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American History and Heroes
70 posts, newest first (page 2 of 3).
Five Medal of Honor Citations Read Closely and What Each One Asks of UsFive citations in flat military prose, from Fort Wagner to the Korengal Valley, read closely for what each act asks of the citizens it protected. Valley Forge, Bastogne and Chosin as Three Winters That Tested AmericansThree winters 173 years apart tested American soldiers by cold, hunger and isolation, and a side-by-side table shows what they had in common. The Home Front Built Ships in Days and Became the Arsenal of DemocracyAmerican industry out-produced every enemy in World War II, and the figures show what free enterprise can do when mobilized, controls and rationing included. Desmond Doss Refused to Carry a Rifle and Saved About 75 Men on OkinawaA Seventh-day Adventist medic who would not carry a weapon became the first conscientious objector to earn the Medal of Honor. The Four Chaplains Gave Away Their Life Jackets When the Dorchester Went DownFour chaplains of four faiths gave their life jackets to frightened soldiers and went down praying together, and the country honored them with a medal. The Navajo Code Talkers Built an Unbreakable Code From Their Own LanguageTwenty-nine Navajo Marines built a spoken code in 1942 that Japan never broke, and the nation kept their service secret for decades before honoring it. Iwo Jima in Thirty-Six Days and the Two Flag Raisings on Mount SuribachiThe famous photograph shows the second flag raised on February 23, 1945, and the full story of the battle and the men in it is larger and truer than the image. D-Day Was Won by Sergeants and Privates When the Plan Fell Apart on the BeachesOn June 6, 1944 the plan failed in a hundred places and small groups of Americans improvised their way off the beaches, which is what a free army is for. Midway and the Codebreakers Who Let the Navy Set an AmbushAt Midway in June 1942 the Navy sank four Japanese carriers because a basement of codebreakers told Admiral Nimitz where to wait, and brave pilots did the rest. The Doolittle Raid Hit Tokyo Four Months After Pearl Harbor From a Carrier DeckOn April 18, 1942, sixteen Army bombers flew off a Navy carrier to hit Japan, a feat never tried in combat, and it shifted the Pacific war. Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 Hour by Hour From Radar Blip to DeclarationA timed account of Pearl Harbor from the first sub contact to the declaration of war, with the warnings missed, the courage shown and the vote that answered. The Harlem Hellfighters Spent 191 Days Under Fire and Came Home HeroesHanded to the French because the army would not use it, a Black New York regiment fought 191 days in 1918 and marched up Fifth Avenue to a hero's welcome. Sergeant York Captured 132 Germans in the Argonne and Went Home to TennesseeAlvin York asked the Army to excuse him from killing, was refused, ended a machine-gun ambush on October 8, 1918, then turned down fame and built a school. Irving Berlin Came Through Ellis Island and Wrote God Bless AmericaA boy who arrived from Russia in 1893 became America's great songwriter, gave the country an unofficial anthem, and gave the royalties to the Scouts. The Statue of Liberty Was Built on a Pedestal Paid for by Small DonorsFrance gave the statue, but Americans had to build the base, and more than 120,000 small donors answered a newspaper campaign to finish it in 1886. Ellis Island Asked Twelve Million Newcomers to Become Americans and They DidEllis Island processed about twelve million people from 1892 to 1954, and its line, sponsors, night schools and oath all expected newcomers to become Americans. Henry Ford's Five-Dollar Day and the Assembly Line That Built a Middle ClassFord turned the car into a worker's tool and then doubled pay to keep his workers, a lesson in productivity and wages with the stain on his record told plainly. Andrew Carnegie Went From Bobbin Boy to Steel King and Then Gave It AwayA Scottish immigrant who started at $1.20 a week built the world's largest steel company, then gave his fortune away on principle, with Homestead on the record. Two Railroads Across America and the One James J. Hill Built Without Land GrantsThe first transcontinental took federal bonds and land and ended in scandal, while Hill's Great Northern took neither and survived the panic that broke rivals. Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Was the First Invention Factory and It Changed WorkEdison's real invention was the research laboratory, and Menlo Park shows how private capital, teamwork and honest failure built the modern economy. Bicycle Mechanics From Dayton Beat the Government-Funded Langley Into the AirTwo Ohio bicycle makers with no degrees and no subsidy flew at Kitty Hawk nine days after a War Department-funded aircraft fell into the Potomac. Robert Smalls Took a Confederate Ship and Sailed His Family to FreedomThe story of an enslaved pilot who steered a Confederate steamer past Charleston's forts in 1862 and then built a public career that outlasted the war. Reconstruction's Promise and the Freedmen Who Built Schools, Churches and TownsFreed people built schools, churches and self-governing towns at astonishing speed after 1865, and that promise deserves as much attention as its betrayal. Appomattox and the Generous Surrender Terms That Began to Heal a NationGrant's terms at Appomattox ended a war without starting a feud, and they show what magnanimity in victory can and cannot do.
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