Military
The Stealth Swimmers Whose WWII Scouting Laid the Groundwork for the Navy SEALs
The Underwater Demolition Teams cleared coastal defenses and surveyed enemy beaches ahead of Allied landings
The 80-Year Mystery of the U.S. Navy's 'Ghost Blimp'
The L-8 returned from patrolling the California coast for Japanese subs in August 1942, but its two-man crew was nowhere to be found
How Disney Propaganda Shaped Life on the Home Front During WWII
A traveling exhibition traces how the animation studio mobilized to support the Allied war effort
Bradford Freeman, Last Surviving Member of WWII 'Band of Brothers,' Dies at 97
The Easy Company veteran parachuted into France on D-Day and fought in major European campaigns during the last year of the war
How the Ghost Army of WWII Used Art to Deceive the Nazis
Unsung for decades, the U.S. Army's 23rd Headquarters Special Troops drew on visual, sonic and radio deception to misdirect the Germans
Inside a Trailblazing Surgeon's Quest to Reconstruct WWI Soldiers' Disfigured Faces
A new book profiles Harold Gillies, whose efforts to restore wounded warriors' visages laid the groundwork for modern plastic surgery
The Black Buffalo Soldiers Who Biked Across the American West
In 1897, the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps embarked on a 1,900-mile journey from Montana to Missouri
The Daring Rescue Mission That Freed 15 Hostages Held in the Colombian Jungle for Years
A new exhibition at the International Spy Museum revisits Operación Jaque, a covert 2008 plot led by the Colombian military
Nine Army Bases Honoring Confederate Leaders Could Soon Have New Names
Proposed by a government panel, the suggested title changes honor several women and people of color
'Top Gun' Is Back. But Is the Elite Navy Fighter Pilot School Really Like the Movies?
The Smithsonian’s Chris Browne flew the much-feared F-14, and as a former TOPGUN student, knows well the power of a Navy-trained fighter pilot
The Wild West Outpost of Japan's Isolationist Era
For two centuries, an extreme protectionist policy barred foreigners from setting foot in Japan—except for one tiny island
The 1983 Military Drill That Nearly Sparked Nuclear War With the Soviets
Fearful that the Able Archer 83 exercise was a cover for a NATO nuclear strike, the U.S.S.R. readied its own weapons for launch
Digging Up the History of the Nuclear Fallout Shelter
For 75 years, images of bunker life have reflected the shifting optimism, anxieties and cynicism of the Atomic Age
The Black WWII Soldiers Who Spirited Supplies to the Allied Front Line
The Red Ball Express' truck drivers and cargo loaders moved more than 400,000 tons of ammo, gas, medicine and rations between August and November 1944
All-Black, All-Woman WWII Unit Awarded Congressional Gold Medal
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion cleared a six-month backlog of mail while stationed in Europe in 1945
The 20th-Century History Behind Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
During WWII, Ukrainian nationalists saw the Nazis as liberators from Soviet oppression. Now, Russia is using that chapter to paint Ukraine as a Nazi nation
How the 'Candy Bomber' Left a Lasting Legacy in Cold War Germany
Former WWII pilot Gail S. Halvorsen is still fondly remembered as the American who delivered sweets to German children during the Berlin Airlift
The Photo Album That Succeeded Where Pancho Villa Failed
The revolutionary may have tried to find the author's grandfather by raiding a New Mexico village—but a friend's camera truly captured her family patriarch
The Japanese WWII Soldier Who Refused to Surrender for 27 Years
Unable to bear the shame of being captured as a prisoner of war, Shoichi Yokoi hid in the jungles of Guam until January 1972
Lawrence Brooks, the United States' Oldest Living WWII Veteran, Dies at 112
Brooks was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1940, when he was in his early 30s
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