After a difficult adjustment to the discipline of Army life, James I. Spurrier Jr. deployed to the South Pacific as an infantry soldier. Returning to combat duty after being wounded in New Guinea, he joined the 35th Infantry Division, landing in Normandy on D+1. Excellent in combat, his lack of discipline led to his assignment as a company runner rather than a squad leader. This enabled him to fight on his own, which was his preference.

Much has been made in the historical record of the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany in early March of 1945. However, fewer accounts exist of Operation Flashpoint, Ninth US Army’s assault crossing of the Rhine, which began on March 24. General William H. Simpson, commander of Ninth Army, has received little attention in the historiography of World War II.

Born in the Appalachian Mountains on May 1, 1918, in Cherry Grove, West Virginia, T/Sgt. Clinton Hedrick enlisted in the US Army in September 1940 in Columbus, Ohio, before America’s entry into the war.

Jack Mathis was born the second of three children in San Angelo, Texas, on September 25, 1921.

Morris E. Crain was born on October 7, 1924, in Bandana, Kentucky, on the very western edge of the state.

Many historians have written about the famous “Buffalo Soldiers” of the all-Black 92nd Infantry Division, who fought with distinction during World War II.

Heroism on the battlefield often goes unrecognized for generations, as it did for Staff Sergeant Ruben Rivers.

World War II saw an unprecedented level of inter-Allied cooperation that led to the formation of new staff organizations like the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the US-British Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS).

James R. Hendrix was born on August 20, 1925, in the small town of Lepanto, Arkansas.

The campaign in North Africa began with a daring Anglo-American commando raid code-named Operation RESERVIST.

The Allied victory against the Axis was a long journey—one that actually took much longer than the war itself.

The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of America’s bloodiest campaigns.