This is the story of Ira Gardner of Patten, Maine. Ira fought in the 14th Maine Infantry Regiment until he was injured at the Third Battle of Winchester in the American Civil War. Special thanks to Peter Dalton and Nick Picerno for sharing this amazing story with us.

The monument to Union Captain Henry Fuller is deep in the Rose Woods south of the Wheatfield at Gettysburg. There are no designated trails or paths down to his monument. Because of this, it’s one of the least visited monuments on the battlefield. Fuller was the commander of Company F of the 64th ...

Buchenwald Concentration Camp, a harrowing site of Nazi atrocities, stands as a solemn reminder of human cruelty and resilience, where countless lives were lost, and the indomitable will to survive emerged amidst unimaginable horror.

In Louisiana, the Union launches an ambitious offensive to seize the strategically-vital city of New Orleans - the Confederacy’s largest port and most populous city. But to reach New Orleans, the Union Navy must first punch a hole through the city’s outer defensive fortifications guarding the mou...

Amidst the trenches of World War I, a young Adolf Hitler earns the prestigious Iron Cross twice, marking a harrowing journey that marks the beginning of a rise to infamy, overshadowing the valor of war with the darkness of future tyranny.

During 1944, it became obvious that the war in Germany would soon be over. Allied leadership believed there needed to be a post-war plan. Other individuals also had similar ideas. Responsible for such a plan would be two powerful individuals: US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. and ...

Amid the fierce battle for Groningen in World War II, two brothers, Fred and Stanley Butterworth find themselves on the front lines, their bond tested by the horrors of war as they fight for freedom and each other in a city under siege.

Supermarine's Spitfire is undoubtedly one of the iconic fighters of WWII, and continues to garner support from warbird enthusiasts worldwide. 22 distinct major versions of the Spitfire were developed to meet the operational demands of the war. Australia's involvement with the Spitfire began in th...

On the 4th of July 1989, a strange incident would occur in Europe. Over the course of an hour, various air forces would be put on high alert as a Soviet MIG-23 flew across central Europe. What wasn’t known, until after the aircraft had been intercepted and visually identified, was that this MiG-2...

Within the span of 120 years, military aviation has evolved from a niche experimental weapon, an important observation tool, to now a fundamental battlefield element. The history is well documented. One of the lesser discussed topics within this evolution is that of aircraft camouflage. Let’s tak...

Bridget Biddy Mason is an American Hero. Born enslaved, Mason became one of the first prominent citizens and landowners in Los Angeles through the second half of the 19th Century. She also founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles in 1872. But in 1848, she walked 1,700 m...

In 2016, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to develop a new X-plane, with the goal of researching low-boom supersonic flight. The result - an aircraft now referred to as the X-59 - has now been completed, and will soon begin testing. But what is the X-59, and how will it impact the aerospace...

The Tsar Bomba, a Soviet nuclear bomb code named “Ivan”, was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. The testing of this bomb would be the Soviet’s declaration of nuclear competence to the United States, which held superiority over the USSR in the nuclear weapons race.
In order ...

In the early 1970s, the Imperial Iranian Air Force - as it was then known - sought to procure new fighters to combat potential threats, particularly that posed by the new MiG-25. The new MiG’s capability was largely a mystery to the west, and Iran needed a strong deterrent for it’s northern borde...

Ranger Karlton Smith will highlight some of the outstanding objects from the park's collection, with a focus on naval artifacts and the stories behind them.

During the Vietnam War, pilots would square off using many new technologies. For the first time, air-to-air missiles would be used, allowing for longer range combat and more intense dogfights.

Join Ranger Troy Harman and examine how Gettysburg battlefield monuments and their landscaped spaces formed a sacred bridge between the battlefield and otherworldly places.

It is the morning of January 16th 1991. Within the next 24 hours, coalition forces will undertake a precision aerial campaign against Iraqi forces, in what will be known as Operation Desert Storm. Desert Storm will see almost 4000 aircraft mobilized by both sides, with coalition forces taking par...

The French government signed an armistice with Germany in mid-1940, which was effective from June 22nd onward, following the fall of France. This would, as the French hoped, put an end to the regional conflict in France and restore a measure of security. England, which had by this time withdrawn ...

During a quiet walk through Poplar Grove Cemetery, retired orthopedic surgeon David Urquia stumbled upon a beautifully preserved headstone: Private James Hudson Grover, a young soldier from rural Waldo County, Maine. Intrigued, David felt compelled to learn more. What he discovered was a tale of ...

After being unable to stop the unrelenting Federal advance against his rear lines at the Battle of South Mountain while the rest of his army is separated throughout Maryland and Virginia, Confederate General Robert E Lee makes the difficult decision to end his campaign before he loses the rest of...

Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to fly in a plane and FDR would receive the first presidential airliner in 1933. In this program, we will explore the history of the Air Force One aircraft.