Todd DePastino Our nation’s July 4th birthday has a fascinating history that runs deeper than backyard barbeques and gaudy fireworks. Here are Five Things You Should Know About July 4th Independence Day. 1. Independence Day should be July 2nd That’s the day the Continental Congress voted to separate from the British Empire. When John Adams
On VBC Happy Hour in February 2021, we had a wonderful conversation for the 30th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, otherwise known as the First Persian Gulf War of 1991. Architect Randy Schumacher is chief of design for the National Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial in Washington, DC. Groundbreaking
On 2 May, a British intelligence officer doing the London Daily Telegraph crossword puzzle noticed No. 17 across: "One of the U.S." The answer, he knew, was "Utah." Ordinarily, nothing remarkable about that. But this was 1944, a month before D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion in history. And the answer to No. 17
by James Donzella, The War HorseJune 15, 2022 James Donzella worked, for a while, as a colonel’s driver in Pleiku, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of the author. Somewhere between my 14th and 15th birthdays, my dad taught me to drive a stick shift. He thought it was important that I knew how. My first car was
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
