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Today in World War II History

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Posts Categorized: WWII Articles

The Land Beneath Us Photo Tour

To celebrate the release of The Land Beneath Us, I’m conducting a photo tour of locations from the novel that I saw on my research trips to England and Normandy and to Tullahoma, Tennessee. Today, I’m linking to photo tours I conducted for The Sea Before Us and The Sky Above Us that also relate to The Land Beneath Us. Tour of London Part 1 Tour of London, Part 2 Tour: D-Day at Sea (includes photos of the... Read Article
A Dog, the President's Son, and a Grieving Sailor, an Incredible Story from World War II

A Dog, the President’s Son, and a Grieving Sailor

Sometimes historical research is dry, but often it brings up fascinating stories. While reading excerpts from 1945 issues of Time Magazine, a story grabbed my attention. It involved Antioch, California—the small (at the time) town I used as the hometown for the heroes in my Wings of Glory series. A bit of time over microfiche copies of the Antioch Ledger pulled the details together. Like many good stories, this inv... Read Article
Christmas in World War II - The US Military

Christmas in World War II – The Military

Although World War II did not take a holiday, Americans at home and abroad did their best to celebrate Christmas. Wartime separations and deprivations made festivities poignant and bittersweet. This post looks at Christmas for American servicemen and women. See also: Christmas on the US Home Front. Christmas during World War II found Americans on many fronts. In 1941, only a few weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack, A... Read Article
Christmas in World War II - the US Home Front

Christmas in World War II – The US Home Front

Although World War II did not take a holiday, Americans at home and abroad did their best to celebrate Christmas. Wartime separations and deprivations made festivities poignant and bittersweet. This post looks at Christmas on the US Home Front. See also: Christmas for American servicemen and women. Families on the US Home Front dealt with painful separations as sons and daughters, husbands and fathers were away from ... Read Article
Sarah Sundin at the Vieux Port in Marseilles, France, August 2011 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)

France’s Other D-Day – Photo Tour of Southern France

When my family had the opportunity to visit Italy and southern France in 2011, I was doubly delighted. Not only could we tour countries I had always longed to see, but I could conduct research for my Wings of the Nightingale series, which follows three World War II flight nurses in the Mediterranean. The third novel, In Perfect Time, revolves around Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 Augu... Read Article

Port Chicago – Desegregation of the US Navy

In the worst Home Front disaster of World War II, an explosion at the Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California on July 17, 1944 killed 320 men, of whom 202 were black. The tragedy was followed by a work stoppage and a controversial mutiny trial. This sent ripples of change through the segregated armed forces. These events are included in my third novel, Blue Skies Tomorrow. This is the last in a five-part series on... Read Article

Port Chicago – The Mutiny Trial

In the worst Home Front disaster of World War II, an explosion at the Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California on July 17, 1944 killed 320 men, of whom 202 were black. The tragedy was followed by a work stoppage and a controversial mutiny trial. This sent ripples of change through the segregated armed forces. These events are included in my novel Blue Skies Tomorrow. This is the fourth in a five-part series on the... Read Article
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon near the lunar module Eagle during the Apollo 11 moonwalk; Astronaut Neil Armstrong took this photograph and is visible in Aldrin’s visor, 21 July 1969 (NASA photo)

The Moon Landings—The World War II Connection

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing on July 20, 1969, I asked my son Stephen Sundin, a mechanical engineer and a lifelong space and history buff, if he would be willing to write an article about the connection between the space race and World War II. He did, and I think you’ll enjoy it! The Moon Landings—The World War II Connection, by Stephen Sundin In the afternoon of July 20, 1969, the Spa... Read Article

Port Chicago – The Work Stoppage

In the worst Home Front disaster of World War II, an explosion at the Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California on July 17, 1944 killed 320 men, of whom 202 were black. The tragedy was followed by a work stoppage and a controversial mutiny trial. This sent ripples of change through the segregated armed forces. These events were included in my novel Blue Skies Tomorrow. This is the third in a five-part series on the... Read Article

Port Chicago – The Explosion

In the worst Home Front disaster of World War II, an explosion at the Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California on July 17, 1944 killed 320 men, of whom 202 were black. The tragedy was followed by a work stoppage and a controversial mutiny trial. This sent ripples of change through the segregated armed forces. I included these events in my novel Blue Skies Tomorrow. This is the second in a five-part series on the P... Read Article