By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 31, 2012
John Olson ©Stars and Stripes
South Vietnam, September, 1967: Two U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division open fire during Operation Swift. The Marines were searching for the 2nd North Vietnamese Army Division in the Ky Son Valley, south of Da Nang.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 30, 2012
Timothy Baker ©Stars and Stripes
Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 25, 1998: As the sun sets into the fog below Hill 722, Pfc. Alex Longoria of Company C, 1st Battalion, 8th Regiment trudges through the snow on his patrol around the hill's perimeter. Longoria, based at Camp McGovern, was assigned to a week of force protection duty.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 29, 2012
Juanito Pardico ©Stars and Stripes
Quezon City, Philippines, June 24, 1967: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos tries out a payloader, one of 312 pieces of heavy equipment just given to his government by the United States, at Camp Aguinaldo.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 28, 2012
©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, January 28, 1957: Bishop Martin Niemoeller speaks to 200 members of the 3rd Armored Division at the Edwards Casern chapel. As head of the Pastors' Emergency League in Germany in the 1930s, Niemoeller — a World War I U-boat officer who initially supported the Nazis because they opposed communism — so angered Hitler with his sermons against government attempts to control the churches that he was sent to concentration camps for eight years. In a face-to-face confrontation, he told Hitler, "We pastors have a responsibility for the German people laid on us by God. Neither you nor anyone else can take that away from us."
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 27, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Pointe du Hoc, France, June 6, 1984: Bundled up against the Normandy coastal cold, five-year-old Alexander Poutaraud, a local resident, tries to get a glimpse of D-Day 40th anniversary ceremonies from between the boots of soldiers.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 26, 2012
Red Grandy / ©Stars and Stripes
Vienna, Austria, April 28, 1951: Robert Vogeler gets a hug from his wife, Lucille, as he gains his freedom after 527 days in captivity in Hungary. Vogeler, an ITT executive, was arrested on espionage charges in December, 1949; his captivity resulted in several retaliatory moves by the U.S., including the closing of Hungarian consulates in two cities and a ban on travel by Americans to the Eastern Bloc country. Resourceful photographer Red Grandy — just beginning a storied 35-year career at Stars and Stripes — had befriended the Vogelers and their security guards in the days preceding the release, and was ready for the big moment. The photo was widely published, and was judged the second-best of the year by the Associated Press — second only to another Grandy photo. Red Grandy will celebrate his 90th birthday today, January 26, 2012, at his home in rural Hermon, N.Y.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 25, 2012
Ted Rohde ©Stars and Stripes
Wiesbaden, Germany, May 19, 1953: U.S. High Commissioner for Germany Dr. James B. Conant, second from right, attends a press reception at the Wiesbaden America House with, left to right, Mrs. Conant; Montagu Pigott, U.S. consul-general in Frankfurt; and Wiesbaden America House Director Leonard Lewis. It was the first official trip to the city for Dr. Conant, recently appointed to the HICOG post after serving as president of Harvard University since 1933.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1953 story about Dr. James B. Conant's visit to Wiesbaden.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 24, 2012
Ed Hill ©Stars and Stripes
Göppingen, Germany, March 20, 1979: Chief Warrant Officer Gerald P. "Pappy" Devine gets right into his description of an aerial battle from his days as a fighter pilot. Devine flew 2,200 combat missions in a military career that went from World War II through Vietnam; he was credited with 8½ kills, but was also shot down nine times. "It became somewhat of a joke in my unit," he said of his tendency to lose planes. "I went out to the flight line one morning to find out that my crew chief had painted five little American flags on the cowling of my plane."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1979 story about "Pappy" Devine.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 23, 2012
Frank Praytor ©Stars and Stripes
Korea, May, 1953: War-weary soldiers crouch in a ditch while enemy mortar shells drop nearby. These same infantrymen helped fight off a division of Chinese communists at Outpost Elko a few hours earlier. A company commander said of the fighting at Elko and Outpost Carson, "when I think back over it, the whole thing seems like a bad dream."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1953 story about the battle.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 21, 2012
Alfred Morrissey ©Stars and Stripes
Near Grafenwöhr, Germany, July, 1949: Two soldiers stand next to the muzzle of a 140-ton German siege gun at a railroad siding near Grafenwöhr. The deadly cannon, which was reportedly used in the World War II siege of Sevastopol, was being sliced into smaller pieces before being hauled to the mills as scrap metal.
RELATED MATERIAL:
A 1949 story about the siege gun.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 21, 2012
Edward Dixon ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, September, 1974: Two fans pose with Barry White during the deep-voiced singer-songwriter-producer's first tour of Japan. "I'm about as low as you can get," White said of his voice, which ultimately earned him 106 gold and 41 platinum albums. "I've compared Marvin Franklin's [of the Temptations] lowest note by singing along with him while playing records and his lowest note is like a high note to me."
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1974 story about Barry White in Tokyo.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 20, 2012
©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, November, 1974: New York Mets manager Yogi Berra, right, holds court as (left to right) home run kings Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves and U.S. Ambassador to Japan James D. Hodgson listen during a reception honoring the touring Mets at the ambassador's residence.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 19, 2012
Ron Alvey ©Stars and Stripes
Eagle Base, Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 1997: Spec. Ed Lutes, a M1A1 tanker assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Infantry Division, washes a vehicle after hours on Eagle Base. The wash rack was able to accommodate just about any large vehicle, including tanks.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 18, 2012
©Stars and Stripes
Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, December, 1960: Pakistani President Ayub Khan, left, poses for a photo with Lt. Gen. Donald P. Booth, U.S. high commissioner of the Ryukyus, during Khan's Okinawa stopover on a trip from Indonesia to Japan. Khan had just met with Indonesian President Sukarno, and was on his way to see Japanese Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 17, 2012
Hal Drake ©Stars and Stripes
Yokota Air Base, Japan, November, 1978: Gen. James H. Doolittle, who led a bombing raid on Tokyo that gave American morale a huge lift after early Japanese success in World War II, talks to a reporter at Yokota Air Base. The Medal of Honor recipient urged caution in agreements with the Soviet Union, saying that "disarmament is a very fine concept, provided we keep in mind that anything we do must be mutually advantageous to the Russians — and when it is no longer advantageous to them, to be realistic enough to know that they will abandon their agreement." He also spoke in favor of adding the B-1 bomber and the neutron bomb to the U.S. arsenal.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1978 interview with Gen. Jimmy Doolittle.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 16, 2012
Masahiko Nakamura ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, January, 1969: U.S. Davis Cup tennis team member and reigning U.S. Open champion Arthur Ashe warms up for an exhibition match against Japan's Ichizo Konishi at the chilly Komazawa Gym. Ashe won, 6-4, 6-4. The U.S. team had just returned from Vietnam, where they played matches for troops at Saigon and Da Nang. Ashe was the first (and only) African-American tennis player to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Three Stars and Stripes stories from the Davis Cup team's tour of Asia:
Hot action in cold gym
U.S. Davis Cuppers show stuff in Vietnam
Troops ding Dell to get a message to Namath
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 15, 2012
Gene Bane ©Stars and Stripes
Nastaetten, Germany, June 15, 1955: New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner waves as he stands with his wife, Susan, and Nastaetten Mayor Heinrich Knoegel in front of the house where Wagner's father, the late Sen. Robert F. Wagner, was born in 1877. It was Wagner's first visit to the town of 2,700 residents since 1945, when he was on duty with the Army Air Corps.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1955 story about Mayor Wagner's return to his ancestral home.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 14, 2012
Richard Haynes ©Stars and Stripes
Osan Air Base, South Korea, December 21, 1964: Actress Jill St. John playfully turns the tables on Capt. Hal Eisenman, a doctor assigned to Bob Hope's annual Far East tour, backstage at Osan.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 13, 2012
Gus Schuettler ©Stars and Stripes
Berlin, November 1961: A man caught trying to flee into West Berlin from the city's Eastern sector takes one last look back at freedom as he is led away by Vopos, the East German police. Although his attempt was foiled, he was still more fortunate than the more than 200 people who were killed as they tried to escape to West Berlin between 1961 and 1989.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 12, 2012
Kim Ki Sam ©Stars and Stripes
Saigon, June 10, 1968: Gen. William C. Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam since 1964, conducts his final Saigon press conference before leaving for Washington to become Army chief of
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' story about Gen. Westmoreland's press conference.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 11, 2012
©Stars and Stripes
Yokota Air Base, Japan, March, 1973: Lt. Caroline Thibodeau has the heel of her shoe checked by Capt. Joan Lesnikowski at a Yokota Air Base customs checkpoint as A1C Randall Hale searches Lt. Karen Wojtecki's luggage. The two Army nurses were among 752 servicemembers on their way from South Vietnam to Travis AFB in California — the first wave of the last American troops to leave Vietnam.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1973 story about the departing servicemembers.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 10, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Ramstein Air Base, Germany, June 23, 1985: An A-10 anti-tank attack plane flies above spectators huddled under umbrellas near the runway during the annual Flugtag open house day at Ramstein.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 9, 2012
Ralph Payne ©Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, May 15, 1972: Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako watch as Vice President Spiro Agnew presents Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato with documents returning Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands to Japan after 27 years of postwar American rule.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Two Stars and Stripes stories about the 1972 reversion of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan:
U.S,, Japan ties hailed at reversion rites
Thousands protest retention of U.S. bases
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 8, 2012
Gene Bane ©Stars and Stripes
Morocco, March, 1957: Vice President Richard Nixon works the crowd as he visits with Americans at Nouasseur Air Base. Earlier, Nixon was greeted by an estimated 200,000 Moroccans as he began a goodwill tour of Africa.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 7, 2012
Bob Milnes ©Stars and Stripes
Germany, April, 1967: Long before "bridge to nowhere" became part of the American political lexicon, planners in Germany created an extreme version on the road from Cologne to Bonn with an overpass for a still-unbuilt highway to the Cologne airport.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 6, 2012
Merle Hunter ©Stars and Stripes
Near Mannheim, Germany, March, 1962: In a scene familiar to soldiers and former soldiers everywhere, members of the 2nd Battle Group, 47th Infantry, line up for chow after completing the first leg of a motor march from Augsburg to Berlin. They were to replace the 1st Battle Group, 19th Infantry, in the divided city.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 5, 2012
James Arwine ©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, November 4, 1977: Country music legend Johnny Cash talks to a reporter backstage at Frankfurt's Festhalle. Cash — who served in the U.S. Air Force in Europe in the early 1950s — was battling a sore throat, but still played for two hours for an audience that contained many U.S. servicemembers.
RELATED MATERIAL:
Stars and Stripes' 1977 interview with Johnny Cash.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 4, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Paris, May, 1960: Under the watchful eye of his motorcycle escort, Nikita Khrushchev waves his hat as he rides through the streets of Paris. At far right in the back seat, sporting a rare smile, is Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. The Soviet leader had just arrived for meetings with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, but the summit collapsed before it even got started when Khrushchev demanded an apology from Eisenhower for the incident in which U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down in the Soviet Union.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 3, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Near Bad Tolz, Germany, January 11, 1967: Special troops from Company B, on skis and carrying packs, step carefully over barbed wire as they start out on a long winter-training trek. The troops' mission was to drag a 50-pound bomb on a sled in darkness to a rendezvous point about 40 miles away. They were then to hide out in the forest for three days before returning.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 2, 2012
Erik Gudmundson ©Stars and Stripes
Eagle Base, Bosnia & Herzegovina, April, 1998: Gen. Henry H. "Hugh" Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, poses with visiting VIPs after Easter Mass at Eagle Base. From left to right are Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.); Gen. Shelton; Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.); and Task Force Eagle commander Maj. Gen. Larry R. Ellis. Today is Shelton's 70th birthday; he is one of two JCS chairmen from recent years (the other being Adm. William J. Crowe) born on the second day of January.
By Joe Gromelski
Published: January 1, 2012
Red Grandy ©Stars and Stripes
Frankfurt, Germany, December 3, 1980: Senior Airman Rick Whitten of the 435th Organizational Maintenance Squadron clears the wing section of a huge C-130 Hercules aircraft as the first snowstorm of the season hits Rhein-Main Air Base.
