Obon Season
August 15th is widely recognized as the anniversary of the end of World War II in Japan. The day also coincides with what is known as Obon or simply just Bon, season, the Buddhist–Confucian period when...
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Kiwi Corsairs
Betcha didn’t know that New Zealand deployed a full baker’s dozen squadrons of F4Us to combat the Japanese in 1944-45. In all, the RNZAF flew 424 Corsairs, with the first arriving in March 1944 and...
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Warship Wednesday, August 18, 2021: The Last Sub Killer
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Cod, Underway
The famed Gato-class fleet boat USS Cod (SS/AGSS/IXSS-224), who earned seven battle stars across the same number of War Patrols against the Japanese Empire, has been a lovingly cared-for museum ship...
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Toughing it out Behind the Iron Curtain
Lithuanian resistance fighters (left to right) Klemensas Širvys-Sakalas, Juozas Lukša-Skirmantas, and Benediktas Trumpys-Rytis stand in the forest circa 1949. Note their civilian attire, augmented by...
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Flying Tigers Remembered in Taipei
The Republic of China Air Force, popularly known outside of Taiwan as the Taiwan Air Force, this month is celebrating two events, the Air Battle Over Hangchow, now commemorated as “Republic of China...
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Warship Wednesday, August 25, 2021: At Least the Middle Bit is Still There
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Happy 80th Navy EOD
The first mine disposal class of 24 officers and enlisted Sailors graduated on 22 August 1941, marking the start of the Navy EOD community, the wearers of the “crab.” Today, more than 2,000 Navy EOD...
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Arisakas Still at Work
The Japanese Type 38 (as in the 38th year of the Meiji period) rifle, was first adopted in 1906 by the Emperor’s troops after feedback from the recent wars with Qing-dynasty China and Imperial Russia....
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Warship Wednesday, Sept. 1st, 2021: Fortunate Son, the Army Flat Top Edition
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Lost Market Garden All American Identified
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on Sept. 1 that U.S. Army Pvt. Stephen C. Mason, 21, of Jersey City, New Jersey, killed during World War II, has been recently identified. Mason,...
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Western Approaches Scheme Sails Again
The early flight River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Severn (P282) was decommissioned in 2017 after a planned 15-year career with the Fishery Protection Squadron in the UK’s home waters, but the...
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Warship Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021: Horsefly of the Fjords
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Warship Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021: Hurricane ASW
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Second Hand MP38
Maori troops line up on the quayside at Alexandria in Egypt following their evacuation from Crete, 3 June 1941. Photograph taken by Lieutenant L.B. Davis. IWM E 3373 The men above, of the New Zealand...
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Going for a Sunday walk among the sunflowers in the countryside with the lads
Via the Parachute Regiment archives: 77 years ago today: Sunday, 17th September 1944, the Market side of Operation Market Garden. Usually misidentified as Airborne Signallers, this is a group of the...
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An Unwanted Sword, 76 Years Ago Today
17 September 1945: Surrender of Borneo at Bandjermasin. The Japanese major general, a career officer in his full uniform with some 2,500 of the Emperor’s troops under his command, attempted to hand...
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16th Century Italian Pageant Shield, once Owned by Franz Ferdinand and Swiped...
“Shield showing the Storming of New Carthage (recto),” made in Italy c. 1535, attributed to Girolamo di Tommaso da Treviso (Italian, born c. 1497, died 1544), after a design by Giulio Romano...
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Warship Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021: Behold, the Destroyerzooka
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Le ‘Lorraine’ at 80
The French Air Force this month is honoring the famed WWII Groupe de bombardement réservé n°1 (best known as “GB Lorraine”), the group they see as the first full-fledged strike unit of the Free French...
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