MAD JACK CHURCHILL

                John Churchill was born on Sept. 16, 1906.  He graduated from Sandhurst military academy and served in Burma.  In 1936, he left the army and became a newspaper editor.  He also modeled.  He became a world class archer and competed in the 1939 World Archery Championship.  His archery skills Read more

LEE’S LOST ORDER

                You could argue the South lost the Civil War on Sept. 13, 1862.  That was the day Corporal Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana Volunteers found a paper wrapped around three cigars at a campsite near Frederick, Maryland.  The camp had been used by the Army of Northern Virginia Read more

CALVIN GRAHAM

                Calvin Graham wanted to serve his country after Pearl Harbor.  The problem was he was only 12.  However, the recruiter either did not have a good eye for age or didn’t care, so with the help of forging his mother’s signature, Calvin became the youngest serviceman in the U.S. Read more

OPERATION EICHE

                On July 19, 1943 Rome was bombed with significant damage.  This was the last straw for Mussolini’s reign.  A week later, the Grand Council took a vote of no confidence and the next day Il Duce was summoned to the palace.  He was surprisingly shocked to learn that he Read more

THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE

                9/11 is remembered for the terrorist attack, but it is also the day of another atrocity motivated by religion.  In 1857, the Mormons were settled in Utah, but not getting along with the U.S. government, which controlled the Utah Territory.  President Buchanan was sending federal troops to exert control Read more

CHARLES DARWIN’S VOYAGE

                On Oct. 2, 1836 the HMS Beagle returned to Great Britain after a five-year voyage around the world.  The ten-gun brig’s most famous passenger was a young naturalist named Charles Darwin.  Darwin had turned to naturalism after dropping out of medical school (much to the displeasure of his doctor Read more

THE LEOPOLD AND LOEB CASE

On this day in 1924,  Leopold and Loeb found guilty of the murder of Robert Franks in the “crime of the century”                 One “Crime of the Century” occurred on this day in 1924.  Nathan Leopold (18-years old) and Richard Loeb (19) thought they had committed the perfect crime when Read more

THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNION

Joshua Chamberlain taught himself Greek before he went to college.  After graduating, he became a professor of rhetoric and oratory at Bowdoin College in Maine.  When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted without telling his family, including his wife.  He believed that even intellectuals like himself should sacrifice to Read more

RAOUL WALLENBERG

                Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat stationed in Budapest, Hungary during WWII.  Although Sweden was neutral, Wallenberg was not.  He refused to stand by and watch the Holocaust occur in Hungary.  It is estimated that he saved as many as 100,000 Jews from death from July to December, 1944.  He Read more