Written by Todd DePastino For much of our history, Halloween wasn’t about candy and costumes. It was about vandalism. All that changed in World War II, when Americans invented trick-or-treating. Paper-mache jack-o’-lantern (National Museum of American History, Smithsonian) Several Octobers ago, I woke up, looked out the window and saw pumpkins smashed,
Survivor of the Bataan Death March RemembersAnyone who has joined us on VBC Happy Hour knows Henry Schoepke, our much-loved teenager from Wisconsin. Henry is an avid student of history, a supporter of veterans, and an autograph collector. One of his many projects is to write thank you notes to 500 World War II veterans.
Efforts are underway to fly Great Britain's only Douglas C-54 Skymaster to Germany in 2024 for the 75th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. The Skymaster, serial number 56498, flew in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War before being struck from the list of military aircraft in 1972. Now, the British
During World War II, Pan Am Airways became the most important civilian component of the US military airlift, flying over 90 million miles worldwide in support of the war effort. The period saw many firsts, including the first circumnavigation of the globe and the first flight of a US President abroad. Joining Glenn Flickinger on
The US Air Force turns 75 on September 18, the date when the Air Force formally separated from the US Army under the terms of the National Security Act of 1947. But if you really want to trace the origins of America's air power, you need to go back to the Civil War and
Aboard the USS Missouri On September 2, 1945, Admiral “Bull” Halsey’s Fleet “Aerologist" (Navy-speak for meteorologist) borrowed a camera and shot the only color footage of the Japanese Surrender in Tokyo Bay. On September 2, 1945, Commander George F. Kosco borrowed a camera from Chief Petty Officer (and Hollywood actor) Leif Erickson. Then, he took
