speakeasies, organized crime, and untrustworthy politicians. Butler later said, "Cleaning up Philadelphia's vice is worse than any battle I was ever in."
He died in 1940 as one of the most revered military Generals of all time.
The amphibious landings of D-Day were hours away when the first combat missions by the US Army started in France. The invasion of Normandy began with a large-scale parachute drop that included 13,100 Soldiers of the 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions. The attack occurred during the night in the early hours of June 6th, 1944, and was the vanguard of the Allied operations in Normandy.
The troops were all part of the US VII Corps assigned to capture Cherbourg, the coastal city in Normandy, that would serve as a supply port for the Allied troops after the landing. They were also tasked with a specific mission: to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the US V Corps in joining up the two American beachheads.
Once the paratroopers landed, all hell broke loose. The heavy fighting marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War in Europe.
The operation was the subject of careful planning that lasted for over a year. Both the divisions that were trusted with the operation had already earned their fame in Italy, where they served during the Allied invasion, conducting night drops.
The IX Troop Carrier Command was formed in October 1943 as a transport force designated to carry out the invasion of Europe. In February 1944, it became apparent that the landing was going to take place in Normandy, and plans were once again drafted and offered to US commander Dwight D. Eisenhower. The night jump rehearsals were carried out in May 1944, and the men from the 82nd and 101st were all jacked up to be dropped in France, behind enemy lines.
The paratroopers were to disrupt the German defense lines and use the element of surprise while the main force landed the beaches. The mission proved to be a difficult one, for the landings needed to be carried out precisely so that the troops wouldn't scatter and fall victim to German patrols.
The airborne assault was divided into two missions, codenamed Albany and Boston. The "Screaming Eagles" of the 101st, part of mission Albany, were the first to jump. Their drop zone was northeast of the town of Carentan. Between 00:48 and 01:40 hours, three regiments, each numbering 1800 men, parachuted into France. The pathfinders of the 101st were instructed to set up short-range Rebecca/Eureka navigation systems. These devices were intended to help the pilots in the carrier planes to find the drop zones.
One hour behind the 101st came the men of the 82nd Airborne Division, ready to make history at Sainte-Mere-Eglise. They began to drop at 01:51 hours in Mission Boston, again dropping in three waves from a fleet of 369 C-47 carrier planes. Another 6,420 men joined the fight that was already raging on the ground.
Even though the operation was well planned, bad weather meant that hundreds of men landed far from their drop zones, forming pockets of resistance that took on the well-organized German defenders everywhere. Accuracy of the drops were hindered by a lack of navigators on many of the aircraft, radio silence that prevented warnings when adverse weather was encountered, German anti-aircraft fire, and emergency usage of Rebecca by numerous lost aircraft, jamming the system and causing malfunctions.
Once the troops of the 101st and the 82nd were on the ground, they began organizing and completing their objectives, despite the difficult start and the determination of the Germans to stop them.
The initial casualties were high among the US troops, with a significant loss of commanding officers on the ground, which threatened to leave the Soldiers without appropriate leadership.
Once the US troops managed to secure their ground, a pre-dawn glider mission was sent with reinforcements and anti-tank equipment. Several other glider missions (codenamed Elmira, Galveston, Hackensack) followed up, including a resupply mission (Freeport and Memphis), reinforcing the 82nd and the 101st as the urban combat continued in Carentan and Sainte-Mere-Eglise.
After the first 24 hours, 2,500 out of 6,000 men of the 101st were under the direct command of the division headquarters. Many others were either dead or were fighting for survival deep behind enemy lines. The push for Carentan was at its crucial stage, and the men weren't giving up, despite the chaos that followed their landing. The 82nd had consolidated its forces on Sainte-Mere-Eglise, but significant pockets of troops were isolated west of the Merderet, some of which had to hold out for several days. The dispersal of the American airborne troops and the nature of the hedgerow terrain had the effect of confusing the Germans and fragmenting their response.
As a defensive tactic, the Germans diverted the Douve River and flooded the area, making the terrain impassable for vehicles. This backfired because the flooded areas protected the American southern flank from counterattack.
The fighting continued for over a week. On June 13th, German forces using assault guns, tanks, and infantry of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division's 37th SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment, along with the elements of the 6th Parachute Regiment, attacked the 101st southwest of Carentan. The Germans pushed back the left of the US line in a morning-long battle until Combat Command A of the 2nd Armored Division was sent forward to repel the attack.
The 82nd Division also played a significant role in the fighting during those days, gaining control over a bridge at Merderet and several other strategic points along the Douve river, before uniting with the elements of the 101st Divison on June 14th at Baupte.
After the battle, the number of US casualties during the airborne operation was 42 C-47 carrier planes, 1,240 (182 killed, 557 wounded, and 501 missing) members of the 101st and 1,259 (156 killed, 347 wounded, and 756 missing) from the 82nd. The strategic importance of the Airborne landings to the overall success of the invasion of Normandy is huge. Mission Albany and Mission Boston remain two of the most daring operations in the history of modern warfare.
Medal of Honor Recipient Ronald Rosser passed away on Wednesday Aug 26, 2020 in Bumpus Mills, Tenessee at the age of 90 from issues related to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was awarded the medal for his bravery during the Korean War.
Rosser was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1929. His father was a coal miner. When he turned 17, his mother gave birth to twins. He decided there wasn't enough room for him at home, so he followed his brother into the military in 1946.
He served for three years and was a part of the occupations of Japan and Germany after World War II. When he left the Army, he returned home to work in the coal mines alongside his father.
Rosser's younger brother, Richard, was killed in action during the Korean War. Rosser re-enlisted out of a sense of vengeance. "…I made up my mind that you can't kill my brother and get away with it," he said.
During the war, his platoon was charged with capturing a hill from the Chinese and North Koreans. Rosser led the final assault on the hill when the company commander was injured. His unit 35 soldiers left from the 170 they started the battle with.
Rosser charged up the hill through enemy gunfire with only his M2 carbine and a single grenade. He eventually realized that all his fellow soldiers had been injured, and he was standing alone about two feet from the enemy who were standing in a trench.
With a war whoop, Rosser jumped into the trench and began close-quarters combat with the enemy until he ran out of ammunition.
He headed back down the hill, gathering ammo and grenades from his fallen comrades. Then he went back up the hill. When he ran out of ammunition again, he repeated the process, reaching the summit and throwing grenades into enemy positions until his unit received the command to withdraw.
By his own account, Rosser killed at least 48 enemy soldiers during the fight. Since no one was up the hill to witness his actions, he was only credited with killing "at least 13 of the enemy."
After the fighting, despite being injured himself, Rosser assisted in the evacuation of soldiers who were more seriously wounded than himself while still facing enemy fire.
For his actions, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor. The citation states that his "courageous and selfless devotion to duty is worthy of emulation by all men."
He remained in the Army for another 16 years, retiring as a Sergeant First Class.
He hadn't intended to leave quite yet, though. Another brother of his, Gary, was killed in action during the Vietnam War. Rosser tried to get assigned to the front lines but was rejected. His commanding officer explained that it would be hard to explain if something happened to him.
In 1999, Rosser donated his Medal of Honor to the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. He said that the nation gave it to him out of gratitude and he wanted to give it back to them.
Over time his anger faded. As he got older, he said that he remembered the people he saved more than the people he killed.
Rosser is survived by his daughter Pamela Rosser Lovell, as well as a number of other relatives. There are currently 68 Medal of Honor recipients still alive today.
When the Nazis steamrolled into the Netherlands in May of 1940, Jannetje Johanna "Hannie" Schaft and Truus and Freddie Oversteegen were just 19, 16, and 14 years old, respectively.
As for the Oversteegen sisters, their mother, Trijn, had left their father years before. Freddie states of this, "She was just fed up one day - we lived on a large ship in Haarlem, but my father never made any money and didn't pay anything for the barge. But it wasn't an ugly divorce or anything - he sang a French farewell song from the bow of the ship when we left. He loved us, but I didn't see him that often anymore after that."
Immediately after the Nazis came to town, despite the risks, Freddie goes on, "During the war, we had a Jewish couple living with us, which is why my sister and I knew a lot about what was going on…"
At the same time, their mother also had her daughters join in with her in the rather dangerous task of posting and distributing anti-Nazi and communist literature around town.
Given their brazen activities, word soon got around to the resistance that the girls might be open to joining, with one Frans van der Wiel coming calling in 1941. Freddie states, "A man wearing a hat came to the door and asked my mother if he could ask us [to join the resistance]. And he did, she was OK with it."
She also states her mother simply requested of them that no matter what the resistance asked them to do, to "always stay human." Needless to say, they were all for it, though not quite realizing at that point everything they"d be asked to do. She states, "I thought we would be starting a kind of secret army. The man that came to our door said that we would get military training, and they did teach us a thing or two. Someone taught us to shoot, and we learned to march in the woods. There were about seven of us then - Hannie wasn't a part of the group yet, and we were the only girls."
Indeed, in the beginning, because of their age and gender, the authorities paid little attention to them. Thus, they were natural message runners between resistance members, as well as ideally suited for smuggling and stealing identity papers to help various Jewish people escape; they also occasionally were tasked with transporting weapons and even helping escort Jews to hiding places- generally, Jewish children as they blended in with the girls well and the authorities on the whole weren't suspicious of the young girls walking along with kids. Also, thanks to Freddie's ultra youthful look, particularly when she did her hair up in pigtails, she was often used for reconnaissance missions, as nobody paid attention to her.
Things escalated from these sorts of tasks, however, with assignments such as helping to burn down various enemy installations. In these cases, the girls were sometimes tasked with flirting with any guards while other resistance members slipped in and set the fires.
In 1943, the sisters were joined by a third female member of their resistance cell, Hannie Schaft- a woman who would go on to be one of the most famous Dutch resistance members in all of WWII, with her activities seeing her marked for death by Hitler himself.
When the Nazis invaded, the then 19-year-old Hannie was studying international law, and particularly human-rights law, at the University of Amsterdam. Unfortunately for her, she would soon be given the boot from university owing to refusing to sign a declaration of allegiance to Germany- a requirement to remain a student and something over 3/4 of the rest of the students did. As you might imagine even if you knew nothing else about her but her choosing to study human-rights law at school and given the activities the Axis were getting up to in the country, she almost immediately joined the resistance.
In the interim since the start of the war and being assigned to the same resistance cell as Truus and Freddie, Hannie had worked with the resistance in various capacities and countless missions, even learning German to aid in her activities.
Naturally, the three girls became fast friends and frequently teamed up for the remainder of the war, with their missions having been expanded to something few women in the resistance were tasked with directly eliminating enemy targets.
Their big advantage over their male compatriots was their age and gender allowed them to get close to enemy soldiers without garnering any suspicion. Thus, the girls were eventually trained with weapons and set to, as Freddie put it, "liquidating" the enemy.
As for the number of people they killed - a question they were frequently asked - they never disclosed, with the sisters" stock answer to that question being, "You never ask a soldier how many people he's killed."
Perhaps their most famous method was flirting and convincing a mark to join one of them for a stroll. For example, in one instance, their target was an SS soldier who they scouted and, once he entered a restaurant to eat, a slightly drunk acting Truus entered and struck up a conversation. At a certain point, she then suggestively asked if he'd like to go for a walk in the woods with her- a prospect he apparently eagerly accepted.
Beyond luring unsuspecting enemy soldiers and Dutch collaborators to their deaths, sometimes they just killed them outright. As Truus once said after watching horrified as a Dutch SS soldier grabbed a baby from the child's family "and hit it against the wall. The father and sister had to watch. They were obviously hysterical. The child was dead… I pulled out a gun and shot him dead. Right there and then. This wasn't an assignment. But I don"t regret it."
Other times they would simply ride along on their bike - Truus on the front, and Freddie on the back with a hidden gun. As they passed their mark, if no one was around, Freddie would pull out the gun and shoot him. After this, Truus would peddle off as fast as she could; once out of sight, they were once again to all the world just a couple of young girls out for a bike ride.
Other times they'd follow the mark home and then come a-knocking, again with their young, innocent look helping to ensure their "targets" guard would be down when they'd kill him.
Beyond this, the trio also took part in bombings and other sabotage efforts, reportedly only refusing one mission in which they were asked to kidnap the three children of Riech Commissioner and former Chancellor of Austria Arthur Seyss-Inquart. The children were then to be used to get the commissioner to release certain prisoners in exchange for their safe return. If he refused, the children would be killed. Said Truus of their refusal of this mission, "Resistance fighters do not kill children."
As for Hannie, while the two young girls often went overlooked, she was not so lucky, with her bright red hair and the many missions she took part in helping her stand out. The authorities soon caught on and she was initially marked as the "the girl with the red hair." As the heat turned up on her and Hitler himself ordered efforts towards her capture ramped up, she began dying her hair black and changed her name.
Unfortunately, her real name was accidentally revealed to an undercover Nazi operative working as a nurse. What followed from this was her family being detained; though eventually when it became clear they didn"t know where she was or anything about her activities, they were let go.
The Axis got her in the end, however, when she was picked up at a random military checkpoint on March 21, 1945, having been caught with copies of the communist newspaper de Waarheid. She was subsequently tortured for a few weeks, but apparently never broke. Given the war was in its final stages, she may have survived if not for her bright red hair giving her away as it grew and with no dye to keep the roots black. Once the Germans figured out who she was because of this, the then 24 year-old Hannie was slated to be immediately executed- a sentence carried out on April 17, 1945, a mere 18 days before the Germans withdrew from the Netherlands.
Apparently defiant to the end, it is reported that when the two soldiers tasked with killing her shot her, she fell, but both had missed their mark for a killing shot. Her last words were reported to be mocking the soldiers, allegedly stating after the first volley, "Idiots! I shoot better!"
As for the sisters, they survived the war, but suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, with Truss burying herself in art and Freddie stating she quickly got married and started a family as her way to cope. Her son, Remi, would state of this, "She shot… people… but she hated it, and she hated herself for doing it." Freddie would also state, "I've shot [them] myself and I"ve seen them fall. And what is inside us at such a moment? You want to help them get up."
Truss added, "It was tragic and very difficult, and we cried about it afterwards. We did not feel it suited us… I wasn"t born to kill. Do you know what that does to your soul? …One loses everything. It poisons the beautiful things in life."
In the end, both sisters lived to the ripe old age of 92, with Truus dying in June of 2016 and Freddie following her in September of 2018, the day before her 93rd birthday.
The sculpture shows a military working dog at the grave of his handler. The dog is wearing a Purple Heart medal and seems to be grieving the loss of his human friend.
A new sculpture honors the efforts and sacrifices of military working dogs. Susan Norris is the sculptor of "My Hero, My Friend," which has been moving people to tears when they see it.
Norris stated in a press release that she has always enjoyed animals but felt that the bond between a military working dog and its handler was "on a whole other level."
The sculpture will be installed at the Veterans Memorial Park in Trophy Club, Texas - part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Throughout the years, working dogs have been known as War Dogs and K-9 Corps, among many other names. Dogs have served the military as guards, messengers, mascots, and scouts.
The working dog program has been increased as US involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq increased. Many are trained to detect mines and improvised explosive detection.
According to a US Army book on veterinary services in the military, dogs have become members of forward-deployed teams and served with airborne units. They have been transported by helicopters when necessary.
The dog in the sculpture is life-sized. According to Norris, the sculpture is meant to portray the mutual admiration that both dog and handler have for each other both in life and in death.
Dogs are useful to the military because their senses are able to pick up on things that humans cannot; they can go into areas that humans can't get into, and they are often able to subdue attackers with a nonlethal force more quickly than their human counterparts can.
Nine thousand three hundred dogs were used in World War II as sentry dogs. These were used to guard military bases, airfields, depots, and industrial plants.
The largest group of sentry dogs were issued to the Coast Guard to patrol the beaches and guard against enemy submarines.
Scout dogs were trained to detect the presence of enemy Soldiers and silently alert the rest of the team. A dog can detect a human 1,000 yards away, which gives the Soldiers in its team a greater level of safety from ambushes and would raise morale for the team. Messenger dogs would carry communications from one handler to another. They were trained to utilize cover and to move silently while carrying messages between the two Soldiers.
Mine dogs are trained to detect explosives. They were used in North Africa during World War II but had difficulty detecting mines during combat conditions.
Casualty dogs were trained to find injured Soldiers. The time saved by the dogs, quickly locating the wounded Soldiers, could often be the difference between life and death.
Tunnel dogs were used extensively in the Vietnam war in order to find enemy Soldiers hiding in the tunnels used by the Viet Cong.
Explosive detection dogs are the ones who are being used in the Middle East. They are able to detect the chemicals in the explosives, making it difficult for the ISIS combatants to hide explosives.
During WWII, five breeds were found to make good working dogs: German Shepherds, Belgian Sheep Dogs, Doberman Pinschers, Farm Collies (short coat), and Giant Schnauzers. Great Danes were found to be too large, and hunting breeds were rejected because they were too obsessed with animal scents. Alaskan Malamutes and Huskies were trained for use in the Arctic as sled dogs.
Today, the military mainly focuses on German and Dutch Shepherds and Belgian Malinois. These breeds have been found to be loyal, smart, very aggressive, and athletic. German Shepherds are preferred since they consistently show all the traits prized in the field.
When it comes to odor detection, though, specialized breeds are often preferred, especially those of the Retriever variety.
Space Force was signed into law Dec. 20, 2019 as part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. SpaceForce.mil went live shortly thereafter.
On June 18, 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to begin planning for a Space Force: a 6th independent military service branch to undertake missions and operations in the rapidly evolving space domain. 
The U.S. Space Force would be the first new military service in more than 70 years, following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947.
Vice President Mike Pence and the Department of Defense released more details about the planned force on Aug. 9, 2018, citing plans to create a separate combatant command, U.S. Space Command, in addition to an independent service overseen by a civilian secretary, all by 2020.
The Department of Defense forwarded a Space Force proposal to Congress, on March 1, 2019, calling for a service that would fall under the Air Force in the same way the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy. The proposal also included the designation of a new position: undersecretary of the Air Force for space, a civilian position that would answer to the secretary of the Air Force and oversee U.S. Space Force. Officials estimated the creation of a new service would cost $2 billion over five years and require 15,000 personnel.
On Aug. 29, 2019, the Pentagon activated U.S. Space Command, a new U.S. combatant command led by Air Force Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, intended to serve as a precursor to U.S. Space Force. The Pentagon had a U.S. Space Command from 1985 to 2002, but it had a far more limited scope and was not a geographic combatant command.
The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker. Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.
This is a gripping adventure chock-full of "you-are-there" moments. Fluckey has drawn on logs, reports, letters, interviews, and a recently discovered illegal diary kept by one of his torpedomen. And in a fascinating twist, he uses archival documents from the Japanese Navy to give its version of events. The unique story of the Barb begins with its men, who had the confidence to become unbeatable. Each team helped develop innovative ideas, new tactics, and new strategies. All strove for personal excellence, and success became contagious. Instead of lying in wait under the waves, the USS Barb pursued enemy ships on the surface, attacking in the swift and precise style of torpedo boats. She was the first sub to use rocket missiles and to creep up on enemy convoys at night, joining the flank escort line from astern, darting in and out as she sank ships up the column. Surface-cruising, diving only to escape, "Luckey Fluckey" relentlessly patrolled the Pacific, driving his boat and crew to their limits. There can be no greater contrast to modern warfare's long-distance, video game-style of battle than the exploits of the Captain and crew of the USS Barb, where the sub, out of ammunition, actually rammed an enemy ship until it sank. Thunder Below! is a first-rate, true-life, inspirational story of the courage and heroism of ordinary men under fire.
Reader Reviews
OK, I'll admit to buying this book against my better judgment. A lifetime around the military has made me very familiar with the "I love me" book put out by so many retired Officers. This is so NOT that book! If anything, this is an "I loved my ship" or an "I loved my crew" book; maybe it is a bit of both. Thunder Below is that truly unusual book - an Admiral's memoir that does not paint him as the hero. The Barb is the heroine here. It is a book partly written by committee, or at least written with the help of the memories of as any of the crew as could be contacted by Admiral Fluckey, and yet it is seamless and cohesive. It is a book where you pretty much know the ending and still hold your breath as events unfold. And it is a book that is not afraid to admit that the Sailors and Officers were real people who laughed, played jokes, and even cried where appropriate.
Thank you, men, of the Barb.
~R.C. Logan
This wonderful book about the record-breaking USS Barb is unique in its first-person voice and story of naval heroics for which we can be forever proud. The leadership skills during WWII submarine patrols in the Pacific demonstrated every day by the Captain (the author), and his officers were spectacular. The Captain's abilities to communicate, teach, and inspire laced with compassion and a wry sense of humor were second to none; his receipt of the Medal of Honor commemorated his stunning achievements.
The closely aligned teamwork inspired by this leadership was the best I have ever seen in print. This top-rated sub managed to successfully coordinate torpedo, machine gun, 4 and 5 inch gun, and rocket attacks; they even successfully rammed an enemy ship for an astounding total of 30 major ships sunk and some 75 smaller vessels. Add to that a thrilling raid pulled off by a small team sent ashore to bomb a Japanese railroad, and you have one of the greatest adventure books of the last 30 years. Told in the first person with quotes from diaries and letters added liberally, the book is nearly alive in your hands, complete with terrific maps and photographs. A living, breathing gem of a story.
~Jack Sparacino
This book tells the life of the Officers and men of the submarine Barb in World War Two. One would expect a dry military jargon-filled book. The Captain of the submarine CPT Fluckey however, makes a spine-tingling tell. This book is very exciting to read and read like a Tom Clancy novel. The exploits of his crew during his five tours as commander are almost unbelievable. His tactics. Knowledge and detailed planning paid off for him and his crew. I highly recommend this book for anyone to read, not just military history buffs like me.
~Phil W
About the Author
Eugene B. Fluckey, Rear Admiral, USN (Ret.), was a 1935 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. For his valor under fire, LCDR Fluckey was awarded four Navy Crosses and the Medal of Honor, unequaled by any living American. The crew of the USS Barb received the Presidential Unit Citation and Navy Unit Commendation. In 1989 the U.S. Navy honored Fluckey by naming the nuclear submarine Combat Systems Training Center, the largest and highest building in New London Connecticut, Fluckey Hall, the only building there named for a living person. His last active duty was as NATO Commander in Chief of the Iberian Atlantic Area in Lisbon, Portugal, from which he retired in 1972. In June 1991, he did the research for Thunder Below in remote villages on the coast of China. Of his many citations, Fluckey said he was most proud of, the one medal no member of his crew was ever awarded: the Purple Heart, given to those wounded under fire.
His second award occurred a year later in 1915 when his Marines engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Caicos resistance, a lower society of miscreants who formed a gang to wreak havoc in Haiti. 
The troops were all part of the US VII Corps assigned to capture Cherbourg, the coastal city in Normandy, that would serve as a supply port for the Allied troops after the landing. They were also tasked with a specific mission: to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the US V Corps in joining up the two American beachheads.
The paratroopers were to disrupt the German defense lines and use the element of surprise while the main force landed the beaches. The mission proved to be a difficult one, for the landings needed to be carried out precisely so that the troops wouldn't scatter and fall victim to German patrols.
Once the troops of the 101st and the 82nd were on the ground, they began organizing and completing their objectives, despite the difficult start and the determination of the Germans to stop them.
As a defensive tactic, the Germans diverted the Douve River and flooded the area, making the terrain impassable for vehicles. This backfired because the flooded areas protected the American southern flank from counterattack.
Rosser was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1929. His father was a coal miner. When he turned 17, his mother gave birth to twins. He decided there wasn't enough room for him at home, so he followed his brother into the military in 1946.
Rosser charged up the hill through enemy gunfire with only his M2 carbine and a single grenade. He eventually realized that all his fellow soldiers had been injured, and he was standing alone about two feet from the enemy who were standing in a trench.
As for the Oversteegen sisters, their mother, Trijn, had left their father years before. Freddie states of this, "She was just fed up one day - we lived on a large ship in Haarlem, but my father never made any money and didn't pay anything for the barge. But it wasn't an ugly divorce or anything - he sang a French farewell song from the bow of the ship when we left. He loved us, but I didn't see him that often anymore after that."
Things escalated from these sorts of tasks, however, with assignments such as helping to burn down various enemy installations. In these cases, the girls were sometimes tasked with flirting with any guards while other resistance members slipped in and set the fires.
As for the number of people they killed - a question they were frequently asked - they never disclosed, with the sisters" stock answer to that question being, "You never ask a soldier how many people he's killed."
Beyond this, the trio also took part in bombings and other sabotage efforts, reportedly only refusing one mission in which they were asked to kidnap the three children of Riech Commissioner and former Chancellor of Austria Arthur Seyss-Inquart. The children were then to be used to get the commissioner to release certain prisoners in exchange for their safe return. If he refused, the children would be killed. Said Truus of their refusal of this mission, "Resistance fighters do not kill children."
The Axis got her in the end, however, when she was picked up at a random military checkpoint on March 21, 1945, having been caught with copies of the communist newspaper de Waarheid. She was subsequently tortured for a few weeks, but apparently never broke. Given the war was in its final stages, she may have survived if not for her bright red hair giving her away as it grew and with no dye to keep the roots black. Once the Germans figured out who she was because of this, the then 24 year-old Hannie was slated to be immediately executed- a sentence carried out on April 17, 1945, a mere 18 days before the Germans withdrew from the Netherlands.
Norris stated in a press release that she has always enjoyed animals but felt that the bond between a military working dog and its handler was "on a whole other level."
Dogs are useful to the military because their senses are able to pick up on things that humans cannot; they can go into areas that humans can't get into, and they are often able to subdue attackers with a nonlethal force more quickly than their human counterparts can.
Casualty dogs were trained to find injured Soldiers. The time saved by the dogs, quickly locating the wounded Soldiers, could often be the difference between life and death.
The U.S. Space Force would be the first new military service in more than 70 years, following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947.
The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker. Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.
About the Author