News and Views from the Empire State
During the Civil War personal identification of soldiers killed and severely wounded in combat was daunting, because of inadequate record keeping in both the Union and the Confederate armies.
An early attempt to ID them was called “name discs” or “soldier pins,” but these met with limited success. Historians estimate that 50% of those killed in the Civil War were simply marked unknown. [Read more…] about To Identify The Dead: World War Two Student ‘Dog Tags’
In the 1990s I would visit Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks (AfPA) vice president and archivist Paul Schaefer (1908-1996) at his home in Niskayuna to learn as much as I could from him about wilderness preservation.
After he died, Paul was named one of the 100 top conservationists in the United States by Audubon magazine. I was the executive director of the AfPA and learned a great deal from Paul during the last decade of his life. [Read more…] about Cutting The Scotia Runway: An Adirondack Conservationist During The War
This week on The Historians Podcast, Kathryn Smith. a journalist from South Carolina, discusses her book Gertie: The Fabulous Life of Gertrude Sanford Legendre, Heiress, Explorer, Socialite, Spy.
Legendre was descended from the Amsterdam, New York, Sanfords who made a fortune in the carpet industry. [Read more…] about Gertrude Sanford Legendre: Heiress, Explorer, Socialite, Spy
This week on The Historians Podcast, the guest is World War II historian Sinclair McKay of the United Kingdom who is author of The Fire and the Darkness: The Bombing of Dresden, 1945. The book also details the rebuilding of Dresden, which was located in Communist East Germany after the war. [Read more…] about The Bombing of Dresden, Germany (Podcast)
Unmanned aircraft have a history dating back to the years before the Second World War. The recent discovery of a naval officer’s dog tags revealed the little-known story of a top-secret drone squadron that flew missions against the Japanese in the South Pacific during the Second World War. The effort to return the dog tags to the officer’s family uncovered personal photographs and films, as well as a mystery of three missing-in-action pilots and a surprising coincidence. [Read more…] about US Navy’s Secret Drone Project in WWII Talk Set
This week’s guest on The Historians Podcast is Gloversville Leader Herald history columnist Peter Betz with a story about blackouts during World War II plus the tale of W.C. Porter, the absconding drummer and the story of a convicted man who convinced a friend to go to jail in his place. [Read more…] about World War II Blackouts in Fulton County
The word Adirondack calls to mind many things — natural beauty, family playground, sporting opportunities, colorful history — but nothing so dark as prisoner-of-war host.
Yet during the last world war (let’s hope it was the last), followers of Hitler and Mussolini populated the North Country. [Read more…] about Adirondack World War 2 POW Labor Camps
This week’s guest on The Historians Podcast is Marty Brounstein, author of Two Among the Righteous Few: A Story of Courage in the Holocaust. The book tells the story of Frans and Mien Wijnakker, two Dutch Christians who sheltered Dutch Jews in World War II. [Read more…] about A Story from the Holocaust in Holland
Among the finest Christmas seasons in America’s long history took place in 1945. We’re constantly bombarded with how special the holidays are, so it’s tough for any one year to stand out as extra special, but 1945 makes the list.
Events across the Adirondacks that year epitomized the nation’s attitude. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all about celebrating, even though the most destructive war in history had just ended a few months earlier. We often mumble mindlessly that we’re proud to be Americans. But the first post-World War II Christmas was the real deal, worthy of the word “pride.” [Read more…] about Remembering The Christmas of 1945 in Northern NY
The ranks of the 10th Mountain Division during World War Two were filled by men who in civilian life were already proficient in skiing and mountaineering.
They were shipped to the Italian front and their actions in the Apennine Mountains and the Alps led to the German surrender in Italy on May 2, 1945. The division was disbanded in late 1945, but reestablished in the 1980s, and is based today at Fort Drum, in Watertown, New York. [Read more…] about 10th Mtn Division in World War II Talk in Utica