Women of the War
Lieutenant Elsie S. Ott was the first woman to receive the U.S. Air Medal. In 1941, she joined the Army Air Corps. She was already a trained nurse and had good experience. She was sent to Karachi, India. When Ott arrived she was assigned the first evacuation flight. The U.S. was evacuating the injured by flight while new troops were being brought in. Panicking Ott had never flown before and the plane had no medical supplies other than a first aid kit. One other member was there to help the ill. She had picked up many injured within the 6-day flight to Washington D.C. After a few months, she returned back to India with the 803rd Military Air Evacuation Squad, and in 1946, she was moved up to captain.
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At age 17, Natalia Peshkova was drafted into the Russian Army. Right after high school she went straight into training. She trained with weapons that didn’t work and from there she was sent with a unit. She spent 3-years with this unit and helped with many injured, survived 3 wounds, and also survived starvation. Natalia is known for her bravery and was awarded the Order of the Red Star. This all came from her encounter with the Germans. When the Germans had moved into the area, Peshkova had been separated from her unit. She disguised herself and got information that was useful to her unit. After she got information she headed back to her unit. Natalia was then promoted Sergeant Major.
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Soldiers of the War
Audie Murphy was the most decorated U.S. soldier during WWII. He was known for his courage, strength, and abilities. In June 1945 Audie returned home a hero and was recognized for his actions in war. A step towards acting and he became very well known. Murphy had killed 240 German soldiers, he was only age 21 when the war ended, and he was wounded three times (still returning). Audie Murphy was awarded 33 awards and medals, such as; the Medal of Honor, the Good Conduct Medal, and the American Campaign Medal. After the war he joined the Texas
National Guard in 1950. Here he remained until 1969. Once he was done with this he became an actor and writer. He published his first book called To Hell and Back. This book became very popular and became a bestseller. Later on he decided to make his book a movie and was actor in it. He wrote 44 featured films and became a well-known song writer. |
Vernon J. Baker was born in 1919, and was the only living World War II veteran to earn the esteemed Congressional Medal of Honor. He joined the 270th Regiment of the 92nd Infantry Division. This was the first black regiment to go into combat. He landed in Naples and was injured in a duel with a German
soldier. Baker earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Distinguised Service Cross while in service. He was one of the first African-Americans to lead an all-white company. |
Journalists of the War
Edward R. Murrow wrote news reports from London during WWII. He had a great impact on both radio and television also. Murrow was such a good writer that he is said to be known for inventing the radio correspondent. He was a very detailed writer and gave many aspects from the war over in Europe. When Edward returned home in 1941, he was a celebrity and began working as vice president and director of the public affairs for CBS.
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Larry Lesueur was a writer for the London Blitz on CBS's London After Dark. He also traveled to the Soviet Union to write. There he covered the liberation of Paris and the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. He then decided to leave CBS and began working with Voice of America. He was a very well-known journalist that was well prepared for anything.
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Photographers of the War
Frank J. Davis is a very popular WWII photographer.
His photos depict what life was life during the war in many different countries. Davis had just graduated from school when the war began, and he started taking photos. He needed to receive military training in order to go into active war zones. |
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Adolf Hitler had his very own personal photographer, designed to
make him look the best that he could be. Hugo Jaeger’s photos were very advanced, as he was using color technology, which was uncommon at the time. |
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Personnel of the War
Heinrich Himmler was born October 7, 1900. He helped Hitler's propaganda
regime in 1926. He continued to rise up the ranks, and, in 1936, became the cheif of the German police. He was the Reich Leader, and was later expelled from the Nazi party in 1943. He commited suicide to evade capture on May 23, 1945. |
Joseph Goebbels was Hitler's propaganda leader. His life was dedicated to
making the Nazi's thoughts look the best that they could. Goebbels used newspapers, radio, films, theater, music, literature, and the arts to spread his message. It was mainly due to his actions that the Jews were segregated. After Hitler's suicide, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide - but first poisoned their own children. |
Rudolf Hess was the deputy of the Nazi party, personally appointed by Hitler
in 1939. He was a prisoner of war in England in 1941. This resulting in him being outed from the Nazi party. Hess was convicted at the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to serving life in prison. He committed suicide on August 17, 1987. |
Adolf Eichmann joined the Nazi party and worked his way up to SS. Eichmann
stated several times that he was just a soldier doing what soldiers do - follow orders. However, he was sentenced to death by the state of Israel for "his role as coordinator of logistics for the final solution to the Jewish question." |
Scientists of the War
J. Robert Oppenheimer is oft referred to as the "father of the atomic bomb."
This is because he headed the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer worked with Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard to circumvent the issue of the Nazis developing the atomic bomb first. The Manhattan Project was deemed a success in August 1945 when the bomb was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan. Once seeing the massive destruction caused by this, Oppenheimer refused to develop the bomb any further and retired that year. |
Charles Drew was an African-American surgeon. He organzied the first
large-scale blood bank in the United States. He developed the way to dry plasma blood. This plasma blood lasts longer than straight blood does, meaning that there is more avaliable when necessary. Charles Drew worked for the American Red Cross, so that they would have access to these blood banks and be able to help out the soldiers in war. Drew resigned from his position once the military insisted that African-American blood be separated. Only the African-Americans were to receive transfusions with that blood. |
Wernher von Braun was a German engineer. He worked for Germany, but later
began working for the United States. He developed rocket technology - specifically jet propulsion. Von Braun surrendered to the United States troops in 1945, and ended up helping them out quite a bit. He was the director of the US Army Ordance Guided Missile Project. Von Braun received honors for his helping the United States, and he even wrote some books on rocket science and physics. |
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