From: William Walter Received my proof copies today. In all, seven years of hard work, hundreds of interviews, lots of teamwork, research and analysis to tell the true story of Spectre combat operations 1968-1975. Was it worth the effort? HELL YES! Finally, the comprehensive story of Spectre SEA operations has been published! The book will be available for purchase in major book stores and online on March 8th. BTW: yes, that is a shot of Whiskey you see on the left; time to celebrate a win for the Spectre community!

via: Historia Obscurum You might not know it to look at him, but the "little old man" in the center of this photo was one of the toughest Jarheads ever. In 1942 when he was only 14, Jacklyn "Jack" Lucas enlisted in the Marine Corps after convincing the recruiter he was 17. Posted to a depot unit at Pearl Harbor, Jack was bored and wanted action, so in January of 1945, he rolled up a combat uniform under his arm, sneaked out of camp, and stowed away aboard a Naval Transport that was taking 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division to Iwo Jima. Not knowing what to do with him, the Marine battalion commander busted Jack one rank, then assigned him as rifleman to C Company. A few days later, Jack turned 17.* The day after landing on Iwo Jima, Jack dove on top of one Japanese grenade then pulled another beneath him. The blast ripped through his body, but saved his comrades. It took 21 surgeries to save him, and for the rest of his life carried in his body more than 200 large pieces of shrapnel. On October 5th, 1945, Jack Lucas received the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman in a ceremony on the White House lawn. He is the youngest Marine ever to receive the nation's highest honor. He then returned to high school.... as a freshman. After college, Jack entered the Army as a Captain in the 82nd Airborne, and survived a training jump in which neither his main chute nor his reserve chute opened. Two years before he died in 2008, Jack was honored by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Michael W. Hagee, who presented him with a Medal of Honor ceremonial flag at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. It was during that ceremony that this photo was taken. Semper Fidelis. * Although the claim often is made that he actually was only 15, every official document (including his obituary) I've been able to locate puts his d.o.b. as 2/14/1928, which would have made him 17 in 1945. If someone has a primary-source document with a different d.o.b., please send it to me.

via: Rebel History February 19, 2022 80 years ago today in 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This executive order led to the mass internment of Japanese-American citizens in ten camps spread out across the American countryside west of the Mississippi River, most infamously the Manzanar and Tule Lake camps in California. This executive order was passed in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack of December 1941 and allowed for the removal of any and all Japanese-American citizens from their homes and their property confiscated. The text of the order itself did not actually single out Japanese-American citizens specifically, but instead delegated the authority to do so to the Secretary of War. Who did indeed single out the entire West Coast as a military zone and subsequently had 110,000 Japanese-American citizens forcibly removed from their homes and businesses and shipped to these ten camps: Manzanar, Tule Lake, Minidonka, Heart Mountain, Topaz, Gila River, Poston, Granada, Jerome and Rohwer. This internment proved later to be a massive violation of the rights of a group of American citizens based on war hysteria. Aside from the removal of these citizens from their homes, civil rights violations within the camps were rampant. In addition to stories of occasional abuse from military personnel, there were also major riots at times. The most famous of these was the Manzanar Riot of December 1942, when the leader of the Kitchen Workers’ Union was arrested for exposing the creation of artificial shortages of meat and sugar by camp administrators, who had been stealing these food rations and selling them on the black market. Several thousand internees marched in protest of his arrest, and were attacked as a result by military police with tear gas. Two marchers were also fatally shot in the confrontation. In December of 1944, Major General Henry C. Pratt issued Public Proclamation No. 21, which stated that all internees were free to return to their former lives, which in most cases either no longer existed or would never be the same as of January of 1945. Only ten U.S citizens were arrested as Japanese informants throughout all of World War Two, and not a single one was Japanese. Eventually, an investigation by the Carter administration concluded that the internment of these citizens was unwarranted, and Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Rights Act of 1988, which paid twenty thousand US dollars to each surviving internee and issued a public apology from the federal government. [Online References] (https://www.history.com/.../roosevelt-signs-executive...) (https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=74 ) (http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5154 ) Authored by DK

via: Korean DMZ Vets 1998 - Up on the Z - Panmunjom, JSA soldiers preparing to receive remains from the Korean War that were recovered from the north. This was November 98. 69 years since the Armistice was signed, over 7000 Americans are stilling missing. #DMZ #korea #rok #JSA

via: Historic Photographs Diving suit, 1931

via: PBS Wisconsin LZ Lambeau: Jim Northrup "I realized then that surviving the peace was up to me." In memory of Jim Northrup, the Ojibwe author and Vietnam U.S. Marine Corps veteran who passed away this week, here is his powerful presentation and recitation from the May 2010 LZ Lambeau: Welcoming Home Wisconsin's Vietnam Veterans event. https://www.facebook.com/pbswi/videos/10153806607531538

"All Men Dream: but not equally. Those who Dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the Dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBpXk3h1N9M - T. E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

via: Hurlburt Field They call him "The Godfather" in the Air Force Special Tactics community. As a member of the Air Commando Association Hall of Fame and someone who spent 50 years with the United States Air Force, we can't think of anyone better to honor as our #CaptivatingCommando for #VeteransDay2016. https://www.facebook.com/1SOW.HurlburtField/videos/1280935288594708 Check out the video to hear his story as part of the 2016 Veterans In Blue Campaign. Airman Magazine