Ross Dunfee “Soldier, put those bodies in the graves and get them buried.” “Sargent, what names should I put on each of the grave markers?” “I don’t know. For now, just mark it Unknown.” This conversation has occurred throughout many wars around the world. Identifying and repatriating the deceased is a logistical nightmare. It is…
Tag: Support Our Troops
Features, August 2022
U.S. Military History: The Star-Spangled Banner
Ross Dunfee At the outset of the 19th century, Great Britain was locked in a long and bitter conflict with Napoleon Bonaparte’s France. Both France and Great Britain attempted to block the United States from trading with the other, and restrict the USA from westward expansion. Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first…
Features, July 2022
Military History: Women in War
Ross Dunfee Women have been participants in war since time began. In colonial days women used firearms to protect home, property, and loved ones. During the Revolution, Civil War, World Wars, and multiple other skirmishes, women often fought quietly alongside male comrades, but not as part of the uniformed services. During WWII able-bodied men were…
Features, May 2022
Memorial Dat Poppies
Ross Dunfee World War I concluded with about 10 million military personnel killed, and a like number of civilians. One particularly bloody battle during WWI was at the Second Battle of Ypres (Belgium) where, on April 22, 1915, Germany fired 150 tons of lethal chlorine gas against two French and Algerian Divisions and two days…
Features, April 2022
U.S. Military History: U.S. Coast Guard Flag, Song, and Motto
Ross Dunfee The Coast Guard has a rich history of consolidation with other federal services. The Coast Guard was created in 1915 when the Revenue Cutter Service (from 1790) was merged with the Life Saving Service (from 1848). In 1939, the Lighthouse Service (from 1789) was added, and the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation…
Features, March 2022
U. S. Military History: Some U.S. Coast Guard History
Ross Dunfee Lighthouses On Aug. 7, 1789, in the ninth act of the first U.S. Congress, 12 lighthouses were transferred to the federal government, and the United States Lighthouse Establishment (USLHE) was created under the Department of the Treasury, then Revenue, then Treasury. Because of poor management and poor lighting at lighthouses, the Lighthouse Board…
Features, December 2021
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Ross Dunfee It was still dark, at 3:42 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, when the minesweeper USS Condor AMc-14 saw a two-man Japanese submarine two miles from the mouth of Pearl Harbor. The USS Ward APD-16 that located and destroyed the submarine at 6:45 a.m., was herself sunk later that day by a kamikaze military aviator. With that,…
Features, November 2021
U.S. Marines—Flag and Seal, Song, and Motto
Ross Dunfee Flag and Seal: Marines used the Grand Union flag, and possibly the Gadsden flag (yellow flag with a “Don’t Tread on Me” rattlesnake), during the assault on New Providence Island, The Bahamas, March 3, 1776. During the 1830s and 1840s, the flag consisted of a gold fringed white field centered with an eagle and…
Features, October 2021
U.S. Military History
Marine Corps History Ross Dunfee What is a Marine? A sailor, a soldier, or an infantry or amphibious assault member? They are all soldiers serving on ships ready for land action. Their history, etched in antiquity, has records in ancient Greece and Rome. In the 17th century, the English, in its wars with the Dutch,…
Features, September 2021
U.S. Military History: U.S. Army—Flag, Song, Motto, and Oath
Ross Dunfee Flag—The Army Seal was used originally during the American Revolution to authenticate documents. It displayed the designation “War Office,” which was synonymous with Headquarters of the Army, and the Roman year MDCCLXXVIII (1778), the first time it was used. It remained unchanged until 1947, when the War Office banner was replaced with “Department…