[…]
Category: Anniversaries
On This Day In History: The Green Beret Becomes Official For U.S. Army Special Forces
On 12 Oct. 1961 Brigadier General William P. Yarborough, Commander Special Warfare Center, Ft. Bragg N.C. met President John F. Kennedy during JFK’s visit to Fort Bragg. Two historically significant results came from this meeting – JFK promised increased funding to develop the Special Forces into a strategic unit within the US Army, and he […]
Operation Market-Garden As It Happened: Arnhem Day By Day
On September 17th 1944 the then largest airborne operation, by Allied Forces, of the Second World War was launched. Three airborne divisions and an independent brigade would take part in the air side of operation ‘MARKET-GARDEN’, which would take place in Holland. The 101st U.S. Airborne Division would land the nearest to the Dutch/Belgium border, […]
Friday Fotos: Crossing the Waal River Market-Garden 75
Last week, as part of the 75th Anniversary commemorations of Operation Market-Garden, paratroopers of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division took part in a reenactment of the famous daylight combat crossing of the Waal River that enabled to final capture of the bridge at Nijmegen, Holland in September 1944. The day’s events were capped off […]
On This Day In History: The Polish Drop – Market-Garden 75
A serial of Douglas C-47 Skytrains of the 315th Troop Carrier Group, dropping 41 sticks of the 1st Polish Airborne Brigade into DZ “O” near Grave, southwest of Nijmegen in Holland, on September 23, 1944, D+6 of Operation Market Garden. On September 23, 42 aircraft of the 315th finally got off the ground from Spanhoe […]
Friday Foto: Market-Garden 75
Members of a living history group perform an historically correct parachute jump commemorating the 75th Anniversary of “Operation Market-Garden” during the week of 16 September 2019. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Michael Ybarra […]
On This Day In History: Operation Market-Garden Launched
Operation Market Garden was the brainchild of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, but planned primarily by Generals Brereton and Williams of the USAAF. The objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient through German-held territory in the south of The Netherlands. It was to culminate with the capture of the bridge over […]
11 September 2001: The Day The Earth Stood Still
Visible from the International Space Station, a smoke plume rises from the Manhattan area after two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Photo courtesy of NASA. […]
Friday Foto – National Airborne Day
August 16, 1940, marks the date of the first official U.S. Army parachute jump at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Although the US lagged behind other nations in the development and deployment of Airborne Forces, US airborne units went on to fight valiantly on every front in WWII, and were critical to the Allies success. Today, airborne […]
Operation Dragoon 75 – Dispatch from the Front
Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France, was originally supposed to be launched simultaneous to the invasion of Normandy – thus catching the Nazi forces in France and Western Europe between the horns of a two-pronged assault. However, due to there not being enough ships, aircraft, crews, and materiel to allow both invasions to happen […]