By Todd DePastino On December 17, 1944, hundreds of American bombers crossed Central Europe on a mission against Nazi Germany’s synthetic fuel industry. One of them, a B-24J Liberator known only by the number painted on its fuselage—“White 47”—never returned. The airplane broke apart nearly five miles above Silesia and fell into a snowy
By John DeBarber Peter DeBarber recently sent us this brief memoir of his WWII Navy veteran father, John DeBarber. Like many veterans of World War II, John left behind only a modest written account of his service. The few pages capture his journey from a high school student worried about being drafted to a
By Todd DePastino As I circulated at our Veterans Breakfast at the Town and Country Diner in Bordentown, New Jersey, Dimitry Olhovsky caught my eye. White hair, piercing blue eyes, a Slavic accent, and “U.S. Air Force” on his name badge. That combination told me he had a story to tell. Dimitry was born
By Jim Cardillo, USMC, Vietnam, 1967-68 In March 2025, I had the rare privilege of visiting the island of Iwo Jima with my brother for the 80th Reunion of Honor. Only a limited number of visitors are permitted on the island one day each year for this solemn occasion. As the nation marks the
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
