Memorializing the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 is a study of a group of memorials to soldiers who fought in a now nearly forgotten war, and deals with the many factors influencing why there was such an unprecedented number of memorials compared to those to previous conflicts like the Crimean War, fifty years earlier. One of the most important issues was the impact of changes in the organization of the British Army in the late 1800s, particularly the creation of locally-based regiments, heavily manned by volunteers drawn from local communities. The book includes a detailed commentary on the social conditions in England that also account for the unprecedented number of commemorations of this conflict. It discusses the variety of forms memorials took: informal - drinking fountains, 'Spion Kop" stands at football stadiums; formal - stained glass windows, statues, etc., and the numerous and diverse places where they were located: cathedrals, town squares, public schools and universities. The growth of the national press and the rise of literacy is dealt with in detail, as well as the telegraph, whose invention meant that news became available overnight. Space is given to discuss the expression of Victorian prosperity in public works. The part played by the established church is well documented and an insight is given into the contribution of Imperialism, patriotism and jingoism. All these factors explain the motivation for the memorials' creation. The book is illustrated with photographs and articles from newspapers of the day. Appendices cover those who are not commemorated, lost memorials, those who unveiled the memorials, colonial involvement and more. Memorializing the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 will appeal particularly to social historians and students of military and social history.

Two yellowing envelopes in a long-untouched file, unmistakably of U.S. Army origin but addressed to a North Carolina housewife, caught the attention of her son as he sorted her papers after her death. The postmarks, Virginia Beach, VA., and dated in 1942, were puzzling, as was the official return address: 111th Infantry C.T., Mobile Defense Force. While the 111th regimental combat team could be deciphered, the Mobile Defense Force was not a recognizable term. The letters inside instructed her on the duties of a coast watcher, and evoked memories stored since childhood: The sickening thump of torpedoes striking U.S. ships just off the Currituck Outer Banks and the flare of flames, particularly when a tanker was hit, that were clear even to a youngster on his front porch 8 miles inland. Each boom and pillar of fire revealed that more men were dying in the freezing waters off North Carolina's barrier islands that winter. How did the United States get into such straits that its life was threatened as the Axis juggernauts rolled across Western Europe and Asia? What transpired during the crucial years when the outcome of the war could go against the United States as Axis aggression flooded the Atlantic with U-boats striving to cut the stream of ships laden with weapons, troops, and food flowing to the beleaguered British Isles - the last Allied outpost near the Continent? How did the Allies achieve victory first against the U-boats, then the war, for as Napoleon observed: "It is only a step from victory to disaster. "

The Marine Corps characterises itself as a crisis response expeditionary force which is task organised and able to conduct operations across the entire spectrum of military operations. The Corps is a "middleweight force" that is designed to fill the void in our Nation's defence structure between light Special Operations Forces (SOF) and heavier conventional units. A number of decisions pertaining to national security strategy, force structure, and declining defence budgets have resulted in a draw-down of the active Marine Corps. This book examines the draw-down of the Marine Corps, as well as the force structure initiatives, roles and missions, and the restructuring of the Marine Corps.

On a bright, sunny day, June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy Intelligence ship was sailing off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula. The Israeli/Arab 6 Day War had begun three days earlier. Without warning, our ally's IDF (Israeli Defense Force) aircraft and torpedo boats deliberately attacked, killing 34 United States Americans (31 sailors, 2 marines, and 1 NSA civilian) and wounding 174 - two thirds of the crew were either killed or wounded. Carrying the scars of this attack would be bad enough, but learning of a United States and Israeli government cover-up of the facts of the attack has added insult to injury for the brave men who survived this attack. Add in bigotry and prejudice toward the USS Liberty survivors because of their quest to reveal the truth of the events of that fateful day, you cannot read this book without feeling a deep-seated rage at what governments will do to protect their interests - even to the point of wronging the very protectors of their nation.

The best of the Logan Marshall classics have been researched and edited by authors Bruce M. Caplan and Ken Rossignol and presented in this new book. The Titanic's secret fire is explained in great detail. The early days of World War I and the savage sinking of the Lusitania which caused over 1,000 civilians to die on an unarmed passenger vessel are brought to life. Great photos of both ships and the people who survived along with the war posters which boosted the efforts of the United States, Britain and France to rally their countries to stand up to the German aggression.

Information was gleamed from several sources, including Record Group 127, Records of the United States Marine Corps, Entry 107, Register of Deaths of Marine Corps Personnel During World War I, 1918-19 (the Officer List and the Enlisted List), housed at the National Archives in Washington, D. C.; Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States Marine Corps (except Overseas Dead) Who Died Between November 12, 1918 and November 17, 1921, Inclusive, along with documents of other deaths not yet sourced properly; the Marine Corps Roll of Honor, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1918; and other privately possessed records. Each entry gives the name of the Marine, rank, company, regiment, cause of death, date and place of death, and name and address of next of kin. Entries are followed by source information; source codes are identified on the Abbreviations page. It is not unusual for the dates of death to differ between the official report and the date found on the tombstone. This discrepancy is usually a few days; however, in cases where it is longer, the discrepancy is noted. A death entry, even taken from a tombstone, may not indicate the actual burial of an individual; many tombstones are memorial stones and may not be located at the actual burial site. In some cases, there is a memorial in one cemetery and a tombstone in another. The Marines who died on the U.S.S. Cyclops were lost at sea, yet several have tombstones.

Ohio was a major contributor to the success of the War of 1812, in both men and material, but the accomplishments of those men who served in the state militia and in the regular army are not generally recognized. Most persons when researching their War of 1812 ancestors tend to limit their endeavors to militia records in the Roster of Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812 and to the published indexes of pension records and service records. Approximately 24,000 Ohioans served in this war. They served in the state militia and in the U.S. Army. The army raised the 19th, 26th and 27th Regiments of Infantry from within Ohio, and many Ohioans enlisted into the 1st, 7th, 17th, 24th and 28th Regiments of Infantry, and later the 2nd Regiment of Rifles. Ohio also raised a company of artillery, two companies of rangers, and contributed to the raising of a company of dragoons and four more rifle companies for the army. Many people neglect to search army documents for their ancestors. The key to finding the military records of your ancestor lies in knowing in which company your ancestor served. Hopefully, this book will remove some of the mystery of researching War of 1812 ancestors who lived and fought in Ohio. Eric Eugene Johnson is a lineal descendant of five veterans of the War of 1812 and he is the past president of the Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Ohio (2008-2011).

The Vietnam War was a defining event for a generation of Americans. But for years, misguided cliches about its veterans have proliferated. Philip F. Napoli's "Bringing It All Back Home" strips away the myths and reveals the complex individuals who served in Southeast Asia. Napoli helped to create Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, and in the spirit of that enterprise, his oral histories recast our understanding of a war and its legacy.
Napoli introduces a remarkable group of young New Yorkers who went abroad with high hopes only to find a bewildering conflict. We meet, for instance, a nurse who staged a hunger strike to promote peace while working at a field hospital and a black soldier who achieved an unexpected camaraderie with his fellow servicemen in racially tense times. Some of these soldiers became active opponents of the war; others did not. Tracing their journeys from the streets of Brooklyn and Queens to the banks of the Mekong, and back to the most glamorous corporations and meanest homeless shelters of New York City, Napoli uncovers the variety and surprising vibrancy of the ex-soldiers' experiences.

Since the United States began combat operations in Afghanistan in October 2001 and then in Iraq in March 2003, the numbers of US soldiers killed exceed 6,700 and of US soldiers wounded 50,500. Although all wars since World War I have involved the use of explosives by the enemy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq differ from previous wars in which the United States has been involved because of the enemy's use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The use of IEDs has led to an injury landscape different from that in prior US wars. The signature injury of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is blast injury. Numerous US soldiers have returned home with devastating blast injuries and they continue to experience many challenges in readjusting to civilian life. Gulf War and Health, Volume 9 is an assessment of the relevant scientific information and draws conclusions regarding the strength of the evidence of an association between exposure to blast and health effects. The report also includes recommendations for research most likely to provide VA with knowledge that can be used to inform decisions on how to prevent blast injuries, how to diagnose them effectively, and how to manage, treat, and rehabilitate victims of battlefield traumas in the immediate aftermath of a blast and in the long term.

From the jungles of Vietnam to the unforgiving deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq, one breed of soldier has achieved legendary status in the arena of combat -- the sniper. Their only mission: wait, watch, and when the target is in sight, put the...
Crosshairs on the Kill Zone
From the authors of the classic sniper chronicle "One Shot-One Kill" comes a new generation of true tales from some of the most expert and deadly marksmen in the world. Meet Adelbert Waldron II, whose 109 confirmed kills in Vietnam made him the most successful sniper in American military history, and Tom "Moose" Ferran, who coined the term "Fetch ," whereupon the infantry would retrieve the sniper's dead quarry. Also included are stories from snipers in Beirut, the Bosnian conflict, and both wars with Iraq -- including the feat of Sergeants Joshua Hamblin and Owen Mulder, who took down thirty-two enemy soldiers in a single day outside Baghdad in 2003.
The military sniper has evolved into one of the most dangerous and highly-skilled warrior professions. They suffer through weather, terrain, and enemy action, lay unmoving for days on end, and take out their targets with unerring accuracy -- proving that the deadliest weapon in any battle, anywhere in the world, is a single well-aimed shot.

How is it that the United States - a country founded on a distrust of standing armies and strong centralized power - came to have the most powerful military in history? Long after World War II and the end of the Cold War, in times of rising national debt and reduced need for high levels of military readiness, why does Congress still continue to support massive defense budgets? In The American Warfare State, Rebecca U. Thorpe argues that there are profound relationships among the size and persistence of the American military complex, the growth in presidential power to launch military actions, and the decline of congressional willingness to check this power. The public costs of military mobilization and war, including the need for conscription and higher tax rates, served as political constraints on warfare for most of American history. But the vast defense industry that emerged from World War II also created new political interests that the framers of the Constitution did not anticipate. Many rural and semirural areas became economically reliant on defense-sector jobs and capital, which gave the legislators representing them powerful incentives to press for ongoing defense spending regardless of national security circumstances or goals. At the same time, the costs of war are now borne overwhelmingly by a minority of soldiers who volunteer to fight, future generations of taxpayers, and foreign populations in whose lands wars often take place. Drawing on an impressive cache of data, Thorpe reveals how this new incentive structure has profoundly reshaped the balance of wartime powers between Congress and the president, resulting in a defense industry perennially poised for war and an executive branch that enjoys unprecedented discretion to take military action.

"Somehow, through all the separations and disasters, my mother persevered. She never left my father's side, not through any of it. I always wondered and marveled at her spirit. How did she do it? Perhaps she explained it herself before she married my father in a July 7, 1944 letter to him: 'Remember though what I told you at the station dear - you make me strong.' And somehow, deep inside, even as a young girl, before she even knew my father, maybe she knew what was coming." - From the book. You Make Me Strong is an interpretive collection of letters written by Virginia R. "Jinny" Thornton and her husband retired Navy Captain John W. "Johnny" Thornton. The letters begin with the young couple's 1944 courtship and extend through the anguish of two of the family's three wars. It is a companion volume for Captain Thornton's Korean War autobiography Believed to be Alive. Decades later, and writing from his own unique perspective, their son Jay reflects on what it all meant not only to his parents but also to him. You Make Me Strong is the touching tribute of a son, now grown old, for the goodness of two courageous souls who gave him life, faith and hope.

Death Is The Ultimte Sacrafice. For those of us who live guilt can dominate our life. This book gives hope to veterans, helping free them from guilts curse.

Clyde intentionally avoided technical terms instead using his photography and words to convey his personal understanding to the disturbing and sometime difficult discussion of veteran Guilt. This is a topic that has been avoided by professionals and veterans of previous wars due to the difficulty of addressing the traumatic impact it has had upon the generations of soldiers. His hope is that this book will be a beginning conversation that will lead to healing.

About the author:

Clyde R. Horn is a combat soldier who was wounded in action, December 6, 1967, in the Vietnam War. He served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, Company E. He is a 100% disabled veteran who has heart disease, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as well as other health related issues related to his experience and exposure to Agent Orange (a toxin used in Vietnam).

He has personally experienced guilt feelings due to his combat experience. He has done a significant amount of work for his recovery including writing, photography as well as art therapy to help bring healing back into his life.

How does religion affect the lives of professional soldiers? How does religion shape militaries, their organization, procedures, and performance? This volume is the first to address these questions by comparing religious symbols and practices in nine countries: Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, India, the United States, and Turkey. The contributors explore how and why soldiers pray, the role of religious rituals prior to battle, the functions that chaplains perform, the effects of religion on recruitment and unit formation, and how militaries grapple with ensuing constitutional dilemmas.