Seven decades ago, Petty Officer 1st Class George Mendonsa and his date were among the hordes in Times Square celebrating Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II when Mendonsa grabbed what he thought was a nurse (she was a dental assistant), leaned her back and kissed her in a fit of emotion. Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the moment, and as they say, the rest is history. The iconic photo came to represent the relief and excitement over the war’s end, but Eisenstaedt never got his subjects’ names. On the photo’s 40th anniversary, Life asked the nurse and…
Browsing: World War II
World War II history buffs should set aside a good part of Monday for some light reading. Maybe some of Tuesday. In fact, don’t make any plans the rest of the month. The “Gray Book,” a collection of communications from Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz that range from the Pearl Harbor attack to the days before Japan’s surrender, has been digitized and will be unveiled Monday as part of a live web program on the Navy’s official blog. The document — brittle from long-term storage and classified until 1972 — had been scanned previously, but better, searchable scans will offer easier…
Sailors assigned to the Marianas detachment of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5 kept Guam safe from a blast from the past. On Thursday, after an evacuation, their “render safe” procedure on a 500-pound, World War II-era bomb found near the entrance to the naval magazine proved successful. The team disarmed the bomb’s tail and nose fuzes before it was removed from the area for disposal, according to a post on Naval Base Guam’s official Facebook page. The bomb was found on a construction site. Lt. Dhruy Parashar, the unit’s officer in charge, had some words of advice for others…
Former Chief Gunner’s Mate Kenneth Felt figures he shot his first deer when he was 13, walking home from grade school in Minnesota. That one didn’t get any media attention. But the one he bagged 80 years later, using a long gun that dates to the 1870s, has made him a bit of a celebrity. Felt, 93, has been the subject of multiple media reports since his Nov. 13 hunting trip with a .50 caliber Husqvarna with rolling block action — a favorite of George Custer, among others. Walking on the same 260 acres he bought after his return to…
First the video, then a few deep breaths, then some background: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-5kdCdM6So[/youtube] Rather than parades, appliance sales or ribbons one day a year, sailors aboard the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis are paying tribute to veterans on a more personal level — visiting veterans homes as part of the ship’s community-relations efforts. It’s led to one-on-one history lessons and brightened the days of both generations. It also led to the three-minute video above, put together by MCSNs Eric Melone and Jose Hernandez and featuring Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Joseph Hodge during a visit to the Washington Veterans Home in…
Do you know this sailor? Today someone placed this photo at the base of the Lone Sailor. What is the story? pic.twitter.com/zpEjoZmbxk
— Navy Memorial (@NavyMemorial) July 29, 2013
As with any good mystery in the modern age, this one started on social media: [HTML1] Cherished images, medals, letters, all kinds of items are left at the bases of military memorials, but the Navy Memorial rarely sees such tributes, according to Navy Memorial Foundation curator Mark Weber. It’s not as secluded as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where hundreds of thousands of items have been left by family, friends, brothers-in-arms and four-star generals to honor fallen heroes. Sometimes a veterans group will leave a wreath, unannounced, at the base of the Lone Sailor, Weber said in an email, but that’s…
Doug Engelbart died Wednesday. He was 88. It’s not a household name by any stretch, but if you clicked, pointed, tapped or scrolled your way to what you’re reading presently, it should be: As pointed out in the headlines of multiple obituaries, Engelbart invented the computer mouse. His contributions to the computer field went far beyond what was once a wood-encased block connected to a primitive CPU — early advances in computer networking that led the way from vacuum-tube-filled, punch-card-fed monsters to the sleek machines we use today. What was his inspiration for such developments? Well, according to his New…
