Image from Royal Museums Greenwich Last Wednesday morning, Vietnam veteran Clem Blazewick asked our Navy vets why ships zig-zagged across the Atlantic in World War II. The short answer is: “To evade German U-boats.” “But,” Clem pressed, “couldn’t you zig-zag into enemy submarines just as easily as away from them?”
As told to Todd DePastino Julia Parsons is the last surviving codebreaker of World War II. On March 2, 2025, she will turn 104 years old. Julia served in the Navy WAVES and was assigned to the Shark Division at the Naval Communications Annex in Washington, DC, where he worked on
How Lt. Michael Blassie’s Remains Were Rescued from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Part II) By Pete Mecca Courtesy of Pete Mecca’s Veteran’s Story website archive. Read Part One here Shot down in enemy-held territory while on a bombing run in Vietnam near An Loc, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was
Historian Kelly Crager is director of Texas Tech’s Vietnam Center and Archive Oral History Project, but he’s also author of a fascinating book about “The Lost Battalion” of the Pacific War that suffered more than any other at the hands of the Japanese. Hell under the Rising Sun tells the story of
In 1967, General William Westmoreland, head of the American war effort in Vietnam, ordered that all servicemen and women arriving in country be given a pocket card reminding them of how to behave in this foreign land. This “Nine Rules of Conduct Card” (this one, courtesy of former 1st Lt. George Hunter)
On this week’s Scuttlebutt, we talk about the Merchant Marine. Yes, it still exists. No, they aren’t military. And, heck no, don’t ever call them “Merchant Marines”! Anyone working with veterans quickly learns two things: don’t forget to include the Coast Guard, and don’t forget to include the Merchant Marine, especially when
