The 55th and 48th Rescue Squadrons, as well as airmen from the 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, all located at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, received the awards April 17 and Jan. 17, respectively, according to a service release.

The two rescue squadrons and airmen in the maintenance group were included in the Personnel Recovery Task Force, a 176-member joint team specifically formed to carry out the noncombatant evacuation operation in Afghanistan.

The release stated that the team, which encompassed airmen from 20 different career fields, included pilots, maintainers, intelligence personnel and Special Warfare Airmen who created their own “unconventional recovery network” by initiating their own operations, security and communications in a “rapidly deteriorating deployed environment.”

The team saved thousands of Americans and at-risk Afghans, according to the release, and established a safe evacuation station for over 12,000 refugees between July 16 and Aug. 31, 2021.

Every unit in the task force prepared through exercises, such as the Red Flag-Rescue, to learn how to perform outside usual duties, per the release.

“But during this mission in 2021, our team also led security teams to fortify aircraft and key command and control positions and manned defensive fighting positions along unsecured airfield areas, providing front-line defense that prevented the NATO compound from being overrun,” Air Force 1st Lt. Sebastian Marano, the 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s interim director of operations, said in the statement.

In total, the task force operated through 864 hours of continuous alert over 53 days, assisting the safe evaluation of 124,000 people, according to the release. The force maintained its alert status until the last U.S. aircraft left Afghanistan.

Another unit said to be crucial to the evacuation was the Combat Search and Rescue forces in the 66th Rescue Squadron, which executed air-to-ground operations, the release says. The 66th officially deactivated before April’s ceremony, so the 55th accepted the award on the unit’s behalf.

The 58th Rescue Squadron was also included in the task force, but it too was deactivated before the ceremony. The 48th accepted the citation on its behalf.

By the end of the operation, individual task force members accounted for one Bronze Star with Valor, 18 Bronze Stars and 151 Air Force Commendation Medals with Combat Devices for bravery and resolve under “extreme hazard.”

“Every couple of years, there’s something that happens that defines the next generation of rescue Airmen,” U.S. Air Force Col. Jose Cabrera, 355th Wing commander, said in the statement.

“Every generation has their time and I think we’re seeing that today — your defining moment," Cabrera added. “This will go down in Air Force history as one of the greatest accomplishments of the Air Force rescue community.”

Maj. Gen. Charles Bolton, the 18th Air Force Commander, presided over the ceremony and bestowed the medals upon the Fairchild Air Force Base airmen, assigned to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing, according to a Wednesday release.

“These historic missions were fraught with peril and required decisive reactions to dynamic operational environments,” Bolton said during the ceremony. “The way they choose to respond, the way they adapt and work together – that’s what we’re highlighting today.”

During missions in contested airspace, the airmen provided crucial refueling that allowed for other Air Force “assets to continue the fight and return home,” the release reads.

The release says the airmen were involved in Operation Midnight Hammer — the Jan. 22, 2025 U.S. attack on three main Iranian nuclear facilities — but did not detail the extent of their involvement.

Bolton said during the ceremony that the members’ skills and perseverance led to the success of the overall mission, and he acknowledged the efforts of all Fairchild’s personnel in the mission, as well.

“From maintainers ensuring aircraft readiness, to mission planners and support crews, none of this could happen without the collective efforts of our Air Force family,” Bolton said.

The ceremony drew a crowd of around 300 people, the release says, with Fairchild personnel, local community heads and family members in attendance.

Fairchild Air Force Base, located in Spokane County, Washington, houses the force’s premier tanker base and survival training school, according to the base’s website.

The Distinguished Flying Cross recognizes heroism or extraordinary achievement in aerial flight, and the Bronze Star Medal is awarded for heroism in combat.

A dramatized version of Charley’s story was recently made into the movie “I Heard the Bells,” but the true story behind the origins of the Christmastime poem-turned-song is just as, if not more, interesting.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow vehemently objected to his son’s desire to enlist in the Union Army. But in 1863, at the age of 18, Charley ran away from home and enlisted in the 1st Massachusetts Artillery.

He informed his father of his decision in a letter mailed from Portland, Maine.

“I have tried hard to resist the temptation of going without your leave but I cannot any longer,” he wrote. “I feel it to be my first duty to do what I can for my country and I would willingly lay down my life for it if it would be of any good.”

Within two weeks of his arrival, likely because of his famous father’s connections, Longfellow was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry.

On Nov. 27, 1863, while involved in a skirmish during a battle of the Mine Run Campaign, Charley was shot through the left shoulder. The bullet exited under his right shoulder blade and skimmed his spine.

The wound was considered grave, and the army surgeon told the elder Longfellow that “paralysis might ensue” for his son.

On Christmas day 1863, as his son recovered from his wounds, Henry penned the poem “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” with many references to the Civil War.

The cannon thundered in the South

And with the sound    

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,    

And made forlorn    

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

“There is no peace on earth,” I said;    

“For hate is strong,    

And mocks the song 

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;    

The Wrong shall fail,    

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Charley would survive his wounds, but did not return to the war.

He kept in touch with friends made during his brief career as a soldier, receiving letters and photographs from them and creating a scrapbook of newspaper articles relating to his unit’s role in the war.

He went on to become a world traveler and author.

The famed documentary filmmaker and his co-producers, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, have stumped across the United States, speaking, gently of course, about their upcoming docuseries, “American Revolution,” which premieres Sunday on PBS.

During their six-month promotional tour across 32 cities and 17 states, the trio has consistently delivered a nonpartisan, hopeful message to Americans.

“We think always in sort of Chicken Little terms,” Burns told an audience during a panel event at Mount Vernon, Virginia, on Oct. 29, “that our time must be the very, very worst.”

“You can have at least the possible reassurance that things were really divided back then. It was a civil war,” he said of the American Revolution. “Examining the origin story provides you with a kind of renewal and a fresh understanding.”

Burns has endeavored to provide such reassurances. The director and his team have spoken to a spectrum of media over the course of the year, from podcasters like Theo Von and Joe Rogan to MSNBC and The New York Times.

Burns spent nearly two hours on Von’s show and three on Rogan’s, with one listener noting in the latter’s YouTube comment section, “We need an annual Ken Burns discussion, if not more. This is cathartic.”

“We’re trying to reach as many people as we can,” Schmidt told Military Times in a recent interview. “If anybody wants to talk to us, we’re really happy to speak to them.”

The makings of liberty

For Burns and his team, the decision to make a documentary on the American Revolution was “spontaneous,” according to the director.

To put it into context, the year was 2015, President Barack Obama still had 13 months left in his presidency and “nobody was talking 250” — America’s semiquincentennial anniversary in 2026 — Burns told the audience at Mount Vernon.

“But I was looking at this map that we had of the Ia Drang Valley, in the central highlands [of Vietnam], and I just said, ‘That could be the British moving west on Long Island towards American positions in Brooklyn,” Burns recalled at the Mount Vernon panel. “I just went, ‘We could do it.’”

The filmmakers, however, had to get creative. Without photographs, B-roll or archival footage, the trio resorted to maps, diaries and reenactors to tell the epic tale of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies’ fight for independence.

“We went out and filmed with reenactors,” Schmidt said of the filmmaking process, which also included commissioning watercolors from a group called Wood Ronsaville Harlin.

“Probably the most expensive line item in our budget is re-creating North America as faithfully as we could in a map,” he noted. “That was challenging, but also really fun. Waterways across America have changed since the 18th century. We had to erase the Erie Canal. Stuff like that you just don’t think of.”

Despite such challenges, according to Schmidt, the lack of visual primary sources presented opportunities to find “new ways to solve these problems.”

Over the course of several years, the trio shot original footage of nearly 100 locations within the original 13 colonies, as well as in London and the English countryside.

For 10 years — and to the tune of more than $30 million — Burns and his team built up a vast archive of knowledge.

“Part of the reason it was so exciting to make [this film] is that we got to spend a decade learning what actually happened and finding out the way to artistically shape that into a 12-hour film to share with the American people,” Schmidt shared.

“We aren’t trying to dispel myths. We’re not mythbusters out there poking holes in your understanding of the American Revolution. In fact, what we’re doing is taking what you already know and rebooting it,” he said. “It’s going to supplement what you already know and make it make more sense.”

Heart of the story

The six-part series follows more than just the well-known characters of the American Revolution.

While it includes rank-and-file Continental soldiers, militiamen and American Loyalists, the series also delves into the oft-unheard stories of Indigenous soldiers and civilians, enslaved and free African Americans, German soldiers in the British service, French and Spanish allies and an array of civilians living in North America.

The documentary highlights a war that not only touched the lives of those living within the 13 colonies, but also engaged and inspired millions of people in North America and beyond.

“The war begins in Lexington,” Schmidt said, “but it spreads all throughout — not just the original 13 colonies — but over the mountains to the Ohio River, along the Gulf Coast, even out to the Mississippi River. It’s also in the Caribbean. It’s fought off the coast of England. It’s fought in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s fought along the coast of France, along the coast of Africa, even in the Indian subcontinent — and that’s just the war.

“The ideas just grow and grow and inspire revolutions — and have inspired revolutions for the past 250 years all throughout the world. Ho Chi Minh, when he declared Vietnamese independence, had two United States OSS officers standing next to him and was quoting Thomas Jefferson in Vietnamese.”

Despite these ideas that have shaped the world since 1776 (many argue that date is even earlier), Schmidt recalls how surprised he was when learning about the original aims of the conflict.

The now-lauded notions of civilian rule and non-partisanship that created the republic that we still live under were not, says Schmidt, “on the table at the start.”

“Those weren’t war objectives,” he continued. “On April 19, 1775, they became necessary to win the war. But they were kind of outcomes of the war, rather than goals. What they were really trying to do at the start was to liberate Boston, to get a redress of grievances and to bring things back to the way they were under the British Empire. But in order to win the war, they had to involve all sorts of American people who otherwise might not get along.

“Coalition building made it a war about liberty. It made it this fight for a union. Then in order to win the war, they had to involve foreign powers. The French came in. The Spanish came in as the allies of the French. The Dutch declared war on the British,” ultimately creating a coalition war.

Former Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, who spoke alongside Burns at the panel at Mount Vernon, echoed Schmidt.

“I would argue — and I think it’d be tough to argue against it — that our strategic center of gravity as a country comes from allies and partners,” Dunford said. “There’s almost nothing that we have to deal with, certainly in the 21st century, where coherent collective action isn’t required to address a problem.”

That coalition is what makes up the heart of the documentary. Nearly 150 characters are highlighted in the series, with their stories read by a staggering 61 different voice actors, including: Kenneth Branagh, Josh Brolin, Jeff Daniels, Morgan Freeman, Paul Giamatti, Domhnall Gleeson, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, Mandy Patinkin and Meryl Streep, among many others.

The military story itself features 36 battle sequences that range from the well-known, like Bunker Hill and Yorktown, to the more obscure, while showing that the American Revolution was a test of logistics and strategy as much as it was a war of ideals.

George Washington is, naturally, also front and center in the series — a point that Burns noted while speaking at the historic home of America’s first president.

“He’s our guy, and that’s pretty amazing. Look, we do not soft pedal the flaws. Not only are there really bad tactical mistakes: there’s the rashness of riding out on the battlefield, not just as Princeton but at Monmouth and Kip’s Bay; and he owns hundreds of human beings. You can’t square that circle. But we are so lucky [to have had him], and we’re here because of him.”

Civilians, not subjects

One point that Burns and his team spend considerable time exploring is the notion of citizenship.

“I’m really still overwhelmed by some of the obvious things, that for the first time, we were creating citizens, not subjects under authoritarian rule,” says Burns.

“Thomas Jefferson says, ‘All experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable.’ That just means that for most of human history, people have been under authoritarian rule and they’ve accepted it. They’ve acquiesced that those evils are sufferable. Essentially this [American] ‘project’ was to say no to that.”

The war, however violent and bloody it was (which Burns succeeds in displaying) was the vehicle for that freedom.

“I’m really proud to have worked on this film. I’m prouder to be a citizen of a country that invented that idea,” he added.

Burns ended the panel with a potent mix of patriotism grounded in history, closing with one of his favorite quotes from a Hessian soldier, Johann Ewald, who served under the British during the war.

“Who would have thought 100 years ago that out of this multitude of rabble would arise a people who could defy kings?” Ewald once quipped.

“That to me,” says Burns, “is the whole essence of the project. The right to defy kings.”

After dropping its load of 20 500-pound bombs on a target along the Yalu River, the aircraft was caught in a strong wind and blown over the border into Manchuria. President Harry S. Truman had forbidden any U.S. Air Force planes from crossing into Chinese airspace to prevent further escalation of the Korean War.

However, instead of a reprimand, the crews of the 307th Bombardment Group of the 13th Air Force were treated to breakfast. Running low on gas, the squadron diverted to Japan for refueling and a meal of fresh eggs — a welcome reprieve from the powdered eggs served in the unit’s mess at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.

“We were not supposed to be in Manchurian airspace,” Stevens, now 92 and living in Overland Park, Kansas, told Military Times. “It was something the officers laughed about, but we knew we needed to get out of there in a hurry.”

He added with a chuckle, “We did enjoy the breakfast.”

Stevens is one of five veterans featured in “Gunners! B-29 Machine Gunners in the Korean War” by author and military analyst James Blackwell. The others include the late Philip Aaronson, who was shot down and spent 36 months in a POW camp, Dale Crist, Romaine Gregg and Jack Bernaciak, who flew the last B-29 combat mission in Korea. Blackwell conducted personal interviews and reviewed oral histories and military records of the five men in compiling this account of their service.

“In many ways, Korea was the ‘Forgotten War,’” the author said. “This was my father’s generation. They were young children during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. They were the ‘Silent Generation,’ as Time Magazine referred to them. I wanted to write something that reflected who they were and what they went through.”

The new book examines a nearly forgotten chapter of the air war over Korea. With a limited number of jet bombers in service at the time, the Air Force reactivated the Superfortress to deliver payloads against enemy targets. Technologically superior only a few years earlier, the slow, four-engine heavy bombers were now relics in a supersonic jet war.

“The B-29 against MiG-15s — it was like David and Goliath,” Stevens said. “It was no contest against those jet fighters.”

Stevens flew 27 missions over North Korea and accidentally over China. From his position as a tail gunner, he had a bird’s-eye view of the results of his aircraft’s bombing runs. He could also view the fighting on the ground as Marines and soldiers slugged it out with North Korean and Chinese forces.

“I could look down at what was happening,” he recalled. “I was glad I was not down there.”

It was no joy ride in the air either. In addition to enemy jets, Superfortresses were susceptible to antiaircraft fire. The last few minutes to the target were always the toughest. Stevens remembered hearing the deafening sound of shrapnel from exploding flak hitting and occasionally piercing the aircraft’s fuselage.

“It made a loud bang, like a car in a hailstorm,” he said. “There would be little dents and holes all over the aircraft. Flak hits varied. One time it was so close that it bumped me out of my seat. We had flak suits. I couldn’t wear mine because of the tight space in the tail, so I put mine on the floor to help protect me.”

As a 19-year-old farm boy from Missouri, Stevens stated he was too young to be frightened by the danger he faced at the time. He couldn’t wear a parachute because of the confines of his firing position, so he just assumed he would go down with the plane if anything happened.

“When I think back now, I say, ‘Did I really do that? Was I that crazy?’” he stated. “We had our orders and we followed them. It was an exciting time.”

Capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons, the B-29 was a modern marvel when it first flew in World War II. The high-altitude strategic bomber featured an analog computerized firing system that enabled one person to direct four remote-controlled machine gun turrets, known as “blisters” because of rounded Plexiglas covers. If a gunner was wounded, the fire-control officer could direct shooting at enemy planes at that position.

Instead of firing by Kentucky windage, airmen sat in seats with a screen that showed the target and adjusted for speed, distance and other factors. When an enemy aircraft appeared in a circle of dots, the gunner flipped a switch.

“It was an analog system that was essentially mechanical, so it didn’t have the speed of a modern computer,” Blackwell said. “It was designed for shooting down German and Japanese fighters. It was a little slow against jets, but still did a good job.”

Blackwell began researching the book believing the slower Superfortress was overmatched by a faster Soviet Union jet flown in the Chinese and North Korean air forces. However, he found that premise to be not quite true.

“I had heard the stories and came to this with the impression that B-29s were obsolete and outclassed in the Korean War,” he said. “After checking the statistics, I came to a different conclusion and changed my approach to writing the book.”

While the propeller-driven heavy bombers were outpaced by enemy jets, they managed to hold their own in combat. Blackwell’s analysis of statistics showed the Superfortress was at a definite disadvantage in the early days of the Korean War when the Air Force was flying daytime missions using World War II formations. However, air command changed tactics and had the B-29s fly only at night while making single-file bombing runs. By the end of the war, B-29s had shot down 25 MiG-15s compared to 16 bombers lost to enemy jets.

“The Air Force flipped the trend by adapting new techniques,” Blackwell said. “Ending daytime missions was critical because MiG-15s weren’t equipped for nighttime attacks. Flying single file on bombing runs also reduced losses. In addition, our gunnery training outpaced that of the enemy, enabling the B-29s to stay ahead of enemy jets in terms of kills.”

Since Stevens flew only night missions, he rarely saw MiG-15s chasing his Superfortress. In fact, he did not use his two 50-caliber machine guns against a threat.

“I never fired them in combat,” he said. “Only test-fired them at the start of missions.”

After Korea, Stevens left the Air Force as a staff sergeant in 1955. He married and raised two sons while attending college on the GI Bill. He then joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, retiring as a district manager after 33 years.

However, Stevens’ work was not done. In 2006, he helped build and dedicate the Korean War Veterans Memorial Park in his retirement community of Overland Park, Kansas. In 2010, he was elected to the national board of the Korean War Veterans Association, serving eventually as president. In that role, he championed the cause of Korean War vets in meetings with President Barack Obama and Vice President Mike Pence, as well as other government officials.

Today, Stevens continues to speak to school groups and others about the “Forgotten War” and the sacrifices made by the men and women who served in the conflict. He is especially proud of his time in the Air Force and all he learned as an airman.

“It was an invaluable experience that helped shape the rest of my life,” he said.

Blackwell hopes his book inform readers of the debt they owe to Korean War veterans. On his speaking tour, he gives away free copies of his book to veterans so they “never forget” the people who came before them.

“Korean War vets have the same needs and hurts as the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “We need to sit and listen to what they have to say, too.”

Some nurses were killed by enemy fire. Others spent years as prisoners of war. Most returned home to quiet lives, receiving little recognition.

Darrow sat with patients, even after-hours. One of them had arrived at her hospital on California’s Mare Island with a bullet lodged in his heart. He was not expected to survive surgery, yet he would change her life.

“To them, you’re everything because you’re taking care of them,” she said, sitting at her home in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Danville.

A bullet struck his heart at Pearl Harbor. His widow just returned it.

Eighty years after the war ended, a coalition of retired military nurses and others is campaigning to award one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, the Congressional Gold Medal, to all nurses who served in WWII. Other groups, such as the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII and the real-life Rosie the Riveters, have already received the honor.

“The general public doesn’t often recognize, I think, the contribution that the nurses have made in pretty much every war,” said Patricia Upah, a retired colonel who served as an Army nurse in conflicts abroad, and whose late mother was also a Army nurse in the South Pacific in World War II.

Only a handful, like Darrow, are still alive. The coalition knows of five World War II nurses who are still living — including Elsie Chin Yuen Seetoo, 107, who became the first Chinese American nurse to join the Army Nurse Corps. They fear time is running out to honor the trailblazers.

“It’s high time we honor the nurses who stepped up and did their part to defend our freedom,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, said in a statement.

Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, have sponsored legislation to award the medal, but it faces steep odds. It needs two-thirds of each chamber — 67 cosponsors in the Senate and 290 in the House — and so far, the bills have eight and six cosponsors, respectively.

Saving lives in the face of danger

Before the war, there were fewer than 600 nurses with the U.S. Army and 1,700 with the U.S. Navy. By the end of the war, those numbers had ballooned to 59,000 in the Army and 14,000 in the Navy.

The Congressional bills cite harrowing examples of bravery. Some nurses served on Navy hospital ships treating patients as the vessels came under fire. Sixty nurses landed off the coast of North Africa on Nov. 8, 1942, to set up shop and care for invading troops.

“Without weapons, they waded ashore amid enemy sniper fire and ultimately took shelter in an abandoned civilian hospital,” the legislation states.

The nurses saved lives. Fewer than 4% of U.S. soldiers in WWII who received medical care in the field or underwent evacuation died from wounds or disease, the legislation states.

“They probably saw more infections. They probably saw more chemical casualties. Remember, they didn’t have disposable products, so they had to sterilize everything,” says Edward Yackel, a retired colonel and president of the Army Nurse Corps Association, of World War II nurses.

“Without them,” he says, “we would not have the knowledge base we need now to fight the wars of today.”

Some nurses endured harsh captivity. In 1942, nearly 80 military nurses were captured when the U.S. surrendered the Philippines to Japan. Held as prisoners of war, the women endured starvation rations and disease but continued to work until their liberation three years later.

Nurses played outsized roles in 600 U.S. Army hospitals worldwide and 700 prisoner-of-war camps at military bases in the U.S., said Phoebe Pollitt, a retired nurse and professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. But their role has largely gone unrecognized.

“Within even women’s history and health care history, nurses are kind of at the bottom of the barrel,” she said.

Breaking color barriers

The majority of military nurses were white, and those who were not often had to fight for the right to serve.

In 1941, only 56 Black nurses were allowed into the U.S. Army. Japanese American applicants, whose families were incarcerated during the war, were not accepted into the Army Nurse Corps until 1943.

Elsie Chin Yuen Seetoo was born in Stockton, California, but spent her teens China. She joined the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps in unoccupied China after fleeing Japanese forces in Hong Kong.

She later applied to the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, but they said she had an obligation to serve her country — and that meant China.

An indignant Chinese American medical officer fired off a letter on Seetoo’s behalf, stating that she was a U.S. citizen. She became the first Chinese American nurse to join the Army Nurse Corps, working in China and India before returning to the U.S.

She already has a Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Chinese Americans for their service in the war despite the discrimination they faced.

“We answered the call to duty when our country faced threats to our freedom,” she said in video recorded remarks at the 2020 ceremony.

A love story

Among the patients Darrow cared for was a young soldier wounded in Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Before surgery to remove the bullet in his heart, he asked if she would go on a date with him, if he made it through.

“I said, ‘Well sure, you can count on me,’” she says, and laughs. “I couldn’t say, ‘No, I don’t think you’re going to make it.’”

Dean Darrow did survive and they did go out. The couple kept the 7.7 mm bullet. They married and raised four children. He died in 1991.

In September, Alice Darrow took a cruise to Hawaii with her daughter and son-in-law, where she donated the bullet to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial so visitors from around the world could learn of its significance and the love story behind it.

Darrow said she’s looking forward to seeing the bullet on display. The Congressional Gold Medal would be another treasure to look forward to.

“It would be an honor,” she said.

Terry Tang of AP’s race and ethnicity team contributed from Phoenix, Arizona.

Taking cover from insurgents, his fireteam had just assembled in the dark in front of a house in Fallujah, Iraq, when the Marines were overwhelmed by the percussive blast of an explosion. About 40 yards in front of them was a mass of flames — the fiery remains of an Iraqi vehicle. Just behind them was the smoking barrel of the 120mm cannon from an M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank.

In the wee hours of Nov. 8, 2004, the Iraq War became very real for Bender, who was embedded with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division. With a camera in one hand and a 9mm M9 Beretta pistol in the other, the then-20-year-old combat correspondent was momentarily deafened and disoriented by the roar of the near-simultaneous explosions.

“I had never been on the business end of an Abrams before that close,” he recalled in an interview with Military Times. “We worked with tanks for weeks and weeks after that and came to be kind of numb to it. Just being a few feet behind the barrel is much different than being a few feet in front of it as far as the overpressure and blast go.”

20 years later, the Marine Corps can still learn from Fallujah

That’s the kind of gritty realism on display in the documentary “The Last 600 Meters: The Battles of Najaf and Fallujah,” airing on PBS on Monday, the day before Veterans Day and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps. The film by Michael Pack tells the story of these deadly engagements through the words and emotions of the U.S. troops who survived them.

The film gets its name from a comment made by Master Sgt. Karl R. Erickson, a U.S. Army Special Forces sniper who equates his mission with looking through his scope at a target: “Foreign policy? I don’t make it. I just deliver the last 600 meters of it.”

The rest of the documentary details what that means for the troops on the ground and in the air over these deadly battlefields, chronicling their courage, commitment and camaraderie through a bloody ordeal.

“We conducted the interviews three years after the battles when memories were fresh,” Pack said in an interview. “But it was hard time to get it on the air then. Everyone had their opinions about the war and it was clouded in politics. We strove to tell these stories without politics from the point of view of the people who were there. Maybe now is a good time to look back and remember what happened.”

What happened was some of the heaviest urban combat by the U.S. military since the 1968 Battle of Hue in Vietnam. Engaging scores of insurgent groups in an uprising similar to the Tet Offensive, U.S. forces fought from house-to-house, alley-to-alley and even face-to-face to retake the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Najaf.

In the film, Jeff Stevenson, then a Marine major, refers to the deadly close-quarters combat as a “three-block war.” Marines and soldiers had to clear each area in succession so enemy fighters would not be able to get behind them.

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military quickly defeated the armies of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. However, the fighting was not over. Insurgents flooded into the country to resist the U.S. takeover. In “The Last 600 Meters,” journalist Thomas E. Ricks described how surprised he was by the situation on the ground:

“Iraq was a much more troubled place than we realized. I remember thinking, ‘I thought this was bad. I hadn’t thought it was going to be this bad.’”

By 2004, insurgents had taken over the two cities. American troops were given the mission of recapturing them. In early August, Army and Marine units pushed into Najaf amid heavy combat. The fiercest fighting took place at the massive Wadi al-Salam cemetery, which features a series of underground tunnels and aboveground monuments — ideal hiding places for ambushes. American forces often resorted to close-quarter combat to clear the seven-square-mile graveyard.

The battle for Najaf ground on throughout the month with heavy losses on both sides. At the center of the city was the Imam Ali Shrine, where enemy fighters had taken refuge. While U.S. Air Force gunships and jets attacked the area around the holy site, Marines and soldiers participated in hand-to-hand fighting to close the gauntlet.

One of the Marines interviewed in the documentary, Lt. Seth Moulton, now a U.S. representative from Massachusetts, was leading a platoon of Marines in the basement of a building when the patrol next to him encountered insurgents. It happened so fast that the Marine on point only had time to react.

“It was so dark and the Marine was clearing this room,” Moulton said in an interview with Military Times. “This guy tried to tackle him and the Marine couldn’t get his gun on him. They got into a ground fight, so the Marine pulled out his bayonet and killed the guy.”

As commandos of the Iraqi security forces prepared to storm the shrine, a negotiated settlement brought an end to the fighting in Najaf. A few months later, U.S. forces moved into Fallujah. In April, a ceasefire was declared, though tensions remained high. On Nov. 7, the attack began anew with American troops pushing the insurgents south through the built-up city to more open terrain.

Bender accompanied India Company into what he called “a sea of violence.” Fallujah was the scene of intense house-to-house fighting against a well-armed and determined enemy.

“There were a number of firefights in open streets, engagements where the asphalt is popcorning around you,” he recalled. “You have absolutely no cover and you are running wide open, trying to return fire. It’s a humbling experience. If you don’t have a relationship with your maker before you get into a situation like that, you will during it.”

One of the most intense moments in “The Last 600 Meters” takes place at “Hell House” in Fallujah. Marines had entered the structure and were shot by insurgents from the second floor. Teams attempted to rescue the men, each in turn being pinned down by machine gun fire and grenades. Trapped, there seemed to be no way to get the wounded Marines out of the kill zone.

Finally, two Marines, 1st Lt. Jesse Grapes and Pfc. Justin Boswood, broke through a barred window of the house into another part of the room. They trained their rifles on the second floor and began blasting away.

“We start unloading on these guys upstairs and these two selfless Marines run across this kill zone — not once, not twice, but four times to pull Marines out,” Grapes said in the film. “We had some Marines who were in pretty bad shape.”

Though 11 seriously wounded were rescued and a dead Marine recovered, the two insurgents remained on the second floor. A satchel charge was used to destroy the building. As Marines inspected the rubble, they found half buried what they thought was a dead insurgent. He was still alive and threw a grenade. The team scrambled for cover, then finished off the resolute enemy fighter.

“In Fallujah, I can honestly say, wow, we certainly don’t agree with their political ideology or their religious ideology,” Grapes says on camera. “We respected the fact that they stood there and faced us and fought us.”

Fighting in Fallujah lasted until Dec. 23 in what became the bloodiest battle for U.S. forces since the Vietnam War. Though traumatic, their experiences served to link them emotionally with their brothers in arms in a way few civilians understand.

“Nothing bonds like shared suffering and sacrifice for a common cause or a higher purpose,” Bender said. “Fallujah was that for us, for those of us in the fight. Those bonds definitely endure.”

He added, “That fireteam, that squad, that battalion — they are my family from the Corps.”

“The Last 600 Meters: The Battles of Najaf and Fallujah” airs Nov. 10 on many PBS stations. It can also be viewed on the PBS app and will later be shown on Prime Video and other streaming services.

Service members, veterans and their families know that Veterans Day means much more than a discount or deal at their local eatery or store.

Still, a number of businesses want to show their appreciation for those who serve or have served, so check out the deals below that honor your service.

Our annual list of verified Veterans Day deals is here to help you navigate offers from restaurants, retail establishments and other businesses. If you plan wisely, you could fortify yourself with free breakfast, lunch and dinner while you head to stores with a trove of in-person and online markdowns.

We’ll update the list throughout the day. Contact Karen Jowers at kjowers@militarytimes.com with suggestions.

Food and drink

• Another Broken Egg Cafe: Offering active duty and veterans a free Patriot French Toast and coffee on Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Applebee’s: Offering active duty and veterans free full-size entree from a select menu, Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Also offering a $5 card for a future visit within a three-week redemption window. Show proof of service.
• Aroma Joe’s: Offering active duty and veterans a free beverage, any size up to 24 ounces, on Nov. 11, at its locations across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Rhode Island, New York and Connecticut. Show proof of service.
• Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar: Offering active duty and veterans a free All American Burger with cheese and a classic side, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 11 at participating restaurants. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Bob Evans: Offering active duty and veterans a free meal from a select menu of 10 options on Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Bombshells: Offering veterans a free entree, and active duty get a 20% discount on all menu items. Dine-in only at all locations in Texas and Colorado. Show proof of service.
• Bubbakoo’s Burritos: Offering active duty and veterans a free Taco Trio on Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Chicken Salad Chick: Offering active duty and veterans a free meal with drink on Nov. 11. Available to those in uniform and those who show proof of service.
• Chipotle: Offering active duty and veterans a buy-one-get-one-free deal from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time. Offer applies to Chipotle bowls, burritos, salads and taco entrees. Show proof of service.
• Cody’s Original Roadhouse: Offering active duty and veterans a free entree, either a half rack of ribs or grilled BBQ chicken breast, on Nov. 11. Dine-in only at its eight Florida locations. Show proof of service.
• Denny’s: Offering active duty and veterans a free Original Grand Slam from store opening until noon local time on Nov. 11 at participating locations. Show military ID or DD-214.
• Dog Haus: Offering active duty and veterans free Haus Dog on Nov. 11. Dine-in only at participating locations. Show proof of service.
• Eddie Merlot’s: Offering active duty and veterans a free Eddie’s Prime Cheeseburger with fries on Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Fogo de Chao: Offering active duty and veterans a 50% discount off Full Churrasco or Indulgent Churrasco meals for themselves, and their guests will receive a 10% discount, through Nov. 11. Dine-in only. These Brazilian steak houses are located in a number of states. Show proof of service.
• Friendly’s: Offering active duty and veterans a free All American Burger with cheese and a beverage on Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Show military ID or honorable discharge document.
• Golden Corral: Offering active duty and veterans a free dinner buffet meal and drink from 4 p.m. to closing on Nov. 11 as part of its annual Military Appreciation Night. Dine-in only.
• Hard Rock Cafe: Offering active and retired military a free Legendary Burger on Nov. 11 at participating locations. Accompanying friends and family members can receive the always-available 15% military discount.
• Hooters: Offering active duty and veterans one free meal from a menu of four select entrees on Nov. 11, with purchase of a beverage, at participating restaurants. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• IHOP: Offering active duty and veterans a free Red, White and Blueberry Pancake Combo on Nov. 11, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dine-in only at participating restaurants. Show proof of service.
• Kolache Factory: Offering active duty and veterans a free kolache and a cup of coffee on Nov. 11. Check for hours at participating locations. Show proof of service.
• Logan’s Roadhouse: Offering active duty and veterans a free meal from a select menu on Nov. 11, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dine-in only, at participating restaurants. Proof of service required.
• Outback Steakhouse: Offering active duty and veterans a free Aussie Three-Course Meal, including starter, choice of entree and dessert Nov. 10 and Nov. 11 at participating locations. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Perry’s Steakhouse: Active duty and veterans receive a 50% discount on a dinner-cut pork chop on Nov. 11 from 4 p.m. to closing; if dining with a guest purchasing a full dinner entree, the veteran’s pork chop is free. Military ID or proof of service required.
• Pilot: Offering active duty and veterans and their families a choice of a free breakfast sandwich and coffee, or a lunch item and fountain drink, on Nov. 11, through Pilot’s myRewards Plus app at participating Pilot, Flying J and One9 Fuel Network travel centers. Get verification of status through ID.me in the myRewards Plus app.
• Playa Bowls: Offering active duty and veterans a free bowl on Nov. 11, in shop only at select locations. Show proof of service.
• Polly’s Pies: Offering active duty and veterans a free slice of pie at their California locations Nov. 10-11. No purchase necessary. Show proof of service in the store.
• QDOBA: Offering active duty and veterans free chips and dip on Nov. 11 at participating restaurants. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Red Lobster: Offering active duty and veterans a free Veteran’s Shrimp and Chips on Nov. 11. Dine-in only at participating locations. Show proof of service.
• Santa Fe Cattle Co.: Offering active duty and veterans a free entree from their Lunch Express Menu on Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Shake Shack: Offering active duty and veterans free Big Shack burger on Nov. 11 ordered in store at participating locations. Show proof of service.
• Sizzler: Offering active duty and veterans free lunch from a select menu on Nov. 11 from opening until 4 p.m. All locations except for those in Utah, Idaho and Puerto Rico will participate.
• Starbucks: Offering veterans, active duty and their spouses a free tall (12-ounce) hot or iced brewed coffee on Nov. 11 at cafe and drive-through locations.
• Sullivan’s Steakhouse: Offering active duty and veterans a free Sullivan’s Signature Angus Burger with fries on Nov. 11. Dine-in only. Show proof of service.
• Taffer’s Tavern: Offering active duty and veterans a 50% discount on one plate, handheld or salad with valid ID through Nov. 16. Dine-in only. Show proof of service. Locations in Georgia and Florida.
• Teriyaki Madness: Offering active duty and veterans a free bowl of their choice on Nov. 11 at participating shops. In-shop only. Show proof of service.
• The Greene Turtle: Offering active duty and veterans a free meal up to $15 on Nov. 11. Dine-in only; available at select locations. Show valid ID.
• Twin Peaks: Offering active duty and retired military a free lunch from a select menu on Nov. 11, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at participating locations. Show proof of service.
• Tuscan Brands restaurants: Offering veterans and their guest a free traditional Italian family-style meal on Nov. 11, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the company’s Tuscan Kitchen locations, Tuscan Sea Grill and Bar and Tuscana Italian Chop House and Wine Bar. These are located in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Veterans must call their local restaurant to make a reservation, or reserve online at www.tuscanbrands.com/veterans-eat-free/.
• Wendy’s: Offering active duty and veterans a free breakfast combo at participating locations during breakfast hours on Nov. 11. No purchase required. Notify the crew member at the register.
• White Castle: Offering active duty and veterans a free individual combo meal or a breakfast combo meal on Nov. 11. No purchase necessary, but proof of service needed.
• Wienerschnitzel: Offering active duty and veterans a free Original Chili Dog, small fries and small soda at participating locations nationwide on Nov. 11. Show proof of service.
• Yogurtland: Offering active duty a 15% in-store discount on Nov. 11. Show military ID.

Recreation

• Regal: Offering active duty and veterans free admission to showtimes of “Brothers on Three” and “Saving Private Ryan” on Nov. 11 at participating locations. Show proof of service.
• The Capital Wheel at National Harbor, Maryland: Offering active duty and retired service members a free ride on Nov. 11, noon to 10 p.m. Accompanying family members are eligible for military discount. Show military ID.

Retail

• Army and Air Force Exchange Service: In store and online at shopmyexchange.com, authorized customers can get a variety of deals through Nov. 13, such as: up to $250 off Samsung smart TVs; $300 off MacBook Air laptops; 10% off Ray-Ban, Oakley and Costa sunglasses; 20% off Yeti coolers, drinkware and gear; 30% off tactical brands including United States Tactical, Toaks, Red Rock Outdoor Gear and more; up to 50% off bedding items; and 40% off haircare and personal hygiene. Weekly deals are available through Nov. 28.
• 4Patriots: Offering active duty and veterans a free 72-Hour Survival Food Kit for emergency preparedness on Nov. 11. Contains 20 individual breakfast, lunch and dinner servings and is designed to last 25 years. To receive the free food kit, customers register online on the 4Patriots Veterans Day Celebration Event page on Nov. 11 only.
• Academy Sport + Outdoors: Offering active duty and veterans a 10% discount on purchases in stores and online through Nov. 11. Visit the website for information on the process for receiving the discount in stores and online.
• Navy Exchange and Marine Corps Exchange online: Offering a variety of discounts for authorized shoppers such as an $800 discount on select Sony TVs; extra 15% discount on select grills from Traeger and Weber; extra 20% off 5.11 shoes; 40% discount on Gap and Old Navy apparel; and extra discounts on select gaming accessories from Turtle Beach and SteelSeries.
• Office Depot: Offering active duty and veterans a year-round 20% military discount on qualifying regularly priced purchase. Show proof of service.
• Samsung: Through its Military Offers Program, active duty and veterans and their families can receive discounts of up to 30% on phones, tablets, smart watches and other items at samsung.com year-round.
• Sheetz: Offering active duty and veterans a free half turkey sub and regular size fountain drink and a free car wash at Sheetz locations with a car wash on Nov. 11. Show proof of service.
• Walgreens: Offering active duty and veterans and their families a 20% discount on regularly priced eligible items through Nov. 11. Available at any Walgreens or Duane Reade drugstore. Show proof of service.

Services

• AutoNation: Offering active duty, veterans and their spouses a 20% discount on all services in-store at AutoNation locations nationwide through Nov. 16 (maximum discount $200). Also applies to the AutoNation Mobile Service at the customer’s preferred location (maximum discount $150). Show proof of service.
• Great Clips: Offering active duty and veterans a free haircut on Nov. 11, or a free haircut card to use later.
• Take 5 Oil Change: Offering active duty and veterans a year-round 25% discount on oil changes at participating locations. Show proof of service.

What to know before you go

• Check the fine print and call the participating organization to be sure the offer is available at the time you plan to arrive.
• Most eateries require you to dine in to receive the deal.
• Let the host, cashier, attendant, reservation agent or other relevant employee know up front that you want the discount or deal.
• “Free” isn’t always completely free. A free meal doesn’t always come with a drink, for instance. Be prepared to pay for extras such as taxes (and tip).
• Call ahead to local establishments to be sure they are aware of, and are participating in, national chain programs. Confirm availability and what type of ID is required.
• Not all offers apply to veterans of all stripes. Most offers will apply to Guard and Reserve members, but check ahead. Be sure you are eligible and you have the appropriate ID/paperwork.
• Most discounts don’t apply to the entire party. Be sure you’re clear whether family members or guests are covered in the discount.
• This is by no means an all-inclusive list. Check with your favorite eatery or store to see if they offer a military discount. It doesn’t hurt to ask a company whether they offer a military discount before you book a reservation or order from your server. But don’t act like you expect it.

Green’s likeness and story are the inspiration behind a new Call of Duty operator bundle launching Friday, making her the first female combat veteran to be featured as a playable Call of Duty character. The bundle launches alongside the new game Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

The character, called 50/50, is outfitted with a bionic arm based on Green’s real-life prosthetic, the Hero RGD, developed by the prosthetics company Open Bionics and supported by the Call of Duty Endowment.

The Hero RGD, short for “rugged,” debuted publicly at the Call of Duty Endowment Bowl in Las Vegas in September. It’s the world’s most advanced bionic arm built for strength and durability, but for Green, it represents much more than technology.

“I love my bionic arm. It gives me balance, it makes me feel whole,” Green said in an interview with Military Times. “As a combat veteran wearing this arm in public, I know it’s about more than just me. Little girls who have lost a limb see someone like them moving forward with confidence.”

Green lost her left arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on May 25, 2004. Being left-handed, she had to relearn everything, from writing to daily tasks.

Her prosthetic is the first of its kind, combining titanium joints and high-strength nylon with a fully wireless muscle-sensor system that allows her to move the hand with speed and precision, according to Open Bionics. The Hero RGD can lift up to 77 pounds and is twice as fast as any other bionic limb available.

The custom version she wears features personalized details, including the date of her injury engraved on the arm, the coordinates of Mount Kilimanjaro, which she recently climbed, and a purple wedding band on the in-game operator, inspired by the one her team recovered from the battlefield after her injury.

Samantha Payne, Open Bionics co-founder and CEO, said she had followed Green’s story for years through her work with the Wounded Warrior Project and immediately knew she was the right person to represent the company’s latest design.

“She exudes strength and a vibrant, live-your-best-life energy,” Payne said. “She is all about living with confidence and helping others overcome. What a wonderful person to align with.”

Payne explained that the Hero RGD was developed over four years at a cost of approximately $2 million. Engineers aimed to make it the strongest, fastest and most reliable prosthetic ever produced.

“Our users are makers, parents, veterans, and builders. They are busy and active. We wanted to build something that could keep up with them,” Payne said. “The RGD is built like a Toyota Camry and runs like a Ferrari. You can’t destroy it.”

Open Bionics continues to expand access to its devices through partnerships with the Department of Veterans Affairs. The company confirmed that the VA funds the Hero RGD for eligible veterans and encourages those interested to reach out directly to begin the process.

“We are actively fitting veterans right now,” Payne said. “If you need a prosthetic, contact us. We can help you get one of these through the VA.”

Green’s collaboration with Call of Duty began when the Endowment and Open Bionics partnered to showcase a real veteran’s story through gaming.

“When the Endowment reached out, we saw an opportunity to celebrate a true hero,” Payne said. “This technology was designed to keep up with how veterans live and work, and Danielle embodies that perfectly.”

For Green, the project is also a way to connect with other veterans who are navigating life after service.

“In the military, we never leave anyone behind, and that’s how I see this project,” she said. “This is my way of helping hundreds of thousands of veterans who are looking for a new purpose in life.”

Dan Goldenberg, executive director of the Call of Duty Endowment, said the partnership with Open Bionics and Green represents exactly what the nonprofit strives to highlight.

“It is easy to tell stories of beaten-down veterans or incredible heroics,” Goldenberg said. “But the quiet heroics of pushing through difficulty and going on to do great things are just as important. Veterans are an asset to their communities, and Danielle’s story helps us show that.”

Since 2009, the Call of Duty Endowment has placed over 150,000 veterans in high-quality civilian jobs through its network of top-performing nonprofits. Veterans seeking employment can visit the Endowment’s website for free career support, including résumé help and interview coaching through vetted partner organizations.

Green’s story and her in-game representation now connect two worlds that rarely intersect: veterans’ recovery and mainstream entertainment.

Proceeds from her new operator bundle will support the endowment’s mission to help veterans find meaningful work.

“This isn’t the end of my story,” Green said. “It’s just a new chapter. We are not talking about surviving anymore. We are talking about thriving.”

The longest federal government shutdown on record is curtailing and outright canceling parades, ceremonies and other events across the U.S. that are normally held to mark Veterans Day. It’s another fallout of the shutdown that has disrupted flights and food assistance, and was already being squarely felt by military families who are worried about their paychecks.

In California, organizers of “A Flag for Every Hero” said they couldn’t move forward with the event on Tuesday without access to restrooms, traffic control and other needs for the thousands of participants. Elsewhere, a lack of federal employees and access to military facilities has scrubbed other Veterans Day events.

“We have a responsibility to provide them the resources they need, and unfortunately with the shutdown we’re unable to do that,” Laura Herzog, founder and CEO of Honoring Our Fallen, which organizes the Riverside National Cemetery event.

In reversal, DOD says troops can wear uniforms at Veterans Day events

Many communities will still hold Veterans Day gatherings, including some of the nation’s largest and well-known events such as the annual observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and the New York Veterans Day Parade.

The disruption to a federal holiday that is intended to honor those who have served in the armed forces comes as military families face uncertainty week to week about their pay. The Trump administration has found ways to pay troops twice since the shutdown began Oct. 1.

The Texas National Cemetery Foundation canceled an annual Veterans Day event at the cemetery in Dallas-Fort Worth, saying organizers wouldn’t have time to stage the ceremony even if the shutdown ended soon. In Virginia, city leaders in Hampton cited concerns about a lack of service members to participate in its annual parade because of the shutdown.

“Our veterans deserve to be recognized with great pomp and circumstance,” Hampton City Manager Mary Bunting said in a news release. “Without the presence of our active-duty military, we are concerned that the parade would appear sparse and that the recognition might fall short of the honor our veterans so richly deserve.”

Organizers of Detroit’s annual Veterans Day parade say they’re moving forward with the Sunday event, but it won’t include an appearance by a U.S. Army band or a helicopter flyover. Others are relying on even more help from volunteers than usual to make up for the lack of federal resources.

The Wyoming Valley Veterans Day Parade, which has been a tradition in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, every year since 1945, will still take place Sunday. But organizers have had to scramble because of the shutdown, asking veterans to participate. And instead of military vehicles, the parade will feature motorcycle groups and car clubs.

“We’re going to have a parade, one way or another,” said Susan Allen, a retired Navy lieutenant commander who chairs the parade committee. “We have no choice but to make lemonade out of these lemons.”

Despite the upheaval, some communities are still trying to find ways to honor veterans even as events are canceled.

In Mississippi, the Gulf Coast Veterans Association canceled its annual parade in Pass Christian. But the group said it would use funds for the event to instead provide Thanksgiving dinners for veterans and active-duty members.

“While we share in the disappointment, we are choosing to turn this setback into a blessing,” the group said in a Facebook post.

When U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales learned that the Veterans Day ceremony at Fort Sam Houston Cemetery in San Antonio wouldn’t take place, the Republican congressman’s office took up organizing the annual event.

Gonzales, a Navy veteran whose grandfather is buried at the cemetery, said that meant working with nonprofits to find someone to sing the national anthem and to provide chairs for attendees.

“We honor our veterans no matter what, and that’s exactly what we did,” Gonzales said.

The son of a German immigrant father, Huchthausen was a rising star in the field of architecture. His strong grasp of design principles and enthusiasm for history brought him accolades for his work and professional success. After receiving a Master’s degree from Harvard, he worked in New York and Boston and eventually became an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota.

Becoming a Monuments Man

Huchthausen’s German heritage was important to him. He studied abroad in Germany on a fellowship for Harvard prior to the war and mastered the language with native proficiency as he worked alongside German museum professionals. His connection with the German language and culture would later become vital to his success as a U.S. Army Monuments Man tasked with preserving valuable historical artifacts.

After World War II broke out, Huchthausen, then age 38, volunteered for military service in 1942, joining the U.S. Army Air Forces. His service in the USAAF would be short-lived, however. Wounded badly by a V-1 “flying bomb” in London in June 1944, he joined the U.S. Army’s European Civil Affairs Division and was selected as a talented candidate for the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program, whose officers were popularly known as “the Monuments Men.” As the Battle of the Bulge raged in December 1944, Huchthausen joined the Ninth Army as its Monuments officer.

Attaining the rank of captain, he was nicknamed “Hutch” by his comrades, who likely struggled to pronounce his German last name.

Huchthausen communicated well with German POWs and local civilians and thus, within a relatively short timeframe, he was able to locate 30 hidden caches of art stashed away by Nazi officials — salvaging both historical German artifacts and looted objects from occupied countries. He was known for being especially hardworking and was admired by his colleagues for his organizational talents and attention to detail.

In the ruins of a royal city

After working briefly in France, he distinguished himself after arriving in the shattered ruins of Aachen, a city ripped apart both by external and internal strife. Its history as the citadel of Emperor Charlemagne, the first ruler of what would become the Holy Roman Empire, gave it special status — not only to locals but to Adolf Hitler, who saw it as a propaganda symbol.

As the U.S. Army approached, Hitler ordered the city to be defended to the last man and destroyed totally rather than surrendered. Local civilians were at first prevented from evacuating by the Schutzstaffel, better known as the SS, and subsequently forced from their homes as Nazi officials prepared for a deadly siege that began in early September and became one of the war’s bloodiest urban battles.

Treated brutally by the SS, many civilians hid in various locations inside the city and tried to break out to safety later. Photos taken by the U.S. Army during the battle of Aachen note that elderly German residents were fired upon by Nazis with automatic weapons as they tried to flee. American soldiers later rescued several infirm elderly women who were nearly gunned down while trying to escape through the ruins.

Once a magnificent structure with its own treasure chamber, Aachen’s cathedral had already suffered bombing damage throughout the war. In the early war years it had been protected by local German youths who formed a volunteer fire brigade to preserve the church.

However, the cathedral was on its last legs. The ferocious battle that ended on Oct. 21 had seen tanks tear through the city and buildings ripped apart by shellfire. The cathedral was in danger of collapse.

Saving the cathedral

Arriving in January 1945, Huchthausen came to the rescue. Creating his own headquarters in the city’s Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, he set about identifying and collecting the cathedral’s numerous altarpieces and artifacts to preserve them. Huchthausen successfully organized and led local German civilians to locate missing objects and start repairing the site.

He used his architectural expertise to rescue what he could. Under his leadership, civilians repaired the roof, preserved paintings and covered bomb-damaged windows. He successfully reinforced the cathedral’s buttresses to stop them from caving in and strengthened the interior structure — saving it from collapse.

Challenged by a reporter about why he cared about preserving a site in the Third Reich, Huchthausen replied that its history was world heritage. “Aachen Cathedral belongs to the world and if we can prevent it from falling in ruins…we are doing a service to the world,” he said.

Killed in action

Tragically, that statement defining his approach to his work was published two days after Huchthausen was killed in action on April 2, 1945. Working closely behind the Ninth Army’s frontlines, Huchthausen and his assistant Lt. Sheldon Keck, formerly a conservator of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, were driving in search of a stolen artifact when they came under fire from a machine gun. Huchthausen was killed instantly, falling on top of his comrade as the vehicle overturned. Keck survived.

Fellow Monuments Man Maj. Walker Hancock wrote a touching tribute to Huchthausen after his death. “The buildings that Hutch hoped, as a young architect, to build will never exist,” he wrote, “but the few people who saw him at his job — friend and enemy — must think more of the human race because of him.”

Huchthausen is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery in Holland, and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster.

The top winner, with a grant of $100,000, is the Caregiving Youth Student Leadership Program, which is part of the Military Child Education Coalition of Harker Heights, Texas.

“These are students who balance homework with hospital visits, who help care for a parent who is healing from injury or illness,” said Mary Bier, president and CEO of the Military Child Education Coalition.

Bier accepted the award during a ceremony Oct. 29 in Arlington, Virginia. During the event, Bier said students in the program often sacrifice their own needs to care for someone that they love.

MCEC was founded in 1998, and like many organizations, its programs have evolved to meet the needs of the military community. Their caregiving youth program, started in 2023, is an immersive, five-day leadership training that provides a supportive environment where they have “a place to be seen, to connect with peers who understand their journey, and to imagine what’s possible in their next chapter of life,” Bier said.

The award will help the organization expand the program to reach more youth, “giving them the tools, the confidence and the hope that they deserve,” she said.

The Fisher Service Awards, created by the Fisher House Foundation and the Military Times Foundation, recognize and help fund innovative programs created to improve the quality of life of service members, military families and veterans. Since the awards program began in 1999 as the Newman’s Own Awards, it has distributed more than $3.8 million across 215 nonprofits.

“The strength of our military isn’t just in cool jets or brilliant strategies,” said Marine Corps Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in remarks at the Oct. 29 ceremony. “It’s defined by the resilience of our people, our warfighters and their families and the communities that stand behind them.

“You are, in fighter pilot lingo, the jet fuel that fuels the joint force. You organizations, without fail, step into a gap ... and provide resources and offer hope when and where it’s needed most,” he said. “You do it when others can’t or won’t.”

This year, more than 443 entries were received, and nine judges evaluated each entry based on the organization’s creativity, innovation and impact on their community. While not all of the organizations could receive awards, Mahoney said, “their collective dedication to the military community is a testament to that resilience” of the military and their families.

The awards ceremony was held on the 29th day of the government shutdown, which has affected many military families. Asked after the ceremony by Military Times about what the efforts of these organizations mean to the military community, especially now, Mahoney said, “Regardless of what the environment is like, they’re there. If times are tough, they’re there. If times are good, they’re there.

“It’s an immutable part of our community ... It’s remarkable to see.”

The Fisher House Foundation is known for its network of 100 comfort homes where military and veteran families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment at a major military medical center or Veterans Affairs hospital.

“We’re grateful to have reached the milestone of 100 houses, and are committed to continuing to meet the needs of our military and veterans community as we begin the second 100,” said David Coker, president of the foundation.

“We recognize that we are but one of many organizations that have the privilege of serving our military and veteran communities, and we’ve found that we’re more effective if we work with other organizations in the spirit of collaboration, not competition. The organizations we’ve supported through this program and the lives they’ve touched has been the real payoff,” he said.

The Fisher House Foundation and the Military Times Foundation have been partners in sponsoring the awards since the program began. The Fisher Service Award winners “demonstrate how collaboration can drive a lasting impact,” said Kelly Facer, senior vice president of Military Times. “As is the case every year, our honorees exemplify the power of community, cooperation, and innovation in tackling the most important issues facing our nation’s heroes.”

The four remaining winners each received a $75,000 award. They are:

Exceptional Families Matter Grant Program, part of Exceptional Families of the Military, of Marana, Arizona. The organization provides peer connections and case assistance. Its grant program provides immediate relief for families with special needs. They also advocate for systemic reforms to help families.

Wounded Warrior Umpire Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida. The organization trains veterans as baseball umpires, providing mentorship and peer support and helping veterans rebuild confidence, purpose and camaraderie. The academy, founded by veterans, creates a lifelong network.

Diné Naazbaa Partnership, a program of America’s Warrior Partnership of Augusta, Georgia. It’s the first community-based initiative supporting Navajo Nation veterans, connecting them to resources in housing, health, education, employment and more.

Operation Rebound, a program of Challenged Athletes, Inc., in San Diego, California. By providing grants for adaptive equipment and access to supportive athletic communities, Operation Rebound removes barriers to participation in sports for veterans and first responders nationwide.

All five award winners also receive an advertising package from Military Times valued at $50,000. Ten additional organizations will receive a $35,000 advertising package from Military Times to support awareness of their work.

Those missing payments in the wake of the rollout of a new processing system are spouses or children of veterans who have died, are missing, or have a permanent and total service-connected disability — grouped together under the VA’s Chapter 35. Up to 75,000 of these claims may be unpaid, according to Ashlynne Haycock-Lohmann, director of Government and Legislative Affairs for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

And while VA officials lay the blame for the protracted payments delay largely with congressional Democrats, whom the administration holds responsible for the government shutdown that began Oct. 1, multiple groups are expressing frustration with the department’s own actions and failure to find a solution.

“VA deployed a new benefit delivery system in August and anticipated having the ability to pay staff overtime and deploy automation solutions as needed to ensure a smooth transition and process fall enrollments on a timely basis,” Peter Kasperowicz, a VA spokesman, told Military Times in an emailed statement. “When the Democrats’ shutdown hit, VA was deprived of these resources.”

He added that federal law required the GI Bill hotline, which is typically used to identify and address payment issues, to be turned off during the shutdown. VA anticipates the pay issue won’t be fully resolved until late November or early December, Kasperowicz said.

That’s not satisfactory to Haycock-Lohmann.

“The shutdown is not the cause of this, and it needs to be very clear that the reason that this happened is because VA’s infrastructure failed, and they chose not to tell us until after the shutdown started,” she said. “VA could have told us in August.”

She added that affected veterans never got clear communication about what was happening due to a communications plan that was upended after VA staff got furloughed in October.

An Oct. 9 letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the ranking members of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, expressed “serious concern” at the missed payments and gave the VA an Oct. 13 deadline to provide an explanation, outline the scope of the problem and explain its communications plan.

“These payments are essential, mandatory funds that veterans and their families rely on for food, rent or mortgage payments, immediate needs, and financial stability,” the lawmakers wrote.

A staff member with Blumenthal’s office said VA had not yet sent a response to the letter. They added that VA had told congressional staff in August about a glitch that would affect 900 Chapter 35 students, saying the students had been contacted and the issue remediated. But no further information had been forthcoming even as the issue appears to be much larger, and they believed VA has not done any outreach about the matter.

Will Hubbard, the vice president for Veterans and Military Policy at the organization Veterans Education Success and an architect of the current “Forever GI Bill,” has been tracking the nonpayment issue closely since he was alerted to the problem by congressional staff.

“There’s been no mass communications plan; there’s no press release; there’s no public anything,” Hubbard said. “And that’s really been a fundamental issue.”

For Hubbard, the problem also fit a pattern of major VA platform or tech rollouts affecting GI Bill beneficiaries that took place right before the start of the fall semester, when enrollments were surging and tuition payments were coming due.

Hubbard wants assurances from VA that the rollout timing issue will be addressed for the future. He’s also concerned that the VA’s projected timeline for fixing the current problem is optimistic, and expressed concern about the “destabilizing” impacts of missing payments that roll into next semester.

“What I’m most worried about are the housing payment elements of this issue,” he said. “Because, you know, a school might be flexible, and I applaud that, but I suspect that landlords, their patience is going to run thin eventually. It’s bad, obviously, to get dropped from school, but it’s life changing if you’re put out on the street.”

TAPS, meanwhile, is calling for the restoration of the GI Bill hotline and a surge in claims processors to accelerate resolution.

“What they should be doing is bringing back the call center, finding a way to fund the call center. Bring those employees back,” Haycock-Lohmann said. “In future shutdown plans, make it very clear that the GI Bill hotline needs to be considered an essential program, and they need to bring back every processor right now.”

TAPS staff said they had seen success in “back channel” communication with congressional officials and VA Education Services over specific hardship cases to restore payments. Haycock-Lohmann said all affected students should know that schools are legally prohibited from dropping them over missed GI Bill payments. And, she said, survivors facing issues can reach TAPS for help with their case at casework@taps.org.

Among the the Ninth’s many outstanding pilots was the only Martin B-26 Marauder crewman to be awarded a Medal of Honor.

When the United States entered World War II, Iowan Darrell Robins Lindsey enlisted as an Army Air Corps cadet in Des Moines on Jan. 16, 1942. His training included introduction to the B-26 at the 314 Bombardment Group’s base at MacDill Field, Florida, followed by bombardier training at Kirtland Field, New Mexico.

He got his second lieutenant’s commission on Aug. 27 and soon after he got his operational assignment to the 585th Squadron, 384th Bombardment Group (Medium) at Kellogg Field, Michigan, where he rose to first lieutenant in 1943 and to captain that December.

On March 10, 1944, the 394th Group arrived at Boreham, England, and attached to the Ninth Air Force. Capt. Lindsey was a flight leader as his squadron bombed military installations, trains, airfields and any other targets in German-occupied France. As of June 6, that included supporting the Americans’ advance from Normandy and to the port of Cherbourg.

Aerial opposition was relatively scarce because aircraft of VIII and IX Fighter Command and the RAF had largely swept it from the sky — and what remained was occupied defending Germany from long-range bombers and their fighter escorts, or the growing quantity and quality of Soviet aircraft approaching from the east.

One threat, however, seemed constant: a variety of German anti-aircraft guns, ranging from 20mm to 105mm, installed at every target.

Opposing the Ninth Air Force’s bombers, which normally attacked from 10,000 to 12,000 feet altitude, AA guns seemed to take their toll upon every sortie.

On July 24, the 394th moved to Holmsley South, so it could be closer to the advancing Americans. By Aug. 9, Lindsey had logged 46 missions encompassing 143 combat hours and 1,497 overall.

At that time the Germans were striving to retake the strategically important towns of Mortain and Avranches, where the 30th Infantry Division, nicknamed “Old Hickory,” held that hard-won ground against the XLVII Panzer Korps.

In that context, Lindsey, flying his B-26 Marauder, led 30 planes to bomb the railroad bridge at L’Isle-Adam, a junction between the Seine and Oise rivers, 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Paris, over which the Germans were bringing up troops, supplies and equipment for their counterattack.

L’Isle Adam being one of the precious few railroad junctions still at their disposal, the Germans’ main defenses were their notorious 88mm anti-aircraft guns, equally deadly against aircraft and tanks.

As Lindsey’s strike force neared the bridge he was greeted by heavy flak, but by skillful evasive action he was able to elude much of it before entering his bombing run — at which point his plane was peppered with holes. Suddenly, his right engine burst into flame, producing a concussion that threw his plane out of the lead position. Undeterred, Lindsey maneuvered his stricken machine back into position without disrupting the formation.

At this point, Lindsey was aware that his gas tanks might explode any moment but was determined to complete the mission before all else. With fire streaming from his engine and the right wing half enveloped in flames, he led the formation to drop their 2,000-pound loads on the bridge.

Once that was accomplished, he ordered his crew to take to their parachutes, while he kept the descending B-26 on a steady glide. The last crewman out, the bombardier, offered to lower the landing gear so Lindsey could escape out the nose, but he refused until the bombardier had bailed out. Then, just as he tried to follow, the right tank exploded, the plane went into a steep dive and upon striking the ground, exploded.

The bomb run on L’Isle-Adam capped a series of bomb raids since Aug. 7 that demolished four bridges, destroyed an ammunition dump and contributed to the failure of the German counterattack, which led to the partial trapping of the German army and most of its armor at Falaise, leading in turn to the liberation of Paris by the end of August. For that three-day success, the 394th Bomb Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation.

On May 30, 1945, Lindsey’s widow received a posthumous Medal of Honor from Major Gen. Robert B. Williams, commander of the Second Air Force, at the First Presbyterian Church at Fort Dodge.

The contents of his citation was noteworthy for its relative informality: “All who are alive today from this plane owe their lives to the fact that Captain Lindsey remained cool and showed supreme courage in this emergency.”

But Holmes returned only because his automatic rifle was out of commission. He refused to be taken to the hospital for treatment. Instead, he got a reserve automatic rifle and rejoined the fight, firing upon the enemy until he died.

His try-or-die attitude was shared by all of Company C. His fellow soldier, Cpl. Freddie Stowers, continued to crawl ahead after being mortally wounded. He, too, died under fire, while encouraging the unit to advance.

For their actions in the Battle of Hill 188, on Sept. 28, 1918, both Holmes and Stowers were recommended for the Medal of Honor.

Only Stowers, however, would receive the receive the nation’s highest military honor — 73 years after the soldier’s death.

Born on Jan. 12, 1896, in Sandy Springs, South Carolina, Stowers, the grandson of a slave, was working as a farm hand when America declared war on Germany and he was drafted into the Army at Williamston, S.C. on Oct. 4, 1917.

After training at Camp Jackson, in April 1918 he was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 371st Infantry Regiment, 93rd Division, American Expeditionary Forces and shipped off to France.

Organized at Camp Jackson, the 371st Infantry was one of four segregated Black regiments slated for France, of which one, the 369th, was relatively experienced. The 371st, in contrast, was made up of draftees, mostly from South Carolina, but reinforced with soldiers from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Although combined on paper as the 93rd Division (Provisional), the 371st was confined by the AEF for auxiliary and labor roles behind the lines. That state of affairs changed, however, when the French army, in dire need of reinforcements at a critical turning point of the war, requested — and received — Black units.

Among those French units in need was the 157th Division (“Red Hand”) under Gen. Mariano Goybet, which had been decimated at Chemin-des-Dames in May. On July 4 the division was reconstituted with the French 333rd Infantry Regiment and the 371st and 372nd regiments, then redeployed to the front.

By mid-September the 157th had acquired the experience necessary to hold its sector at Avocourt and Verrières, northwest of Verdun. In C Company of the 371st, Stowers had risen to corporal, in charge of half a squad.

On Sept. 26, the AEF and French launched their Meuse-Argonne campaign. On the 28th, C Company of the 371st advanced on its objective, Côte 188, a 188-meter high hill overlooking a farm near Ardeuil-et-Montfauxelles. As the Black troops made their way forward and up, a line of Germans emerged from their positions, at least one holding a white flag.

When the 371st men closed to 100 meters, however, the “surrendering” Germans suddenly dropped into the trenches and others rose to man machine guns, rifles and mortars in interlocking fields of fire. In a matter of minutes, half of the approaching 371st were cut down and the rest driven to ground.

In C Company, Cpl. Stowers took in the situation around him and discovered that his company commander and sergeant were dead and all other senior personnel were casualties —leaving him the highest grade still standing.

His response was to crawl his way upward, gathering up men left standing.

Managing to reach the first German trench line, Stowers and his men destroyed the key machine gun position and killed the defenders. Stowers then regrouped the men on hand and continued his crawl up the hill. As they approached the second trench lines, however, he was struck by a machine gun round. Even then, he continued to urge his troops forward until he finally fell dead.

By then, his leadership by example had left its mark on C Company as it overran the second line and drove the Germans from Côte 188.

Although he would go no further, Stowers inspired the 371st Infantry to further successes at Bussy Ferme, Ardeuills, Monfauxelles and Trières Ferme, albeit at a cost of 133 killed in action.

The French posthumously awarded him the Croix de Guerre and besides the Purple Heart, his commander recommended him for a Medal of Honor, but the AEF claimed it lost the paperwork somewhere along the way.

In 1990, however, the Army conducted a reappraisal of minorities whose deeds may have been underrated during World War I. As a result, on April 24, 1991, two of Stowers’ sisters, Georgina Palmer and Mary Jane Bowens, were invited to the White House to receive Stower’s overdue Medal of Honor.

Today, Stowers remains not far from where he fell, in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon.

Among these victims of their own negligence were World War I ace of aces Manfred von Richthofen and second-ranking American World War II ace Thomas B. McGuire Jr.

Yet another cautionary tale was left by Neel Kearby.

While a second lieutenant in the Army Reserves in 1938, Kearby shot up the ranks after World War II broke out: captain on Feb. 1, 1942, major on March 1 and lieutenant colonel on Nov. 28.

In October 1942, Kearby was put in charge of a new unit, the 348th Fighter Group. It was the first outfit shipped to V Fighter Command in New Guinea equipped with the Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, a huge, sturdy single-engine fighter armed with eight wing-mounted .50-caliber machine guns.

American fighter jockeys in the South Pacific generally preferred the Lockheed P-38G Lightning, which had proven a highly successful ace-maker, while dismissing the P-47 “Jug” as too heavy and not maneuverable enough to dogfight nimble lightweights such as the Japanese navy’s Zero and the army’s Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa.

Once in command, however, Kearby became a hardcore “believer” in the P-47 and devoted himself to developing a doctrine for making the most of the Thunderbolt’s diving speed, while canceling out the Japanese advantages.

When the 348th moved to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on July 14, 1943, its pilots had trained well under Kearby’s tutelage and its first combat flight on Aug. 16 yielded its first victim: a Ki-43 of the 59th Koku Sentai (air regiment) downed by 2nd Lt. Wilburn C. Henderson.

In spite of being 32 years of age — practically ancient by USAAF standards — Kearby was a believer in leading by example and on Sept. 4 he scored his first victories, a Mitsubishi G4M bomber and one of its Zero escorts.

Ten days later he outran and downed a Mitsubishi Ki-46, a twin-engine reconnaissance built for speed. On Sept. 23 he was promoted to colonel. Then, on Oct. 11, he shot down six Japanese aircraft in a matter of 15 minutes, a feat that led to his being awarded the Medal of Honor from Gen. Douglas MacArthur on Jan. 23, 1944.

Over the next few months Kearby and the 348th established themselves as forces to be reckoned with over New Guinea. On Jan. 9, 1944, he downed two fighters, bringing his score up to 21. At that point he was dividing his attention between flying alongside the 348th and, after Nov. 12, 1943, flying a desk in V Fighter Command while Lt. Col. Robert Richard Rowland assumed command of the 348th.

Kearby’s superior in Fifth Air Force, Maj. Gen. George C. Kenney, encouraged this arrangement to stir up a rivalry between aces, as he was already doing with P-38 champions Richard I. Bong and Tommy McGuire. Besides bringing out the deadly best in these outstanding pilots — and pitting the P-38s against Kearby’s P-47 — the publicity it generated kept the Fifth Air Force in the public eye and attracted re-equipment stateside.

On Feb. 8, 1944, Kenney put Kearby in command of the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), and it was during this command that Kearby forgot his own dictum.

On March 5, 1944, Kearby was leading Captains Samuel Blair and William D. Dunham at 22,000 feet altitude over the enemy airfields at Wewak when, at 1720 hours, they spotted three Kawasaki Ki-48 bombers heading toward Dagua for a landing.

The Japanese at Dagua spotted their comrades’ plight, however, and the 77th Sentai scrambled five Ki-43s up after the intruders.

Diving on their prey, each American ace was credited with one, but Kearby was not sure of his and circled around to make another pass. His 22nd victim splashed in the sea, but in making that second pass at relatively low altitude and reduced airspeed, he handed the advantage to the Hayabusas. The 77th Sentai’s log credited a P-47 each to Warrant Officer Koichi Mitoma and Sgt. Hiroshi Aoyagi, while suffering one plane badly damaged.

In July 1947 Australian War Graves personnel found Kearby in the wreckage of his plane, “Fiery Ginger IV,” just 1,800 feet from Dagua. The only intact remnant, the white vertical stabilizer bearing the serial 42-22668, was returned to the U.S. and in 2001 it was put on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force beside a rebuilt plane in his markings.

Kearby’s remains were laid to rest at Sparkman Hillcrest Memorial Park.

Besides the Medal of Honor, Kearby was awarded two Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals and one Purple Heart. In 1959 a building on Sheppard Air Force Base is named in his honor and in 2010 the Texas Historical Commission and the City of Arlington unveiled a plaque and a statue of him in the Arlington Public Library.

In March 1915, a young British man named Raymond Lodge was deployed to Ypres, France, to fight on the front lines of the first world war. By September, he was dead, aged just 26.

A few weeks later, however, Raymond got in touch with his family. “TELL FATHER I HAVE MET SOME FRIENDS OF HIS”, came the message hastily scrawled in all caps by the spiritualist medium Mrs. Osborne Leonard.

Raymond’s father was Sir Oliver Lodge, a prominent physicist whose work helped to develop radio communications. Sir Oliver was also a member of the Society for Psychical Research, an organisation which, among other things, investigated ghosts. The “friends” Raymond had apparently met beyond the grave included F.W.H. Myers, a founding member of the society, who had died in 1901.

Sir Oliver, previously fairly sceptical, was soon drawn into lengthy séances with Mrs. Leonard, poring over messages allegedly from Raymond about death and the afterlife. He compiled them into a book entitled “Raymond, or Life and Death,” which was published in 1916. It proved so popular that it ran to many editions, with soldiers on the front being sent copies by their loved ones.

Spiritualism began in the late 1840s as a pseudo-Christian practice that believed communication with the dead was entirely possible. While it dwindled in popularity at the turn of the century, it was reinvigorated to new levels in the aftermath of the first world war. The popularity of Lodge’s book, moreover, led to dozens of copycat publications, where other soldiers “wrote” of their experiences of the utopian spiritualist afterlife to their families.

“Claude’s Book” (1919) is one such example, “transcribed” from séances with young Claude by his mother, L. Kelway-Bamber. Kelway-Bamber, having been so heartened by Sir Oliver’s sittings, had hired Mrs. Leonard herself to get in touch with her son. Spiritualist mediums were in high demand once more.

Beyond the cynicism

It’s easy to dismiss these séances, even to scoff at them as nothing more than charlatans exploiting public grief, especially from the point of view of modern scepticism. When I was researching my new book, “Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting and Why We Keep Looking,” this was my initial reaction to reading about these bizarre encounters with the spirits of the dead.

But as a sociological phenomenon, borne of mass grief, I think it’s more complicated than that. We may laugh at fraudulent mediums quivering melodramatically as they channel the so-called spirits of the dead, but to discuss spiritualism’s cultural significance requires a more nuanced and sensitive approach.

By the end of the first world war, nearly 9 million soldiers had been killed. General mortality rates were already high prior to the war, and people were no strangers to sudden, unexpected bereavement. But never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

If we look at spiritualism in the aftermath of the first world war, not to identify fraud and shun its believers as being gullible, we can build up an incredibly detailed picture of why so many clung to séance tables in the hope of contacting their loved ones again.

Everyone’s loss of their son, brother or husband was uniquely painful, and yet these deaths lost their significance when half the families on the street had also lost their young men. Yet, suddenly, everyone knew Raymond Lodge’s name. He stood out among the legions of dead Tommies, because of the séances Sir Oliver held with Mrs. Leonard.

This, I think, is why so many grieving families took up spiritualism and wrote their own books — not to piggyback on Raymond’s popularity, but to make their sons, brothers and husbands seem special, too. Moreover, many didn’t know exactly what had happened to soldiers; being able to “speak” to them from beyond the grave made it seem like they were happy and at peace, enjoying themselves in the afterlife, and not in pieces in a muddy ditch thousands of miles from home.

Mary Lodge, Raymond’s mother, sums up the problem with a brief sentence her husband includes in the book: “We can face Christmas now.” We can accuse Mrs. Leonard of exploiting grief, but we can’t deny that it eased the suffering of many, regardless of the ethical and moral dilemmas posed by spiritualism.

The history of ghost-hunting and séances is rife with fraud, and scepticism is often required to read around anecdotes to uncover what was really happening, but it’s also a vital resource to help us understand grief and fear of death at certain points in human history. By examining the motivation behind ghost-hunting from a more sympathetic perspective, we can learn a great deal about what it means to be alive.

Alice Vernon is a lecturer in Creative Writing and 19th-Century Literature at Aberystwyth University.

According to the Air Force, a rushed training program for flight surgeons, enlisted medical technicians and flight nurses cropped up at Bowman Field, near Louisville, Kentucky.

The all-volunteer force had to train for crash procedures, survival training and the effects of high altitude on patients with various wounds. Since the aircraft also transported military supplies, the obvious markings of the Red Cross were not permitted, making the medical personnel particularly vulnerable to enemy attack.

Among such volunteers was 1st Lt. Mary Louise Hawkins, who spent 13 months flying the wounded out of the Pacific Theater, becoming one of the few women to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during WWII.

On Sept. 24, 1944, while en route to Guadalcanal from the fighting in Palau, the C-47 transporting Hawkins and 24 wounded Marines began to run low on fuel.

Forced to crash on Bellona Island, which had not yet been cleared of enemy forces, the resulting landing left all relatively unscathed — all except one.

During the landing, one of the C-47’s propellers ripped through the plane’s fuselage and severed the trachea of an already wounded Marine.

As the Marine asphyxiated in his own blood, the rattled Hawkins moved quickly. Searching desperately for a means of suction and with only precious seconds to spare, the nurse ripped open part of her “Mae West” life preserver and pulled out the inflation tube from the vest.

Inserting the tube in the Marine’s neck, Hawkins manually sucked the blood out the patient’s neck, spitting mouthfuls on the floor of the C-47. The jerry-rigged suction tube worked, allowing for the Marine to breathe while the group waited over 19 hours for rescue.

For her actions, Hawkins was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

“First Lieutenant Hawkins displayed unusual courage in rendering prompt and efficient first-aid treatment to an injured passenger immediately after the accident,” her citation reads. “First Lieutenant Hawkins’ immediate performance of technically difficult acts despite the stress incident to the crash landing of the airplane is an example of steadfast courage which reflects great credit on herself and the Army Nurse Corps.”

Thanks to Hawkins, all 24 men survived the harrowing ordeal.