Easy Company formed in Georgia in 1942 with 140 volunteers as part of an experimental offensive formation: infantrymen who would fall from the sky behind enemy lines, striking through combat's third dimension to provide a heavy ground force with a position of advantage.
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In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the men of Easy Company filled sticks 66 through 73 into Normandy.
Once inserted, they captured Carentan and held it against withering German counterattacks.
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Three months later, Easy Company jumped into the Netherlands and marched into Eindhoven. For one month, they saw some of the ETO's heaviest fighting, often vs German tank units. In a daring rescue operation, they evacuated 138 British paratroopers trapped outside Arnhem
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In December, 1944, the men entered the Battle of the Bulge by truck & rail. Surrounded, ill-equipped, outgunned near the town of Foy, the paratroopers once again held their position, this time in some of the most unforgiving conditions ever faced by the American Soldier
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By war's end, Easy Company had seen some of the most violent combat of the European Theater.
In the 1990s, with the Stephen Ambrose book and the subsequent HBO show, Easy Company came to represent the WWII Soldier to the Nation.
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Easy Company was a once in a life-time group of men who saved the future of the Free World.
With the death of Edward Shames, Easy Company is now all gone.
It's up to us to preserve and find meaning in their legacy.
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Friends - let's head into the weekend on a positive note, with a cool story of a badass Sky Dragon Soldier.
We're talking about NFL tight end (Detroit Lions), war hero, Medal of Honor recipient, Arkansas Lt Governor, and successful businessman Maurice Britt.
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Yesterday, as part of Marne Week, our @3rd_Infantry renamed a Fort Stewart Gate after Maurice. So, let's tell his story here.
Born in a small Arkansas town in 1919, Maurice quickly grew to be a remarkable athlete, excelling in baseball and football.
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After high school, Maurice played football at the University of Arkansas. He was undersized but scrappy and smart. After graduation, he was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1941.
While Maurice had a promising NFL career, the storm clouds of war were gathering in Europe
Happy 115th Birthday to Curtis "Bombs Away" LeMay. Curtis, who died in 1990, grew from a small Ohio town to become one of the most polarizing figures of the early Cold War.
The aggressive Air Force general had unyielding faith in the strategic value of aerial bombing.
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One of the principle architects of the policy that came to be known with derision as "Mutually Assured Destruction," Curtis was the inspiration for General Jack D. Ripper in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.
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In real life, Curtis chewed a cigar stub to disguise the Bell’s palsy partial facial paralysis that made one side of his lower lip droop. [He was struck with Bell's palsy while flying in the cold]
This morning's #TDIDCH referenced a news story in a Lebanese magazine released #OTD in 1986 reporting the US illegally sold missiles to Iran [an enemy state under an arms embargo].
Here's a screenshot from that explosive story, which was initially denied by Washington
The administration hoped that in exchange for the arms, Iran would get Hezbollah [a group with Iranian ties] to free 7 American hostages [including this man, CIA Station Chief for Lebanon William Buckley] being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah.
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It later emerged that the Reagan White House funneled profits from the sale to the Contras, anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua, an act forbidden by Congress [the Contras committed atrocities against citizens].
The stories turned into a scandal, dubbed "Iran-Contra.
38 years ago today, the US invaded a tiny Caribbean island, rescued a bunch of medical students, and rounded-up a group of gang members, along with their Cuban communist backers.
Don't remember this Cold War endeavor? Don't what we're talking about?
Read on.
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Operation Urgent Fury, the American invasion of Grenada, began on the morning of October 25th, 1983 with assaults on airstrips at Point Salines and Pearls.
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Over the next four days, US troops:
👉rescued US citizens
👉restored a popular native government
👉eliminated a threat to the stability of the Caribbean
👉eliminated US strategic interests in the region
We've had some cool guests, such as entrepreneur Gary Vee [apple.co/3CZsssN], who spoke about empathetic leadership, motivation, and the value of failing.
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We had @PaulRieckhoff for Episode 56. As you'd expect, he had MUCH to say about the end of the war in Afghanistan, the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and the need for veterans to reach out for help: apple.co/2Y1dDXB