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Diary of Captain Alfred A. Cunningham - part 2

Friday, December 14, 1917
Grand Hotel, Paris, France
Got up at 9 a.m. Went to see if my kodak pictures were finished. They were not. Tried to find the Spad factory until late in afternoon. Did not find it. Every place I was told it was turned out to be the wrong place. Will try again some other day. I have been bitterly disappointed so many times at the Embassy that I dreaded to go there and ask for mail.

9655 Reads

The First Gas Attack

It was Thursday evening, April 22nd, 1915. In a meadow off the Poperinghe-Ypres road, the men of the Queen Victoria Rifles were taking their ease. We had just fought our first big action in the fight for Hill 60. We had had a gruelling time, and had left many of our comrades on its slopes. We survivors were utterly spent and weary; but we felt in good heart, for only an hour ago we had been personally congratulated by Sir John French, also the Army Commander, General Smith-Dorrien.

Note: by Anthony R. Hossack, Queen Victoria Rifles 9512 Reads

June 28th 1967 The Arrival

At the very end of June 1967 we arrived at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam. From there we took a bus ride to Camp Alpha. The bus ride was a bit odd. There was barbed wire on the opened windows. Someone asked the driver, “Why the barbed wire?” We were told that sometimes the V.C. liked to throw hand grenades into any American bus and the wire was a preventative measure.

Note: by Thomas Andrzejczyk, Co. "C" 4th/23 Mech Infantry, 25th Division 12260 Reads

USS UTAH at Pearl Harbor

I had just had breakfast and was looking out a porthole in sick bay when someone said, "What the hell are all those planes doing up there on a Sunday? " Someone else said, "It must be those crazy Marines. They'd be the only ones out maneuvering on a Sunday." When I looked up in the sky I saw five or six planes starting their descent. Then when the first bombs dropped on the hangers at Ford Island, I thought, "Those guys are missing us by a mile." Inasmuch as practice bombing was a daily occurrence to us, it was not too unusual for planes to drop bombs, but the time and place were quite out of line.

Note: by Pharmacist's Mate Second Class Lee Soucy, USS UTAH 19291 Reads

An Account of the Battle of Queenston

Brown’s Point, October 14, 1812

The affair of yesterday terminated so gloriously for this province, and does so much honour to its spirited defenders, that I hasten to give an account to you, whom I know to be most warmly interested in the present cause of our country.

Note: By Lieutenant John Beverley Robinson of the 3rd Regiment of York Militia (Flank Company). 10331 Reads

High Adventure

It was on a cool, starlit evening, early in September, 1916, that I first met Drew of Massachusetts, and actually began my adventures as a prospective member of the Escadrille Americaine. We had sailed from New York by the same boat, had made our applications for enlistment in the Foreign Legion on the same day, without being aware of each other's existence; and in Paris, while waiting for our papers, we had gone, every evening, for dinner, to the same large and gloomy-looking restaurant in the neighborhood of the Seine.

Note: by James Hall, Lafayette Escadrille, 94th pursuit squadron 13269 Reads

Time Stood Still

The tropical night was noisy with insects buzzing and other animals adding to the overall hum typical of Vietnam. The air was suffocating humid, and ground fog was obscuring the perimeter of the big engineer compound in The Central Highlands. It was the winter monsoon and the sky covered by low heavy clouds -- ideal conditions for an enemy attack.

Note: by SP/4 Lawrence Pichulo 10041 Reads

Heavens Door

As a member of the 377th Combat Security Police at Tan Son Nhut, Viet Nam, during Tet 1968, I worked a bunker several towers down from the 051 Bunker at Gate 051. Tan Son Nhut gates were numbered, 051, 055, 057, etceteras. It's Tet '68, and my combat experience was zip, and Charlie wanted to kick-ass right into my bunker.

Note: by Den Cook 9846 Reads

Buried Alive

I have been through a most thrilling experience - one I shall never forget all my life. We had been strafing the enemy for some days, our artillery pounding them all along the line. Suddenly, at 4.53 o'clock on Sunday morning last the order came to charge. We went over the parapet - the whole brigade, save one battalion. Our artillery fire lifted, and our boys calmly walked over to the opposing trenches, a barrage of fire being put behind the lines.

Note: by Sgt Harvey Gale 8682 Reads

AFOAT- 2 discovered USSR's first A-bomb was US Mark VI

Shortly after the end of WWII the US Air force established a group called AFOAT-ONE that flew regular air sampling flights around the periphery of the Soviet Union. I understand their mission was to pinpoint the site of plutonium production and more importantly the rate of production of Pu.

12122 Reads

Going to War

When the Iraq War started, I was assigned to a logistics unit at Fort Drum, serving as a battalion operations officer. From as early as September 2002, in light of the new crisis with Saddam, I knew we might deploy. After months of speculation, those deployment orders officially were published in February 2003.

Note: by Captain Andrew DeKever 11222 Reads

The Battles for Kettle and San Juan Hills

The most serious loss that I and the regiment could have suffered befell just before we charged. Bucky O'Neill was strolling up and down in front of his men, smoking his cigarette, for he was inveterately addicted to the habit. He had a theory that an officer ought never to take cover - a theory which was, of course, wrong, though in a volunteer organization the officers should certainly expose themselves very fully, simply for the effect on the men; our regimental toast on the transport running, " The officers; may the war last until each is killed, wounded, or promoted."

Note: by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Riders,(1st United States Volunteer Infantry). 9307 Reads

Journal, Landing Craft Infantry 226

July 18 (1944) Came in to Bostrem Bay early this morning. - I am now on another L.C.I. the 228, waiting to be stationed on L.C.I. 226 which is not in Bay yet. These are the older type L.C.I. They have all seen plenty of action. This is our home base all amphib called "Alixhaven" "Madang" the hardest fought Jap air field is only a few miles away.These bases were captured from Japs about four months ago.

Note: by Arden Lee Hunt, signalman, LCI 226 17141 Reads

Memoirs of Wesley C. Reading

September 25, 1943 was an unforgettable day. It was the day I received my notice to appear at the county court house in Hyattsville, Maryland for my induction into the army. And from there the other inductees and I were taken by bus to Fort Meade, Maryland where we were given uniforms and clothing.

10108 Reads

LRRP Extraction

I was flying a UH-1 D for the 187th Assault Helicopter Company, the Blackhawks out of Tay Ninh, Vietnam in 1967. Sleep never comes easy in Vietnam, the artillery shoots H&I (harassment and interdiction) fire all night, every time one of the 8 inch guns went off, a small amount of the dust, collected from the dry season would fall off the tent roof and drift to the floor. It was the monsoon season and the cool rain had put me right to sleep.

Note: by Wayne R. "Crash" Coe, Hotel-3 Blackhawk 54, 187th Assault Helicopter Company, 67-8. 11218 Reads

Should the U.S. be paying other countries to do their part in the war on terrorism?