History

Profiles, explainers, and other stories that dig into military history.

Latest in History

A mushroom cloud rises from a nuclear weapon test during Operation TUMBLER-SNAPPER. Over two thousand Marines witnessed the event, which was conducted in 1952 at the Nevada Proving Ground.

The Army once considered a nuclear-powered tank built by Chrysler

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted 21 Hours Ago

Navy pilot who took out 4 Soviet jets in covered-up mission may get Medal of Honor

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Dec 8, 2025

Bush, Rumsfeld, Trump, Hegseth

As Congress tries to claw back power, the president can still wage war unilaterally

By Jeff Schogol, nicholas Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Dec 8, 2025

World War II veteran Charles Norman Shay, a Penobscot Native American, who took part in the Operation Overlord (Battle of Normandy) during the D-Day on June 6, 1944, poses on May 4, 2019 in Omaha Beach, western France. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP) (Photo credit should read LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)

D-Day vet who moved to Normandy in final years dies at 101

Posted on Dec 4, 2025

Steven Price testifies at the Texas House of Representatives this year, and a photo from his time stationed in Panama in the early 1980s.

A veteran’s service in Panama isn’t covered by the VA. There are hundreds like him.

By Patty Nieberg

Posted on Dec 1, 2025

Description: circa April-May 1923 The destroyers are, from left to right: USS Pruitt (DD-347) USS Stewart (DD-224) USS Preble (DD-345) USS Hulbert (DD-342) and USS William B. Preston (DD-344). The Japan-China Steamship Company (N.K.K. Nisshin Kisen Kaisha) docks are in the foreground, with a river steamer alongside in the center and an ocean-going freighter at right. Many local small craft are also present. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

The Navy’s original island hopping strategy

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Dec 1, 2025

Two U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs, assigned to the F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team, fly in formation prior to conducting air-to-air refueling over Utah, July 1, 2025.

Why are so many US military aircraft painted grey?

Posted on Nov 25, 2025

On a snow covered hillside, three members of a US machine gun squad lay exhausted after taking a Communist position. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

On this day 74 years ago, one soldier staged a last stand to protect his unit

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Nov 24, 2025

Four F4U Corsair fighter airplanes return from a combat mission over North Korea and circle the aircraft carrier USS Boxer while waiting for the planes in the next strike force to launch from the deck, September 1951. US Navy photo. (Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images)

That time the Air Force held a Marine hostage for steak

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Nov 12, 2025

A team of vets have created an interactive map of Afghanistan where vets can upload pictures and notes from the war as they remember it.

Afghanistan War

Veterans built an interactive map of Afghanistan to record 20 years of war

By Clay Beyersdorfer

Posted on Oct 21, 2025

A pilot went down in Vietnam to protect secrets. Will he get the Medal of Honor?

By Jeff Schogol

Posted on Oct 21, 2025

adam driver john chapman air force combat control movie anne hathaway

Afghanistan War

Adam Driver will portray Air Force Medal of Honor recipient John Chapman

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Oct 6, 2025

George Hardy, in a red sweater wearing a hat that says "Tuskegee," stands in front of his plane from World War II.

One of the last original Tuskegee Airmen dies at 100

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Sep 28, 2025

Julia Moore watches Lt. Gen. Hal Moore at his retirement ceremony in 1977.

Fort Moore could come back as Congress considers base name changes

By Drew F. Lawrence

Posted on Sep 22, 2025

Composite of the Medal of Honor and U.S. Army Capt. Willibald Bianchi.

Medal of Honor recipient’s remains identified after 80 years

By Nicholas Slayton

Posted on Sep 20, 2025

Students of Martial Arts Instructor Course 2-14 grapple against each other during their final exercise on Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, April 17, 2014.

Marines are fighting over who gets to rebuild Tun Tavern

By Jeff Schogol

Posted on Sep 18, 2025