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Combat Gallery Sunday: Repin x3
In 1891, Ilya Yefimovich Repin completed his giant 6×11 ft painting “Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire” after an 11-year effort, selling the piece to Tsar...
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Cohen’s watch back home
Israeli spy Eli Cohen, whose Omar Sherif good looks and smooth attitude allowed him to penetrate the Syrian defense ministry and highest levels of politics like the stuff of a Bond film under the cover...
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SOE made interesting for a new generation
As a fan of military history (please stop me from buying old books in bulk, it is a sickness) I have always had a soft spot for the SOE and OSS operations in WWII. Having met a few veterans of those...
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It’s never too late to return library books
From the USMA library at West Point: These books were returned to us this week by the son of a former faculty member who taught in the Department of Economics, Government, and History from 1956-1962....
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Taking a walk from a perfectly good airplane
Great photos here: What a great view of the underside of a T-11 Personnel Parachute System, with para attached. U.S. Army photos by Lt. Col. John Hall Check out that C17 and the Julian Alps in the...
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Camelot comes to Bragg, a study in a more refined time
A relaxed President John F. Kennedy talks to three “All American” officers of the 82nd Airborne Division during his visit to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, 12 October 1961 JFK, a Navy man, of course,...
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Now this is a reason to police your brass…
Using a bucket full of reclaimed old brass, a home handyman created a gold-hued AR-10 lower receiver, with some assembly required. Nothing really high-tech involved, although it took 60 hours to work...
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Happy 137th, Smedley
On this day in 1881 in West Chester, PA, Smedley Darlington Butler was authorized one body, human, which he used to join the Marines some 38 days before his 17th birthday during the great national...
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Vale, Capt. Kaiss
Capt. Albert L. Kaiss, in effect the last dreadnought skipper in any Navy, had five afloat commands including the destroyer USS Paul F. Foster (DD-964), the cruiser USS William H. Standley (CG-32), and...
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Going back to Guam, 74 years ago today
5 August 1944. “Home Again” – Col. Merlin F. Schneider (kneeling, left), Commanding Officer of the Marine unit that recaptured the Marine Barracks on Orote Peninsula, Guam, holds the plaque that was...
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Senta a pua!
At first glance, this flyboy looks like he came standard issue in the U.S. Army Air Force’s 8th Air Force in the European Theatre of Operations in 1944. Then you notice the strange nose art motto on...
View ArticleHappy birthday, Chuck
In 1920 Heinrich Karl Bukowski, better known as Charles Bukowski, was born in Andernach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. After a move to Los Angeles and a stint at the U.S. Postal Service that smothered...
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Have a great weekend
Should you need me, I plan to be on somewhere along the Barrier Islands, camping. I suggest you do something similar. Carpe and all that.
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The time machine that is Camp Perry
1908 California rifle team at Camp Perry, Ohio. The site of the National Shoot. 5×7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection via Shorpy. When Camp Perry opened, the Krag Jorgensen rifle was...
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Nothing beats a good cup o’ joe, 70 years ago today
National Museum of the U.S. Navy photo 80-G-707294 Coffee time on board USS Coral Sea (CVB-43). Fireman Apprentice Harold E. Dillahunt enjoying a cup of coffee while checking the boilers in the ship’s...
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We build, we fight,
This is why Seabees hate Camp Shelby: Remember, at Shelby, you can always use your E-tool as a paddle. (U.S. Navy photo 180820-N-ZI635-258 by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class George M....
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The man behind the 1911 poster
One of the most iconic images of the M1911 is the Great War recruiting painting “First to Fight” by James Montgomery Flagg. Flagg’s portrait, made from a sitting by then-U.S. Marine Capt. Ross Erastus...
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Congo, with a “K”
This great photo by Åke Sandberg shows a thrilled Swedish UN soldier during the Congo Crisis in his fighting position. His personal weapon is the vaunted Kulsprutepistol MP45 subgun– known around the...
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Swagger in Indochina
If this isn’t Diên Biên Phu aesthetic, I just don’t know what is. Capt. Bernard Cabiro, commander of the 4th company of 1st BEP (French Foreign Legion) is smoking a Gauloise cigarette and carrying a...
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100 years ago today, a man from Wichita
Here we see “The Highest Possible Courage,” by John D. Shaw, courtesy of the U.S. National Guard Bureau. It depicts the last moments of 2LT Erwin Russell Bleckley, the first of three National Guard...
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