The Veterans Breakfast Club mourns the passing of Major General William M. Matz, Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), a soldier who emerged from childhood paralysis to the highest levels of command and service. We learned of his death from our friend Rich Sherman, who wrote that General Matz passed away in Florida from lung damage
By Rich Thurmond No two men fought the same Vietnam War. Each Marine, Soldier, Sailor, or Airman carried his own war on his back, shaped by the ground he walked, the men beside him, the weather that punished him, and the enemy he seldom saw—until it was too late or almost too late. For
By Todd DePastino Below is one of the toughest first-person homecoming stories I’ve ever read. And it doesn’t come from an abused Vietnam Veteran or a forgotten Korean War soldier. It’s from a member of the “Greatest Generation” who fought a noble war against Nazi Germany and came home to cheers and parades. Someone
By Todd DePastino On February 23, 1945, five days into the Battle of Iwo Jima, a patrol of U.S. Marines raised an American flag atop Mount Suribachi. A few hours later, a second, larger flag was raised, and Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the moment in what would become the most famous American
By John R. Terry “If you choose a fair fight, you chose the wrong fight.” The most favorable outcome in combat is simple to state and hard to achieve: accomplish the mission and bring everyone home alive. In the spring of 1971, I was responsible for planning and directing U.S. and allied naval forces
An Iraqi woman bakes flatbread. (Public Domain) By Brennan Morton After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, Brennan Morton joined the Marine Corps and went on to become a sniper, breacher, and team leader in a Reconnaissance Battalion. He deployed for two combat tours in Iraq before opening a gym in
