Military

Family photo of Elsye Mitchell

In 1945, a Japanese Balloon Bomb Killed Six Americans, Five of Them Children, in Oregon

The military kept the true story of their deaths, the only civilians to die at enemy hands on the U.S. mainland, under wraps

Granville Coggs

Granville Coggs Fought Racism in the Military as a Tuskegee Airman

Coggs, who died on May 7, at the age of 93, was among the first black aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps

The board was likely used in the bath house at Vindolanda, one of 14 forts along Hadrian's Wall, but was repurposed as a floor stone in the adjacent building after it was broken.

Archaeologists Uncover an Ancient Roman Game Board at Hadrian's Wall

The cracked stone board was likely used to play ludus latrunculorum, Rome's favorite game

The 404th AFS Band pictured in Fort Des Moines

Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Military’s Only All-Black Female Band Battled the War Department and Won

The women of the 404th Armed Service Forces band raised morale and funds for the military, but they had to fight discrimination to do so

Amputee Marine Sets Record for Rowing Across the Atlantic Ocean From Europe to South America

Lee Spencer smashed the previous record by 36 days, rowing his boat solo and unsupported from Portugal to French Guiana in just 60 days

Alcatraz's recreation yard, where the structures were discovered.

Radar Scans Reveal Traces of 19th-Century Fort Beneath Alcatraz

Before Capone took up residence, the island was home to military installation that guarded San Francisco Bay

An American infantry camp in Siberia, Russia, December 1918

The Forgotten Story of the American Troops Who Got Caught Up in the Russian Civil War

Even after the armistice was signed ending World War I, the doughboys clashed with Russian forces 100 years ago

Magnetic North Is Cruising Toward Siberia, Puzzling Scientists

It has drifted so far that scientists made an emergency revision to the World Magnetic Model

Operation Ranch Hand has led to a multi-generational health crisis and an environmental catastrophe.

Court Rules 'Blue Water' Vietnam Veterans Are Eligible for Agent Orange Benefits

Sailors had long been excluded from health benefits related to the dioxin-tainted herbicide the military spread during the war

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This Map Shows Where in the World the U.S. Military Is Combatting Terrorism

The infographic reveals for the first time that the U.S. is now operating in 40 percent of the world's nations

Previously deployed service members raise their hands at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

New Poll of U.S. Troops and Veterans Reveals Their Thoughts on Current Military Policies

In a new Smithsonian poll, conducted with the help of Stars and Stripes, current and former members of the armed forces take aim at conventional wisdom

Army Reservist Xiao Meng Sun, who left China six years ago, believes that military training teaches one to meet challenges.

Fighting to Be American

For centuries immigrants who served in the military could become American citizens. But are the women and men pictured here among the last?

Aaron Wixson, a Marine field artillery radar operator in Oceanside, California, transitioned from female to male in 2016. His biggest challenge was getting everybody to change the pronouns they used for him. “Some of them said, ‘We’ve been calling you “her” for so long.’”

The Faces Behind Transgender Troops' Struggle for Acceptance

Meet some of the servicemembers at the center of one of the most controversial matters facing the U.S. military

Kristi Casteel holds her son Joshua Casteel's dog tags.

The Priest of Abu Ghraib

Inside Iraq's most notorious prison, an Army interrogator came face to face with a shocking truth about the war—and himself

U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft fire chaff and flare countermeasures over the Nevada Test and Training Range Nov. 17, 2010.

The Woman Whose Invention Helped Win a War — and Still Baffles Weathermen

Her work long overlooked, physicist Joan Curran developed technology to conceal aircraft from radar during World War II

A member of the U.S. Army 3/187th Scouts from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, takes a break at a bombed out building on April 12, 2002, at Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan.

A Veteran Combat Photographer Recalls His Most Memorable Shots

Originally stuck in a darkroom, Jeremy Lock traveled the world capturing life on the front lines and the homefront

At Fort Sill, Oklahoma, you can see "Atomic Annie," the first and only cannon to ever fire a nuclear shell.

This Veterans Day, Visit America’s Top Military Sites

A new book offers a guide to the museums, bases and once-secret locations that reveal America’s complex military history

From left to right: Sgt. Harold J. Higginbottom, Brigadier General Amos A. Fries, 2nd Lt. Thomas Jabine

How Three Doughboys Experienced the Last Days of World War I

The end of the war was a welcome reprieve for these three American soldiers, eager to return home

Drawing inspiration from the myth of werewolves, the Nazis inspired real soldiers and civilians to fight at the end of the war.

The Nazi Werewolves Who Terrorized Allied Soldiers at the End of WWII

Though the guerrilla fighters didn’t succeed in slowing the Allied occupation of Germany, they did sow fear wherever they went

View of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum from above.

A New Museum Honoring America's Veterans Opens in Ohio

Personal stories take the place of military artifacts at the new National Veterans Memorial & Museum

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