World War II

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Pearl Harbor Survivors Remember
Pearl Harbor Survivors Remember
Dec 7, 2007 10:10 AM CST

Pearl Harbor Survivors Remember

Shrinking ranks of vets, civilians recall attack on 66th anniversary

(Newser) - Pearl Harbor survivors will pause today to remember the attack that reshaped their lives—and the nation's—66 years ago today. The remembrances come as the ever-shrinking number of surviving vets wonder how Americans will remember their legacy, the LA Times reports. Says a historian: "When all of our...

From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia
From Detroit
to Dresden
to Siberia
Nov 16, 2007 5:42 PM CST

From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia

American memoirist imprisoned in Soviet gulag dead at 84

(Newser) - John Noble, an American who wrote two memoirs about the decade he spent as a Soviet prisoner, including 3 years in the gulag, died last week at 84, the Telegraph reports. Taken into Soviet custody in 1945, Noble and his father were incarcerated in Dresden, Germany, where they had run...

WWII Plane Found Under Beach
WWII Plane Found Under Beach
Nov 15, 2007 8:05 AM CST

WWII Plane Found Under Beach

65 years after crash, plane uncovered on Welsh coast

(Newser) - Sixty-five years after its crash landing, a World War II fighter plane has emerged from under the sand on the Welsh coast. The American P-38 "Lightning" fighter, which made an emergency "belly landing" in shallow water after it ran out of fuel, was buried in the sand, with...

Hiroshima Bomb Pilot Dead at 92
Hiroshima Bomb Pilot Dead at 92
Nov 1, 2007 3:19 PM CDT

Hiroshima Bomb Pilot Dead at 92

Pilot defended his role to the last, said he had 'no regrets'

(Newser) - The commander and pilot of the B-29 that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945—the first military use of nuclear weapons—died today, the Associated Press reports. Paul Tibbets was 92, and requested no funeral or headstone for fear that they might attract anti-nuclear protesters. Tibbets always...

WWII Vets Slam US 'Torture' Techniques

Vet says chess, ping-pong were old grilling tricks

(Newser) - Silent for 60 years, a handful of WWII vets are admitting their old interrogation tricks — and slamming alleged torture techniques used by the US today. Almost two dozen ex-fighters met for a ceremony by the Potomac yesterday, the Washington Post reports, but one refused the award, protesting the Iraq...

WWII: Teddy Roosevelt vs. Super Evil Guy

High school students' knowledge of World War II murky at best

(Newser) - As San Francisco 10th- to 12th-graders tell it, the key players in World War II were President Theodore Roosevelt, Super Evil Guy Hitler, Soviet President Mussolini, and dictator Winston Churchill. In a quiz given by the San Francisco Chronicle, the students showed a startling lack of knowledge about the second...

Photos Show Auschwitz, on the Weekend

Album reveals death camp guards relaxing after 'a hard day's work'

(Newser) - A photo album of co-workers decorating Christmas trees, playing with dogs, eating blueberries—fond memories, but for the swastikas on the merrymakers' uniforms. The US Holocaust Museum has posted online 116 photos showing how Auschwitz guards "unwound after 'a hard day's work,' " archivist Rebecca Erbelding tells the...

Burns' War Epic Starts Tomorrow
Burns' War Epic Starts Tomorrow
Sep 22, 2007 4:00 PM CDT

Burns' War Epic Starts Tomorrow

His latest PBS doc pays tribute to 'generic' US soldiers, including his own father

(Newser) - After 7 years and $13 million, Ken Burns' historical documentary The War will start airing tomorrow on PBS. The film centers on people rather than politics or weaponry, the Seattle Times reports: Celebrities and guns can "distract you from an experience of war, of what it was like to...

Ang Lee's 'Lust' Too Hot for Hollywood

Ratings group slaps 'Brokeback' director's new flick with NC-17

(Newser) - Focus Features says it will stand by Ang Lee and his racy new war flick “Lust, Caution,” even though a movie trade group branded the film NC-17. The film industry's Scarlet Letter could cost the pic audiences, ad dollars, and theater distribution, but Focus CEO James Schamus said...

Historian Begs to Differ With the Decider

Says Bush keeps misquoting him on post-war Japan

(Newser) - A historian quoted by President Bush yesterday said his words were misused in a “perverse” attempt to defend the Iraq War, Politico reports. At issue is John Dower's statement in a 1999 book that if naysayers had had their way, the fledgling democracy in Japan after WWII “would...

Nazi 'Mascot' Tells His Story
Nazi 'Mascot' Tells His Story
Aug 21, 2007 11:33 AM CDT

Nazi 'Mascot' Tells His Story

Jewish boy became SS plaything, kept secret until 1997

(Newser) - A new book details the secret history of a Jewish boy who became a mascot for the Nazi SS. After fleeing a Belarus village on the day his family was massacred, the 5-year-old was rescued by a Nazi soldier who gave him a new name—Alex Kurzem— and identity as...

11 Injured in Cruise Film Car Crash
11 Injured
in Cruise Film
Car Crash
Aug 20, 2007 2:52 PM CDT

11 Injured in Cruise Film Car Crash

Berlin police investigate a totaled truck for defects on the set of "Valkyrie"

(Newser) - Eleven extras were injured on the Berlin set of Tom Cruise's latest film, "Valkyrie," when the side of a truck—decked out to look like a Nazi military transport—blew open as it took a corner. One man was seriously injured in the crash. Local authorities reported "...

Hollywood Won’t Wait for Troops to Come Home

Slate of controversial war films on the way

(Newser) - About a dozen films exploring America's widely debated role in Iraq and Afghanistan are set for release or in production, marking a break with Hollywood's unwritten rules for depicting an ongoing war. Most films made during WW2 were outright propaganda. And films critical of the Vietnam conflict weren't released until...

Cruise Can Film in Germany Despite 'Cult' Status

Berlin does an about-face on anti-Hitler movie

(Newser) - Tom Cruise will be allowed to shoot his new movie, about a German military officer who tried to assassinate Hitler, on German soil. Earlier reports said the megastar would be banned because of his ties to Scientology, which Germany regards as a threat to democracy and keeps under "official...

Japan Renames Iwo Jima
Japan Renames Iwo Jima
Jun 21, 2007 4:20 AM CDT

Japan Renames Iwo Jima

Old name evokes bitter memories of bloody battle

(Newser) - Iwo Jima, the Japanese island that hosted one of the most horrific battles of World War II, is getting a new handle. The BBC reports the Japanese government is officially rechristening the island Iwo To, which was its name until 1944. Iwo Jima is best known for photographer Joe Rosenthal's...

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