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Statement by Chargé d’Affaires Thomas Smitham on the 77th Anniversary of the Allied Landing in Anzio, Italy Today, on January 22, 2021, we commemorate the 77th anniversary of the Allied landings at Anzio and Nettuno, where brave Americans joined allies and partners to liberate Italy. Over 7,800 U.S. service members remain at Nettuno’s Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, their final resting place. Today, we draw inspiration from these heroes and their sacrifice. We shall always remember what they did, and aim to live each day by their example. Today, on January 22, 2021, U.S. service men and women still stand watch around...

Remember those Republican boasts that they would turn health care into President Obama’s Waterloo? Well, exit polls suggest that to the extent that health care was an issue in Tuesday’s elections, it worked in Democrats’ favor. But while health care won’t be Mr. Obama’s Waterloo, economic policy is starting to look like his Anzio.

Introduction World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. However, the half century that now separates us from that conflict has exacted its toll on our collective knowledge. While World War II continues to absorb the interest of military scholars and historians, as well as its veterans, a generation of Americans has grown to maturity largely unaware of the political, social, and military implications of a war that, more than any other, united us as a people with a common purpose. Highly relevant today, World War II has much to teach...

There was another column by Professor Beeman of Brown University in the Providence Journal the other day. He often has columns published in the Journal, and they all have the same message regardless of what part of the Middle East he is addressing: we shouldn’t get too upset about the fact that the Islamacists want to kill us because they have some grievances arising out of mistakes made by western powers in the past.

August 6th marked the 60th anniversary of America’s use of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. While some still argue that President Truman’s decision to use the A-bomb was “controversial,” they are afflicted with the scourge of our time, the loss of a sense of moral proportion and certainty. Unfortunately, those with relativistic morals will lead us to see the day when nuclear weapons are used again – this time to end once and for all the barbaric savagery of Islamism. Green Left Weekly (GLW) calls the U.S. putting a swift end to WWII – using atomic...

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...

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police said Saturday they had arrested three Egyptian fishermen suspected of plotting to attack a cemetery of American war dead south of Rome. Explosives and maps highlighting the Nettuno American Cemetery and Memorial in the town of Anzio were seized in an apartment in Italy belonging to one of the men, a police official said. "They were preparing a symbolic attack against the American cemetery," the official said, adding police suspected the men were tied to Islamic terrorism. The Egyptians, aged 30 to 45, were arrested Friday but have not been formally charged. Police said they...

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...

Rome: Ali Salah al-Gamal, Muhammad Khalid al-Zahid, and Magdi Ahmad al-Sahabi'i, three Egyptian citizens arrested in Anzio, in the province of Rome, back in October 2002, are to be sent for trial in connection with an investigation conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office in the capital. According to the prosecution the three men were planning to conduct terrorist attacks at Rome's Fiumicino [Leonardo da Vinci] airport, at the US war cemetery in Nettuno [a town adjacent to Anzio], and in a number of McDonald's outlets. Also 1.4 kg of explosives and a suicide attacker's belt were discovered in the three...

ABOARD THE TRUMAN -- Before dawn broke today, the Harry S. Truman's air wing launched its largest strike effort of the war, targeting mobile and fixed sites as well as suspected caches of chemical and biological weapons stored by the Iraqis. Doused by pounding rain, three waves of F-14 Tomcats, F/A-18 Hornets and surveillance and refueling aircraft blasted off the Norfolk-based carrier. The daylight missions started at 5 a.m. -- 10 p.m. Sunday Norfolk time. A total of 39 aircraft were expected to use Turkish airspace for the first time to cross Iraq's northern border. ``It's going to be a...

ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA Fighter aircraft from this carrier destroyed a Republican Guard complex, including barracks, in Al-Falluja, just west of Baghdad, early Sunday. Later in the day, three ships accompanying it and the USS Harry Truman fired the first Tomahawk cruise missiles into Iraq from the eastern Mediterranean. The cruisers Anzio and Cape St. George and the destroyer Winston Churchill fired roughly 30 missiles into undisclosed targets. Sunday's strike mission on Al-Falluja was the carrier's second combat operation. "The anticipation is we are going to be flying a little bit more than we had in...

Canadians weren't always fools and cowards My father served with Canadians in the 1st Special Service Force. Here is a brief history: The "Devil's Brigade" While the origins of U.S. Army Special Forces date back to the French and Indian War and the formation of Rogers’ Rangers, the modern concepts of unconventional warfare were largely developed in World War II with the formation of several specially trained units. One of the these early Special Forces units was the First Special Service Force, also known as the “Devil’s Brigade.” The origins of the First Special Service Force (or the Force, as...

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. We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood...