By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 31, 2012
Peter MacQueen ©Stars and Stripes
Camp Sitman, South Korea, November, 1967: Maj. Roger Donlon, the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam war, poses outside his headquarters tent at the Advanced Combat Training Academy. With him is the camp's mascot, "Lieutenant." Donlon was serving as commander of the academy, which trained NCOs and small-unit leaders in scouting and patrolling techniques. "We work all our students pretty hard," he said, "but nobody ever died from overwork. You can die from not being worked hard enough."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1967 story about Maj. Roger Donlon and the training academy.
The PBS "American Valor" series page about Roger Donlon, with his MOH citation.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 30, 2012
Kim Ki Sam ©Stars and Stripes
South Vietnam, April, 1966: A South Korean marine from 1st Battalion, 2nd ROK Marine Brigade (Blue Dragon Unit) escorts three Viet Cong prisoners captured during a search-and-destroy patrol near Tuy Hoa. The prisoners were caught setting booby traps on a trail.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 29, 2012
Carrie Izard ©Stars and Stripes
East Berlin, August, 1978: An American servicemember focuses in on a communist counterpart who's serving on the honor guard at East Berlin's Neue Wache memorial to "the victims of Naziism and militarism."
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 28, 2012
Hideyuki Mihashi ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, April, 1963: U.S. Air Force chief of staff Gen. Curtis E. LeMay settles in with a newspaper and his trademark cigar as his helicopter prepares to leave the Stars and Stripes helipad in downtown Tokyo. At a press conference, LeMay was asked for his thoughts on visiting Japan after being an architect of the massive bombing campaign against the country in World War II. He replied, "We were enemies — against the government, not the people. My job was to destroy that government and I did my best."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' story from Gen. LeMay's 1963 press conference in Tokyo.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 27, 2012
John Beard ©Stars and Stripes
Lai Khe, South Vietnam, December, 1969: Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, who became the first man to set foot on the moon earlier in the year, talks to U.S. troops during a surprise appearance with Bob Hope's Christmas show at the 1st Infantry Division headquarters. Armstrong was on a goodwill tour in Thailand when he was asked by Vice President Spiro Agnew to make a detour to Vietnam.
RELATED MATERIAL:
A wire service story about Bob Hope's 1969 Christmas tour.
Stars and Stripes' front page reporting Neil Armstrong's moonwalk.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 26, 2012
Russ Havourd ©Stars and Stripes
Seoul, South Korea, October, 1966: President Lyndon B. Johnson waves small U.S. and South Korean flags as he stops to greet spectators outside Kimpo International Airport. LBJ was on his way to Seoul's City Hall Plaza, where a crowd estimated at 250,000 was waiting to hear him speak.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1966 story about President Johnson in Seoul.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 25, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Hanau, West Germany, March, 1957: Ron March of NWAC and Harold Wilson of Northwest Army Trps. both fall out of the ring during their featherweight division bout at the U.S. Army Europe northern regional boxing championships. Wilson, with his feet up in the photo, eventually won on a decision.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 24, 2012
Merle Hunter ©Stars and Stripes
Hohenfels, Germany, May, 1956: Two soldiers taking part in an exercise at the U.S. training area at Hohenfels enjoy some shelter from the rain. In the exercise, the troops were divided into "aggressor" and "defender" forces as they worked out a problem under the watchful eyes of a group of umpires.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' story about the 1956 exercise at Hohenfels.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 23, 2012
Wayne Begasse ©Stars and Stripes
Iraq, 1991: Iraqi soldiers sit in a U.S. helicopter after being taken prisoner in the early stages of the Gulf War.
RELATED MATERIAL:
A February, 1991 story about Iraqi prisoners of war.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 22, 2012
Dave Casey ©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, March, 1993: Little Richard, known for classics as "Lucille," "Good Golly, Miss Molly," "Tutti-Frutti" and "Be-Bop-A-Lula," is in top form at age 60 during his 1993 tour of Europe. The music legend — real name: Richard Penniman — proclaimed himself "the architect of rock 'n' roll," and many would agree with that. The Beatles, after all, were his opening act at one point during their days in Hamburg.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' story about Little Richard's March, 1993 appearance in Frankfurt.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 21, 2012
Gerard Forken ©Stars and Stripes
Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, December, 1966: Bob Hope, with his trademark golf club, and Phyllis Diller, with her ever-present cigarette holder, entertain the troops at Cam Ranh Bay during Hope's annual Christmas tour of the Far East. Diller, whose self-deprecating humor also fed the routines of many other comedians (Hope joked that she was "scaring both sides" in the Vietnam War), died August 20, 2012 at age 95.
RELATED MATERIAL:
A Stars and Stripes story from Bob Hope's 1966 Far East Christmas tour.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 20, 2012
Ron Alvey ©Stars and Stripes
Brod, Bosnia and Herzegovina, November, 1997: Two local boys watch as members of Company B, 1-36th Infantry, conduct a dismounted patrol through Brod, about two kilometers from Camp McGovern.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 19, 2012
Danny Lane ©Stars and Stripes
Okinawa, August, 1982: Pants drying on an Okinawa housing area clothesline appear to be doing a wash day dance in the wind.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 18, 2012
©Stars and Stripes
South Vietnam, October, 1962: Adm. Harry D. Felt, left, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, arrives at Tan Son Nhut airport to begin a four-day visit that was to include talks with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and other local and U.S. officials. With him is Gen. Paul D. Harkins, head of the U.S. Military Assistance Command for Southeast Asia. Felt had been in Bangkok, Thailand, for a meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 17, 2012
Tom Gregory ©Stars and Stripes
South Korea, December, 1957: Bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, right, and his soon-to-be wife, actress Jayne Mansfield, talk with U.S. Army Capt. Ernest Babin, chief of recreation at Eighth Army Special Services, during one of Bob Hope's holiday tour stops in Korea. As a promising dancer and "Mr. Universe" in postwar Hungary, Hargitay struck up a friendship with Babin and his wife, a Budapest nightclub owner. He reportedly passed information to American intelligence officials, and as pressure from the secret police increased, it was Babin whose advice enabled Hargitay to escape to the U.S.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1958 story about Mickey Hargitay.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 16, 2012
Ted Rohde ©Stars and Stripes
Baden Baden, Germany, September, 1952: Among the dignitaries on hand to observe "Exercise Equinox" are, left to right, Gen. Thomas T. Handy, EUCOM deputy commander-in-chief; Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe; Gen. Omar N. Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Andre Francois-Poncet, French High Commissioner to Germany; and Marshal Alphonse Juin, commander-in-chief, Allied Ground Forces, Central Europe.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' story about the generals' visit to "Exercise Equinox" in 1952.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 15, 2012
Dan Evans ©Stars and Stripes
Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, March, 1971: With the smoke from a morning attack by the Viet Cong on a rearmament point still rising in the background, a soldier sits atop a bunker and eats his lunch.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Road to Khe Sanh is no Shangri-la
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 14, 2012
Bob Greabell ©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, December, 1961: A Globemaster transport plane from the 54th Troop Carrier Squadron appears to be devouring a van filled with Berlin-bound Christmas gifts at Rhein-Main Air Base. Subscribers of the New York-based German-language newspaper Staatszeitung contributed more than $7,500 for the gifts, which were then packed by the Hanau Council of Sergeants Major and carried to Berlin's kids by the 54th.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 13, 2012
©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, September, 1953: Maj. Gen. William F. Dean talks with reporters at the Tokyo Army Hospital, where he was recovering from the effects of three years in captivity in North Korea. While in prison, his fate still unknown in the U.S., Dean was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during fighting at Taejon in July, 1950.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Three Stars and Stripes stories about Maj. Gen. Dean's release:
General Dean returns
'It seems like a dream,' happy Dean says
Dean begins hospital cure
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 12, 2012
Fred G. Braitsch, Jr. ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, October, 1964: Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila becomes the first runner to win consecutive Olympic marathons as he crosses the line in a record time of 2:12:11. Bikila, black Africa's first Olympic champion with his win at Rome in 1960 (he ran that race barefoot, explaining that he did it to show that Ethiopia "has always won with determination and heroism"), was still recovering from appendicitis when he ran at Tokyo. He still won by more than four minutes.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 11, 2012
Masahiko Nakamura ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, October, 1965: Wearing kimonos, Chet Atkins and Skeeter Davis pose in the garden of the Tokyo Hilton Hotel. The two country music stars, who were touring Japan with an all-star show that also featured Hank Locklin and The Browns, were being photographed for an East-meets-West cover of Stars and Stripes' weekly magazine section.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 10, 2012
Henry Compton ©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, August, 1948: In a repeat of their close finish at the recent Olympic Games in London, Harrison Dillard edges American teammate Barney Ewell in the 100-meter dash at a Frankfurt Athletic Club-sponsored exhibition meet featuring 10 Olympic athletes. Dillard won two gold medals at London and two more at Helsinki in 1952; he is still the only male ever to win Olympic titles in both the sprints and his specialty, the hurdles. Ewell won a gold in the relay and was runner-up in the 100 and 200 at London.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' story about the 1948 track meet at Frankfurt
A column about the Frankfurt meet
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 8, 2012
Gus Schuettler ©Stars and Stripes
Adana, Turkey, May, 1979: Typists work at makeshift desks at a square in Adana. Much of their work (at the equivalent of about $1.25 per page) reportedly came from people preparing to send messages by wire, and from those needing help from the bureaucracy-savvy typists in filling out business or government paperwork — notably tax forms.
By Joe Gromeslki
Published: August 7, 2012
Gerald Waller ©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, August, 1950: The three stars of "An Evening with Orson Welles," a 2½- hour show that was drawing crowds of Americans and Germans to the theater at the Frankfurt Zoo, take a break. From left are 22-year-old Eartha Kitt, who went on to become one of America's top singers and actresses; the great Irish actor Micheal MacLiammoir; and Orson Welles, best known as producer, director and star of the 1941 film classic, "Citizen Kane."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1950 review of "An Evening with Orson Welles."
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 6, 2012
Hideyuki Mihashi ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, September 26, 1967: The Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhists, and Matsutaro Shoriki, Japanese television pioneer and owner of the Yomiuri newspapers, cut the ribbon to open an exhibit of Tibetan art treasures at a Tokyo department store.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1967 story about the opening of the art exhibit.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 5, 2012
©Stars and Stripes
Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, April, 1964: Lt. Gen. Victor H. "Brute" Krulak, left, commanding general of Fleet Marines Force Pacific, is welcomed to Tachikawa Air Base by Col. Elmer E. Brackett Jr. Krulak, who assumed command March 1, was touring Marine installations in the Tokyo area on the last leg of his Far East tour.
The diminutive but feisty Krulak was an early proponent of the landing craft that became known during World War II as the "Higgins Boat," and later championed the use of helicopters in battle. He is also remembered as a fierce opponent of those who wanted to eliminate or scale back the Marine Corps.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 5, 2012
Roger Ruhlin ©Stars and Stripes
Zweibruecken, Germany, August, 1952: Three soldiers who represented the U.S. in weightlifting at the recent Olympic Games at Helsinki, Finland, pose for a photo at the 307th Replacement Depot, where they were being processed for their eventual assignment to the 7812th SCU at Heidelberg. Tommy Kono, left, the gold medalist in the lightweight division, and Clyde Emerich, eighth in the heavyweight competition, are using Jack Bluebaugh, an alternate on the U.S. squad, as a substitute barbell. Kono repeated as Olympic champion in 1956 and brought home a silver in 1960.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1952 story about the three Olympic athletes.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 4, 2012
Gene Bane ©Stars and Stripes
Rome, August, 1960: Years before the arrival of sports bars, wide-screen TVs and live streaming on the Internet, Romans interested in the Olympic Games that were being held in their city took advantage of any opportunity to follow the action. Televisions were still relatively scarce; a 1963 UNESCO report listed Italy as having 43 sets per 1,000 people in 1960, a rate lower than that of Czechoslovakia (58) and East Germany (60), and well below that of the U.S. (310).
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 2, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Helsinki, Finland, July, 1952: Tourist Donna Stone leaves no doubt that she's a fan of Bob Mathias as she poses with the American decathlon star at the Kapyla Olympic Village. It was a very good year for Mathias, who had already played football for Stanford in the Rose Bowl in January; at Helsinki, he won the gold medal in his specialty by a margin of 912 points to defend the Olympic title he won in 1948.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 2, 2012
Gene Bane ©Stars and Stripes
Rome, August, 1960: U.S. long jumper Ralph Boston, right, talks to Jesse Owens — whose 25-year-old world record Boston had recently broken — at a training facility in Rome before the Olympic Games. Boston's record jump of 26-11¼, just over three inches better than Owens' 26-8 from 1935, set the stage for a gold-medal effort in the Olympics — again putting him in the esteemed company of Owens, who won four golds at the Berlin games in 1936.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: August 1, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Munich, Germany, September, 1972: Frank Shorter of the U.S. approaches the finish line as the winner of the Olympic marathon. Shorter, born in Munich while his father served in the Army, was timed in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 19.8 seconds.