Only a few of the thousands of wedding rings the Nazis removed from their victims to salvage the gold. Among the rings, US troops found watches, precious stones, eyeglasses, and gold fillings, near the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Germany, May 5, 1945.
(via snowce)
"The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead, and war can no longer be confined to the battlefield; we can only do the might as we see the right, and reverently commit our cause to God. As long as we, one and all, keep resolutely faithful to it, then, with God’s help, we shall prevail."
— George VI of the United Kingdom (via dead-irish-writers)
(Source: dead-irish-writers111232454)
Swimming through a rough surf swept by machine gun and mortar fire, Coast Guardsman Gene Oxley, now coxswain, of Indianapolis, Indiana carried a guide line to the beach of Normandy on D-Day and survived heavy Nazi fire that mowed down many soldiers following the line to the beach. This photo depicts how Oxley wrapped the end of the line around his middle and served as a “human anchor,” in the midst of terrific enemy fire. Of the 36 invaders who attempted to follow the line ashore, only six made it. Meanwhile, the ramp of the Coast Guard-manned LCI had been shot away by shellfire.
(via zacariah)
Standing in the grassy sod bordering row upon row of white crosses in an American cemetery, two dungaree-clad Coast Guardsmen pay silent homage to the memory of a fellow Coast Guardsman who lost his life in action in the Ryukyu Islands. Benrud, ca. 1945.
(via zacariah)
Captured in the battle of St. Lo, a group of Nazi prisoners are gathered on a French beach for transfer in the Coast Guard-manned LST (background) to England for internment. The group includes Poles, Austrians, and Czechs. They were willing prisoners but expressed disappointment when they were sent to England instead of the United States.
(via zacariah)
