by James Rada Colleges Take to the Skies When World War II started in 1939, the United States had roughly 38,000 trained pilots. It wasn’t enough to fight a war. Men were willing to join the Air Corps, but there weren’t enough instructors to train them all. Often, the men waiting to become pilots were…

James Rada, Jr. The historic chapel at Fort Ritchie sat vacant for over a decade until Angela and Scott Griffin decided it was time to restore and reopen this house of God. The chapel was originally built in 1942 as Camp Ritchie’s mission in World War II expanded, and it became the home for the…

Alisha Yocum The Washington County Board of County Commissioners awarded John Krumpotich and the Ritchie History Museum with the 2024 John Frye Historical Preservation Award on May 16. Krumpotich purchased the old army base in 2021 with the intent to preserve the historic buildings as part of the development process. The museum opened in 2023…

SA Scout Troop 270B and 270G didn’t let a campout with bad weather dampen their adventures. They spent the day at the National Security Agencies Cryptologic Museum (pictured above), where they learned how codes started way back in Egypt and have manifested throughout the years and how wars were fought and prevented with codes. Did…

The British Invade catoctin mountain by James Rada, Jr. In the spring of 1941, the U.S. had yet to enter World War II, but other countries had been fighting for two years. Germany showed early dominance in the war, and it hadn’t been going well for the British Royal Navy. It had lost more than…

PFC John Little, Emmitsburg KIA in the Liberation of Bizory by Richard D. L. Fulton John William Little was born on December 19, 1910, to parents John William and Minie Little, and resided on Frederick Street, Emmitsburg, Maryland, and had two sisters, Valerie and Anna, and three brothers, Robert, Roy, and James. James was included…

Memorial Day is traditionally known as the official start of summer. The first Memorial Day was celebrated in 1865, known as Decoration Day, established to recognize the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. After World War II, the name was changed to Memorial Day to remember and honor those who have died while serving our…

From Iran to Gettysburg by Richard D. L. Fulton Photo Courtesy of Howard’s daughter, Coleen Reamer Pvt. Howard Mace appears second from the left in this photograph, taken in the Middle East. Photo Courtesy of National Park Service, Gettysburg Photographed is Camp Sharpe. Private First Class Howard Mace’s career in the Army during World War…

Richard D. L. Fulton (Adapted from ‘Nazis’ in Gettysburg:  World War II Comes to a Civil War Battlefield by Richard D. L. Fulton, pending publication.) It seemed like just another routine and ordinary morning in 1944 in tranquil Frederick and Adams counties to the casual observer, but something was about to occur which would be…

by Richard D. L. Fulton Lehman & the U.S.S. Barb The Sub That “Sunk” a Train The World War II submarine U.S.S. Barb (also known by its naval designation SS-220), was said to have compiled “one of the most outstanding records of any U.S. submarine in the war,” sinking more than 96,600 tons of Japanese…

How I Came to Know My Father ~ Part 4 by Sally T. Grove Courtesy Photo of Chester L. Grove, Jr. in Uniform Courtesy Photo I started to understand my father, Chester Grove when I was 20 years old in 1977. That’s when I found the journal he kept during World War II. I read…

How I Came to Know My Father ~ Part 3by Sally T. Grove Courtesy Photo of Chester L. Grove, Jr. in Uniform Courtesy Photo I started to understand my father, Chester Grove when I was 20 years old in 1977. That’s when I found the journal he kept during World War II. I read about…

Cpl. Donald Kuhn From India to Burma: World War II by Priscilla Rall Last month, I wrote of how during World War II, Donald Kuhn traveled north in India, hearing jackals howling and starving children begging for food. When he finally got to the airbase at Tansucoa, he was assigned to Intelligence, an S-2, with…

A secret group of soldiers, who are credited with shortening World War II by two years, is being honored locally. The group, known as Ritchie Boys, was part of the D-Day invasion and subsequent march across Europe to defeat the Nazis. An exhibit highlighting the impact of the Ritchie Boys during World War II is…

Over the past 100 years, Roger Atkins has been on quite the adventure!Roger was born in the big city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 6, 1919. He recalled his first job, which was making nuts and bolts, followed by working at the Pittsburg Steel Mill. Roger is a graduate from Purdue, with a degree in…

This Fourth of July weekend, millions of Americans will huddle around outdoor pits, ovens, and grills to slowly cook themselves meaty, patriotic dishes, slathered in sauce. Barbecue is about as red, white, and blue as American cuisine gets. The history of grilling begins shortly after the domestication of fire, some 500,000 years ago. The backyard…

by James Rada, Jr. James E. Shankle James Shankle of Woodsboro began life behind the eight ball, as they say. He was born in Frederick on November 21, 1925. “My mother abandoned me on the streets of Frederick,” Shankle said. “I was found by a policeman and taken to the hospital.” The police officer took…

James Rada, Jr. Harry English put his life on the line just to join the U.S. Army, and because he did, many other men survived World War II. English, a Hagerstown native, liked to spend his summers by himself on a small island in the Potomac River. “All I had was a knife, a hatchet,…

The Reason I Write About Veterans and Why They Mean So Much to Me This month’s column was originally featured in the February 2013 issue of The Catoctin Banner.   The picture to the right is me at a young age, posing with my grandfather, Harry Wantz, who is making sure the rifle and I’m…