Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno was shot to death in the parking lot of the Mount Carmel Society club on Winthrop Street in Springfield, Massachusetts, on the night of November 23, 2003. He had spent the evening as he had countless times before: dinner with his family, then a card game with men he knew. Hours … Read more
In July 1943, on a road in central Sicily, a German machine gun position sat atop a rocky cliff about 70 meters above the road. It had stopped the American advance for six hours. Every approach to the base of the cliff was covered. Every attempt to move up the road drew immediate fire from … Read more
In August 1944, the village of Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in Normandy had just been liberated. By evening, French civilians had opened everything they had saved — wine, food, and music. Lieutenant David Pierce was dancing. He did not dance awkwardly or out of obligation. He actually danced. He had grown up in Charleston, South Carolina, in a … Read more
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis presented herself to the world as a woman shaped by European refinement. Her dark hair, her quiet composure, and her fluent French made people see Paris, old money, and centuries of aristocratic polish. But that image was a painting, and most Americans never saw the painter behind it. Jackie was not the … Read more
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis remains perhaps the most famous first lady in American history. Born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, she was young, beautiful, and sophisticated, and she lived a life of glamour and status as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. That life changed forever when Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. As a widow, … Read more
In March 1945, the Third Army was 20 miles from the Rhine. For 11 days, a single German sniper had been working the sector around the town of Bingen. He moved at night and fired at dawn. He was never in the same position twice. In those 11 days, he killed nine officers and 21 … Read more
In November 1944, the Third Army was grinding through the Lorraine campaign in France. The conditions were cold, wet, and brutal. The 761st Tank Battalion, an all-black unit, had been fighting alongside Patton's forces for three weeks. They had proven themselves in combat at Morville, at Guebling, and at a dozen other places most people … Read more
For half a century, the men in the dark suits kept their silence. They were the Secret Service agents who stood closest to Jacqueline Kennedy, the ones who saw what the cameras never could. Now their accounts have forced historians and the public to reconsider much of what they thought they knew about Camelot and … Read more
When Adolf Hitler celebrated his 50th birthday on April 20, 1939, the newly completed Chancellery Building in Berlin hosted a grand event. A long line of people waited, some for up to three hours, to personally deliver gifts to the Führer. One of the most notable gifts was a Walther PPK 7.65 mm automatic pistol, … Read more
In April 1945, in Erfurt, Germany, three weeks remained before the end of the war in Europe. General George S. Patton was doing what he had always done: moving between his own lines without announcement, without the noise of a staff entourage, and without a prepared schedule, so that he could see the truth as … Read more