military history

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/28/2021
  

  African-American Sacrifice in the Killing Fields of France

  For their bravery in capturing Séchault from the Germans on Sept. 29, 1918, and for other combat action, the regiment known as the "Harlem Hellfighters" was awarded France’s highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre, soon after the war. 

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• SOURCE: History.com
  2/11/2021
  

  New Documentary: Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage

  TV journalist Robin Roberts produces a documentary on the famed Tuskegee Airmen – including her father – whose service in World War II supported the long movement for civil rights. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/5/2021
  

  A Southerner who abandoned the Lost Cause (Review)

  West Point historian Ty Seidule's book traces his own personal path from venerating the Lost Cause myth of the Confederacy to rejecting it, including questioning the number of monuments to Robert E. Lee at the US Military Academy. 

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• SOURCE: Military.com
  2/3/2021
  

  Navy Task Force Calls for Changing Ship Names that Honor Confederacy

  "Most sailors -- and Navy leaders -- have little idea of [John Stennis's] background, but the Navy, as an institution, has a moral obligation to know," Green argued. "And, it should act."

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• SOURCE: History.com
  2/3/2021
  

  America’s First Black Regiment Earned Their Freedom by Fighting Against the British

  Philip Morgan says the decision to enlist both free and enslaved Black troops resulted both from Rhode Island's difficulty mustering a sufficient all-white force and George Washington's fear that Lord Dunmore's offer of freedom to enslaved men who joined the British army would undermine the slavery-based economy of Virginia and the southern colonies. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/2/2021
  

  Man Travels to Virginia in Quest to Interview WWII Veterans

  A young Californian has traveled across the world after founding a nonprofit agency to collect and preserve the stories of surviving World War II veterans. 

• 
• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  12/22/2020
  

  Reflections on Vietnam and Iraq: The Lessons of Two Failed Wars

  by Andrew Bacevich

  Although the prospects for quickly turning around the ship seem dim, this has been an election year ending in zero, which has often signaled a turning point. The question is, in which direction. 

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• 12/20/2020
  

  Trump's Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan: Part 2 – Is There Even a "Trump Doctrine"?

  by Brian Glyn Williams

  Many Americans have bought Donald Trump's claim that he seeks to extricate the U.S. from "endless wars," including in Afghanistan. Viewed in the context of his other foreign policy actions, this claim is nonsensical, and undermines the work being done in support of global democracy and American interests.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  12/17/2020
  

  History Exposes the Problem with Biden’s Defense Secretary Nominee

  by Grant Golub

  World War II demonstrated the need for strong civilian control over a military divided between multiple armed service branches, both to guide strategy and to ensure the ultimate authority of the President over the military. The nomination of a recently-retired Army general for Secretary of Defense departs from that tradition. 

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• 12/20/2020
  

  Trump's Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan: Part 1 – Abandoning a Vulnerable Ally in the War on Terror

  by Brian Glyn Williams

  Donald Trump's plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan misrepresents the scope and costs of the American mission and ignores the high stakes of failure for both Afghans and American security, according to a scholar of the War on Terror. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  12/5/2020
  

  Performance Anxiety: How Cold War Men’s Adventure Magazines Shaped Soldiers’ (Mis)Understandings of the Vietnam War (Review)

  by Nicholas Utzig

  A consideration of Gregory Daddis's book "Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men’s Adventure Magazines."

• 
• SOURCE: Popular Mechanics
  12/4/2020
  

  Fishermen Catch WWII Mine, Extremely Satisfying Explosion Ensues

  The Royal Navy identified the mine as a German device dating to the World War II era and detonated it underwater.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Post
  12/6/2020
  

  Unexploded 1,100-Pound World War II Bomb Found In Frankfurt

  Unexploded munitions from war pose a potentially serious threat to the public, as a construction crew in Frankfurt discovered recently. 

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• SOURCE: Worcester (MA) Telegram and Gazette
  12/7/2020
  

  Last Pearl Harbor Fighter Plane that Still Flies a Historical Highlight at American Heritage Museum in Hudson

  A series of accidents allowed a P-40 fighter plane to survive the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; after crashing in service a month later, the plane lay on a Hawaiian mountainside until 1985, when it was restored to flight condition using parts from other planes. It is now an attraction at the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/3/2020
  

  He Escaped Death as a Kamikaze Pilot. 70 Years Later, He Told His Story.

  "As the generation who lived through the war fades away, Japan’s opposing political sides are vying to reinterpret the kamikaze for a public still divided over the conflict’s legacy."

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• SOURCE: War on The Rocks
  11/30/2020
  

  Musing on Gender Integration in the Military with Simone de Beauvoir

  by Bill Bray

  For those engaged in the military gender integration debate today, de Beauvoir’s writing offers an additional reminder — those arguing against more integration may be no less intelligent and sincere than those championing change. But they still may be wrong.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/29/2020
  

  Let Trump Try To Defend Racist, Traitorous Confederates. Congress Can Still Prevail

  by Ty Seidule

  "This nation should honor those who fought bravely to defend it, not its enemies."

• 
• 11/15/2020
  

  Can the COVID Crisis Create a New Civilian-Military Trust in Argentina?

  by David M. K. Sheinin y Cesar R. Torres

  Many Argentinians have been suspicious of military involvement in civil affairs since the end of the country's military dictatorship in 1983. Two scholars ask if the COVID crisis presents an opportunity for healing and reimagining the military's role in Argentina.

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• SOURCE: WAMU
  11/9/2020
  

  The Smithsonian Will Open A National Native American Veterans Memorial In D.C. Wednesday

  The National Native American Veterans Memorial will open with virtual programming, including a tour and video tribute, on Wednesday, November 11.

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• 11/8/2020
  

  There is Nothing Sacred About the Military Vote

  by Rachel Gunter

  After a patient count, Joe Biden has claimed victory, and fears that late-arriving military absentee ballots could be subject to litigation that might decide the election have receded. This is fortunate, because history shows parties won't hesitate to interfere with the military vote for political advantage.