Today, the degree of popular ignorance of World War II is astounding. Military buffs apart, younger Americans know nothing about the Battle of the Bulge, which claimed nineteen thousand American lives. World War II was our “Aeneid,” an epic struggle against authentic evil, which at once created the nation and framed its destiny. The World [...]
On January 25, 1945, the Battle of the Bulge ended. But not until a decade after my father’s death did I uncover the fact that he fought in what one historian has deemed the greatest battle in history. Cpl. Joseph D. Klugewicz won a Bronze Star for his actions against the Nazis that winter. But [...]
To the various branches of the Army the General takes this last and solemn opportunity of professing his inviolable attachment and friendship. He wishes to bid a final adieu to the Armies he has so long had the honor to Command, he can only again offer in their behalf his recommendations to their grateful country, [...]
Historical revisionists have recently disparaged the righteousness of America's role in World War II, overlooking that the fact the conflict was both a defensive war and a crusade for the liberation of oppressed peoples. We Americans are justified in celebrating it as "The Good War" fought by the Greatest Generation this country has ever produced. [...]
Shortly after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, Sammy Kaye and Don Reid wrote the music and Reid wrote the words to "Remember Pearl Harbor." On December 17, 1941, RCA Victor recorded the song, with Sammy Kaye's Swing and Sway Band and The Glee Club.* History in ev'ry century records an act that lives [...]
This Veterans Day, I would encourage you to remember and honor veterans, but less because what they have done, and more because of what their service represents—that is, a space for robust civil society, and human flourishing. Our nation has been at war now for more than a decade. Since the first troops were sent [...]
Because of the extraordinary valor shown by so many young men on that distant beach, America stood singular and tall in the saddle. It was her finest hour and for that at least we must be grateful. General Mark W. Clark, whose Fifth Army led the capture of Rome in June of 1944, was the [...]
Today I honor the men and women of the United States military who have sacrificed their lives while doing their duty to the Republic. For them, and their families, I ask God to bless them and keep them. And for the fallen of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army [...]
Memorial Day originates with the Civil War as “Decoration Day.” Southern women took up the task of decorating the graves of what turns to have been hundreds and hundreds of thousands of their fallen heroes. Theirs was highly civilized work—a duty maybe more Greek and Roman than Christian. So I’ve been criticized for saying that [...]
The barely-populated area of the Great Plains where the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is located is beautiful and peaceful—thus adding, in some strange, ironic, and disturbing way, to the surrealism of weapons designed there to end the world as we know it. We got up early, and we drove nearly two hours to see [...]
Propaganda has both short-term and long-term consequences. In the short term, propaganda can influence people to support particular policies, even if those policies cut against their best interests. In the long run, propaganda erodes democratic foundations. The Imaginative Conservative's Brad Birzer interviews Abigail R. Hall, co-author of "Manufacturing Militarism," which Dr. Birzer reviewed in these [...]
In the name of equality, the exclusively male draft could soon be discarded. Imposing the draft upon all young American women is a logical consequence of a new “woke” armed forces oriented not for war but inclusion and diversity. The American military has always had recourse to the draft in times of emergency. Through this [...]
While the United States used nuclear weapons against Japan in 1945, she did not use them against North Korea in 1950. With vanishingly few geopolitical—or even partisan political—guardrails to keep her from doing so, why did the United States not drop the bomb in the later war? At 10:15 at night on September 6, 1950, [...]
The Army exists to preserve the republic and the strong foundations upon which it stands: family, God, country, liberty, and justice. What has historically made America unique is the durability of its institutions against the passions and prejudices of the moment. When times are turbulent, what matters most is that which is permanent, timeless, enduring, [...]