World War II

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Female WWII Pilots Regain Right to Be Buried at Arlington

'I think that the WASP deserve to have that honor'

(Newser) - Female WWII pilots are once again allowed to have their ashes buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery thanks to legislation passed by Congress this week, the Los Angeles Times reports. More than 1,000 women flew noncombat and training missions as part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots program...

Army Count Reaches Low Not Seen Since Before WWII

But it's all part of the plan

(Newser) - In 1940, the head count for active-duty soldiers in the US Army was 269,023, a low that hasn't been reached since, the Army Times reports. But due to budget cutbacks, a drawdown plan announced last summer to whittle manpower by 40,000 troops has left the Army with...

Marines Probe Possible Iwo Jima Photo Error

History buffs say wrong man was identified

(Newser) - The Marine Corps says it has begun investigating whether it mistakenly identified one of the men shown raising the US flag at Iwo Jima in one of the most iconic images of World War II, the AP reports. The Marines announced its inquiry more than a year after Eric Krelle...

Story of WWII Escape Finally Surfaces Thanks to Son

Edwin Shifrin helped devise plan to fool Nazi guards

(Newser) - Edwin Shifrin, 93, seldom discussed his time at war and his memory is fading, but the Missouri man received a prisoner-of-war medal in February after son Dan Shifrin dug through old news reports and his father's military records and pieced together what happened. Assigned to the Army's 30th...

German Historian: AP Was in Cahoots With the Nazis

Claims that Nazis even had a propaganda plant as an AP photographer

(Newser) - A historian at Germany's Martin Luther University has uncovered what she says is proof from Associated Press archives that it was in formal cahoots with Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime in exchange for being the only Western news agency to report from there, the New York Times reports. In...

Surprise $4.99 Find in Goodwill Bin: a Purple Heart

Ariz. woman's post seeking its owner goes viral

(Newser) - Laura Hardy says she and her husband were browsing in their local Goodwill in Mesa, Ariz., over the weekend when her husband spotted something unusual in the jewelry section: a Purple Heart medal with the name Eual H. Whiteman on it. "It was just classified as purple jewelry for...

WWII Hero's Dog Tag Will Finally Return Home

Found on Saipan in 2014, it will likely go to a nephew

(Newser) - Dorothy Hollingsworth was just 7 when her brother Tom left the family farm in Indiana to join the Army a few months before the US entered World War II. She never saw him again. Now, more than 70 years after Pfc. Thomas E. Davis was killed in one of the...

Only 67 Survived Treblinka. Now None Remain

Samuel Willenberg died on Friday

(Newser) - The last survivor of the Nazi death camp Treblinka—which systematically murdered 875,000 people during World War II, a gruesome toll eclipsed only by Auschwitz—died Friday at his home in Israel at the age of 93. Samuel Willenberg, born in Poland in 1923, was a physically fit bricklayer...

WWII Sweethearts Share a Squeeze—70 Years Later

Norwood Thomas, Joyce Morris will spend two weeks together in Australia

(Newser) - It was the hug he'd been waiting 70 years for. World War II vet Norwood Thomas, 93, greeted his wartime sweetheart Joyce Morris, 88, in person on Wednesday for the first time since their brief love affair in London in 1944, per NBC News . "This is about the...

Sole Survivor of Forgotten WWII Disaster Has Died

David Stoliar survived the worst civilian maritime disaster of WWII

(Newser) - "For 58 years, no one asked me about the Struma," David Stoliar told the New York Times in 2000, "and I felt that no one cared." But experiencing the worst civilian maritime disaster of WWII never left him: "I carried the memories in my head...

WWII Sweethearts to Reunite on Valentine's Day

Norwood Thomas hopes to give his wartime girlfriend a 'squeeze'

(Newser) - Norwood Thomas' reunion with his wartime girlfriend was incredible, but it came with one major drawback: "I can't take you in my arms and give you a squeeze," the 93-year-old World War II vet told Joyce Morris, 88, during a Skype call in November. "Well, we'...

Lawmaker: Let Female Pilots' Ashes Rest at Arlington

Arizona congresswoman files legislation to that effect

(Newser) - An Arizona congresswoman filed legislation Wednesday to ensure that a group of female World War II pilots can have their ashes laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. The pilots known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, flew military aircraft in noncombat roles during wartime to free up male...

Son Gets WWII Resistance Fighter's Farewell Letter 70 Years Later

Peter Will wrote final words to wife, 6 sons on way to concentration camp

(Newser) - The thoughts Peter Will had on his mind before he died en route to a German concentration camp were of his wife and six sons—and surviving family members now know this for sure thanks to a letter delivered more than 70 years after the fact. Although the family wishes...

Story of How US Soldier Saved 200 Jews Finally Told

Roddie Edmonds honored for his remarkable move in POW camp

(Newser) - Roddie Edmonds is the first US soldier to receive Israel's Righteous Among the Nations honor, 70 years after he risked his life to save 200 Jews. The native of Knoxville, Tenn., was captured in the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 and held at German POW camp Staleg...

Widow: I Planned on Feeding Husband to Birds

Ila Solomon wanted to grant dead husband's wish

(Newser) - The widow of a an 88-year-old Indiana man whose body remained in his home for as long as nine months after death has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges, and admitted that she wanted his body to be eaten by birds. Fifty-six-year-old Ila Solomon of Lafayette pleaded guilty to failure...

Family Finally Learns Fate of Man Who Punched Nazi

He was deported from Nazi-occupied Britain

(Newser) - A University of Cambridge archaeologist has discovered the sad end to a tale of resistance on the only British territory to be occupied by the Nazis during World War II—the Channel Islands. Sidney Ashcroft was 20 years old and living on the island of Guernsey in 1942 when, as...

Rarest Nazi Enigma Machine Sells for Record $365K

It was bought by an anonymous private collector at auction

(Newser) - The M4 is the rarest of the already rare Nazi Enigma machines, which could help explain why a working model just sold for a record $365,000 at an auction Wednesday in New York. The Guardian reports the 70-year-old encryption machine was purchased by an anonymous private collector. “The...

Nazis Turned Candy Bars Into Secret Weapon

WWII-era drawings reveal German booby-traps

(Newser) - First, force the British to endure food shortages—then make them eat exploding candy bars. That was at least part of the Nazi plan to destroy Britain during World War II, according to drawings of German weapons recently seen for the first time, the Smithsonian reports. Among the drawings: a...

Painting Looted by Nazis Turns Up in Ohio Home

Portrait of a Young Man was returned to Poland last week

(Newser) - A nearly 300-year-old painting stolen from Poland's National Museum by the Nazis during WWII was found in July hanging in an Ohio family's home, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Krzysztof Lubieniecki's Portrait of a Young Man is believed to have been looted by Nazi troops—like 70% of...

Thief Targets Hitler's Infamous Wolf's Lair

A plaque commemorating an assassination attempt on Hitler is missing

(Newser) - Someone has stolen a plaque commemorating the man who tried to blow up Adolf Hitler from its spot of honor at Hitler's infamous Wolf's Lair in Poland, AFP reports. According to the AP , a guide at what is now a popular tourist attraction noticed the plaque was missing...

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