By mid-August 1942, Australians with shortwave radios were picking up a familiar voice on Radio Tokyo. It belonged to Charles Cousens, a major with the 2/19th Battalion who had been taken prisoner at Singapore six months earlier. Before the war, he had been one of the best-known announcers on Sydney’s Radio 2GB. Four years later, … Read more
An eyewitness account of the final moments of Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill has been brought to light in a detailed narrative written by the man who rode beside him when he was killed. The account comes from Sergeant George Washington Tucker Jr. , a courier and trusted aide who was at Hill’s side … Read more
For decades, the story of September 12th, 1970, has been told as one of college football’s most defining moments. According to the legend, Alabama coach Bear Bryant secretly called USC’s John McKay to arrange a game he planned to lose, and after the 42-21 defeat, he walked USC fullback Sam Cunningham into the Alabama locker … Read more
On April 4, 1961, just after sunrise, two federal agents walked into a quiet building in New Orleans, Louisiana. They told a short, thick-necked man with heavy eyelids that he was coming with them right then. There was no hearing, no chance to call a lawyer, and no goodbye to the people waiting outside for … Read more
In late December 1944, a senior American commander in the besieged Belgian town of Bastogne was awakened to confront an extraordinary development. German officers, carrying a white flag, had arrived with a written ultimatum for the encircled U. S. troops. The Germans were not offering surrender. They were demanding one. By 16 December 1944, the … Read more
On July 30, 1975, at 2:30 p.m., Jimmy Hoffa sat in his green Pontiac Grandville in the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. He was 62 years old and had been waiting for 45 minutes. Two men were supposed to meet him. Neither had shown up. At 3:30 p.m., … Read more
On November 17, 1987, at 3:42 in the afternoon, Santo Trafficante Jr. died in a hospital bed at Mease Hospital in Dunedin, Florida. He was 72 years old. There were no bullets, no pending indictments, and no handcuffs on the bedrail. He died of heart failure, a free man, with his wife holding his hand. … Read more
A highway expansion project in California ground to a halt when construction crews uncovered something in the soil that did not fit the expected geological picture of the area. The construction supervisor followed standard procedure and called in an archaeologist. That archaeologist examined the exposed material, made a phone call, and a colleague arrived to … Read more
In the fall of 1897, a girl walked out of the Great Smoky Mountains alone. She was eleven years old. She had gone up into the hills that summer with her father, her mother, her two brothers, and her infant sister. She came back without any of them. Barefoot, clean as a washed plate, she … Read more
In July 1976, Pat Nixon sat down in her California home and read a book about her own family. Within days, she suffered a stroke that robbed her of speech and the use of one side of her body. It was far from the first thing taken from her. She was not born Pat. Thelma … Read more