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‘Easy Harford, a professional soldier must remain cool in times of stress’
We seem to be on a roll when it comes to erasing familiar childhood faces from the planet this week. Michael A. James, better known as Michael Jayston, had the distinction of probably looking even...
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Warship Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024: A Tough Tambor
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Vivr Libre du Mouris
From mid-January to late March 1944, some 460 French maquis guerrillas of the Battalion des Glières occupied the Glières plateau, making it a besieged Free “French” territory where they hoisted the...
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Warship Wednesday, March 13, 2024: SEAL Time Capsule
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday to look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
View ArticleGodspeed, Gen. Stafford
Thomas Patten Stafford was a tall Oklahoman who, born too late for WWII, nonetheless served in the Oklahoma National Guard during high school and college. Starting his undergrad career at the...
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‘Father of the PDW’ Passes: Mack Gwinn Jr, Dies at 79
Florida-born Mack W. Gwinn, Jr., the son of a retired Army officer, joined the U.S. Army Special Forces in 1961 and served until 1972, a period that included seven deployments to Vietnam, earning...
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The Great Escape at 50
Today marks the 80th anniversary of “The Great Escape,” the largest Western Allied prisoner-of-war breakout of the Second World War (only surpassed by the mass escape of 300 Jews– spearheaded by a...
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RBFM: Never Underestimate Sailors Fighting Ashore
In November 1942, the Brits had around 600 Vichy French Navy POWs in their custody at Grizedale Hall in England. These men had been captured in the assorted brushes around Africa and the Middle East...
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White 35, in full Color
Check out this original Kodachrome, taken some 80 years ago today, of LT(JG) George T. Glacken and his gunner, Aviation Radioman Second Class Leo W. Boulanger, in their Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless dive...
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Keeping em clean
80 years ago today. 4 April 1944. Official caption, “Sgt. John C. Clark…and S/Sgt. Ford M. Shaw…(left to right) clean their rifles in the Bivouac area alongside the East-West Trail, Bougainville. They...
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Confusing Frigate Developments
Thursday’s contracts included an order for two more Constellation class frigates. Emphasis mine: Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette, Wisconsin, is awarded a $1,044,529,113 fixed-price incentive...
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Remember to remember today
Official caption: “Memorial Day services held at Asan Cemetery, Guam, Mariana Islands. Note a Marine standing vigilantly over the graves of his fallen comrades.” Photographed by Photographer’s Mate...
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Good Luck and Godspeed, Gen. Anders
Rest in peace, Maj. Gen. (ret.) William “Bill” Anders (USNA 1955), who passed away last Friday in San Juan Islands, Washington state, at the age of 90. Apollo 8 was the first manned Saturn V mission,...
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Welcome Big Wave Dave
The new 158-foot Sentinel (Webber) class cutter USCGC David Duren (WPC-1156) sailed into their new homeport of Astoria, Oregon, and became the first Fast Response Cutter to be homeported in the...
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Irony, Independence Day 1918
SMLE-armed Pvt. Harry Shelley, Co A, U.S. 132nd Infantry Regiment, 33rd “Prairie” Division receives the British Distinguished Conduct Medal from King George V, for his 4 July 1918 actions in the...
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Loading up Gabby’s Jug
From some 80 years ago this month comes this amazingly detailed and vibrant period Kodachrome. Original Caption: “Armament men must exercise extreme caution in loading .50 cal. machine guns of a...
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Live in Baldwin County, Alabama? Have a DD-214? The Armed Forces Honor Guard...
Their main duty station is the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spanish Fort and since 2017, when the Armed Forces Honor Guard of Baldwin County started with just nine original members,...
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Last of ‘The Few’ Turns 105
Group Captain (ret’d) John Allman “Paddy” Hemingway, DFC, AE, just turned 105 years young on the 17th. Joining the RAF at 21, he flew No. 85 Squadron Mk I Hurricanes over the beaches at Dunkirk and in...
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Smokey’s Lucky Witch
Twenty-year-old Ens. Darrell C. “Smoke” Bennett, USNR, stands beside “Smokey’s Lucky Witch”, his FM-2 Wildcat, onboard the ill-fated Casablanca class escort carrier USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), August...
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Le samouraï, adieu
Did it ever really get any cooler than Alain Delon? An avid gun collector, Indochina vet, and movie tough guy who influenced generations of action filmmakers has passed away. Alain Delon was born in...
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