These twin brothers served in three wars
In November 1942, Cuthbert “Bill” Pattillo and Charles “Buck” Pattillo of Atlanta, Georgia enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force. The twin brothers, born just seven minutes apart, completed the…
WWII 101st Airborne veteran Jim “Pee Wee” Martin dies at 101
Jim “Pee Wee” Martin made headlines in 2021 when he celebrated his 100th birthday with a jump fest. The WWII veteran was an original Toccoa paratrooper, having served in G…
How a civilian aircraft in distress set a world glider record
Air Transat Flight 236 was on its routine route from Toronto, bound for Lisbon, Portugal. It was a day like any other for the experienced crew – at least it started off like a normal day. By the end of it, 306 people would be saved from extreme da…
Why this Medal of Honor recipient fought his home owners association
Every day, retired Col. Van T. Barfoot treated the American flag with the respect accorded to it by tradition and by the U.S. flag code. He raised the flag to the top of the 21-foot flagpole in his front yard every morning and took it down again –…
Why the real Forrest Gump was far more impressive
It’s a touching scene that even the most stoic of us will get choked up over. The titular character runs into enemy fire to save his brothers-in-arms. Without hesitation, he carries each wounded soldier to safety — all while being severely wounde…
Today in military history: Medal of Honor is created
On July 12, 1862, the Medal of Honor was created. Congress first introduced a “certificate of merit” in 1847, to be presented by the President when quote “a private soldier…
This is the cop who inspired ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘Bullitt’
Few cinematic crime fighters are more revered than Inspector Harry Callahan, from Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film, Dirty Harry. Before that, it might have been Frank Bullitt, as portrayed by Steve McQueen in 1968’s Bullitt. Both movie…
This is how ‘Ripley at the Bridge’ became a Marine Corps legend
It’s impossible to describe John Ripley’s most famous action in a single headline. This Marine dangled from the Dong Ha Bridge for some three hours as North Vietnamese soldiers took potshots at him. He took his time attaching 500 pounds of explosi…
This is why the rank of General of the Armies was only given twice in US history
General of the Armies is a rank so high up in the strata of power that only two people in the history of the United States have ever attained it. Keep in mind: This is not General of the Army, it’s plural — all the Armies
5 lesser-known facts about the most decorated soldier in American history
No other soldier in American history has ever come close to earning the level of respect dutifully given to Lieutenant Audie Murphy. To date, no other soldier has managed to earn every single award for valor — including the Medal of Honor, two Sil…