In August 1944, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was deep in planning. General Dwight Eisenhower stood over a map of France, calculating distances, supply requirements, and realistic timelines for the next phase of the Allied advance. The breakout from Normandy had finally succeeded after months of brutal fighting in the hedgerows. The phone rang. It … Read more
DATELINE: DACHAU, GERMANY — The stench of death hung over the rail siding like a physical shroud, a mixture of human waste, lime, and the sweet, cloying rot of thousands of unburied corpses. When the lead elements of the U. S. Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division breached the gates of the Dachau concentration camp on … Read more
On the morning of October 1, 1946, in Nuremberg, Germany, the International Military Tribunal delivered its verdicts. After more than ten months of proceedings, 21 of the most prominent political, military, and economic leaders of Nazi Germany stood to hear their sentences. They were held accountable for the unspeakable atrocities committed during the Second World … Read more
In January 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge, American medic Daniel Strickland was captured near Bastogne. He was taken when German forces overran the aid station where he was working during the chaotic retreat. Strickland was held for three days in a farmhouse cellar behind German lines. During that time, Wehrmacht intelligence officer Captain … Read more
In December 1944, the Battle of the Bulge was in its second week. The Third Army was pushing north toward Bastogne in conditions that had exhausted the men fighting and moving without rest since the offensive began. General George S. Patton was doing what he always did during critical operations. He moved between his front-line … Read more
The image of Mamie and Dwight Eisenhower at the 1953 inauguration is one of the most enduring in American political history. He finished the oath, turned, and kissed his wife, the first president ever to do so. The country decided they were the perfect couple. Mamie wore pink, and buttons read, "I like Ike, but … Read more
In the winter of 1934, an 82-year-old man named Absalom Rutledge arrived by rail in the small Wyoming town of Bellefry Springs. He signed the boarding house register with a slow, careful hand. Under "purpose of stay," he wrote: "to die here." The widow who kept the house, Vera Holston, initially thought he was joking. … Read more
The patrol crossed into Sonora on April 11, 1886, under the terms of a treaty that allowed American forces to pursue Apache renegades up to 50 leagues into Mexican territory. Captain Garrick Voorssen commanded 16 men, including two Mexican civilian packers, three Indian scouts, and a young corporal named Wendell Crane. Their objective was a … Read more
Ich habe sie nur aus Mitleid geheiratet. Niemand sonst wollte sie haben. Die Worte kamen so beiläufig über seine Lippen, als würde er über das Wetter reden, als säße ich nicht direkt neben ihm an diesem Tisch vor unseren Freunden. Alle lachten. Ich sagte nichts. Ich stand langsam auf, stellte mein Weinglas auf den Tisch … Read more
La chiamata arrivò un mercoledì mattina d’ottobre, tre settimane dopo la festa di compleanno di mio figlio, quella che avevo pagato io perché lui aveva accennato, quasi di sfuggita, che non festeggiava davvero da anni. La voce di Vera era tesa quando pronunciò il mio nome. In ventidue anni di lavoro insieme, non le avevo … Read more