Written by Todd DePastino Every once in a while, you see an artifact that takes your breath away. Such was the case last week, when US Navy SeaBee veteran Russell Knight shared the images below of the World War II mess kit that belonged to John Hando, a private assigned in 1941 to the
USS Muskeget (AG-48), a former commercial cargo ship turned into a Coast Guard weathership and sunk by a German submarine in 1942 (USN) Written by Bob Von Bargen Retired US Air Force Colonel and navigator, Bob Von Bargen, shared a wonderful reminiscence of encountering Ocean Weather Stations while transiting the Atlantic Ocean
Written by Ron Stachevich On the shore of the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, right outside the Carnegie Science Center, there sits a World War II vintage USS Requin (SS-481), a TENCH class submarine commissioned in 1945. On its first patrol, the war ended. Converted to a radar picket from 1948 to 1959, the Requin
Photos by Gary Yon Rarely do we post photos of our recent VBC storytelling events, but, then again, we don't usually have a photographer of Gary Yon's caliber taking them. Gary joined us once again at Grist House Brewing in Millville, PA, near Pittsburgh, for our annual VBC Burgers & Craft Beer event. Gary's
Written by Todd DePastino If you travel through Terminal 2, Concourse B of one of the busiest airports in the world, you can learn in impressive 3-dimensions how O’Hare in Chicago got its name. If asked, I probably would have guessed that Chicago O'Hare International Airport was named for a colorful but now forgotten
Written by Todd DePastino I'm convinced that Navy jargon exists mainly to befuddle the rest of us. But our main seafaring branch of service can't be blamed for creating its strange unit of speed measurement, the "Knot." That word, it turns out, came from previous generations of mariners. To be honest, I was never
