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Not the *Good* China…
While the traditional naval practice of separate wardrooms/messing for enlisted, chiefs, and officers is standard knowledge, something I did not know about until this week was the practice of...
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Odds are, That’s an Ironic Nickname
Sergent Len “Happy” Knox, 2nd New Zealand Division, 2NZEF, cleans an old-school .455-caliber break action Webley revolver Maadi Camp, near Cairo, Egypt, around 1940-41. Alan Blow Album PH-ALB-497,...
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About that Chunk of the Yamato’s Armor in D.C.
If you are a fan of naval history, odds are you have seen the famous 25- or 26-inch thick section of turret face plate armor, meant for a Japanese Yamato class battleship, that was found at the Kure...
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Nice Mackinaws
Via the California State Military Museums Program, the below amazing original color photos show an inspection of elements of the newly-formed California State Guard’s 5th Infantry Regiment by the...
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Have a Spare Mk 1 Fire Control Computer in your Garage?
This thing: If you do, the battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59) museum wants to talk to you. From the museum: The Mk 1 Fire Control Computers that served onboard Big Mamie has been missing for decades...
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Leap of Faith
Some 77 years ago today, in the remote mountainous frontier area between India and Burma, an extremely understrength parachute light infantry brigade began an epic week-long battle against a Japanese...
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War Graffiti, .50 cal Edition
I’ve talked about the effort by Tooele Army Depot to demil some 7 million rounds of WWII-era .50 cal BMG-– much of it from the nearby Ogaden Arsenal– in the past weeks. Well, the TEAD guys just...
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Retired from a long career: M1903A3
While attending this year’s inaugural Shooting Sports Showcase, held at the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s superb 500-acre Talladega Marksmanship Park, I was lucky enough to find the former Creedmoor...
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Higgins 78, in Detail
Here we see a great series of shots of the PT-71-class 78-foot motor torpedo boat USS PT-200, while her builders– at Higgins Industries, New Orleans, Louisiana– taken January 26, 1942. All are...
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The Fog of War, from inside an AFV
Black beret-clad tankers of the 2nd/8th Australian Armoured Regiment cleaning the collective guns of an American-made M3 Grant medium tank dubbed the “Aristocrat.” While the Russians were not...
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Sunrise Service Among the Depth Charges
Official Caption: Sunday Services on board a Coast Guard destroyer escort in the Atlantic, during the Easter Season, in 1944-45. Here, the ship’s Chaplain Leads the crew in prayer. National Archives...
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Codetalkers to be Recognized Annually
The Navajo Code Talkers Memorial in Window Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Nation, is fully equipped with an M1 helmet, Reising submachine gun, M1911, and 32-pound Westinghouse CRI-43007 transmitter....
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Catalinas of Rio
Drink in this great original Kodachrome of U.S. Navy and Brazilian Air Force (Força Aerea Brasileira – FAB) officers inspect a flight line of depth-charge equipped Brazilian Consolidated PBY-5A...
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About Yamashita’s “surrender”
Via the Philippine News Agency: The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) wants erroneous entries on the supposed “surrender” of Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita corrected using an original...
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Vale, Cape Matapan Vet, Prince Philip
A child whose lineage included the Danish, Russian and Greek royal families, Prince Philip of Greece was raised in France, exiled from his country of birth, speaking English, practicing Greek...
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OSS Training Grounds, as Close as Your Local National Park?
You wouldn’t think it, but the NPS has a great book online that stretches 600 pages and chronicles the use of the country’s national parks during WWII as training grounds for the secret squirrels of...
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Warship Wednesday, April 14, 2021: Just a Little DASH
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their...
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Chainsmokers
A group of Marines having a smoke while checking out what looks to be a shell and fuse for either an 81mm mortar or 75mm howitzer. Dig the M1917A1 Brodie helmets with EGAs, sewn-on stripes on light...
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Warship Wednesday, April 21, 2021: Let’s Vote on It
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their...
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Meet No. 24
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but back in 2015, I was one of the first people in gun media– or any media for that matter– to cover the story of Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers’s effort to...
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