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Pictured: Lancaster bomber in dramatic flypast to mark 65th anniversary of Dambusters raidLast updated at 18:49pm on 16th May 2008  It is one of the most stirring images of the Second World War - a Lancaster bomber coming in terrifyingly low over a huge dam.  Today, the last surviving pilot of the epic Dambusters operation was present to witness a spectacular re-enactment as one of the bombers flew again above the Derwent Valley dam in Derbyshire to mark the 65th anniversary of the raid. Scroll down for more...Bombs away: The world's only flying Lancaster makes a low pass over...

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- In his first address to Israel's parliament Thursday, President Bush reiterated the United States' "unbreakable" alliance with the Jewish state and denounced calls to negotiate with "terrorists and radicals." In a speech before the Knesset, Bush compared calls to talk with unnamed terrorist groups as a "foolish delusion" that was suggested before World War II. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided,' " Bush said. "We have an obligation to call this what it is --...

Millions of allied soldiers returned home after the defeat of the Hitler regime. Many were unable to speak about the horrors they experienced in Germany. One of those soldiers was Technical Sergeant Harold Bruce Welch – the father of First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush. It was during the "National Days of Remembrance 2005,” that Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States, first spoke publicly about her father’s experiences in the war. That he served in the 104th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army and participated in the liberation of the notorious concentration camp "Dora" in Nordhausen....

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Jewgeni Chaldej Exhibition

The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg will celebrate a groundbreaking ceremony for its new, 40,000-square-foot expansion at 11 a.m. Friday. Gov. Rick Perry will be on hand as the keynote speaker, and master of ceremonies will be retired Gen. Michael Hagee. John Nau, chairman of the Texas Historical Commission; State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran; and John Kerr, president of the Admiral Nimitz Foundation, also will speak. The groundbreaking will be followed by a celebratory Texas barbecue at noon. “The new expansion will be added directly to the back of the George H.W. Bush Gallery,” said director of marketing...

On this date in 1942, General Wainwright surrendered the American forces on Corregidor. Those men (my father among them), and a small number of nurses began their captivity at the hands of the Japanese army.My respects to the Americans and Filipinos who were The Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.

Wageningen - The annual Liberty Parade marking Liberation Day in 1945 has been held in the Dutch town of Wageningen. Around 1,300 veterans, including 200 from World War II, filed through the city centre. Some 100,000 spectators lined the streets despite the high temperatures. At a ceremony early in the afternoon Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende kicked off 13 liberation festivals across the country. The festivities will end with an outdoor concert on the river Amstel in the capital which will be attended by Queen Beatrix.

Russia's display of heavy weapons in this year's Victory Day parade in Moscow is "not sabre-rattling", President Vladimir Putin insists. Tanks and intercontinental missiles are to be paraded for the first time since the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The outgoing Russian leader said that Friday's parade to mark the end of World War II would demonstrate Russia's growing defence capabilities. "We do not threaten anyone and do not intend to do so," he said. A dress rehearsal for the parade was conducted on Monday. Mr Putin is stepping down as president on 7 May to be replaced...

MIAMI - Armed but alone, Marine Pfc. Guy Gabaldon roamed Saipan's caves and pillboxes, persuading enemy soldiers and civilians to surrender during the hellish World War II battle on the island. Using the Japanese language skills he learned as a boy, he warned the Japanese they would die if they stayed hidden and told them Marines were not torturers as they had heard. The Marines, he said, would feed them and give them medical care. Many agreed, and Gabaldon, just 18, led them back to U.S. lines. By the battle's end, Gabaldon had coaxed more than 1,000 Japanese out of...

The Robert L. Capp collection at the Hoover Institution Archives contains ten never-before-published photographs illustrating the immediate aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing. These photographs, taken by an unknown Japanese photographer, were found in 1945 among rolls of undeveloped film in a cave outside Hiroshima by U.S. serviceman Robert L. Capp, who was attached to the occupation forces. Unlike most photos of the Hiroshima bombing, these dramatically convey the human as well as material destruction unleashed by the atomic bomb. Mr. Capp donated them to the Hoover Archives in 1998 with the provision that they not be reproduced until 2008. Three...

I'd like to say so myself. It's time we realize we're actually in a war together and that all of us who do NOT participate at the front line have a special kind of obligation towards the brave men and women who ARE. I'm 38 years old and one thing I've learned from being alive this long is that a group of people who stand united, devoted to something of eternal value are, virtually, indestructable as such. Apart from being somewhat "old", I'm of Swedish stock (- like food a lot, but I'm not a Swedish chef in fact:D -)...

(IsraelNN.com) Hamas-run television in Gaza broadcast a dastardly new version of Holocaust denial on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day – claiming the Jews carried out the genocide to rid themselves of the “disabled and handicapped” among them. The show, billed as part of the Islamist terror group’s educational programming, conveyed the message that the Holocaust was actually a Zionist plot, aiming to both eliminate handicapped Jews and at the same time to make “the Jews seem persecuted” in order to “benefit from international sympathy.” On the program, Amin Dabur, head of the Palestinian Center for Strategic Research, explained that...

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE — In the early 1940s, Art Benko of Bisbee was trained at this airfield, which was then out in the desert near Tucson. Benko was a top turret gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber during World War II and would become known as the top bomber gunner in the Army Air Force. His exploits included the downing of seven Japanese planes on one mission over then-French Indochina. On May 22, officials at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base will dedicate the installation’s fitness and sports center in honor of Tech. Sgt. Art Benko. Honoring Benko sits well with...

4/30/2008 - SAVANNAH, Ga. (AFPN) -- The Air Force vice chief of staff paid tribute to members of the Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society April 26 during the society's 44th annual reunion near Savannah, Ga. The AFEES primarily comprises Air Force World War II veterans who were forced down behind enemy lines and avoided or escaped captivity to return to allied territory. The society also includes members of the French, Dutch, Belgian and other resistance networks who harbored allied aircrews and guided them to safety. "I cannot thank you enough for your noble service, your selfless sacrifice and for...

BURLINGTON COUNTY, N.J. - In South Jersey, the discovery of unexploded artillery shells from World War II has stalled plans to develop a new expo center. The sheer number of artillery shells staggered the mayor. It was found at the now closed Palmyra Drive-In Theater on Route 73. "We were hoping, hoping to only find one or two or three maybe. We're now up to nearly 200, or 181 as reported to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, but there's since been another 20," Palmyra Mayor John Gural, Jr. said. The Army was anxious to develop new anti-tank rounds...

[Some color pics from Der Spiegel Online. Click the URL below] http://www.spiegel.de/flash/0,5532,10269,00.html

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3297686,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf Today is the centennial of Oskar Schindler's birth.

Wing Commander Paddy Barthropp, who died on April 16 aged 87, was one of the RAF’s most ebullient and colourful characters; he fought in the Battle of Britain, escaped twice from prisoner-of-war camps and later became a test pilot and a winning jockey in Hong Kong.Aged 19 Barthropp joined No 602 Squadron to fly Spitfires from an airfield on the south coast. His first day of action was September 15 1940, the climax of the Battle, when he was airborne four times. In his excitement he managed to fire off all his ammunition during each engagement and readily acknowledged that...

Iwo Jima Veterans Blast Time's 'Special Environmental Issue' Cover Time editor tells MSNBC 'there needs to be a real effort along the lines of World War II to combat global warming and climate change.' By Jeff Poor Business & Media Institute 4/18/2008 9:40:43 AM For only the second time in 85 years, Time magazine abandoned the traditional red border it uses on its cover. The occasion – to push more global warming alarmism. The cover of the April 21 issue of Time took the famous Iwo Jima photograph by Joe Rosenthal of the Marines raising the American flag and replaced...

The haunting discovery of the watery graves of long lost Australian, German and Japanese sailors has uncovered vital clues to two World War II mysteries. The 66-year-old secrets of two of Australia's strangest wartime naval encounters have been at least partially revealed through the location of three sunken ships over the past 18 months. In November 2006, a Japanese midget submarine involved in a daring raid on Sydney harbour in the heart of the nation's biggest city was found off the beach of the Pacific east coast. The sub is believed to be the tomb of its two-man crew, who...

Your Eminence, Dear Brother Bishops, Dear Young Friends,"Proclaim the Lord Christ … and always have your answer ready for people who ask the reason for the hope that is within you" (1 Pet 3:15). With these words from the First Letter of Peter I greet each of you with heartfelt affection. I thank Cardinal Egan for his kind words of welcome and I also thank the representatives chosen from among you for their gestures of welcome. To Bishop Walsh, Rector of Saint Joseph Seminary, staff and seminarians, I offer my special greetings and gratitude. Young friends, I am very...

Despite outcry from veterans and supporters of the military over the cover of Time’s April 21 issue, a spokesman for the magazine insists editors did nothing wrong. The Business & Media Institute (BMI) posted a story on April 17 about Iwo Jima veterans outraged by Time’s decision to alter the iconic image of Marines raising an American flag at Iwo Jima and replace the flag with a tree. The altered image was used to illustrate a new war on global warming. “TIME has the utmost respect for our nation's veterans and we well understand the power of the iconic image...

Each time Noel Addy flew his World War II glider over Europe, commanders predicted he'd live only 18 more seconds. Towed behind a transport plane, Addy's armorless and gunless glider floated between German flak and machine-gun fire en route to landings behind enemy lines. On some missions, fewer than half of the gliders landed safely.

The Daily Mail in the U.K. is reporting that WWII veterans are furious over next week’s cover of TIME and the manipulation of the famous photo of marines raising the United States flag during the battle at Iwo Jima after TIME replaced the flag with a tree for the article, “How to Win The War on Global Warming”. One Imo Jima veteran, 81-year-old Donald Mates, felt the Times’ cover was “an absolute disgrace” and that “Whoever did this is going to hell.” He went to say it was a “mortal sin”. Why would veterans be upset about TIME magazine essentially...

My uncle, Weldon Hamilton, passed away last night. I thought the FR community would like to hear about this man who gave so much of himself for our country. He was captured in the Phillipines. He was on the Bataan Death March. He was beaten, he was starved, he worked forced labor in their mines, he was transported on their prison ships. He saw the bomb explode on Nagasaki and watched his comrades be executed. He was held in Japan for years. When he came home, he worked for years to make people aware of the sacrifice our soldiers made,...

Radio Reg Few stories in computing history come close to matching the tale of Zelenograd – the Soviet Union's attempt at creating something along the lines of Silicon Valley. Episode 15 of Semi-Coherent Computing recounts the tale of Zelenograd's founding along with the stories of the two US-born Russian spies behind the city. No one knows this history better than Steven Usdin, the author of Engineering Communism: How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley, who was kind enough to appear on the show. (You'll find Usdin's web site here and can buy the book on...

"Yes, it was a good war," writes Richard Cohen in his column challenging the thesis of pacifist Nicholson Baker in his new book, "Human Smoke," that World War II produced more evil than good. Baker's compelling work, which uses press clips and quotes of Axis and Allied leaders as they plunged into the great cataclysm, is a virtual diary of the days leading up to World War II. Riveting to this writer was that Baker uses some of the same episodes, sources and quotes as this author in my own book out in May, "Churchill, Hitler and 'The Unnecessary War.'"...

NOTE: Today, April 6th, 2008 marks the anniversary of the German bombing campaign against Serbia, which commenced on this day in 1941, drawing Yugoslavia into the war. He had previously assured everyone that he had no intentions of "harming" Yugoslavia or Serbia. On March 27, 1941, the Serbs rejected adherence to the Tri-Partite Pact, which would have allied them with the Axis forces led by Nazi Germany. Hitler responded accordingly. The following is an excerpt from the 56th day of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial that took place in 1946. The topic that day was the German invasion of Yugoslavia....

While I am sad to report the death of a long-time friend, I can at least be thankful that he died peacefully in his sleep on March 30, 2008. His funeral will be held on April 5, 2008, and his burial in the National Cemetery at Willamette (Portland, Oregon) will be on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. Gordy was a true hero. I think this biographical announcement pretty much tells the story of a courageous young man who, at a very tender age, became a Marine and a hero under circumstances that defied all odds. Bio of Gordon Morgan: Gordon William...

As with all guest opinions, I welcome a guest opinion offering an opposing view. This is not the United States of America that I went to war for. I put my life on the line in WWII, as did countless other soldiers, for the following beliefs: - The right to life, including the life of the unborn child. - The right to pray to God in the classroom and the right to carry a Bible to school; also, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and use the word God in the pledge. - The right to display the Ten Commandments...

After decades of war-related silence and shame, Germany proudly celebrated a military hero last night, rolling out the red carpet for "Red" Baron von Richthofen. The new attitude was on display as stars and celebrities, including British actor Joseph Fiennes, were due to gather for the Berlin premiere of a new film about the Baron. It is set to mark a new departure for German war films, which usually reflect on the extremism, suffering and even lunacy of the Nazi era ­ if they get made at all. The Red Baron in contrast, portrays a brilliant and honourable military figure...

To cover the soldiers of War War II, Ernie Pyle became one of them. He was the most acclaimed news correspondent of the war. Even at age 40 when the war started, Pyle (1900-45) lived among the men he covered and wrote home to their loved ones about. His column for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain ran six times a week and was read by millions. His work was so popular because he subjected himself to the same lifestyle and similar dangers as the U.S. soldiers — from North Africa to Italy, France and the Pacific. "I am no longer...

The veterans of World War II are now at that age where they are dying ever more frequently, and their deaths should be an occasion to remember their achievement and sacrifice. Take the heroism and remarkable forgiveness of Jacob DeShazer, a bombardier on the famous Doolittle raid over Japan of April 18, 1942. The Doolittle bombing raid was close to a suicide mission, a one-way trip to bring the war to the Japanese homeland for the first time. Coming not long after Pearl Harbor and before the Pacific island victories to come, the raid was a huge boost to domestic...

Missing WWII Airman is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is 2nd Lt. Arthur F. Eastman, U.S. Army Air Forces, of East Orange, N.J. He will be buried in September in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Representatives from the Army met with Eastman’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the...

3/21/2008 - HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) -- After waiting for more than a year and a half from the christening of the seventh C-17 Globemaster III added to Hickam Air Force Base's fleet of eight, the men for whom it was named finally got their ride March 13 here. A group of 40 surviving veterans from the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion shuffled onboard to the "Spirit of Go For Broke" and took to the sky for a 45-minute tour around some of the Hawaiian Islands. Not only was the flight a historic...

"European bankers and the dollar holocaust" OK, this article isn't finished yet, but I was thinking like "why not publish what I've written so far beforehand, the topic is a highly important one and people here on Free Republic aren't whiners, sure they'll forgive me for saving this draft for later forum abuse and instead I could go treat my sore European intellect to some Absolut and b-movies". I'm on holiday, actually. The unfinished article (please comment!!): "Personally, I'm not born of banking stock. My forebears here in Sweden (yes, I am, again, trying to write an article in English...

The Rev. Jacob Daniel "Jake" DeShazer, who was the oldest survivor of World War II's historic Doolittle Raid on Japan, died Saturday, March 15, 2008, at his home in Salem. He was 95. DeShazer stood out among the 80 Doolittle Raiders, 11 of whom are still alive. After spending 40 months post-raid as a prisoner of war, he returned to Japan intent on forgiving his former captors and converting them to Christianity. Over 30 years, he helped start 23 churches in Japan. Born Nov. 15, 1912, in Madras to a wheat-farming family, DeShazer graduated from Madras High School in 1931....

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080318/NEWS/803180337

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - In honour of the crouching, naked blonde painted on its nose, its pilot had named his bomber the "Hot as Hell". But it was a freezing and stormy day as the American B-24 Liberator made its way across the Himalayas on Jan 25, 1944, flying what was known as "the Hump", perhaps the most dangerous route in air transport history. It was one of nine American planes that went down that day as they tried to resupply China's besieged army in the city of Kunming, desperately trying to hold out against the invading Japanese during World...

This is an excerpt from the story of Jacob DeShazer which can be found at this link: http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/newsletter/2001/jun01.html Mitzuo Fuchida's was the voice that sent his aircraft carrier the message "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!) indicating the success of the surprise mission. By 1945 he had attained the position of the Imperial Navy's Air Operations Officer. When he heard about a bomb dropped on Hiroshima. He flew to investigate, then sent a grim report to the Imperial Command. On the same day, an American P.O.W. named Jacob DeShazer felt moved by the Holy Spirit to pray for peace. DeShazer...

3/17/2008 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- Retired Staff Sgt. Jacob DeShazer, 95, one of the famed "Doolittle Raiders," who helped boost American morale in the early days of World War II with a surprise air attack on Japan, died March 15. Born Nov. 15, 1912, in Salem, Ore., Sergeant DeShazer graduated from Madras High School in 1931. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940. Sergeant DeShazer, then a corporal, was the bombardier of Crew No.16 flying the "Bat Out of Hell," the last of the 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers to launch from the USS Hornet April 18, 1942,...

It was a clear, hot summer day on Aug. 6, 1945, when 10-year-old Kenji Kitagawa kissed his mother and brother goodbye before leaving for school. The fifth-grader didn't know that would be the last time he would see them alive. Life was forever altered for Kitagawa and the rest of the world 62 years ago, as an American B-29 bomber, flying 26,000 feet above his hometown of Hiroshima, Japan, dropped an atomic bomb. Now 73, Kitagawa travels the world as part of an effort to educate people on the destructive power of nuclear weapons. Sponsored by the Hiroshima Peace Culture...

The group searching for HMAS Sydney has found the wreckage of the World War II Australian warship off the coast of Western Australia, the ABC has confirmed. The breakthrough by the Finding Sydney Foundation comes less than 24 hours after it announced it had located the wreckage of the German raider Kormoran, which also sank after a battle with the Sydney in November 1941.

It is one of the enduring mysteries of the second world war. More than 800 Jews based in this hospital in the middle of Nazi Berlin survived the war, seemingly — and bizarrely — protected by Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Final Solution. So who were they and why were they saved? Russian soldiers fighting their way through the rubble of Berlin in the last days of the war turned the corner of Iranische Strasse, in the district of Wedding, and came across an elegant building almost intact. Fanning out to search the structure, the Russians ransacked the place,...

Przemysl, Poland, 1944: Two SS men knock at the door of Stefania Podgorska, a Catholic seamstress. Her cottage is wanted for personnel of the field hospital across the street; she and her younger sister, Helena, have two hours to move out, on pain of death. The challenge of finding a new place to live is a bit stiffer than the SS men can imagine: Stefania, seventeen, is sheltering thirteen Jews in her little house. She spends nearly two hours running from house to ruined house. After occupation by the Germans, the Soviets and the Germans again, there is nothing left...

3/11/2008 - PALAU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Palau (AFPN) -- A Kansas Air National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker crew from the 190th Air Refueling Wing returned the human remains March 3 to American soil after a recovery team recovered from a downed B-24 Liberator shot down near the Pacific island nation of Palau Sept. 1, 1944. According to military reports, the Army Air Forces B-24 was involved in a fight between American and Japanese forces over the island and suffered anti-aircraft fire. Three of the crew reportedly bailed out, one without a parachute, before the bomber crashed into the water. BentProp officials, a...

Saddam and the Third Reich Few people realize that the Baath party was actually formed upon the principles and organizational structure of the Nazi party. Iraq, because of its oil and hatred of Jews, was an important battleground between the Axis and Allied powers in World War II. Nazi propaganda was broadcast throughout Baghdad, and Iraqis often went on rampages against Jews throughout the war. One of the most ardent Nazi supporters during WWII was named Khairallah Talfah. Talfah was Saddam's uncle. After the war, many of the key Iraqi Nazi supporters, all of whom evaded prosecution, wound up involved...

BIALLA, Papua New Guinea (AP) - The Japanese fighter caught the American pilot from behind, riddling his plane with machine-gun rounds. The left engine burst into flames. It was time to bail out. He yanked on the release lever but the cockpit canopy only half- opened. He unbuckled his seat belt, rose to shake the canopy loose and was instantly sucked out. Swinging beneath his opened parachute, he plunged toward a Pacific island jungle of thick, towering eucalyptus trees, of crocodile rivers and headhunters, into enemy territory, and into an unimagined future as a hero, "Suara Auru," Chief Warrior, to...

WWII airman recalls series of narrow escapes from behind enemy lines By Bob Bauder, Times Staff Published: Saturday, March 8, 2008 11:38 PM EST Carl Walpusk has a soft spot in his heart for Serbia. In 1944, Walpusk, of Moon Township, parachuted out of a sputtering B-24 bomber into Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia and the hands of a rag-tag band of Serbian guerilla fighters known as Chetniks. For 33 days, the Chetniks escorted Walpusk and nine other members of his crew from one Serbian village to another — risking their lives and those of collaborating villagers — to keep the airmen safe...