By Ed Fender The Vietnam War—officially a “Conflict,” since Congress never declared it—has been written about endlessly. Rather than re-analyze it, I set down my own experience in a memoir titled Vietnam (1970–1971) – My Way, which now sits in the Hazel Braugh Records Center and Archives of the American Red Cross in Washington,
By Todd DePastino The First World War had barely begun when, on a frozen stretch of Belgium in December 1914, something extraordinary happened. Thousands of British and German soldiers, who had spent the previous months trying to kill one another, walked out into No Man’s Land and shook hands. They exchanged food, cigarettes,
By Todd DePastino On November 3, 2025, Navy Corpsman Steve Giordano joined our Open Conversation livestream, and shared some of his story of serving aboard the USS Sanctuary (AH-17) off the coast of Vietnam in 1967. Steve offered eye-opening testimony life and work on the most advanced floating trauma hospital in the world,
By Todd DePastino For more than thirty years, Vietnam veteran and artist Thomas Morrissey has been trying to build a proper Vietnam War memorial in the heart of Providence, Rhode Island. The effort has moved through hopeful starts, unexpected setbacks, new committees, and long bureaucratic stalls. But Tom has kept pushing. He’s determined that
By Todd DePastino Thanksgiving 1950. Huge snowstorm in Pittsburgh. "Mild Blizzard" in Chicago. And, in Korea, hope for a quick end to war. General Douglas MacArthur’s stunning landing at Incheon two months earlier had swung the war in the United Nation's favor. Seoul was back in UN hands. President Harry Truman praised the
By James MatsuokaIf you find yourself driving on Route 66 in the high desert Colorado Plateau passing through Gallup, New Mexico, consider stopping at the Comfort Suites just east of the city. It’s a regular chain hotel, tucked behind a Denny’s and Dickey’s Barbeque Pit, but inside the lobby is a small museum dedicated
