written by Bob Von Bargen Robert McNamara meeting with Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House (LBJ Library photo by Yoichi Okamoto) My experience with the US Air Force Strategic Air Command, or SAC, began in January 1960 when I reported for duty in the 509th Air Refueling Squadron at Pease
written by Todd DePastino In November and December, 21 of us—including five veterans who had served in-country during the war—traveled to Vietnam, from Hanoi and Halong Bay in the North to Saigon and the Mekong Delta in the South. Vietnam is a beautiful and often bewildering place, ancient in history and now yoked to
written by Johnny Lang Last June, we had the immense pleasure of hosting a VBC Happy Hour with the inimitable Johnny Lang, an Army veteran who served with Elvis Presley and seemed to channel Elvis's extraordinary energy. Johnny’s new book, My Army Days with Elvis: Friendship, Football & Follies, tells of hijinks and warm
written by Todd DePastino Elvis cleaning his new company’s sign at Ray Barracks, Friedberg, Germany, 1958 Three-hundred miles due west of Memphis, close to the Oklahoma border, stands a vintage Army barracks with a barber pole fixed to its whitewashed clapboard. Inside is the room where the “Haircut Heard ‘Round the World”
Robert J. Dvorchak has been awarded the 2023 silver medal for writing in the history category of the annual competition held by the Military Writers Society of America, a national organization of writers, poets and authors who share the common bond of military service. His book, The Golden Brigade: The 82nd Airborne in Vietnam
written by Todd DePastino Cold War history cycles through our collective memory like snapshots on a slidewheel: Berlin, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam, El Salvador. Rarely included in the Cold War montage is Taiwan. Yet, 65 years ago this month, during what is called the “Second Taiwan Straits Crisis of 1958,” we came as
