Prologue: Pieces of History

We may be a litttle short-staffed on this quasi-holiday, but I couldn’t let Facial Hair Friday go by without a nod to some historic beards. Today’s honoree is Gen. Albion P. Howe, veteran of the Mexican War and the Civil War. When a captain in the U.S. Army,  Howe served under Col. Robert E. Lee at [...]

Escape and evasion files are firsthand accounts of a military personnel’s escape from behind enemy lines. In World War II, thousands of U.S. troops crashed in Nazi territory and had to evade capture or escape from German prisons. The National Archives recently digitized 2,953 firsthand accounts of escape and evasion during the war. Each account [...]

At 1:28 p.m. on September 28, 1924, two planes landing in Seattle made history. The Chicago and New Orleans had flown 26,345 miles in 66 days to become the first airplanes to circumnavigate the globe. Four planes had started the journey on April 6, but the Seattle and Boston had been forced down over Alaska and [...]

In the U.S. Army of 2010, the regulations state that mustaches are limited to men, and the length and shape of the mustache itself is severely limited: “Mustaches are permitted; if worn, males will keep mustaches neatly trimmed, tapered, and tidy. Mustaches will not present a chopped off or bushy appearance, and no portion of [...]

George Herman “Babe” Ruth was no exception to the military draft that took place during World War I, but as fate would have it, the Great Bambino’s number was never called. Still, “Babe” Ruth managed to serve his country. Eighty-six years ago this month, the Sultan of Swat traded out his swing for a salute [...]