The National WW II Museum in New Orleans is home to about 250,000 artifacts, including more than 100,000 photographs ranging from battlefield pictures captured by military and press photographers to individual albums full of wartime snapshots donated by veterans and their families. [Read more…] about Mechanicville’s WWII & Korean War Veterans Photo Collection
Marine Corps
The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800–1805
When the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776, American merchants faced a major problem: They could no longer rely on the protection of the British Royal Navy. In the Mediterranean, American merchants were targeted by corsairs from the Barbary States ― Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the Sultanate of Morocco – who robbed, kidnapped and enslaved American sailors.
While most European countries made treaties to circumvent this predation, this option was fiscally untenable for the young nation, and on May 14, 1801, the Ottoman Tripolitania declared war on the United States in what is now known as the First Barbary War. [Read more…] about The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800–1805
World War II Oral Histories at the National Archives
The National Archives record series World War II Oral Histories, Interviews and Statements, ca. April 1942–ca. December 1946 has been a transcription mission for the last few months where Citizen Archivists have transcribed more than 6,800 pages. Each transcribed word is now searchable in the catalog, and their stories even more accessible to the public. [Read more…] about World War II Oral Histories at the National Archives
First to the Front: The Life of Dickey Chapelle
This week on the Historians Podcast Lorissa Rinehart talks about her biography of female photojournalist and war correspondent Dickey Chapelle, First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent (St. Martin’s Press, 2023). [Read more…] about First to the Front: The Life of Dickey Chapelle
Washington’s Marines: Origins of the Corps, 1775-1777
The book Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775-1777 (Savas Beatie, 2023) by Major General Jason Q. Bohm USMC takes a look at the United States Marines Corps’ beginnings and what it achieved during the early years of the American Revolution. [Read more…] about Washington’s Marines: Origins of the Corps, 1775-1777
The Saratoga County Family That Lost 2 Of 6 Sons During WWII
On July 1, 1944, as the Second World War raged in Europe and the Pacific, a Western Union telegram arrived at the Saratoga Springs home of Aurora Asheych notifying her of the death in combat of her 21-year-old son, U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Joseph Leonard Gagnon. Two months later, she received word that another son, Army Pvt. Victor Francis Gaynor, 19, was reported killed in action in France. Earlier that year, all six of Aurora’s sons were in the military. [Read more…] about The Saratoga County Family That Lost 2 Of 6 Sons During WWII