PEN & SWORD ~ to each its appointed role

As part of the work I do for The Citadel Oral History Program I will be traveling to Hull, Massachusetts, next week to interview John Vafides. Vafides is a World War II combat veteran who served with the 17th Airborne Division in the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment. When the German attack in the Ardennes began in mid-December 1944, Vafides was with his unit in England. Ordered to the front, his unit boarded transport planes for France. Landing near Reims, France, around New Years Day it traveled northeast to the front near the town of Bastogne.

I recently reviewed a very entertaining book on the Battle of the Atlantic, A Measureless Peril: America in the Fight for the Atlantic, the Longest Battle of World War II, written by Richard Snow. His father served in the US Navy and the book covers his service, but it also provides a good anecdotal overview of the whole of the United States' involvement. Well written and a fun read. You can see my review here.

As Senator and failed presidential candidate John Kerry famously said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22nd, 1971, "… how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" It is a question that could be asked about any war: how do you ask someone to be the last man to die if even you do not consider the whole thing a mistake?

Built-in Tragedy

USS Constitution, launched on 20 September 1797, remained in active service in the U.S. Navy until 1881, a career of more than eight decades. Her major battles and her present iconic life in Boston harbor are well-known, but less well-known are some of the minor episodes of her life in service to the nation. These activities were typical of the types of duties carried out by the sailing navy of the nineteenth century.

South Carolina's Medal of Honor Regiment