By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 31, 2010
John Russ ©Stars and Stripes
Germany, February, 1952: Nineteen-year-old Pier Angeli poses for a photo during the filming of "The Devil Makes Three" in the mountains of southern Germany. In the film, Gene Kelly plays an Air Force pilot returning to Germany after World War II to visit a family that aided in his escape from a POW camp; Angeli plays the family's only survivor. The Italian actress, born Anna Maria Pierangeli, had won a Golden Globe award for her performance in "Teresa" the year before.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read a story about the filming of The Devil Makes Three here.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 30, 2010
Gene Bane ©Stars and Stripes
Geneva, Switzerland, July, 1955: President Dwight D. Eisenhower heads for his flag-draped car after serving as presiding officer at preliminary discussions for the Big Four summit meeting that also featured the leaders of Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Smiling in the background, behind the presidential flag, is Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 29, 2010
Katsushiro Yokomura ©Stars and Stripes
Sapporo, Japan, February, 1968: Visitors to the Makomanai Japan Defense Force base find themselves locked in the tender embrace of a snow monster that reflects the movie-creature theme of the year at the nearby Sapporo Snow Festival.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 28, 2010
Kim Ki Sam ©Stars and Stripes
South Vietnam, November, 1968: An elderly Vietnamese man shields himself from the hot sun as he's examined by Staff Sgt. Kenneth E. Douglas at a 9th Infantry Division Medical Civic Action Program (MEDCAP) clinic 20 miles south of Saigon.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 27, 2010
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Eastcote, Middlesex, England, September, 1959: Librarian Betty Russell shares her love of books with pupils at the American dependents' elementary school at Eastcote, on the outskirts of London.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 26, 2010
Kim Ki Sam ©Stars and Stripes
Seoul, South Korea, April 11, 1964: Two South Korean soldiers stand guard at a memorial to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who died April 5 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Among the attendees at a memorial service in Seoul's Capitol plaza were South Korean President and Mrs. Chung Hee Park and Gen. Hamilton Howze, commander of U.N. forces on the Korean peninsula.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 25, 2010
John Olson ©Stars and Stripes
South Vietnam, December, 1967: Pfc. Orville Painter, 22, of Modesto, Calif., leans out of his bunker at Ka Tum, 50 miles northwest of Saigon, to hang his Christmas stocking. He jokingly pointed to the sky and said, "Santa Claus will assault from there." Painter is with C Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 24, 2010
John Olson ©Stars and Stripes
Saigon, South Vietnam, December, 1967: An American soldier engages in some friendly haggling with a Saigon street merchant over a Santa Claus figurine.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 23, 2010
Kim Ki Sam ©Stars and Stripes
Nha Trang, South Vietnam, June, 1968: A missile crewman from 6th Battalion, 71st Artillery, 97th Artillery Group (Air Defense) is one premature launch command away from a wild, dangerous ride as he checks out a Firebee drone that will haul a target for a Hawk surface-to-air missile test on nearby Hon Tre island.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 22, 2010
Russ Havourd ©Stars and Stripes
The Philippines, November, 1967: Chief Lac-Ayen poses for a photo in his village of Maligcong, nestled amid the rice terraces of the Cordillera Mountains. The chief was said to offer "unstinting hospitality ... provided you brought enough gin, cigarettes and gum for the children."
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 21, 2010
Bill Becker ©Stars and Stripes
South Vietnam, April, 1967: Actor James Garner, star of the "Maverick" TV series, is interviewed during the final day of his visit to U.S. bases in Vietnam. Garner, who received a Purple Heart while serving in the infantry in the Korean War, talked about the skepticism he occasionally encountered while talking with the troops. "They might ask if I was over here on some tax writeoff, or how much I get paid<' he said. "When I explain that I'm an ex-rifleman private with the 24th Inf. Div.'s 5th Regimental Combat: Team, and came over for nothing, everything is OK."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read the interview with James Garner here.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 20, 2010
Gus Schuettler ©Stars and Stripes
Normandy, France, May, 1964: Two veterans of the D-Day landings on Omaha Beach stand at the base of the 22-foot bronze sculpture, "Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves," at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. The cemetery is the resting place of 9,387 American military personnel.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 19, 2010
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Salzburg, Austria, May, 1972: President Richard Nixon talks with his national security adviser, Dr. Henry Kissinger, as they walk across the grounds of Klessheim Palace. Nixon and Kissinger met with Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky during a 1½-day stopover on their way to Moscow.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read a story about Nixon's visit to Austria here.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 18, 2010
Hideyuki Mihashi ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, September 22, 1967: Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler talks with Takeshi Kobayashi, concert master of the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, at a rehearsal. Fiedler, 73, was training the orchestra "to play his kind of music" before taking it on an eight-week, 48-town concert tour of the U.S. and Canada, according to a Stars and Stripes story.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read the story about Arthur Fiedler's Tokyo visit here.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 17, 2010
Ted Rohde ©Stars and Stripes
Heidelberg, Germany, August 10, 1955: Although only one of the three men walking together on the tarmac at the U.S. Army Europe headquarters airfield was well-known to most Americans at the time, the other two would command their share of headlines in later years. USAREUR Commander-in-Chief Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe, center, led the welcoming committee for Congressman Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.); at right is Brig. Gen. William C. Westmoreland. During the World War II Battle of the Bulge, McAuliffe — commander of the besieged 101st Airborne Division — secured his place in American military history by responding to the Germans' surrender demands with a one-word reply: "Nuts." Westmoreland served as commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, and later became Army chief of staff. Ford succeeded Richard Nixon as President of the United States in August, 1974.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 16, 2010
Gus Schuettler ©Stars and Stripes
Mediterranean Sea, 1976: At the end of flight operations on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, it was "condition sunshine" — a time for servicemembers to shed their shirts and maybe enjoy a little music. The Nimitz was in the Mediterranean as part of Task Force 60, the Attack Carrier Striking Force of the U.S. Sixth Fleet.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 15, 2010
Ted Rohde ©Stars and Stripes
Rota, Spain, September 9, 1957: Huge concrete tetrapods are lined up on the beach at Rota, site of a new U.S.-Spanish naval base. The French-designed structures, weighing between eight and 25 tons each, were used to break up wave action and absorb the ocean's eroding energy.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read a 1957 story about the new base at Rota here.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 14, 2010
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Garmisch, Germany, December 6, 1965: At the Garmisch Recreation Area's International Grill and Discotheque, Nancy Wallace — attired in a fashion that easily locates the scene in the mid-1960s — eases her way under the limbo bar, half of which is being held by Christine Jarvis. In addition to the limbo, dances that could be seen at the club included the frug, the swim, the monkey and the bunny hop. According to a story about the facility, "The action swirls around a semi-circular, 60-seat bar with a raised bandstand in the center. When the band is away, the spotlight centers on the opposite end of the room where a disc jockey — usually a she — keeps them spinning into the wee hours."
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 13, 2010
John Olson ©Stars and Stripes
Bear Cat Base Camp, South Vietnam, December, 1967: Actress Raquel Welch comments while Bob Hope dances during Hope's Christmas show at the 9th Infantry Division's base camp. One might guess that the audience hoped an onstage reversal of roles was imminent. Other stars on the 1967 tour included singer Barbara McNair, singer-dancer Elaine Dunn and Miss World, Madeline Hartog Bel of Peru.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 12, 2010
Hideyuki Mihashi ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, March 28, 1972: Muhammad Ali attacks a punching bag at Tanabe Gym in preparation for his upcoming fight with Mac Foster. Ali was aiming toward a rematch with reigning heavyweight champion and archrival Joe Frazier, who had handed him his first professional loss the previous year. He beat Foster in 15 rounds at Tokyo, but Frazier lost to George Foreman before the rematch. It wasn't until the "Thrilla in Manila" in 1975 that Ali took the title away from Frazier in what might have been the best fight of all time.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 11, 2010
Gus Schuettler ©Stars and Stripes
New York, June, 1964: Visitors to the New York World's Fair pause in front of illuminated fountains and the exhibition's centerpiece, the 140-foot-high, stainless steel Unisphere. Nearly a half-century later the Unisphere is still there, towering above Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 10, 2010
Gene Bane ©Stars and Stripes
Burglengenfeld, Germany, February, 1961: For these participants in the Winter Shield II exercise in a small town near Regensburg, the word of the traffic cop was final, no matter how thick the armor on your vehicle happened to be. The visitors were from the German Army's 123rd Tank Battalion, and they were part of the "Aggressor" force (versus the "NATO" force) taking part in the six-day exercise, which involved more than 60,000 American, German and French troops.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read three stories about Winter Shield II:
"NATO" stalls attack by "Aggressors"
Engineers battle river, weather to open games
"NATO" units set to attack
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 8, 2010
Wayne J. Begasse ©Stars and Stripes
Kuwait, 1991: A Kuwaiti woman waves her country's flag as dozens of Americans arrive in Kuwait City after the liberation of the country from Iraqi forces during the Gulf War. Told that the visitors were not soldiers but reporters, one woman replied, "It doesn't matter, you're American. That is enough. Americans freed our country from the arms of that madman [Saddam Hussein]."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read a story about the reporters' arrival in Kuwait here.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 8, 2010
©Stars and Stripes
Germany, July, 1956: Brigitte Kellner "helps" flight engineer Airman 1st Class John Lauretta with the communications during an Operation Kinderlift flight from Berlin to Frankfurt. Brigitte was one of 25 happy youngsters aboard the C47 as the program to give 2,848 city kids a summer vacation in the countryside began its fourth year.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 7, 2010
Jim Falk ©Stars and Stripes
South Vietnam, November, 1969: A sailor on a Swift boat mans twin .50-caliber machine guns during Operation Sea Lords on the Cua Lon River in the Mekong Delta.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read a 1969 story about the Swift boats here.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 6, 2010
Ken George ©Stars and Stripes
Koblenz, West Germany, June 6, 1990: Retired U.S. Army sergeant Clyde Lee Conrad, accused of selling NATO defense secrets to the Eastern bloc for several years, surveys the scene in the courtroom as he awaits the verdict in his trial. Conrad was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison; Judge Ferdinand Schuth said "Conrad's high treason could have prompted a war" and called him the worst traitor since the end of World War II. Conrad died in prison in 1999.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Read the story about the verdict here.
Read an analysis of the case, from the previous day's Stars and Stripes, here
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 5, 2010
Merle Hunter ©Stars and Stripes
Liege, Belgium, June 28, 1958: Aviation pioneer Jacqueline Cochran, president of the worldwide air organization Federation Aeronautique Internationale, talks with Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, right, after their arrival at Bierset Air Base. On May 18, 1953, at the controls of an F-86 Sabrejet, Cochran became the first female pilot to break the sound barrier; she continued to set speed records into the 1960s. The flight to Liege was another milestone in her career, as she and Mrs Helen LeMay (in the background at left) became the first women to cross the Atlantic in a KC-135 tanker, which LeMay piloted for 4½ hours of the six hour, 44-minute trip from Andrews Air Force Base for a NATO air show at Liege.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 4, 2010
Mark Allen ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, May, 1994: Actor Steven Seagal meets the press in Tokyo during a promotional tour for his latest martial arts film, "On Deadly Ground." The environmentally-themed treatment of the oil industry in Alaska got many negative reviews, but has since become a cult classic — and, unfortunately, a footnote to the June, 2010, killings of 12 people by troubled British taxi driver Derrick Bird, who had watched the movie a few hours before his rampage. The tragedy rekindled the debate about the connection betwen violent entertainment and real-life violence, but Bird may have been planning the murders for weeks.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 3, 2010
Hideyuki Mihashi ©Stars and Stripes
Akime, Japan, July, 1966: Actor Sean Connery swims out to a speedboat anchored in the sea off the tiny fishing village of Akime, on the southernmost tip of Japan. Connery was taking a break in the filming of his latest James Bond movie, "You Only Live Twice."
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 2, 2010
Chung Tae Won ©Stars and Stripes
South Korea, August, 1971: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk of the surface of the moon, waves as he leaves Kimpo International Airport after his arrival for a three-day visit to South Korea. Armstrong, accompanied by his son, Eric, was to observe activities of U.S. Peace Corps workers in the country; he was also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: December 1, 2010
George Penn ©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, August 19, 1953: Bernhard Grzimek, director of the Frankfurt Zoo, holds one of three newly-arrived baby gorillas in front of a life-size mask of an adult ape. The three newcomers — Carlos, Thomas and Gandhi — were the first baby gorillas acquired by the zoo since World War II.
