AS CHRISTMAS APPROACHED in 1942, a young cryptographer named Leo Marks sat in an office on Baker Street in London, trying to understand what was bothering him. Marks worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the clandestine outfit Prime Minister Winston Churchill had ordered to “set Europe ablaze” with sabotage operations. His job was to … Lire la suite

It was one minute before high noon on Oct. 27, 1962, the day that later became known as “Black Saturday.” More than 100,000 American troops were preparing to invade Cuba to topple Fidel Castro’s communist regime and destroy dozens of Soviet intermediate- and medium-range ballistic missiles thought to be aimed at targets in the United … Lire la suite

Thousands of men enforced the law on the Western frontier as constables, sheriffs, policemen, marshals and detectives. Most of their work involved routine duties—e.g., collecting taxes, seeing licenses were up to date, arresting wife-beaters, keeping a lid on the illegal sale of booze, checking store doors at night and generally ensuring things were under control … Lire la suite

Sixty years after the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, one of the U.S. military’s most unique airplanes is still standing guard in case of catastrophe. The E-4B National Airborne Operations Center — also known as “Nightwatch” — is a flying office for the secretary of defense that uses … Lire la suite

Karl Bodmer was a European of many names and accomplishments, but his reputation received a transatlantic boost in 1832. That year Prince Maximilian, a Prussian explorer, ethnologist and naturalist, was planning an expedition into the North American frontier and, in a rare moment of humility, realized he needed a professional artist to supplement his own … Lire la suite

From the time Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation” on Feb. 24, 2022, his target, Ukraine, proved to be anything but low-hanging fruit. Ferocious though their resistance was, however, it would not have lasted as long as it did — three months and still counting, as of May 2022 — had it … Lire la suite

On March 23, 1820, off Africa’s western coast, Captain Vicente de Llovio of Spanish merchant brig Antelope uneasily watched an unfamiliar vessel enter the Bay of Cabinda. Antelope had been anchored for two weeks in the bay, where the Congo River meets the Atlantic Ocean. De Llovio and his 24-man crew had been sharing the … Lire la suite

One man’s (looted) trash is another’s man’s treasure, or so it was in the case of a woman who walked into a Goodwill store in Austin, Texas, and walked out with a priceless Roman artifact — all for the low, low price of $34.99.  A steal of the century — or centuries — as it … Lire la suite

On May 21, 2021, President Joe Biden presented 1st Lt. Ralph Puckett with the Medal of Honor for valorous action in the Korean War on November 25, 1950. But his story takes on new life in the form of a graphic novel. The latest issue of “Medal of Honor,” an illustrated series produced by the … Lire la suite

EVERY DAY, scores of midshipmen walk down the 7th Wing corridor at the U.S. Naval Academy’s sprawling Bancroft Hall dormitory. As they pass Room 7046, they might notice a plaque on the wall commemorating one of their own, Commander Howard Walter Gilmore, class of 1926. He was a World War II submariner, a Medal of … Lire la suite