Matt Fratus is a history staff writer for Coffee or Die. He prides himself on uncovering the most fascinating tales of history by sharing them through any means of engaging storytelling. He writes for his micro-blog @LateNightHistory
Before the U.S. Coast Guard was hunting down narco-drug traffickers in submersible submarines and using advanced Search And Rescue (SAR) technology like high-frequency coastal radar and Sikorsky helicopters, the early heroes of the U.S. Life-Saving ...
Time Magazine reported on the Korean War Armistice agreement in August 1953, a week after its signing on July 27. “A correspondent asked a British officer whether the Commonwealth Division would celebrate with the traditional fireworks,” the author ...
Zdzisław Jeziorański, Jan Kwiatkowski, codename “Janek,” codename “Zych,” Jan Nowak — these were a handful of noms de guerre used by the famed Courier of Warsaw while working for the Polish Underground during World War II. His journeys took him ...
Operating undercover as an Allied spy was stressful work. They disguised themselves as ordinary citizens, developing false identities, documents, and cover stories while building trust amongst networks forged in secrecy through ...
Survival was a long shot for the 600 remaining soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional). Codename Galahad, the famed Merrill's Marauders were the first American troops to fight the Japanese in Asia, and are the predecessors of ...
Inspired by the Salvation Army's Donut Lassies who contributed morale services during World War I, National Donut Day was established in 1938. The American Red Cross (ARC) has kept the tradition alive by bringing delicious donuts to American troops ...
On the 75th anniversary of D-Day, we remember the stories of those who contributed to the largest seaborne invasion in history on June 6, 1944. Most people are familiar with the story — movies have been made about the epic invasion since a few years ...
“The Bridge on the River Kwai” won Best Picture and six other Oscar nods from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences at the 1958 Academy Awards. What the film did not win was the respect and admiration from members of the Far East Prisoners ...
Three years and five months spent in the Malayan jungle battling typhus, pneumonia, blackwater fever, cerebral malaria — two weeks of which was spent in a coma — represent half of the battles British commando Freddy Spencer Chapman faced during his ...
On this date 32 years ago, the U.S. Army Special Forces — commonly referred to as “Green Berets” — were officially established as a basic branch of the U.S. Army. But their history began much earlier. From the days when the 10th Special Forces ...
Winston Churchill, like all larger-than-life leaders, proved himself during tumultuous years. Soldiers, politicians, and citizens alike were searching for a voice that could assert meaning and nationwide values in a unified way when the world around ...
“America never contributed anything to the world but chewing gum and Coca-Cola,” griped Otto Dietrich, the Nazi Press Chief and head of propaganda, in 1942. An inaccurate statement at best, but Dietrich does hit on something genuine: the ...
“You can’t strike the American flag without expecting to get hit back by some Irishman,” said Walter Winchell, an American radio commentator, during a 1945 St. Patrick’s Day broadcast. Winchell may not have been specifically referring to Edward ...
Today marks the 77th anniversary of when the U.S. Navy Seabees officially coined their name from the United States Naval Construction Battalions (USNCB; “CB,” pronounced Seabee). The first Seabees were established out of necessity because civilian ...
Crowds lined the sidewalks of Manhattan’s 5th Avenue the morning of Feb. 17,1919. Thousands cheered, waving miniature American flags in the direction of 2,900 of the nation’s finest as they marched up the seven-mile route proudly sporting the Croix ...
Americans celebrate all races, religions, cultures, and creeds in order to remember, reflect, and learn from our ancestors’ trials and tribulations. Since 1976, every U.S. President has recognized the month of February as Black History Month, an ode ...
Every submariner’s fear is being trapped on the bottom of the ocean inside the steel coffin they live, work, and sleep in, knowing that help on the surface isn’t coming to save them. For members of the USS Squalus, this fear became a reality on ...
It can be hard to narrow down the Top 6 Badass United States Presidents because, frankly, so many of our presidents have been pretty badass. Take Ulysses S. Grant for example; he was a Civil War war hero, then hired Mark Twain — one of the ...
About 20 guerrillas from North Korea — fighters consisting of both men and women dressed in civilian clothes — executed a hit-and-run raid against Americans in the Tong Yang vicinity in the first days of the new year in 1950. American units weren’t ...
Every year around the holidays, millions of children worldwide anticipate the festivities associated with Christmas: the carefully wrapped presents, a fresh snowfall that covers Santa Claus-decorated households, the piney smell of the tree, and ...
In 1917, the U.S. government gathered its brightest intellectuals — ranging from scientists and chemists to engineers and patriotic volunteers — and created what is referred to by historians as “The Manhattan Project of World War I.” The goal, unlike ...
During World War II, Barbara Lauwers led one of the most successful psychological warfare campaigns in the entire war; she interrogated and influenced the defection from seasoned German prisoners that saw battle along the Russian front to deserters ...
The night was black with no moon to illuminate the sky. A sortie of F4U Corsair bombers piloted effortlessly by U.S. Marine Corps aviators flew through the air on a mission into North Korea, one that carried much risk because they were not supposed ...
The Rice Paddy Navy was a scrappy group of river pirates, peasants, coastwatchers, saboteurs, a feared Chinese Secret Service General who ruled with an iron fist, and a reasonably confident US Navy officer accompanied by a team of handpicked sailors ...
