Keeping History Alive

06/02/2026

Bastogne before Normandy with Frank Stellar. 💪🏼🇺🇸

The Rifle

05/30/2026

In this day and age, in 2026, it’s rare to meet a World War II veteran. Even rarer is meeting a set of brothers who both served in WW2!…one in the ETO and one in the PTO. Meet Art and Earl — two brothers whose story has never been recorded until now. Both still living under the same roof, they may be the last living set of brothers who fought in World War II.

Earl is the older brother at 101, and Art is 100. They were born in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, the two youngest of four brothers — all of whom served and survived the war.

Growing up was tough. Their mother died young, and during the Great Depression their father often struggled to provide, so the boys spent time living with grandparents and aunts. They attended a small one-room schoolhouse with only a handful of students.

When news broke of Pearl Harbor, Art was walking down Main Street in town, while Earl was in his grandparents’ living room.

Earl played football, while Art ran track. Art originally wanted to join the Marines but was too short, so he enlisted in the Navy during his senior year of high school. Earl was drafted just two weeks after graduating in May 1943.

Art entered service in mid-1944, training at Sampson Naval Training Station in New York. Earl trained at Fort Devens before heading to Camp Haan in California for artillery training, working with “deuce-and-a-halfs” and Quad .50 machine guns.

Before shipping out, Earl returned to New York City to deploy to the European Theater. Art was able to get a two-day pass and meet him at the port before he left. Shortly after, Earl sailed for Europe while Art completed training and headed to the Pacific.

Art arrived in San Francisco, passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, and boarded a troop ship bound for Guadalcanal. He later served in the 10th Amphibious Corps, becoming a Shellback after crossing the equator. He landed at Guadalcanal, Enewetak, and Kwajalein, where operations were mostly under U.S. control.

As an engineer, Art maintained and repaired amphibious craft including Higgins boats and LVTs. Later, during the invasion of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, he went in aboard an LVT alongside Army troops. He was in the bay in the Philippines when the atomic bomb was dropped, marking a turning point toward the end of the war.

Earl was assigned to the 569th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, attached to the 3rd Infantry Division under the 7th Army. He landed at Le Havre, France in the fall of 1944. From there, the battalion moved through Rouen, Soissons, Reims, and Nancy as the advance pushed east.

In Lorraine and the Vosges, conditions were harsh — destroyed villages, broken roads, and constant signs of retreat. German dive-bombers repeatedly attacked and strafed Earl’s position during the advance, keeping the battalion under constant pressure. In Alsace, the terrain opened as they pushed toward Colmar and the Rhine. Around Ostheim and the Colmar Pocket, the battalion stayed mobile in support of the 3rd Infantry Division through the final stages of fighting in the area.

Two brothers, one in the ETO and one in the PTO — serving at the same time, thousands of miles apart, each part of a global conflict they would both survive.

All four brothers made it home to their father, grateful to be back together after the war. Today, at 100 and 101, Art and Earl still take care of each other. After all these years, they’ve finally decided to share their story.

KeepingHistoryAlive.org

05/29/2026

Our 2026 Memorial Day celebration with our World War II heroes! 💪🏼🇺🇸🦅

05/27/2026

Before today, 100-year-old World War II veteran Mr. Jack had never fully shared or recorded his story.

Mr. Jack was born in April 1925 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was the third of four children, and all of his siblings were sisters. Growing up during the Great Depression was tough on Jack and his family. As a kid, he worked jobs making a couple dollars a week and would hand the money over to his mom to help pay for things.

On December 8, 1941, when Jack was just 15 years old, the principal gathered all the students together at school and told them about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1943, when Jack was only 16, a few of his buddies told him, “Hop in the car, we’re going to enlist in the Marine Corps.” When Jack walked into the recruiting office, the recruiter looked at him and said, “What are you doing here? Go ask your mommy to sign the papers.” So Jack went home, got his parents’ blessing, and officially joined the United States Marine Corps.

Jack was sent to Parris Island for basic training. After that, and after completing radio school, he was sent to Camp Pendleton.

Eventually, Jack boarded a ship headed for the Pacific. The ship stopped in Hawaii for a few days before continuing on to Guam. Most of the fighting there was already over, but there was still some sporadic fighting happening on the island.

Mr. Jack was assigned to the Third Marine Division, 12th Marine Regiment, K Battery — the artillery regiment of the Third Marine Division. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Third Marine Division was held in reserve behind the Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions. That’s where Jack was headed on D+1, February 20, 1945, landing just one day after the initial assault.

Even though he landed D-Day + 1 in the first wave, the fighting around the beaches was still brutal. Jack remembered seeing destroyed vehicles, damaged supplies, and wreckage scattered all over the black sand beaches.

Serving in K Battery, Jack’s unit operated 4, 105mm howitzers. He was part of a four-man forward observer team and served as the radio operator. Jack carried a radio pack where one section weighed around 30 pounds and the other weighed about 35 pounds, along with a tall antenna sticking into the air. Jack joked that the antenna basically made him “a walking target.”

After about a week of fighting, Jack jumped into a shell crater for cover and realized one of his childhood friends, Buddy Baron, was already in there. The two talked for just a few seconds before Jack climbed back out and continued moving. It was the last time he would ever see his friend alive.

Not long after that, a mortar shell exploded to Jack’s left, sending shrapnel into the lower part of his legs. A Navy corpsman rushed over to help him but barely had any bandages left. Then someone else called for the corpsman. As the corpsman stood up and started running toward the other Marine, he was shot directly in the head and killed instantly.

Like many veterans, Jack dealt with survivor’s guilt after the war. He admitted he was nervous about seeing his family again after returning home. But the second he walked through the front door, he said he was overwhelmed with happiness to finally see them again.

Mr. Jack’s military career didn’t end with World War II. He also served during the Korean War with the First Marine Division, 11th Marine Regiment, and later fought during the Vietnam War. After serving his country through three wars, Jack retired as a Lieutenant Colonel!

At 100 years old, Mr. Jack has finally decided to share his full story.

Thank you for your service, Mr. Jack.

KeepingHistoryAlive.org

05/24/2026

I just interviewed soon-to-be 101-year-old World War II “Bloody Bucket” veteran Mr. Pete, and amazingly, this was the first interview he’s ever given.

Mr. Pete was born in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, in August 1925. He was one of three veteran brothers, the son of a World War I veteran, and one of seven siblings in the family. His father worked in the automotive repair business, but like many families during the Great Depression, times were still tough.

Pete remembered hearing about Pearl Harbor at school on a Monday morning. His two older brothers joined the military soon after, and Pete wanted to go too, but his family asked him to stay home and help run the family car shop. Still, when he turned 18, he registered for the draft and was officially drafted on October 12, 1943.

When asked what branch he wanted, Pete said the Army Air Forces, but because he was colorblind, same with the navy, he was rejected. The Army gladly accepted him instead.

Pete was sent to Fort Sill OK for basic and artillery training, where he trained for 17 weeks before heading to Fort Meade and then on to New York to board a troop transport ship. After an eight-day convoy trip across the Atlantic, he arrived in England in May 1944.

On June 15, 1944 — just nine days after D-Day — Pete landed on Omaha Beach. He was assigned to the 190th Field Artillery Battalion, A Battery, attached to the 28th Infantry Division.

Pete served as a forward observer for four 155mm howitzer guns in his battery. His first combat experience came during the brutal fighting in Saint-Lô, and he remembered the city being completely flattened.

From there, Pete fought across France and Belgium, surviving several close calls along the way. While attached to the 28th Infantry Division, he was also among the American soldiers who marched through Paris during its liberation.

But the battle Pete remembered most was the Hürtgen Forest. He talked about the constant tree bursts exploding all around him. The fighting near Schmidt especially stuck with him because he and another GI were sent ahead to observe a German position and ended up hiding inside a house full of German soldiers.

Pete also remembered the heavy fighting in Göttingen and Leipzig, saying those towns were especially rough as well.

Even after fighting from Normandy all the way through Germany, Pete’s unit was selected for transfer to the Pacific Theater after Germany surrendered. But before they could deploy, Japan surrendered and the war finally came to an end.

When Pete finally came home, he took a cab straight to his father’s car shop to surprise his family.

Pete said he’s proud of his service, and if he had to do it all over again, he would. His story is truly incredible.

KeepingHistoryAlive.org

05/23/2026

We need your help sending Frank the Tank back to Normandy!
Frank hasn’t returned to France since World War II, and in just a few weeks he’ll be participating in the Normandy celebrations on June 6th!
Let’s help get Frank back!

Help 101 year old WWII Veteran Frank get back to Normandy France This June, Fran… Tyler Boland needs your support for Help Frank Return to Normandy at 101