WWII

Stories 121 - 140 | << Prev   Next >>

One of America's Most Toxic Places: a Town Called Picher

Only 3 residents remain

(Newser) - The former lead and zinc mining boomtown of Picher, Okla., has seen better days. It swelled to some 14,000 residents when bullet demand rose during both World War I and II, with Wired reporting previously that "most" of the lead found in bullets used by America during those...

How 2 Nazi POWs Escaped Into the Wilds of Minnesota

They were among 13 who escaped in Minnesota during WWII

(Newser) - Nazi Cpl. Heinz Schymalla, 22, and fellow captive Walter Mai, 21, were among some 200 Germans cutting timber for Minnesota's pulp industry in a prisoner-of-war camp in 1944. Both captured in Tunisia in May 1943, they gained momentary notoriety when, moved to act in part by news that Schymalla'...

WWII Tank Crushes Man at Jelly Belly Chief's Home

Herman Rowland's son-in-law had permission to drive tank

(Newser) - A 54-year-old man was killed after being run over by a World War II-era tank over the weekend, but he wasn't on any kind of battlefield. Kevin Wright was attending a family reunion at the Fairfield, Calif., home of Jelly Belly Chairman Herman Rowland Sr. on Saturday when he...

Man, 80, Sets Self on Fire Over WWII Brothels

He had joined protesters demanding apology from Japan for 'comfort women'

(Newser) - For more than 20 years, South Korean activists have organized weekly protests in front of Seoul's Japanese Embassy to demand an apology for its women and girls who were used as sex slaves by the Japanese military during World War II, reports the AP . But while those demonstrations have...

Archaeologists Find Historic Synagogue Ruined by Nazis
 Archaeologists Find 
 Historic Synagogue 
 Ruined by Nazis 
in case you missed it
Aug 2, 2015 6:31 AM CDT

Archaeologists Find Historic Synagogue Ruined by Nazis

Remnants found beneath a school in Lithuania

(Newser) - The Great Synagogue of Vilna dated all the way back to the 1600s and was what the Jerusalem Post calls one of "the most historic and treasured landmarks of European Jewry." But that synagogue, in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, was all but destroyed by the Nazis during...

36 Marines Lost in Bloody WWII Battle Finally Home

Remains of men who fell in 1943's Battle of Tarawa arrived in Hawaii

(Newser) - The US military and a private organization have brought home the remains of 36 Marines killed in one of World War II's bloodiest battles. More than 990 US Marines and 30 sailors died during the three-day Battle of Tarawa in 1943. Japanese machine gun fire killed scores of Marines...

Physicist Unearths Key Detail About Iconic WWII Photo

His finding debunks several people's claims to be the ones kissing

(Newser) - The party started early on VJ Day. Though the official announcement that World War II ended wasn't made until closer to 7pm on Aug. 14, 1945, a scientific assessment of the famous photo of the couple kissing in celebration, called "VJ Day in Times Square" and widely known...

WWII Tank Was Stashed in 78-Year-Old's Cellar

Prosecutors previously found stolen Nazi art in the pensioner's villa

(Newser) - It took 20 soldiers almost nine hours to remove a World War II "Panther" tank from a pensioner's cellar in a wealthy community in northern Germany—and that's in spite of the fact that the German army sent in modern recovery tanks to help confiscate the vintage...

True WWII Hero Has Died at 106
 True WWII Hero 
 Has Died at 106  
OBITUARY
Jul 1, 2015 11:14 AM CDT

True WWII Hero Has Died at 106

Nicholas Winton almost single-handedly saved 669 Jewish children

(Newser) - Nicholas Winton, a humanitarian who almost single-handedly saved more than 650 Jewish children from the Holocaust, earning himself the label "Britain's Schindler," died today at the age of 106. Born in London in 1909 to parents of German-Jewish descent, Winton himself was raised as a Christian. He...

Exhibit Details Japanese Experiments on US POWs
Exhibit Details Japanese Experiments on US POWs
in case you missed it
Apr 12, 2015 7:29 AM CDT

Exhibit Details Japanese Experiments on US POWs

American prisoners had organs removed, were injected with seawater

(Newser) - The crew of an American B-29 bomber brought down in May 1945 by Japanese fighters were able to bail out, but the 11 men who survived met with only horror on the ground. Now their fate is being documented as part of a new exhibit at a museum on the...

Archaeologists Exhume Thousands of Nazi Victims
 Archaeologists Exhume 
 Thousands of Nazi Victims 
in case you missed it
Dec 13, 2014 7:46 AM CST

Archaeologists Exhume Thousands of Nazi Victims

Soldiers' remains will be given proper burial in Poland

(Newser) - Over the course of six weeks, archaeologists have exhumed the remains of an estimated 3,000 men from eight mass graves in southeastern Poland—bones belonging to nearly-impossible-to-identify soldiers who were victims of the Nazis. The Soviet and Italian troops were interned in a German stalag near the city of...

'Ghost Ship' Found Half-Mile Below Surface of Pacific

The former cable ship Dickenson was torpedoed in 1946

(Newser) - A torpedo sent the USS Kailua to a watery grave off the coast of Oahu in 1946. Nearly seven decades later, a small submersible vehicle last year discovered the surprisingly intact "ghost" ship, the University of Hawaii announced Friday. The former cable ship Dickenson was instrumental in Pacific communications...

History Buffs: Iwo Jima Photo Has 70-Year-Old Error
 History Buffs: Iwo Jima Photo Has 70-Year-Old Error 
in case you missed it
Nov 29, 2014 8:03 AM CST

History Buffs: Iwo Jima Photo Has 70-Year-Old Error

One of the men raising the flag may have been misidentified

(Newser) - Two amateur historians—one in Ireland, another in Nebraska—say that after spending dozens of hours reviewing the iconic World War II photo of the flag-raising in Iwo Jima, and consulting other historic photos and documents, one of the six men listed in the photo has been misidentified. Their full...

WWII Airman's Remains Found in New Guinea Jungle

Herbert 'Buddy' Young was shot down in his B-24 bomber in April 1944

(Newser) - Herbert "Buddy" Young's family says he was scheduled to come home after putting in 300 combat-mission hours when he subbed as co-pilot in a B-24 bomber called "Hot Garters" on April 10, 1944. The WWII plane was shot down over the jungles of Papua New Guinea, and...

Wreck of WWII 'Flying Coffin' Bomber Found in Italy

The aircraft appears to have lived up to its nickname

(Newser) - The World War II-era B-24 aircraft was so stiff, heavy, and hard to control that its American crews dubbed it the "flying coffin." Not only was its only exit hard to reach at the tail—leaving many trapped before being able to parachute out—but it was intended...

Road Work Leads to Discovery of WWII Graffiti

A 1,900-year-old ritual bath was defaced by Australian soldiers in Israel

(Newser) - An Israeli construction project to widen a major road unexpectedly uncovered a 1,900-year-old ritual bath and a 1,700-year-old water cistern. But when archaeologists went to inspect the finds, they found engravings left by two Australian soldiers on the water cistern's exposed ceiling. The marks were nothing fancy—...

Sunken Nazi Sub Slumbers Off Texas Coast
 Sunken Nazi Sub 
 Slumbers Off 
 Louisiana Coast 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 20, 2014 9:58 AM CDT

Sunken Nazi Sub Slumbers Off Louisiana Coast

And a camera captures incredible images of the German U-boat

(Newser) - Many never knew how close German U-boats came to US soil during World War II, but new high-def footage reveals several wrecks on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Robert Ballard, known for discovering the Titanic, is now mapping some of these wrecks, including the SS Robert E. Lee...

69 Years Later, Holocaust Survivor Reunites With Savior

Czeslaw Polziec's family hid Leon Gersten's family during WWII

(Newser) - An interpreter broke down crying yesterday when he relayed a message from a Holocaust survivor to the Polish man whose family hid him in their attic during World War II—a man he had not seen for almost 70 years. "We never forgot the fact that you and your...

Minneapolis Man Ordered Nazi-led Massacre: Soldier

German prosecutor recommends murder charges against Michael Karkoc

(Newser) - New evidence suggests that Michael Karkoc, the former Nazi SS commander found living in Minnesota , may have actually ordered the 1944 attack on Chlaniow , in which 44 Polish villagers, including women and children, were killed. Initially, Karkoc was simply said to have been near the scenes of that and other...

Lonely Obituary Draws Hundreds to WWII Vet's Funeral

Harold Jellicoe Percival never married or had kids

(Newser) - WWII veteran Harold Jellicoe Percival died last month at age 99, leaving no close family behind. So the funeral home organizing his service put a note in the UK man's obituary asking that "any service personnel who can" come to the funeral today, the BBC reports. The obituary...

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