This Indigenous Hero Won the Military Cross For Valor. His Son Would Star In The Lone Ranger
Alexander Smith's valor in World War I earned him the Military Cross. His son later became famous as Tonto to Clayton Moore’s Lone Ranger
How CIA and Special Forces Tested Counterinsurgency Strategy in Vietnam’s Central Highlands
In 1961, the CIA’s clandestine Combined Studies Group, along with U.S. Special Forces, began experimenting with a program to organize a group of Vietnam's Highland tribes known collectively as “Montagnards”
Yank Magazine Created A Unique Record of American Soldiers’ Roles in World War II
From June 1942 through 1945 frontline American soldiers filed stories and photographed World War II and its aftermath for a select readership—themselves
Horrors Spawned More Horrors When American Troops Entered Dachau
Was the execution of German guards at the infamous concentration camp a war crime, a reaction to trauma, or vigilante justice?
A Bloody Assault on Angaur Island Proved the Folly of “Mopping Up” Operations
In late 1944, a now-forgotten battle led to some of the Pacific War's most doomed and wasteful clashes against the Japanese.
60 Years Ago, The First U.S. Soldier Was Killed in Ground Combat in Vietnam
Spc. 4 James T. Davis lost his life tracking down an enemy signal in Vietnam
John Muir’s Nearly Fatal Summit of Mount Shasta
Caught in a Mount Shasta blizzard, the Scottish-born mountaineer and a companion resorted to extraordinary measures
Kars Fortress Stands As a Monument to a Turbulent Past
For centuries Armenian residents of the Transcaucasian stronghold of Kars watched invaders come and go—until its final betrayal
The Famed American Aviatrix Secretly on the Nazi Payroll
As World War II neared, Laura Ingalls took to the skies in the name of U.S. isolationism—and in support of Nazi Germany.
McArthur’s Gamble: The Bold 1814 American Raid Into Canada
Amid the War of 1812 an American general eager to strike a blow against the British mounted a risky raid deep into western Upper Canada
A Closer Look at North Vietnam’s D-74 122 mm Field Gun
The 122 mm D-74, a towed gun that entered Soviet service in 1955, was the most numerous gun in the NVA’s five independent artillery regiments
How John Steinbeck Inspired the Resistance in WWII
One of John Steinbeck’s lesser-known works, The Moon Is Down, was among the most effective pieces of wartime propaganda ever written
They Shoot Cowboys, Don’t They? Earps Take on Biggest Gang in Arizona
The outlaw band known as the Cowboys operated freely in Arizona Territory—until the Earp brothers and a friend named ‘Doc’ called their bluff
Rock ’n Roll ’n Race: A Fresh Look at the Keystone of the Elvis Presley Legend
A contrarian look at the influences underpinning the famed rock star from Tupelo, Mississippi.
Dún Nechtain: The Celtic Victory that Shaped Scotland
In 685, the Picts clashed with Angles in a fight that some historians believe forged the roots of present-day Scotland
Himmler’s ‘Temple’: How the SS Stole a Cathedral and Used It as a Nazi Worship Site
Himmler hunted for a missing royal skeleton, held ghostly candlelit ceremonies in a crypt and transformed a medieval church into a temple of Nazi terror
