The Forgotten Sook Ching Massacre of World War II

The Sook Ching Massacre was a deadly Japanese military operation during World War II aimed at purging “anti-Japanese elements” from Chinese Singapore. From February to March 1942, Chinese men between 18 and 50 were ordered to mass screening centers across the region.  Those even remotely suspected of being “anti-Japanese” were trucked away at gunpoint toContinue reading “The Forgotten Sook Ching Massacre of World War II”

The Hickory Polio Miracle

In the spring on 1944 , World War II was still raging in both Europe and the Pacific.   At the same time, another deadly threat was invading the U.S. state of North Carolina – a dreaded polio epidemic.  Regional hospitals were quickly maxed out with young, sick children.  Desperate parents needed a solution, but whatContinue reading “The Hickory Polio Miracle”

The Indestructible Soldier – Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart

British war hero Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart survived both the trenches of World War I and PoW camps of World War II. During battles he was shot in the face, losing an eye, and shot through the skull, stomach, groin, ankle and ear. In WW I, he was severely wounded no less than eightContinue reading “The Indestructible Soldier – Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart”

The Tragic Sinking of China’s SS Kiangya

On the night of December 4th,1948, the passenger steamship SS Kiangya exploded and sank just north of Shanghai, China.  It was the world’s worst non-military maritime disaster at the time. The steamship blew up at the mouth of the Yangtze River, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Shanghai and rapidly sank. The suspected cause – a mineContinue reading “The Tragic Sinking of China’s SS Kiangya”

The World War II Battle of Los Angeles

During the panicked weeks following the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans were told that enemy raids on the continental U.S. could be next!  On the West Coast, pilots and radar had started mistaking fishing boats and even whales for Japanese destroyers and submarines. Two months after the Pearl Harbor attack, on 25 FebruaryContinue reading “The World War II Battle of Los Angeles”

The German Reichstag Fire Sparked Hitler’s Rise to Power

On 27 February 1933, the German parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, went up in flames from an arson attack.  Adolf Hitler skillfully harnessed the after effects of the Reichstag Fire to seize absolute power.  Hitler claimed the fire was a Communist attempt to overthrow the government.  He played upon public and political fears of chaosContinue reading “The German Reichstag Fire Sparked Hitler’s Rise to Power”

Podcast: Lepa Radic, Teenage Partisan Executed by the Nazis

Lepa Radić was just a 17-year-old Yugoslavian girl when she was hanged by the Nazis for being a Partisan in 1943.  This extraordinarily brave girl had joined the Yugoslav Partisans in the fight against their Nazi oppressors in World War II, and taken on the most dangerous assignments.  What turn of events lead to her transformation, capture and ultimate execution?

Lepa Radic, Teenage Resistance Partisan was Executed by the Nazis

Lepa Radic was just a 17-year-old Yugoslavian girl when she was hanged by the Nazis for being a Partisan in 1943.  This extraordinarily brave girl had joined the Yugoslav Partisans in the fight against their Nazi oppressors in World War II, and taken on the most dangerous assignments.  What turn of events lead to herContinue reading “Lepa Radic, Teenage Resistance Partisan was Executed by the Nazis”