World War II

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WWII Destroyer Fought Enemy Alone, Then Flipped the Bird

Wreck of USS Edsall, sunk by Japanese in 1942, discovered east of Christmas Island

(Newser) - The Japanese called the USS Edsall "the dancing mouse." Stumbling upon a Japanese naval force in the Indian Ocean three months after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the aged and damaged destroyer loaded with 185 US Navy personnel and 31 US Army Air Force pilots fought alone...

'Closure and Relief' as Soldier Killed in 1945 Identified

For decades, 19-year-old from Chicago was interred as Unknown X-6379

(Newser) - The body of US Army Pvt. Jeremiah P. Mahoney has been identified almost 80 years after he was killed during fierce fighting in northeast France. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency confirmed last month that the body of the 19-year-old from Chicago was among dozens of sets of remains recovered from...

One of the Last Navajo Code Talkers Dies at 107
One of the Last Navajo
Code Talkers Dies at 107
OBITUARY
Oct 21, 2024 8:14 AM CDT

One of the Last Navajo Code Talkers Dies at 107

With the death of John Kinsel Sr., only two of the World War II heroes remain

(Newser) - John Kinsel Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II based on the tribe's native language, has died. He was 107, reports the AP . Navajo Nation officials in Window Rock announced Kinsel's death on Saturday. Tribal President Buu Nygren has...

They Went From Reenactment to Dinner—in Nazi Uniform

Massachusetts restaurant apologizes for not asking the group to change, now faces threats

(Newser) - A Massachusetts restaurant that waited on World War II reenactors dressed in Nazi uniforms over the weekend was forced to close Tuesday after it became the target of "harassment and threats." The Kith and Kin restaurant in Hudson took heat after it welcomed costumed figures who'd participated...

US Navy's 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' Is Found

USS Stewart was deliberately sunk off California in 1946, ending a 'globe-spanning odyssey'

(Newser) - The only US Navy destroyer captured by Japanese forces during World War II has been found in a deep, watery grave off the coast of California. The USS Stewart was stationed in Manila in 1941 to help repel Japanese attacks after the one on Pearl Harbor. But after it was...

US Dropped the Bomb During WWII. It Exploded Wednesday

It left large crater in a taxiway at Japan's Miyazaki Airport

(Newser) - An unexploded US bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries, Japanese officials said. Land and Transport Ministry officials said there were no aircraft nearby...

Drop Honors Daring Mission That Failed in World War II

Paratroopers reenact Netherlands operation around A Bridge Too Far

(Newser) - Hundreds of paratroopers dropped out of near-cloudless skies over a heath in the central Netherlands on Saturday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden—one of World War II's most daring but ultimately unsuccessful missions. Paratroopers from the Dutch Air Mobile Brigade and 12 other NATO nations...

80 Years After WWII Disaster, Navy Exonerates Black Sailors

256 sailors were unjustly punished after California port explosion killed hundreds

(Newser) - The US Navy has exonerated 256 Black sailors who were found to be unjustly punished in 1944 following a horrific port explosion that killed hundreds of service members and exposed racist double standards among the then-segregated ranks, the AP reports.
  • On July 17, 1944, munitions being loaded onto a cargo
...

Veteran, 100, and Fiancee, 96, Keep Wedding Date in France

Harold Terens evokes other wars in toast to townspeople

(Newser) - World War II veteran Harold Terens, 100, married Jeanne Swerlin, 96, just inland from the beaches of the D-Day landing in Normandy, France, proclaiming Saturday "the best day of my life." The music of Glenn Miller rang out on the streets Carentan, where well-wishers—some in wartime-period clothes—...

An Overlooked D-Day Hero Finally Gets His Due

WWII medic Waverly Woodson Jr. posthumously awarded Distinguished Service Cross

(Newser) - For 30 hours, as mortar shells rained around him on Omaha Beach, Army medic Cpl. Waverly Woodson Jr. treated wounded Allied soldiers, even while wounded himself. For that brave act, Woodson has been posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, "the second-highest military decoration that can be awarded to a...

D-Day: 'No Words to Describe the Immensity of the Debt We Owe You'

World leaders, veterans mark 80th anniversary of D-Day landing

(Newser) - Eighty years ago Thursday, Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy to launch the liberation of Western Europe from the Nazis. More than 150,000 men attacked five beaches in the D-Day landings, and more than 4,400 of them were killed. Around 200 veterans who returned to France, all...

Report Sheds Light on Nazi Camps on British Soil

Some Holocaust victims were killed on Alderney, but island wasn't a 'mini-Auschwitz,' panel found

(Newser) - The savage treatment of slave laborers at the Nazi concentration camps Norderney and Sylt was standard, historians say. What made them exceptional was that they were on British soil. A panel of historians has released its findings on the German occupation of Alderney, one of four Channel Islands seized by...

Search to Begin for 'Marge,' WWII Ace Pilot's Plane
Searchers Say They
Found Ace's Plane
updated
May 23, 2024 4:15 PM CDT

Searchers Say They Found Ace's Plane

In World War II, Richard Bong shot down more enemy aircraft than any other US pilot

(Newser) - "Marge has been identified," a searcher for the remains of World War II ace Richard Bong's plane—named for the pilot's girlfriend—in the South Pacific announced Thursday. Justin Taylan said that his team discovered the wreckage in the jungles of Papua New Guinea's Madang...

Ahead of Soccer Match, Scary Find Near the Stadium

Active WWII bomb discovered near Germany's Mewa Arena to be defused on Friday

(Newser) - Thousands of people have been evacuated from the area around a German sports stadium so that an undetonated World War II-era bomb found near the home of a Bundesliga soccer club could be defused on Friday. Per a statement from the city of Mainz, the 1,100-pound weapon was discovered...

Research Reveals Women Who Secretly Broke Nazi Codes

Recognition was delayed by decades of secrecy

(Newser) - When Jane Monroe was asked what she'd done during World War II, her answer was "Oh, I made tea." Dulcie Klusmann later confessed, "We had to make up a bunch of lies." The reason is that the women spent the war breaking Nazi codes at...

Biden's Cannibal Claim Offends an Ally

Papua New Guinea's PM not a fan of associating his country with cannibalism

(Newser) - The leader of Papua New Guinea has accused President Biden of disparaging the South Pacific island nation by implying that an uncle of the US president had been eaten by "cannibals" there during World War II. The president spoke at a Pennsylvania war memorial last week about his Army...

Biden's Remarks on Uncle's WWII Death Conflict With Records

He claims he was shot down and might have been eaten by cannibals

(Newser) - President Biden misstated key details about his uncle's death in World War II as he honored the man's wartime service on Wednesday and said Donald Trump was unworthy of serving as commander in chief. While in Pittsburgh, Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt. Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr....

He Survived Pearl Harbor: 'Guys Were Running Out of the Fire'

Lou Conter, last survivor of USS Arizona attack, dies at 102

(Newser) - Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102. Conter passed away on Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California, following congestive heart failure, daughter Louann Daley said, per the AP...

'Great Escape' Observances Honor the 50

76 POWs made it through a tunnel out of a German camp, but most were later murdered

(Newser) - Observances were held in Poland on Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the "Great Escape," an ingenious act of defiance during World War II in which 76 prisoners of war tunneled out of a German prisoner of war camp into a snowy forest. British soldiers carried photos...

At New Orleans Museum, AI Lets You Talk to WWII Vets

Participants sat for as many as 1K questions each

(Newser) - Olin Pickens sat in his wheelchair facing a life-sized image of himself on a screen, asking it questions about being taken prisoner by German soldiers during World War II. After a pause, his video-recorded twin recalled being given "sauerkraut soup" by his captors before a grueling march. "That...

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