World War II

When I first told friends I’d be writing a blog about World War II the reaction was pretty much uniform, “How are you going to find anything to write about? That’s going to be really hard.” The truth of the matter is that there’s always more coming through my RSS reader than I can possibly cover. On Monday’s I’m going to try to provide links to and small descriptions of stories that caught my eye but didn’t make it into posts the week before.

USS. Houston Survivor Honored - This story from the Deland-Deltona Beacon recounts the story of 90-year-old Guy Rose who survived the sinking of the USS Houston and subsequent imprisonment by the Japanese. I had never heard the story of the Houston and found the tale compelling.

Paper Balloon Bombers of World War II - Any war has its fair share of bizarre experimental weapons, but this account, by Walt Sehnert, discusses an effort by the Japanese to use prevailing winds to deploy unmanned balloon bombs against the United States.

Remains of German Flying Ace Recovered - The Washington Post reports on a group of amateur researchers who located the wreckage of Flight Sgt. Maximilian Volke’s plane as well as the pilot’s remains. Volke was credited with 37 kills.

World War II Memorial Dedicated to Texans - A brief story from the Austin American Statesman covering the dedication of a WWII memorial on the grounds of the state capitol on August 16.

WWII, USS Houston, Japanese balloon bombs, Maximilian Volke, memorial, Texas