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World War II Bomb Unexpectedly Explodes in Europe After Being Found

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A bomb from World War II that was discovered this week in Europe unexpectedly exploded on Friday as military officials tried to defuse it.

The bomb was found Tuesday at a river crossing in Great Yarmouth, leading officials to evacuate the area.

Military experts had reportedly been using a technique to defuse the bomb that slowly burns the explosives. The bomb quickly exploded, sending an audible blast wave that rattled buildings 15 miles away.

Norfolk Police said that no one was injured or killed by the explosion.

“We can confirm the unexploded World War II bomb in Great Yarmouth has detonated,” they said in a statement. “This was not a planned detonation & happened during slow burn work to disarm the explosives. All army & emergency service personnel are accounted for. We will bring you further info when we have it.”

(Read more from “World War II Bomb Unexpectedly Explodes in Europe After Being Found” HERE)

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Last ‘Band of Brothers’ Officer Dies at 99

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Edward Shames, a World War II veteran who was the last surviving officer of “Easy Company,” which inspired the HBO miniseries and book “Band of Brothers,” has died. He was 99.

An obituary posted by the Holomon-Brown Funeral Home & Crematory said Shames, of Norfolk, Virginia, died peacefully at his home on Friday.

Shames was involved in some of the most important battles of World War II. During the war, he was a member of the renowned Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

“He made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day as part of Operation Overlord. He volunteered for Operation Pegasus and then fought with Easy Company in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne,” according to the obituary.

Shames was the first member of the 101st to enter Dachau concentration camp, just days after its liberation. (Read more from “Last ‘Band of Brothers’ Officer Dies at 99” HERE)

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/baturix/15052858104

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University to Remove World War II Murals Because They Show Too Many White People

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The University of Rhode Island recently announced plans to remove two murals depicting World War II veterans because it lacks “diversity and a sensitivity to today’s complex and painful problems,” according to the university.

Kathy Collins, vice president of student affairs, told CBS 12 she received complaints because the two folk-art murals portraying life in the GI Bill era of the 1950s “portray a very homogeneous population” and that most of the people depicted in the murals are “predominantly white.”

Collins also told the CBS news affiliate that some students told the school they “didn’t feel comfortable sitting in that space.” . . .

The public university announced the plans to cover up and replace the murals in the school’s Memorial Union in a September 3 news release. The murals are currently covered up and the school said it wants the paintings replaced before classes start. The student union is currently undergoing renovations.

At the request of the university, Arthur Sherman, a World War II veteran and alumnus of the university, painted the murals depicting students socializing and traveling to campus in 1953. (Read more from “University to Remove World War II Murals Because They Show Too Many White People” HERE)

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101-Year-Old World War II Veteran Receives More Than 5,000 Birthday Cards

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The Associated Press reports that 101-year-old World War II veteran John Frey was humbled and astonished after he received more than 5,000 cards from appreciative strangers for his recent birthday.

Frey’s family put out a request for cards in a local newspaper. The ad went viral and the family was expecting 500 cards at the absolute maximum, but instead received 10 times that amount. “The cards came from all 50 states and at least 12 countries. Entire classrooms of children, military veterans and Utah’s elected officials wanted to wish the former mechanic/machinist for the U.S. Army a happy birthday,” the AP reports.

“These have been overfilled with letters and packages and everything for him,” Jeanne Waters, the front desk receptionist at the Mervyn Sharp Bennion Central Utah Veterans Home where Frey lives, said of two tubs she had to request from the Post Office to accommodate all the mail. “It’s been fun. It really has.”

As reported by WTOP, “Frey celebrated with family and friends last week at the at home. His daughter Janice Carlson helped him use a letter opener to open one envelope including a sea shell and a note,” she added. (Read more from “101-Year-Old World War II Veteran Receives More Than 5,000 Birthday Cards” HERE)

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The Worst Expansion Since World War II Was Even Weaker

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The economic expansion—already the worst on record since World War II—is weaker than previously thought, according to newly revised data.

From 2012 through 2014, the economy grew at an all-too-familiar rate of 2% annually, according to three years of revised figures the Commerce Department released Thursday. That’s a 0.3 percentage point downgrade from prior estimates.

The revisions were released concurrently with the government’s first estimate of second-quarter output.

Since the recession ended in June 2009, the economy has advanced at a 2.2% annual pace through the end of last year. That’s more than a half-percentage point worse than the next-weakest expansion of the past 70 years, the one from 2001 through 2007. While there have been highs and lows in individual quarters, overall the economy has failed to break out of its roughly 2% pattern for six years . . .

The output reading for the first quarter of last year was recast to a 0.9% contraction instead of a 2.1% annualized drop. The prior figure represented the worst contraction on record outside of a recession. The new number isn’t even the worst quarterly contraction of the expansion. GDP declined at a 1.5% annual pace in the first quarter of 2011. (Read more from “The Worst Expansion Since World War II Was Even Weaker” HERE)

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Lost WWII Vet Asks to Sleep in His Car for a Night, This Town Made Sure He Wouldn’t Have to Do That

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It started with a wrong turn and ended with a World War II veteran being absolutely embraced by the residents of one New Jersey township.

Lost while driving nearly three hours from his home in Pennsylvania, 92-year-old Oscar Ehrhart was returning from a veteran’s convention when he ended up in Bob Shea’s driveway . . .

He then had one request:

“Oscar asked if it would be O.K. for him to sleep in his car overnight since he was not the best driver in night low light conditions. Without blinking an eye Bob offered his home to Oscar and told him he could spend the night in a spare room.”

Refusing to impose, Oscar politely declined. [So, several police] officers took Oscar to the local Hampton Inn and Suites. (Read more from “Lost WWII Vet Asks to Sleep in His Car for a Night, This Town Made Sure He Wouldn’t Have to Do That” HERE)

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Unexpected Christmas Miracles

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Christmas WWIIDad used to tell us his favorite Christmas story. In the boiling Pacific of World War II, Dad was on USS Cleveland and saw the intensity of naval warfare at places such as Midway, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and Manila.

On Christmas Eve, 1944, the men got good news: A priest would come aboard for Midnight Mass! Dad would recall how they sure needed the “good news” of the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, during those clashing days.

But, when the priest arrived for Mass, the hundreds of gathered, expectant sailors began to growl, “He’s a Jap!” (to use the politically incorrect word of that time).

Dad would tell us that, although they would later learn he was actually a Filipino priest, the understandable hostility of the war still led the men to grumble, as they wondered about the worthiness of this “Oriental” (to use another outdated term) to offer Mass. . .

But . . . then came “O Come All Ye Faithful”; then came the sign of the cross; then the gospel of the first Christmas, and the suspect priest’s simple and sincere sermon of love for family at home and longing for peace on earth and sea; then came prayer and Holy Communion; finally came the priest’s blessing and “Silent Night,” with men crying and hugging, and the “Jap priest” cheered and engulfed with affection as he left the ship to visit another awaiting congregation.

Prejudice, hatred, suspicion and antagonism were changed into love, acceptance and joy on USS Cleveland. That’s the miracle of Christmas!

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Ranked ‘Worst President’ Since World War II

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Photo Credit: Pete SouzaPresident Obama reached a new milestone, but not one he’s likely to tout. According to a Quinnipiac University poll, Obama ranks as the worst president since World War II.

When presented with a list of presidents since Harry S Truman and asked which they would consider “the worst,” 33 percent of respondents chose Obama. The president surpassed his predecessor, George W. Bush, by 5 points.

In contrast, Ronald Reagan ranked as the best president since Truman at 35 percent. Bill Clinton earned second place and John F. Kennedy third with 18 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Read more from this story HERE.

WWII Soldier’s Letter Finally Makes It to Daughter

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picture - Purple Heart DaughterA World War II soldier’s heartfelt letter to his daughter has finally reached her, seven decades after it was written. Peggy Eddington-Smith received the letter penned by her father, Pfc. John Eddington, as well as his Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals, during an emotional ceremony Saturday in Dayton, Nev., about 40 miles southeast of Reno.

The father she never met wrote the three-page letter shortly after she was born and shortly before he died in Italy in June 1944. He sent it while stationed in Texas, just before he was sent overseas…

Donna Gregory of St. Louis found the soldier’s letter and other World War II memorabilia in a box 14 years ago while helping her then-husband clean out his grandparents’ home in Arnold, Mo., a St. Louis suburb.

Gregory’s voice cracked with emotion as she read the letter Saturday, bringing tears to Eddington-Smith and many in the crowd of about 150…the letter [closed], “I love you with all my heart and soul forever and forever. Your loving daddy.”

Eddington-Smith knew her father died in the war. She was unaware of the letter and other contents of the box, including 16 letters from Eddington to his mother, his draft card and military dog tags, his high school diploma and newspaper clips.

Read more from this story HERE.