The VBC--and the world--lost one of its most beloved veterans ever to share his story with us. Jake Larson—decorated World War II veteran and unlikely social media star known to millions as “Papa Jake”—died peacefully at his home in the San Francisco Bay Area on July 17, 2025. He was 102. Jake joined us
Cecilia Gaerlan, Executive Director of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society, emailed us to let us know that a bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the brave women who were World War II Army and Navy nurses. The WII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act would
Shoichi Yokoi as a young Army Sgt. A tailor by trade, he was conscripted in 1941. In 1944, after U.S. forces retook Guam, he was the sole survivor of his 20,000 man garrison. (Public Domain) By Donn Nemchick In 1972, I was stationed at the Naval Communication Center in Guam when the
Bockscar Crew photographed on August 9, 1945, at Tinian Naval Base the day it dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. Standing from left: Maj. Charles Sweeney, Lt. Charles Albury, Lt. Fred Olivi, Capt. Kermit Beahan, Capt. James Van Pelt, and Lt. Jacob Beser. Kneeling from left: Staff Sgt. John Kuharek, Sgt. Abe Spitzer, Sgt.
Japanese children, seeing a Marine for the first time, eagerly reach for chocolates offered them by SSgt Henry A. Weaver, III. (National Archives) By Morton Stith I worked as a Bomb Disposal Marine, a part of World War II that seems to have been wiped from history. Our mission was to neutralize
By Daria Sommers Lisa Rogak’s new book Propaganda Girls: the Secret War of the Women in the OSS brings to light the clandestine roles played by a select group of American women who served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Their job was to psych out the enemy through information
