Free Republic

As we celebrate Easter Sunday and the Jewish Passover, we should keep in our prayers and remembrances the many Americans who fought and sacrificed during that same time 73 years ago in the Battle of Okinawa. The event was Operation Iceberg. It was the bloodiest battle and the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet under Admiral Raymond Spruance attacked the Japanese-held island. They were joined by a British, Canadian, New Zealand, and Australian naval task force and more than 180,000 Army soldiers and Marines. This...

David Olusoga has claimed Winston Churchill was a war criminal. And David Olusoga, who co-presents the BBC’s new Civilisations series, said those who criticised tributes to various historical figures should not be derided as “snowflakes”. Mr Olusoga made his sensational claims during a speech to the Oxfordshire Literary Festival. Suggesting that "almost all historical figures did good and bad", Mr Olusoga said academics were entering a period of ‘history wars’ in which accepted versions of Britain’s past are being challenged. He explained: “So while I’m personally glad that Churchill overcame Halifax in early 1940 and it was Churchill who faced...

The Russian Ministry of Defense is looking to install the 25-ton monument in Elizabeth City, which is the near the headquarters of a secret WWII mission called "Project Zebra," in which hundreds of Soviet aviators were trained at a time when U.S. and Soviet forces were allied in the fight against the Nazis. But the Elizabeth City council voted 5-3 on March 23 against a previously signed memorandum of understanding. If the plan had come to fruition, the Russian Defense Ministry would have paid for the monument, with the city then covering some $228,000 for improvements to the park where...

It was said on May 8, 1945, that some of the victors wandered around in a daze. They were puzzled by a strange silence. The guns were no longer firing the permanent barrage, their constant companion, during those last months since they had crossed the Rhine. Some could not quite believe it was all over. They had longed for an end to the war in Europe for years. “Then suddenly it was upon them all and the impact of the fact was a thing that failed to register–like the death of a loved one,” the historian of the U.S. 3rd...

Known for deep-sea exploration efforts uncovering military ships in the past, Paul Allen's personal search team has helped to discover a lost aircraft carrier. The U.S.S. Lexington has finally been found, decades later and thousands of feet underwater. The crew of Research Vessel Petrel (R/V Petrel), the exploration ship of billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, discovered the wreckage of the World War II-era aircraft carrier Monday. It was found about two miles below the surface of the Coral Sea and more than 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia. The Lexington is one of the first aircraft carriers...

Billionaire Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder and Seattle Seahawks owner, has made another huge nautical find: the USS Lexington, which was lost at the Battle of Coral Sea 76 years ago. The fleet aircraft carrier, the first to be sunk by opposing carrier aircraft in World War II, was found near Australia below Coral Sea in a remarkably well-preserved condition, news.com.au reported.

The wreck of a US aircraft carrier that was sunk during World War Two has been found off the coast of Australia. The USS Lexington was found 3km (2 miles) underwater in the Coral Sea, about 800km off Australia's east coast. The ship was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea, fought with Japan from 4-8 May 1942. More than 200 crew members died in the fighting. The US Navy confirmed the ship had been discovered by a search team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The non-Jewish WWI German flying ace who painted a Star of David on his plane just to annoy Hermann Goering after he made Photos showing how a German fighter pilot painted a Jewish Star of David on his First World War plane just to annoy a racist Hermann Goering have come to light. Leutnant Adolf Auer wasn't Jewish himself but was upset when commanding officer Goering made anti semitic remarks about his own wingman, Willi Rosenstein. In revenge, Lt Auer painted the six-pointed Jewish symbol on the side of his Fokker biplane for Goering to see. Lt Auer painted a...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - The second oldest known Pearl Harbor survivor and original member of The Navigators passed away on Tuesday. Lt. James Downing passed away at the age of 104. His heart function declined following surgery in recent weeks, and he was unable to rally. Lt. Downing was a gunner's mate 1st class and postmaster on the USS West Virginia. "December 7th, my job was to do what I could after the attack," Lt. Downing told Dianne Derby in a previous interview. "Monday I had a new job, so I concentrated on that." Downing spent 24 years serving...

The Yalta Conference wrapped up. American President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill and Soviet leader Stalin came to agreement on several important issues regarding the outcome of the War. The leaders agreed that the unconditional surrender of German would be the way the war ended. Germany and Berlin would be divided into four occupation zones after the war ended. There would be international trials of German war criminals. In addition the Soviets agreed to declare war on Japan within three months after the war in Europe ended. They would join the UN. The Soviets would also retain possession of that...

Police have diffused two AN-M65 model 450kg bombs left over from World War II which were discovered by Hong Kong's railway agency MTR Corporation. The bombs were found stuck int he mud at a Wan Chai construction site where MTR is constructing a rail link for the Sha Tin-Central line. Five thousand people in the area were evacuated overnight so police bomb disposal officers could cut through the bombs' casing and burn off the explosives inside.

Fascinating pictures of America's famous WW2 Black Sheep Squadron whose efforts helped win the war in the Pacific have been released in vibrant color. The series shows the squadron's commanding officer, Colonel Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington who received the Medal of Honour and the Navy Cross, briefing his men on strategy and tactics before the 17 October 1943 attack on Kahili airdrome at Bougainville island, Papua New Guinea. In this raid 'Pappy' and 24 fighters circled the field where 60 enemy aircraft were based to goad them into sending a large force. In the ensuing air battle, 20 enemy aircraft were...

World War II guns fire a salute during celebrations of the 74th anniversary of the battle that lifted the Siege of Leningrad in St. Petersburg, on Saturday. The city of St. Petersburg, known as Leningrad until the name was changed back in 1991, is celebrating the Soviets’ victory over the devastating Nazi siege. The city was besieged by German, Finnish and Spanish troops on September 8, 1941, when the Nazis launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union. The blockade was broken on January 18, 1943 but finally lifted on January 27, 1944. Over 1 million people died mainly from starvation...

How exactly did we get here? The United States has been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq (yes, we still have troops fighting there) for 15-plus years. Those troops are saddled with more rules of engagement than you can shake a stick at (at least they were under Obama; perhaps that has eased somewhat). For some reason, Hollywood leftists love, or pretend to, "the Greatest Generation." But if you watch either of the excellent HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific, you'll see that by today's standards, by which the left judges all history and historical figures (see the desecration...

During 1940, three of the most significant Zionist leaders in the world – Chaim Weizmann, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and David Ben Gurion , all visited the United States , hoping to gain a measure of American Jewish support or US government support for the creation of a Jewish army to help fight the Nazis. Rick Richman's new book, Racing Against History, provides an interesting and very carefully researched history of these visits, the leaders' goals, what they accomplished, and what prevented greater success. Richman's book is a fascinating look at a moment in time, different seemingly from our own, but with...

Bat bombs were an experimental World War II weapon developed by the United States. The bomb consisted of a bomb-shaped casing with over a thousand compartments, each containing a hibernating Mexican free-tailed bat with a small, timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats, which would then roost in eaves and attics in a 20–40 mile radius. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper constructions of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target. The bat...

A US federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit seeking to hold Rio Tinto responsible for human rights violations and thousands of deaths linked to a Bougainville copper and gold mine it once ran. The appeals court has returned the case to US District Judge Margaret Morrow in Los Angeles for further proceedings. But some dissenting judges protested against allowing a lawsuit to proceed in federal courts brought by non-US residents against non-US companies such as Rio Tinto, which has corporate offices in the UK and Australia. The case is one of several in which non-US residents seek to hold...

Priscilla Elder, who spent the early years of her adult life working at the World War II Kaiser shipyards in Richmond and the final years of her life relating those experiences, died Sunday at her Tara Hills home, where she had been under the care of her son and a hospice nurse. She was 97. Elder was one of the Richmond “Rosies,” women who worked on the home front and have been a popular attraction giving weekly presentations as docents at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond. They became a tight-knit group...

Lost my dearest step-dad last week. Funeral was on Saturday. He was buried Sunday. Please pray for our family. Please be kind. Been very hard and emotional. Patriot Guard, bag piper, and Air Force Honor Guard were present. They m

The new film "Darkest Hour" offers the diplomatic side to the recent action movie "Dunkirk." The story unfolds with the drama of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill assuming power during the Nazi invasion of France in May 1940. Churchill's predecessor, the sickly Neville Chamberlain, had lost confidence of the English people and the British government. His appeasement of Adolf Hitler and the disastrous first nine months of World War II seemed to have all but lost Britain the war. Churchill was asked to become prime minister on the very day that Hitler invaded France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The armies...