The World War II Database has it all: Event Summaries, Book Reviews, Participant Profiles, detailed specs on ships and aircraft, and 3500+ photos. The DBs RSS feeds are here and here.
I just read an article in the OCT 07 edition of Smithsonian magazine about a B17 E known as the Swamp Ghost. If you’ve ever spent any time over at pacificwrecks.com, you’ve probably read about it. Or here at theswampghost.com.
The Smithsonian article talks about the making of a legend, but also of its recent salvage by an American businessman. In short, he made a deal to get the plane, got the plane, but the PNG government put the brakes on the deal before it was shipped off the island. It’s kind of a complicated deal, and the article does a good job at showing this.
In a related note, J Taylan, the expert cited in the article (and owner of the pacificwrecks.com web site) was just released from Solomon Islands detention for, according to the charges, “unlawfully enter[ing] or [being] unlawfully present in the Solomon Islands.” He has been held, with several others, since NOV 6. His story is here.
Don’t know how old this clip is via youtube, but it shows a medal ceremony recognizing William Evans, a 101st A/B veteran (502nd) for his service in Bastogne. He was awarded the purple heart, his second, and his Representative is pushing for Medal of Honor recognition. The best part of the clip, for me, is Evans saying this: ”Well, I tried to forget it all…” (chews gum…short pause), and after all this time, I thought I did. But not now.”
Source: post by pierre on Mark Bando’s Triggertime forum.
So I used to play RISK when I was a kid, never thinking much about beyond the fact that it was a huge, huge time suck.
When I got this “classic” (read: Target purchase) 1959 version, I thought, “man, I’m going to kick folks around the board. Yeah right!
Check the colors: I’m green…the one who knows all about Ike and broad fronts, about Monty and gambles, about Hurtgen forest dashes. I’m pinned into Australia and Asia by a less than 10 YO, with a love of pink and a desire to fortify and grind down.
When I started this little blog for a class project, I had visions of my journalism students using it as a general example of form. But it’s turned into something else entirely. In fact, just today, the ww2file just hit the 10,000 page view mark. As a colleague said as she as she spied me checking stats: “holy crap, B. You have a readership!” It’s true. A real life readership.
So thanks, mom and dad, pete, and everyone else who is stopping by and helped contribute to this very modest milestone.
Okay, so things are super/ultra/mondo busy on the job of late. And I know I’ve needed to post something/anything here, as I’ve slacked off a bit here at the end of the term. The solution? Get a clip. So without further yacking, here’s Don Burgett, engaging in a little first person history. Oh yeah, buy his books.
