Vietnam War

My platoon was about 100 miles from Pleiku City, searching for the Viet Cong within South Vietnam’s Central Highlands. The mountainous elevation offered little protection from the humid air that left us staggering as if intoxicated.I was…

The tragic story of an American spy plane with the radio call sign Baron 52 began like so many other midnight missions over Indochina. Shortly after 11 p.m. on Feb. 4, 1973, the plane left a Thai air force base with a crew of eight whose…

As a combat veteran, I always feel a bit awkward when someone wishes me “Happy Memorial Day.” Oftentimes, I do not correct them because I know they mean well. The misplaced gratitude stems from a misunderstanding of what Memorial Day is all…

Henry Kissinger, the most influential American diplomat of the Cold War era, died Wednesday at the age of 100, leaving behind a polarizing legacy as both a geopolitical mastermind and, according to some, a bit of a grinch.Kissinger, who…

If the last few generations of Americans understood the origin and meaning of Memorial Day, we might have avoided the trauma of division and corruption that now threatens the United States as never before. Memorial Day was…

“You gotta be kiddin’ me.” Ann Mills-Griffiths is almost speechless. Almost. It’s Aug. 14, 2018. She is sitting at her desk in Falls Church, Virginia, on a sweltering summer day, across from three officials from the Defense POW/MIA…