WWII

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He Almost Fired on 3 Kids in WWII. Now, a Joyous Reunion

'My heart is bursting,' says American vet Martin Adler, 97

(Newser) - Martin Adler still has nightmares about his experience in World War II. But there are happy memories, too, like that day in October 1944 when he posed for a photo with three Italian children he'd nearly killed. Adler, then a 20-year-old private, had been searching the village of Monterenzio...

Man Who Kept Nazi-Era Tank in Basement Finds Out His Fate

It's a fine of $300K, plus a suspended 14-month prison sentence for German senior

(Newser) - In took 20 soldiers nearly nine hours to extract a Nazi-era military tank from an elderly German man's basement in 2015, just one of the many eyebrow-raising items found in his Heikendorf home. The man was also in possession of an anti-aircraft gun, a torpedo, machine guns and assault...

Palace Where Enigma Codes Were Cracked to Return to Life

The Nazis destroyed the Saski Palace in 1944

(Newser) - Poland is reviving plans to reconstruct a historic Warsaw palace where the German Enigma machine codes were first cracked in 1932 and that Nazi German occupying forces blew up in 1944. In a ceremony Wednesday at the site where the Saski Palace stood, President Andrzej Duda handed a law drafted...

He Was Taking Off on Suicide Mission When the War Ended

Kamikaze pilot Kazuo Odachi is telling his story

(Newser) - He's a 93-year-old former fighter pilot for Japan, but Kazuo Odachi has one more highly unusual entry on his military resume. He was a kamikaze pilot and thus not supposed to survive World War II. But as the New York Times explains, Odachi did indeed survive and has begun...

Some Carried 'Own Eyeballs in Their Hands' in Hiroshima

The world, media reflect on the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb

(Newser) - Its code name was "Little Boy," but its impact was anything but small. Thursday marks the 75th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. By the end of that year, 140,000 deaths—mostly of civilians—were tied to the...

Japan Has Big Issue With Statue of a Kneeling Man

Tokyo questions whether bronze figure in South Korean garden represents Shinzo Abe

(Newser) - A pair of new statues in South Korea of a man kneeling in front of a girl symbolizing a victim of sexual slavery by Japan's wartime military is the latest subject of diplomatic sensitivity between the countries, with Tokyo's government spokesperson questioning whether the male figure represents the...

A Legendary Voice From WWII Is Dead
A Legendary
Voice From
WWII Is Dead
OBITUARY
Jun 18, 2020 12:13 PM CDT

A Legendary Voice From WWII Is Dead

British singer Vera Lynn, known for such wartime hits as 'We'll Meet Again,' dies at age 103

(Newser) - A legendary voice from World War II has been silenced. A statement from the family of Dame Vera Lynn says they are "deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain's best-loved entertainers" on Thursday morning in Ditchling, East Sussex, "surrounded by her close family."...

In Berlin, New May Holiday Sends 'Unmistakable Message'

City makes May 8 a public holiday to commemorate end of WWII, Nazi rule

(Newser) - The US and Britain recognize May 8 as a special date—and now Berlin is joining them, even going so far as to make it a public holiday. Victory in Europe Day commemorates May 8, 1945, the day when German troops surrendered to the Soviets, effectively ending World War II....

This Is the Deepest Shipwreck Ever Found
More Than 20K Feet
Deep, a Major Find
in case you missed it
Nov 9, 2019 12:14 PM CST

More Than 20K Feet Deep, a Major Find

WWII destroyer believed to be USS Johnston found in Philippine Sea, the deepest shipwreck ever

(Newser) - It's the deepest shipwreck ever found—one caked in US history. Experts aboard the Research Vessel Petrel believe they've found the wreck of the USS Johnston some 20,400 feet, or nearly 4 miles, below the waves of the Philippine Sea, where it came to rest in the...

Cousins Who Believed Each Other Dead for Decades Reunite

They were separated during the Holocaust and only recently found each other again

(Newser) - Morris Sana and Simon Mairowitz grew up together, cousins and best friends, in Romania—until the Nazis invaded in 1940. The boys, both Jewish, were forced to flee the country with their families and were separated. For decades, each believed the other had been killed in a concentration camp during...

Family of &#39;Sweden&#39;s Schindler&#39; Wants Answers
Family of
'Sweden's Schindler'
Wants Answers
in case you missed it
Sep 28, 2019 11:00 AM CDT

Family of 'Sweden's Schindler' Wants Answers

Nearly 75 years after he disappeared, Raoul Wallenberg's family is still in the dark

(Newser) - Raoul Wallenberg is called "Sweden's Schindler," and is thought to have saved as many as 30,000 Hungarian Jews during World War II—and his family has no idea when or how he died. This week, some of his descendants are traveling to Stockholm to demand the...

Diary of 'Polish Anne Frank' Emerges After 70 Years in Vault

Heartbreaking journal from Jewish teen Renia Spiegel will be published on Sept. 24

(Newser) - When Renia Spiegel was 15, she started keeping a diary. Now, 70 years later, the journal from the girl some call the "Polish Anne Frank" is set to be published. Per NBC News , Renia's Diary: a Holocaust Journal will be out Sept. 24 after decades stashed in a...

History Is Tainted by &#39;National Narcissism&#39;
History Is Tainted by
'National Narcissism'
NEW STUDY
Aug 20, 2019 10:15 AM CDT

History Is Tainted by 'National Narcissism'

Russians, Brits, Americans all claim more than 50% of effort in WWII

(Newser) - We may be deceiving ourselves in teaching history born from "national narcissism," per a new study . "People are highly ethnocentric in viewing their own nation's influence, even in remembering the (nominally) same event: World War II," say researchers from Washington University in St. Louis. They...

What the PM Kept Japan's Wartime Emperor From Saying

A passage was cut from a speech Hirohito gave in May 1952

(Newser) - The substance of a passage that was deleted from a May 3, 1952, speech has finally come to light. The Wall Street Journal reports that Japan regained its independence following WWII in April of that year, and on May 3, then-Emperor Hirohito was to give a speech marking the event....

Bodies of 30 US Troops Found on Pacific Atoll

They died during bloody Battle of Tarawa

(Newser) - In three days of bitter fighting on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa in November 1943, as many Americans died as were killed in the first 10 years of the war in Afghanistan. Now, more than 75 years later, some of those men are finally coming home. The BBC reports that...

Why a 90-Year-Old Is Beating Taylor Swift on the Charts

Jim Radford's D-Day memorial song has been re-released

(Newser) - A 90-year-old is currently beating Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Ed Sheeran on Amazon UK's singles chart—but not just any 90-year-old, a D-Day veteran who's out with a tribute to that fateful day in 1944. Jim Radford was just 15 during World War II's D-Day landings—...

He Famously Grabbed Blanket, Threw Himself on a Grenade
Man Who Represents the
'Best of America' Has Died
obituary
May 14, 2019 2:34 PM CDT

Man Who Represents the 'Best of America' Has Died

Nation's oldest Medal of Honor recipient dead at 98

(Newser) - World War II veteran Bob Maxwell, the nation's oldest Medal of Honor recipient, died Saturday in Bend, Oregon, more than seven decades after grabbing a blanket and throwing himself on a German hand grenade in France to save his squad mates. He was 98. The death was confirmed Monday...

In a 16-Inch Coffin, the Grim Remains of WWII

Tissue samples from executed prisoners were found in 2016

(Newser) - The coffin that was buried in Berlin on Monday measured only 16 inches long. Inside were more than 300 pieces of human tissue, the majority of which measured about 0.2 inches square. The AP reports they're the microscopic remains of some of the more than 2,800 people...

Soldiers Gunned Them Down in the Sea. There Was Another Secret
Lone Survivor of
WWII Massacre
Kept Another
Dark Secret
in case you missed it
Apr 13, 2019 9:02 AM CDT

Lone Survivor of WWII Massacre Kept Another Dark Secret

'History detective' reveals Aussie nurses were raped before being killed by Japanese troops

(Newser) - Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of a horrific World War II massacre, in which 21 of her fellow Australian army nurses were forced into the ocean and machine-gunned by Japanese troops on Indonesia's Bangka Island. Now, "history detective" Lynette Silver has added another terrible piece to the...

Sailor in Iconic Times Square Kiss Photo Dead at 95

George Mendonsa kissed Greta Zimmer Friedman on V-J Day

(Newser) - The ecstatic sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died, the AP reports. George Mendonsa died two days before his 96th birthday. Mendonsa's daughter, Sharon Molleur, told the Providence Journal Mendonsa fell and had a seizure Sunday at the assisted...

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