Todd DePastino This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something from Praesidus, the VBC will earn a commission. We affiliate with select companies whose superior products and services complement our veteran storytelling mission. WWII Airborne Re-enactors at Utah Beach site, Normandy, with the Army A-11 Wristwatch,
Hand-tinted illustration from the 1870s (LOC) Memorial Day began as Decoration Day when grieving women—mothers, widows, sisters—decorated the graves of fallen servicemen in churchyards North and South. No one told them to do it. There was no tradition of plucking spring blossoms, cradling the bounty, and carefully placing the flowers
Written by Dave Lozier Last year, in our fall 2021 issue of VBC Magazine, we ran a story on the Navy’s phase-out of the venerable Navy peacoat in favor of the “Black Cold Weather Parka.” We received many responses, including this moving story from Army veteran Dave Lozier. Sailors with the
Decoration Day postcard, 1908. (National Museum of American History) Decoration Day—now called Memorial Day—is a uniquely American holiday with shadowy origins. We know it began immediately after the Civil War when women came out all over the country to decorate the graves of fallen service men. Over two dozen towns
The saga of the Vietnam crypt of the Tomb of the Unknown is perhaps the darkest chapter of the US Department of Defense’s long-running effort to account for POW/MIAs. Though discovered in South Vietnam at the crash site, along with personal effects and survival gear, the remains of US Air Force pilot
U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, loaded with 78,000 pounds of infant formula bound for Indianapolis, May 22, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by 1st Lt. Emma Quirk) You may have heard the US Air Force flew special baby formula (hypoallergenic Nestlé’s Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior
