Bill’s blog archive: Daily Posts

Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps
Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps
Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps
Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps
Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps
Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps
Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps
Cannon George H. U.S. Marine Corps

Honoring Lt. George H. Cannon, USMC, on Medal of Honor Day

On December 7, 1941, 1st LT George H. Cannon, age 26, was assigned platoon leader of Battery H, 6th Defense Battalion on a critical power station on Sand Island near Midway. In addition to his duties as platoon leader, Cannon was on a task force to try to decode intercepted Japanese messages. On the same night as the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Japanese destroyers launched a ferocious attack against Sand Island, intending to cripple the island’s airfield and provide safe passage to...
2nd LT Robert L. Schanen

Lt. Robert L. Schanen, Navigator of “Ascend Charlie”

Yesterday, I received this email from the relative of the navigator on Ascend Charlie's final mission. Ascend Charlie was a B-17 Flying Fortress (tail #42-5903) from the 390th Bomb Group, 571st Bomb Squadron. You can read my full article on "Ascend Charlie's" last mission here.. Dear Mr. Beigel, I just want to thank you for the piece you wrote about the "Ascend Charlie'" crash. Lt. Schanen was my grandmother's cousin and she speaks so fondly of him. I had always known he was killed in...
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army
Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Recruits At Fort Des Moines Iowa 1942   U.S. Army

The untold story of WAC Private Byrl Babcock

Byrl Lillian Mitchell was a determined, strong, and independent woman – a single gal, professional, and entrepreneur in an era when it wasn’t exactly fashionable not to marry and settle down in one’s twenties. Born in 1900, Byrl lived in her hometown of Biggs, California, all of her young life. She was the younger of two girls born to Frank and Ida Mitchell. She graduated from high school, then later, from a secretarial school in 1929, at the age of 29. She must have saved her money from...