Dick Winters: Before ‘Band of Brothers’
Dick Winters might be the best-known soldier of World War II, but the heroics immortalized in “Band of Brothers” barely received notice at the time.
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Eisenhower meets the press in London
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first news conference as Supreme Allied Commander established his vision of a mutually beneficial relationship with the press.
Read moreJ.R. Krantz dangles from a B-29, miles over Japan
J.R. Krantz’s remarkable story of survival after being blown out of his B-29 on a bombing raid over Japan captivated readers across the U.S. and around the world.
Read moreFDR’s ‘Four Freedoms’ speech
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address is known to history as the ‘Four Freedoms’ speech, but those lofty ideals were not the focus of press coverage at the time.
Read moreGen. George S. Patton and the slaps heard ’round the world
In two incidents a week apart in August 1943, Gen. George S. Patton slapped soldiers in field hospitals in Sicily. Though war correspondents knew about at least one incident almost immediately, they chose not to report it and the news didn’t become public until three months later.
Read moreSinking of the USS Tang: ‘Like the world coming to an end’
On Oct. 25, 1944, the USS Tang went down off the coast of China. It would take nearly a year for the true story behind the submarine’s fate to be told.
Read moreDorie Miller at Pearl Harbor: Telling a hero’s story
The heroic tale of Dorie Miller has become a familiar part of World War II lore, but it took months after the Pearl Harbor attack — and plenty of digging by one newspaper in particular — to bring Miller’s identity to light.
Read morePT-109: John F. Kennedy fights to survive in the Solomons
John F. Kennedy’s heroic brush with death aboard the PT-109 in August 1943 put him in the spotlight, and he soon carved out a public persona of his own.
Read moreThomas D. Howie: The Major of Saint-Lô
The story of the body of an unidentified major being borne into liberated Saint-Lô resonated with U.S. readers for days before they learned Maj. Thomas D. Howie’s name.
Read moreTuskegee Airmen: Charles B. Hall records 99th’s first victory
On July 2, 1943, Lt. Charles B. Hall became the first Tuskegee Airman to record a combat victory, an achievement that made him an instant star in the Black press.
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World War II on Deadline 