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Read an Article About American intervention in W.W. I and the Gratitude of France.


The A.E.F. Tank Corps (The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

This article appeared some seven months after the war, and it presents an interesting account of the first American tank units that ever existed.
The preferred tank of the American Army of World War I was a light tank made by the French called a Renault. It had a crew of two, measured 13 feet (4 meters) in length and weighed 6.5 tons. The tank's 35 hp. engine moved it along at a top speed of 6 miles per hour. This article outlines where the American tanks fought, which units they supported and who commanded them; some readers may be interested to know that reference is made to the First American Tank Brigade and the officer in charge: Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton (1885 – 1945).

"During the course of the Meuse-Argonne battles, the tank units of the 1st Brigade had lost 3 officers and 16 enlisted men killed, and 21 officers and 131 enlisted men were wounded. These losses were suffered in 18 separate engagements..."

Read other articles from 1919.


Remembering the Americans Who Didn't Make It to Paris (Yank Magazine, 1944)

YANK correspondent Saul Levitt was eyewitness to all the merriment that kicked-in when Paris was liberated. Regardless of the gaiety, he could not forget all the American blood that had so liberally been spilled during the previous weeks:

"Despite all the bottles of champagne, all the tears, and all the kisses, it is impossible for those of us who are here to forget that we are here for the men of the American divisions who died or were wounded on the way to Paris... for all of those men who started out toward Paris but are not here to see it. We are here for the men of the 48 states who dream of home, and for whom the freeing of Paris is the way home."

Click here to read about the celebrations that took place in Paris the day World War One ended.


The Decorated Marines from Belleau Wood (New York Times, 1918)

An eyewitness account of the decoration ceremony that took place on a lawn of an unnamed French chateau in the Marne Valley on July 11, 1918. The ceremony was presided over by U.S. Army General James Harbord (1866 – 1947) and well over 100 Marines of the U.S. Second Division were cited for their "deeds in the fighting North-West of Chateau-Thierry".


Operation Varsity: The Last Parachute Drop of the War (Collier's Magazine, 1945)

The seasoned war correspondent explained in the attached article as to why Operation Market Garden was such a disaster (and the censors let him) and why the next ambitious Allied parachute assault, Operation Varsity, would be different. Reminiscing about all that he saw of the famed parachute jump beyond the Rhine prior to being forced to turn-tail and bail out over English-occupied Belgium, he observed:

"...the C-46s come in and apparently walk into a wall of flak. I could not see the flak, but one plane after another went down. All our attention was on our own ship. It could blow up in mid-air at any moment. From the pilot's compartment came streams of stinging smoke."


The Crew of the Enola Gay Fifteen Years Later (Coronet Magazine, 1960)

A collection of thumbnail portraits that outline what each crew member did on that August day, and what they were doing fifteen years afterward.

This article was partially written in order to squelch the spreading rumors that reported that the atomic bomber crews from 1945 had all slowly gone mad.

"The men of the Enola Gay were hand-picked experts, chosen for intelligence, emotional stability and discipline, qualities they have put to good use in their post-war careers. Four remained in the service (one died in 1953) and the others are all successful in their business carees. They earn above-average salaries, all but one are married and they have 26 children among them. None of them has been to Japan since the war, and few have met since separation."


Who are the U.S.Marines? (Click Magazine, 1943)

A nice piece of P.R. for the W.W. II Gyrenes:

"Since the policy limits Marine Corps personel to 20 percent of the navy, no Marine can specialize as do other service men. He must be a crack rifle and pistol shot, a saboteur, a scout familiar with jungle and city alike. He must run, walk, swim, sail, shoot, and maim better than the men he's fighting... He glories in this responsibility, as in his corp's 167-year-old reputation as nonpareil shock troops. He's never yeilded either that responsibility or reputation to his jealous friends in rough-and-ready Army and Navy units. They resent the Marine. He knows it and doesn't give a damn, cocky in the knowledge that he's relied on to pave the way for the Army's operations and to finish up the Navy's."

This is a six page photo-essay that is comprised of seventeen images (two in color) of the San Diego Marines, who are identified as the "dirtiest" and "cockiest" fighters in the nation's arsenal.

Click here to read another article about the Marines.

The End of the Road for Ernie Pyle (Yank Magazine, 1945)

This article was penned by YANK correspondent Evans Wylie; it is an account of Ernie Pyle's (1900 - 1945) surprise appearance during the Okinawa campaign and the violent death that Pyle had long anticipated for himself. His end came while he was being driven along a road in the company of Marines in a sector that was believed to have been safe. Of all the many American war correspondents writing during World War II, Pyle was, without a doubt, the most well loved; he was adored by readers on the home front as well as the GIs in the field. Like many men, Pyle struggled in his career as a younger man; yet when the war broke out he very quickly found his voice - and his readership soon followed.


The First Two Weeks of the Battle of the Bulge (United States News, 1944)

The American magazines that appeared on newsstands during late November and early December of 1944 are often found to have articles anticipating life in the post-war world or tips on how to welcome your returning husband home from the battle fronts. This line of thinking was put on hold in late December when the Germans launched their brutal counter offensive through the Ardennes Forrest in what has been nicknamed "the Battle of the Bulge" (December 16, 1944 through January 25, 1945).

The December 29, 1944 issue of UNITED STATES NEWS is an example of the this new editorial policy. The German surprise attack caught the Allies (and the home front editors) so terribly off-guard it triggered the writing of articles that called for increasing the draft pool and openly chided the generals for relying too heavily on air power.


Liberty v. Fascism (Coronet Magazine, 1943)

"Japan has put into the arena a pure fascist man. It is making war against us with a well-nourished, athletic, relentless fighting animal who seems to be controlled to an extent we find difficult to understand by his government and by the officers who exert his government's authority... The Jap went into the war with an air corps skimmed from the top of his population... Our best pilots, too, were taken off the top of our population. They were college boys of high intelligence and perfect physique. The Japs had good pilots, but now they are dead. Many of our best pilots died killing them."