Friday, March 13 2009 10:32 PM EDT2009-03-14 02:32:58 GMT
Three fourths of the B-24 crews in Charley Duecker's group had been shot down by the time WWII ended, but in spite of near misses, Duecker made it through alive.More >>
Among the eight of them, the Mason brothers have served in the U.S. military a total of ninety two years. James Mason says it's not so much a family tradition as it is "just doing their duty". More >>
Charles Pappas, not only fought in World War Two, as a member of the first occupation force in Japan, he was able to see first hand the devastation that atomic bombs had left in that country.More >>
Oral Bowman was aboard the U.S.S. Ramapo on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese Imperial Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor. His ship was tied up near Battleship Row where Japanese bombs and torpedoes sank four U.S. Battleships and damaged four more. More >>
Tom Bynum felt he was lucky to have survived World War Two's "Battle of the Bulge". But when he went to war in Korea, it seemed, for a very long time, that his luck had run out.More >>
It's been over sixty years since Edgar Terrell last wore his Naval uniform, years in which he finished his education, married, raised a family and pastored churches in Oklahoma and Texas. But from 1943More >>
Ray Jackson says he wrote his book about the Vietnam War "to help families realize that their loved ones didn't die in vain and that they were true heroes. "Military Police Protection In Southeast Asia" has been a book in progress since 1986, but the material goes back to July 4th, 1968 when Ray Jackson arrived in Vietnam.More >>
Charles Finlayson was only twenty when he arrived in Europe to pilot his B-17 on some of the most important missions of World War Two. Finlayson flew 27 missions and although he was hit many times, he only had to crash land his plane once.More >>
Floyd Pendarvis joined the Army in 1958 to make enough money to marry his sweetheart Glenda. Within a week of arriving in Korea, Pendarvis was taken prisoner and spent the next 37 months as a POW.More >>
Will Hadden has been known as a prominent attorney and as a country western singer. But during World War Two he was known for his courage and daring.More >>
Close to three hundred thousand Americans lost thier lives fighting for our country in World War Two. Gore Kemp of Kilgore likes to say he survived "because his mother prayed at just the right times."More >>
Some people may not believe in miracles, but Charlie Jackson of Athens does. It was a miracle that saved his life during World War Two. After 64 successful bombing missions as a waist gunner on a B26, Jackson's plane crashed on his 25th mission soon after takeoff in France. More >>
At the age of 87, Elmo Hunt still takes center stage with "The Sundown Pickers" in Gilmer and Pittsburg Thursday and Friday nights. But in June of 1944, Hunt was storming the beaches of Normandy with a rifle instead of guitar.More >>
Walter Henry fought in the early battles of World War Two without getting a scrath. But a land mine on a special mission almost cost him his life.More >>
For two thousand ten days, longer than the entirety of World War Two, Charlie Stackhouse was a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. Shot down during his second tour of duty April 25, 1967, Naval Pilot Stackhouse was shot down during a mission over North Vietnam.More >>
John Green, Pastor of Lake Athens Baptist Church, was in combat in Vietnam from December of 1967 until December of 1968. But it wasn't a gun Green used as a weapon, it was the Bible.More >>
When Ed McCaa went into the Navy at the age of 17, little did he dream that by the time he reached his 21st birthday, he would have survived some of the major battles of the Pacific and the sinking of his ship. More >>
Emmitt Hendricks had never even seen an ocean or been on a ship when he went into the Navy in January of 1945. Before the year ended, he had been all the way to Japan.More >>
When State Representative Leo Berman was drafted into the Army in 1954, he never dreamed that 22 years later he would retire from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel. At the top of his Officer training SchoolMore >>
Gene Browning survived 35 bombing missions over enemy territory in World War Two. His crew of ten was to fly in seven different B-17's that were so mangled by bullets and flak, they had to be scrapped. More >>
At the age of 84, Orville Hurley remembers every detail of a fierce battle fought 64 years ago; the Company Commander lost at the beginning of the battle, the young father killed just after receiving news of his new son, the heroism of so many, and the devastation of war.More >>
When Doil Maxwell went into the Navy in 1943, he expected to fight World War Two from a ship. Instead he was destined to "fly above the angry sea."More >>
George Tyler says he joined the Marine Corps in 1940 to "help his country and to find adventure". He soon found more adventure than he had bargained for.More >>
Arp Elementary School is thousands of miles from Bolad Air Force Base in Iraq, but it's evident that the kids here appreciate thier country and its military. More >>
Ben Ferrell hadn't planned to make a career of the Marine Corps when he joined right out of Baylor Law School in 1951, but after two tours of duty in Vietnam and thirty years in the Marines, he credits the Corps with his success in life. More >>
Dietra Brown had dreamed as a child of serving in the Armed Forces. But at the age of 39, just short of the age limit, she surprised everyone by joining the Army. More >>
It's been sixty years since Kenneth Johnson of Hawkinswent into the U.S. Army during World War Two. Although he avoided being wounded, the war left its' mark on Johnson in many ways. More >>
Lester Wood joined the Army Air Corps in 1942, just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. From 1943 until the end of World War Two, Wood flew forty-one dangerous combat missions as the Allies inched their way across the Pacific, retaking Japanese held land.More >>
In World War two Frank Goodson was a night fighter pilot, flying his Hellcat off the Carrier the U.S.S. Enterprise, the most decorated ship in the war. More >>
When George Blackburn volunteered for "hazardous duty" in the Navy during World War Two, he didn't realize he was voluntering to beome one of only 3,000 Original Navy Frogmen to pave the way for victory in the Pacific. More >>
Mike Jenkins joined the Marine Corps in 1960 and after volunteering seven times for Vietnam, he was finally sent there as an advisor. Out of twelve hundred men to walk into a Viet Cong ambush, Jenkins was one of four hundrd to walk out.More >>
Gene Davidson joined the Navy in 1942 and by the time the war was over had fought in almost every major World War Two battle in th South Pacific.More >>
Billy Stokes was barely eighteen when he went into the Army in 1943. He was to grow up fast in battle. Stokes and his C Company landed on Normandy Beach in September of 1944. More >>
George McMichaels was nineteen when he went into the Army in 1950.
Before the year was out, he was dodging bullets and mortar fire in Korea. McMichaels says there wasn't a day there that someone wasn't firing at him. More >>
George Rook was married with a three year old son when he went into the Marine Corps in 1944. Assigned to the Military Combat Police, Rook was sent to various places in the Pacific, including the invasion of Okinowa.More >>
Bob Romines was drafted into the Army just nine hours short of completing his degree at Stephen F. Austin University. He arrived in Vietnam in 1968, during the last part of the Tet Offensive. More >>
Wilbur Tomlin can trace his family's military service to our country back to th American Revolution. But it would be hard to any of their stories to compare to Tomlin's experiences in World War Two.More >>
Just imagine trying to survive for an entire week in a life raft surrounded by an angry ocean and hungry sharks. That was what East Texan Budd Jepson faced when his plane went down in the Pacific, November 6, 1944.More >>
