Latest news with #U.S.ArmyAirCorps
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
At 101, Dunedin World War II veteran reflects on service during ‘Victory in Europe Day'
The Brief Bob Russell, 101, was a fighter/bomber pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps in Europe when he heard the news that the Germans had surrendered. While the Japanese had not yet surrendered in the Pacific region, May 8 marked the end of World War II in Europe with Victory in Europe Day. Russell and everyone in his 405th fighter squadron received air medals for containing German forces during the historic Battle of the Bulge, which was a resounding battlefield success. DUNEDIN, Fla. - May 8, 1944, is a day Bob Russell remembers well. A fighter/bomber pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps in Europe, he was in a hospital room near Belgium recovering from being shot down when he heard the news that the Germans had surrendered. "There wasn't much celebration. We were just ready to come home," Russell told FOX 13. READ: Manatee County World War II veteran receives highest honor from France The backstory While the Japanese had not yet surrendered in the Pacific region, May 8 marked the end of World War II in Europe with Victory in Europe Day (V.E. Day). There is another day that is equally important to Russell, however. It was the moment that lit his patriotic fire. When news broke of the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, he knew that it was his calling to serve. "We were all very patriotic then," he said. "Much more so than we are today." Follow FOX 13 on YouTube His memory remains sharp at 101 years old. "I'm going after 102," he told FOX 13 with a determined chuckle. Barely three years after enlisting, he'd found himself piloting a P-47 Thunderbolt in the Army Air Corps. He flew cover for General George Patton's troops on the ground in Europe during the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944. "We were trying to keep the German Army out of Berlin," he recalled. MORE: Air Force veteran shares artistic talent through personalized plaques and signs He did just that, flying low-level bombing and strafing runs at tree-top level while dodging enemy fire. His memory is rivaled only by his confidence when asked if he was a pretty good pilot; "The best," he snaps back with a wry smile and another chuckle. He would need those sharp piloting skills on his 13th and final mission. Shot down by an explosive German shell, he managed to pull off a perfect emergency landing, landing on the belly of his plane with no landing gear and Nazi forces on the ground around him. His knee was badly damaged by shrapnel, but that didn't keep him from running to safety once he landed. He told FOX 13 he can't believe it's been 80 years. Big picture view But, opening doors of reflection often reveal the weight of the unknown. He's often haunted by the unintended victims down below who just happened to be near their targets. So, heavy remains his heart. "I was always hoping we never hit any children," he said with a long pause. "But we probably did, you know," as he wiped a wet eye. READ: Palm Harbor WWII veteran finds comfort in new mission at 100 years old: 'Life is golden' Russell and everyone in his 405th fighter squadron received air medals for containing German forces during the historic Battle of the Bulge, which was a resounding battlefield success. But, it did not come without tremendous loss. By the numbers Between December 16, 1944, and January 23, 1945, the United States suffered 81,000 casualties with 19,246 killed, 23,000 captured and 38,000 injured, according to the National Archives. A handful of Russell's friends in the 405th were among those who didn't get to come home. He thinks of each of them often. "It's, uh... [wipes tear] a lot of good kids," he said. He was just 20 at the time, as were most of his squadron pals. But, there's no mistaking youth for lack of character during war. Russell reflects on all of them fondly. MORE: Heroes' Village bringing first-of-its-kind veteran housing to Sarasota "Of all the places I've been, it was the greatest group of people I ever associated with," he told FOX 13 of his 405th Fighter Squadron. Another reminder that this was a generation of great sacrifice, but even greater valor, with a young Bob Russell leading the way. STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app:Apple |Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bataan Death March, POW camp claimed Williamston man. His remains finally rest in US soil
WILLIAMSTON TWP. — Family members and others gathered Saturday, May 3, to inter the remains of a Webberville man who survived the infamous Bataan Death March during World War II, only to die in a Japanese prisoner of war camp months later. U.S. Army Air Corps Sgt. James Swartz's remains were identified 80 years after the war, in August 2024, and returned to Michigan for burial in Williamston Township. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency made the announcement of Swartz's identification in November 2024. Swartz was laid to rest at Summit Cemetery, with about 40 people representing five generations of his family, according to Lori Byrnes. The service include a honor guard. Swartz was a member of 17th Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands during World War II. The unit, activated in the Philippines on Oct. 1, 1941, with two attached squadrons equipped with P-35 and P-40 aircraft. By late in December the ground personnel were absorbed by infantry units and some pilots were evacuated to Australia. The remaining pilots continued operations in the Philippines with the few planes that were left, according to the Army Air Corps Museum. Intense fighting led to Allied troops' surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said. He was reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. The captured service members were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March, and then held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, where more than 2,500 POWs perished during the war, Swartz among them, the accounting agency said. According to prison camp and other records, Swartz died Sept. 23, 1942, and was buried in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 434. He was 21. "Though interred as an Unknown in (Manilla American Cemetery and Memorial), Swartz's grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission," the accounting agency said in a news release. "Today, Sgt. Swartz is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for." In April 2019, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, DPAA exhumed the remains associated with Common Grave 434 and sent them to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. "Systematically working through the records of Unknowns that had originally been buried in over 300 common graves, the project proposes disinterring groups of Unknowns based on the evidence surrounding their original common grave associations. Because of extensive commingling, the Department of Defense is collecting DNA Family Reference Samples for over 2,700 casualties from the camp, both resolved and unresolved," the accounting agency said. Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence, to identify Swartz's remains. The Armed Forced Medical Examiner System also used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: James Swartz died in the Philippines during WWII. Now he rests in Summit Cemetery
Miami Herald
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
These women inspire and lead with joy through sport and education
For three weeks in March, Kendall teen Brooke Revuelta visited 12 U.S. military bases across six countries to introduce and teach pickleball to troops and their families. Just 19, she was one of four professional pickleball athletes — and the only one from Miami — to travel on a three-week Armed Forces Entertainment tour. The group went to Turkey, Kosovo, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain. Brooke said she was proud to represent her hometown. Her family has lived in the Devon Aire neighborhood for decades. 'Being chosen for this Goodwill Pro Pickleball Military Tour was one of the greatest honors of my career — not just as a professional pickleball player, but as someone who comes from a proud military family,' Brooke said. May is Military Appreciation Month. Her great-grandfather, Major Robert Vories Abram, was a B-24 Airplane Commander in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Her grandfather, James Newton Abram, served in the U.S. Army's 7th Finance in Vietnam, and her stepfather, Jose Gonzalez, was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, and the 154th Engineer Battalion while stationed in Germany. 'During Military Appreciation Month, it means even more to reflect on the strength, sacrifice, and spirit of our service members. This tour wasn't just about teaching pickleball — it was about saying thank you, building connections and giving back to those who give everything,' she said. Home-schooled through middle school, she played on the varsity tennis team for Miami Palmetto Senior High throughout her high school years. She graduated with the class of 2024. A dynamic, left-handed pickleball athlete with a blend of Cuban, Vietnamese and American heritage, she quickly made a name for herself on the professional pickleball circuit after picking up the sport for fun in February 2023. Last November, Brooke had the opportunity to visit Our Pride Academy, a nonprofit school in Kendall for individuals with developmental disabilities. She led a pickleball clinic for their Special Olympics team. She said seeing the joy and enthusiasm of the players was inspiring, and she plans to return this year for more training sessions. She is the youngest pro athlete selected to tour with Armed Forces Entertainment on the Good Will Pro Pickleball Military Tour to help boost morale through pickleball. Throughout the tour, Brooke and her fellow pros coached, taught and hosted clinics for U.S. troops and their families, as well as residents of some of the overseas base communities. They made sure everyone had a chance to participate. The tour also included pro exhibition matches to showcase elite-level play and tournaments in which service members at all skill levels played with the pros. 'I learned so much from the troops and their families, and I'll carry those experiences with me for the rest of my life,' Brooke said. 'Pickleball brought us together, but the camaraderie and mutual respect made it unforgettable.' Through the goodwill military tour, Brooke not only shared her love for pickleball but continued her mission to give back to those who serve and to grow the sport globally. You can watch her play and follow her journey on Instagram @ CUSHMAN SCHOOL IS 100 In 2012, when then-head of Cushman School Joan Lutton passed the torch to new head Arvi Balseiro, she left a note. 'Lead with joy' is what it said. She has. And now, as Cushman School celebrates its centennial, a community of students, parents, alumni, administrators, faculty and friends are looking back at all the ups and downs, struggles and successes. More than 10,000 students have gone through its doors. In all that time there have been only three women heads of school, visionaries all. The school was founded in 1924 on the front porch of first head Laura Cushman's Morningside home. In March, at its 100 Year Centennial Ball, the co-ed private school raised more than $1 million for continuing into the next century. Under current head Balseiro's leadership, the campus and programming have grown significantly with the addition of the state-of-the-art Play to Learn performing arts and athletics facility, and the launch of the high school as well as an online virtual division to allow even more students to benefit from Cushman's personalized education. This year broke records, with 814 students enrolled in pre-K through 12th grade and waitlists for each division. The high school division, added in 2016, remains intentionally small in size with the Class of 2025 graduating 54 seniors. They earned $5.5 million collectively in merit scholarships for higher education opportunities. The school has a mission to 'embrace a diverse community reflective of a wide variety of cultures, religious practices, languages spoken, learning profiles, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and perspectives.' On its website is one of my favorite quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. — 'We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.' Congratulations on 100 years, Cushman School, and for being a hearty reminder of what female ingenuity can mean for education. Write to ChristinaMMayo@ with news for this column.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Voices of Veterans: Captain Claude Platte shares his story of service in the US Army Air Corps during WWII
Apr. 4—AUSTIN — Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dr. Dawn Buckingham on April 4 introduced the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, they highlight the service of Tuskegee Airman Captain Claude Platte, who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Platte grew up in a time of segregation and recalled as a child what that was like and what went through his curious young mind. "One of the main things I remember that encouraged me was in a situation where there were colored signs and white signs and black fountains and white fountains and I had been taught that when I saw a colored sign that is where I was supposed to be or drink water," he explained. "One day I saw a little white boy drinking out of the colored fountain-the black fountain, his father scolded him, but doing so, I became curious. Why couldn't I drink out of the white fountain? And what was wrong? When no one was looking, I decided that I would drink out of the white fountain. And when I did, my biggest shock and surprise was — the water was the same, there was no difference." Platte said he decided he wanted to learn how to fly when he was young and never forgot the moment that influenced him the most, standing out front of his boyhood home as an aircraft flew by. "I saw an airplane hovering very low and I could see the pilot flying over and it dawned on me that I could go and see the other side of the area, outside the segregated area, or even go all over the world if I wanted to see what it looked like so I decided this is what I wanted to do, is fly," he explained. It was the moment that changed the course of Platte's life, sending him in a direction that allowed him to be a teacher of men, to pilots that too had that dream of flying for their country. After graduating from I.M. Terrell High School in Fort Worth, Platte left Texas for Tuskegee, Alabama. "When I arrived at Tuskegee my biggest shock when I got there was, Tuskegee had the only VA hospital for Negroes in the country; they were all manned by black doctors and white nurses and so forth. The other thing that was very interesting was Dr. George Washington Carver was there. Because of George Washington Carver and the peanut, I got an opportunity to see people like President Roosevelt, Lena Horn, Joe Lewis and all these VIP people that come through Tuskegee on tour so to speak," he recalled, adding meeting those people encouraged him to go farther than he had ever imagined. Platte said even though he was still interested in flying he enrolled in, what was known at the time, as Mechanical Industries because he wanted to be an engineer. It wasn't until about 1939 when President Roosevelt enlisted the Army Air Corps and the War Department to organize better security for the United States. "They in return got six black colleges to take part in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) and Tuskegee was one of them," Platte recalled. "In that program that's where I was able to earn my private license, a commercial license, and a flight instructor's license." Platte would, as an instructor, go on to train more than 300 black pilots. When asked why he would decide to train others than live out his boyhood dream of flying, he said he didn't look at it as a decision, rather a chance to do something incredible. "It wasn't a decision. I felt that I had an opportunity to be an instructor. But the same thing may happen to me, I might decide to be a cadet and I may not make I better take what I got and enjoy that while I could," Platte said. Platte also formed the DFW Tuskegee Airmen Chapter in May 2005 to help educate people at home. In 2007, he, along with his fellow surviving airmen, received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush. Click here to listen to Captain Platte tell his story.
Fox News
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
WWII vet turning 104 invites 'favorite president' Trump to celebration, and discusses his secret for long life
Denver Moore has a big birthday coming up and a big guest in mind. Moore, a World War II veteran who lives in Canal Fulton, Ohio, is turning 104 on May 15, and he hopes President Donald Trump can come to his birthday party. "So far, he's my favorite president," Moore told Fox News Digital. "And Biden was my worst." Moore first shared his birthday wish in a TikTok video posted on March 23 by a family friend. The video quickly took off, amassing over 700,000 views in 10 days. "President Trump… I'm gonna be 104 in May, and I'm inviting you to my birthday party in Canal Fulton," he said in the video. "I got to vote for you again, and I hope I can vote for you some more." Since the video was posted, people from all over the country—and even as far away as Africa—have reached out to him. "It's been quite a ride," Moore said. Moore has been a longtime supporter of the president and says he agrees with most of the actions he's taken. "He may make a mistake or two, but he's doing most everything right," he said. Moore lives at Danbury Senior Living facility in Massillon, a town just south of Cleveland. He grew up on a farm in Noble County, Ohio before he entered the service and spent three-and-a-half years in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After serving his country, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service and raised three children with his late wife Thelma, to whom he was married for 75 years before she died in 2022 at age 95. Kelli Beckler, executive director of Danbury, told Fox News Digital that since the video was posted they've been flooded with messages and birthday cards from people all across the country cheering the veteran on. Moore is still sharp-witted and stays physically active, his family and Beckler said. Even at 103, he can still say the alphabet backwards, as he proudly demonstrated to Fox News Digital. "I learned that over 80 years ago," he said with a grin. The centenarian said the secret to living a long healthy life is staying physically active. "I was always active, doing something. I carried mail for 20 years, walking, and that was good. I grew up on a farm. We did everything. And if we didn't have anything to do, we created something. So it's just this: stay active," he said. Moore had one more nugget of wisdom to pass along: "Marry the right woman and live with her all of her life," he said. Chick-fil-A will be catering the birthday celebration, Moore said, and it will take place at the SAM Center in Canal Fulton. There will also reportedly be a parade in Moore's honor. The White House did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
