ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The story of 1st Lt. Vernon Baker, who led his platoon in an assault on a German stronghold in the mountains of Italy during World War II, is told in the latest graphic novel in the Association of the U.S. Army’s series on recipients of the nation’s highest valor award.

Medal of Honor: Vernon Baker tells the incredible tale of one of the nation’s famed Buffalo Soldiers and how he waited more than 50 years before he was fully recognized for his courage on the battlefield.

The Ritchie Boys, a group of more than 19,000 refugees trained in Maryland to be U.S. intelligence specialists during World War II, are being honored in a congressional resolution that passed the Senate Aug. 9.

They got their name from Camp Ritchie, where the foreign-born soldiers from more than 70 countries were taught to be counterintelligence, interpreters, interrogators, photo analysts and psychological warfare experts, among many other skills. About 200 of them, ranging in age from 95 to 107, are still living.

Support is growing to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the first and only all-female, all-Black American battalion to deploy overseas during World War II.

Bills pending in the Senate and House call for honoring the women of the battalion, commonly known as the Six Triple Eight, for their pioneering service, devotion to duty and contributions to increase the morale of service members serving in the European theater during World War II.

Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to serve as secretary of state, talked about World War II in a speech after he was introduced. 

Blinken said he comes from a large family that has always viewed the United States as “the last best hope on Earth.” 

His father, Donald Blinken, served in the Army Air Forces in World War II, and his late stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was a concentration camp survivor. 

On July 10, 1943, more than 160,000 American, British and Canadian troops descended on Sicily before sunrise for the first major assault on European soil.  

The complex and multipronged campaign marked the first time Western Allied troops got a “foothold ... back into fortress Europe again,” said James Holland, author of Sicily ’43: The First Assault on Fortress Europe, during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Thought Leaders webinar Nov. 19.

Decades after their heroic actions in the jungles of Burma during World War II, the Army’s Merrill’s Marauders will finally receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

The “Merrill’s Marauders Congressional Gold Medal Act” was signed into law Oct. 17 by President Donald Trump, after the legislation was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives. A date has not been announced for presentation of the award, which must be designed and struck by the U.S. Mint. 

The Defense Department will mark the 75th anniversary of V-E Day on Friday with a special program. 

Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, marks the day Allied nations accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany during World War II. The surrender prompted mass celebrations in European and American cities.

President Harry Truman dedicated V-E Day to President Franklin Roosevelt, who had died just weeks earlier, and is quoted as saying, “Our victory is only half over,” in reference to continued fighting in the Pacific.

Legendary World War II paratrooper Lt. Col. James “Maggie” Megellas, one of the 82nd Airborne Division’s original “Devils in Baggy Pants,” died April 2 at his home in Colleyville, Texas.

Megellas died three weeks after celebrating his 103rd birthday. His death was announced by the 82nd Airborne Division in a Facebook post on April 3 that said, in part, “This loss will be felt by us all. Remember, Paratroopers never die, they just slip away.”