Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

US Military

A 1945 photo of Francis Lowell Coolidge (third from left) in the Pacific theater of World War II

Untold Stories of American History

This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II

A direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson, Francis Lowell Coolidge was an agent with the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the CIA. Read his goodbye letter to his wife, published here for the first time

A woman kneels in prayer in front of children's coffins in Freckleton, England, on August 26, 1944.

When an American Airplane Crashed Into a School in 1944, an English Village Lost Almost All of Its Youngest Children. Why Has WWII’s Worst Civilian Aviation Accident Been Forgotten?

On August 23, 1944, a test flight over the village of Freckleton, located in northwest England, ended in disaster, claiming the lives of 61 people, including 38 students between the ages of 4 and 6

Nathan Hale was captured and executed by the British within days of his arrival on Long Island. David Maltbie evaded detection for a much longer time, although he, too, was eventually caught by the enemy.

America's 250th Anniversary

This Connecticut Teenager Spied on the British During the American Revolution, Succeeding Where Nathan Hale Failed

Newly uncovered documents reveal the story of David Maltbie, who relayed intelligence to the patriots in 1776, narrowly avoiding execution as a spy

A John Trumbull painting of George Washington's capture of Hessian soldiers in Trenton, New Jersey, in December 1776

America's 250th Anniversary

The Hessians Were Supposed to Quickly End the American Revolution. Instead, They Endured Years of Battles and Suffered Thousands of Casualties

Some 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British during the war. Contrary to popular belief, they weren’t mercenaries, and not all were actually Hessians

Speedy called his wife, Frances, by many affectionate pet names, including "Meatball."

Cool Finds

This Box of 300 Love Letters Showed Up Out of the Blue. Who Was the Whimsical World War II Soldier Who Wrote Them?

Nobody knows who dropped Speedy Weber’s correspondence at a USO office in 2022. Researchers have finally tracked down two living relatives who remember him

The USS Silversides entered dry dock for the first time in more than 50 years, giving crews a chance to perform major repairs and maintenance work.

This World War II Submarine Noted for Sinking Enemy Ships Just Journeyed Across Lake Michigan for a Multimillion-Dollar Makeover

The USS ‘Silversides’ earned a dozen battle stars for its work patrolling the Pacific Ocean. The Gato-class sub is now the star of a museum in Michigan

Wisconsin Air National Guard officers carry the wingtip on July 12.

This American Pilot Downed 40 Enemy Aircraft During World War II. Researchers Discovered the Wreck of His Plane in a Pacific Jungle and Brought a Wing Back to His Home State

Richard I. Bong, flying a plane decorated with a portrait of his future wife, Marge, became America’s highest-scoring “ace” and received a Medal of Honor

The five cannonballs ranged in size from grapefruit to cherry.

TSA Officers Found Five Cannonballs Stolen From a Civil War Fort in a Checked Suitcase at an Alabama Airport

The inert artifacts gave security officers in Gulf Shores a good scare. Investigators say the weapons came from Fort Morgan, which guards Mobile Bay

Individuals and objects associated with Irish contributions to the American Revolution (clockwise from top left): Surgeon and statesman James McHenry, Quaker spy Lydia Barrington Darragh, Commodore John Barry, a letter written by Irish-born printer John Dunlap, Continental Army officer Stephen Moylan, Pennsylvania politician James Smith, Delaware politician Thomas McKean, and Charles Thomson's proposal for the Great Seal

America's 250th Anniversary

How Tens of Thousands of Irish Immigrants Led the Patriots to Victory During the American Revolution

Soldiers of Irish heritage accounted for up to 50 percent of the Continental Army’s ranks. Driven from their homeland by British oppression, Irish-born rebels also served as spies, politicians and more

An early 20th-century depiction of the Battle of Little Bighorn

A Century and a Half After Custer’s Last Stand, the Battle of Little Bighorn Continues to Mystify

The June 1876 firefight resulted in the deaths of George Armstrong Custer and 267 of his men. Historians continue to debate exactly how the Lakota Sioux and the Northern Cheyenne secured their victory over the U.S. Army

A painting of the Hannah, a Continental schooner that captured a British vessel in September 1775

America's 250th Anniversary

How Angry, Out-of-Work Fishermen Saved the Patriots During the American Revolution

The British punished rebellious New Englanders by depriving them of their livelihood. This led unemployed mariners to enlist in the patriot cause

Archaeologists discovered musket balls thought to have been fired during the Battle of Bunker Hill.

America's 250th Anniversary

In June 1775, the American Patriots Faced Off With the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Archaeologists Are Uncovering Evidence of the Fighting 251 Years Later

Researchers discovered gun parts, musket balls and other artifacts in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood

Archaeologists discovered the artifacts on Liberty Hill, a strategic hilltop near Fort Ticonderoga.

America's 250th Anniversary

Archaeologists Unearth Hundreds of Artifacts at Fort Ticonderoga, the Site of America’s First Offensive Victory of the Revolutionary War

The objects were discovered on Liberty Hill, the place where many Continental Army soldiers heard the text of the Declaration of Independence for the first time

Brendan Fraser (left) as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Andrew Scott (right) as James Stagg in Pressure, a new WWII drama about the weather forecast for D-Day

Based on a True Story

One Weather Forecast Changed the Course of WWII. Here’s the Real Story Behind ‘Pressure,’ a Drama About the Meteorologist Who Convinced the Allies to Delay D-Day

A new movie starring Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser dramatizes the tense 72 hours before the Allied invasion of Normandy, revealing how meteorology helped determine Operation Overlord’s success

During World War I, the Tampa protected convoys from submarine attacks.

Divers Discover the Shipwreck of a World War I-Era Coast Guard Cutter, Which Vanished With 131 Sailors on Board in 1918

The wreckage of the “Tampa,” which was torpedoed by a German submarine, was found 50 miles off the coast of Cornwall, England. The disaster was the largest single American naval combat loss of life during the war

Pearl Fryar in his topiary garden

Born to a Family of Sharecroppers, This Topiary Artist Overcame Discrimination to Become the ‘Picasso of Plants’

Self-taught artist Pearl Fryar, who died this month at age 86, got his start when he tried to win an award from his local garden club. He ended up becoming a celebrity in the horticultural world

Now part of Dry Tortugas National Park, Fort Jefferson was built starting in 1846.

This Soldier Died of Yellow Fever During a Hurricane 153 Years Ago. Archaeologists Just Found His Grave

George Tupper, a 22-year-old from Massachusetts, was nearly a year into his military service when a yellow fever outbreak struck Fort Jefferson

The artist who custom-painted the helmet for Colonel Nicole Malachowski wrote a note of congrats to Malachowski: “I’ve been polishing and designing these helmets for many Thunderbird teams. My young daughter never expressed any interest ... [but] I told her this was for the first woman pilot, and she wanted to help me polish it.”

This Helmet Kept an Air Force Pilot Safe as She Was Soaring Through the Glass Ceiling

When a young Nicole Malachowski was dreaming about becoming a fighter pilot, she couldn’t have imagined the heights she’d fly as part of the elite Thunderbirds

She was known as Vicky With Three Kisses— a German radio star whose singing and sweet talk comforted weary Nazi soldiers. She was actually a secret weapon in a little-known Allied propaganda effort.

One of the Allies’ Secret Weapons Against the Nazis Was a 21-Year-Old Woman Armed With a Microphone and a Script of Lies

As “Vicky With Three Kisses,” she strategically sweet-talked and sang to German troops over the airwaves of Europe. But Agnes Bernauer didn’t mean anything she was saying

President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Medal of Honor to Dwight Hal Johnson on November 19, 1968.

Untold Stories of American History

History Remembered This Black Medal of Honor Recipient for the Two Worst Days of His Life. A New Book Dives Into the Vietnam Vet’s Story

Dwight Hal Johnson received the nation’s highest military honor in 1968. Three years later, he was killed during an attempted robbery at age 23

Page 1 of 15