Former Vietnam Prisoner of War and ex-Naval Historical Foundation Executive Director, Captain Kenneth Leon Coskey, USN (Ret.) passed away Saturday, 29 June 2013, at the assisted living facility where he lived. Funeral plans for Arlington National Cemetery are still pending. Born 26 December 1929, Coskey grew up in Detroit, Michigan and entered the Navy through
This June, the Naval Historical Foundation once again had the opportunity to engage with young scholars at the National History Day Awards Ceremony in College Park, MD. On hand to represent NHF was life member and volunteer Dr. Charles Chadbourn of the Naval War College. We were very pleased to present the Captain Kenneth Coskey
The U.S. Navy’s Cold War Gallery, located at the Washington Navy Yard, pays tribute to the service and sacrifice of the men and women who served during the five tense decades of the latter half of the 20th century. In June, the Naval Historical Foundation cut the ribbon on a new “Battle Behind Bars” exhibit,
For the ninth year, the John A. Adams ‘71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is pleased to announce that it will award prizes for the best unpublished papers dealing with the U.S. military in the Cold War era (1945-1991). Any aspect of Cold War military history is
By Captain George Stewart, USN (RET) In 1959 I was coming up on three years service aboard USS Halsey Powell (DD 686), a Fletcher Class Destroyer home ported in San Diego. I had augmented into the regular navy a year earlier and I was coming up for rotation. We were just finishing an overhaul
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the tenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In the early 1960s, while researching my book Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events
We are very pleased to present the video of the 2013 David Leighton Lecture, from the Naval Historical Foundation Annual Membership Meeting, 15 June 2013. The speaker was Rear Admiral Robert Shumaker, USN (Ret). In February 1965, while flying an F8 Crusader, he was shot down on a mission over North Vietnam, was captured, and
Each summer we take a day to meet with our members, volunteers, and friends, to let them know what the Foundation has been up to, and what our plans are for the future. Last Saturday, 15 June, we once again gathered in the Cold War Gallery with a great crowd of nearly 100 of our
By Patrick Bishop, Regnery History, Washington, DC, (2013) Reviewed by Stephen Phillips The very presence of a capital ship can often create strategic importance. Today, aircraft carriers exert this influence, but prior to the Second World War, it was battleships that were known by name that caused concern or even fear. The Hunt for Hitler’s
By Mark Stille, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom (2013) Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D., Missouri University of Science and Technology As with other Osprey publications, this volume packs a lot of information into a small space and completes its discussion of Japanese destroyers with excellent illustrations by Paul Wright and photographs from the collections
By Keith Dovkants, Matador, Troubador Publishing, Ltd. Leicestershire, UK (2012) Reviewed by James C. Quinn A Combat of Devils takes place during the First World War in the English Channel between a Royal Navy officer and his crew and a German U-boat, but I find it hard to call it a war novel. It opens
By W. Stewart and Fran E. Orr, Astor and Blue Editions, New York, NY (2012). Reviewed by Captain Roger F. Jones, U,S, Navy (Retired) “Bud” and Fran Orr, husband and wife, write alternating sections in this book, telling the story of their lives – his as a naval aviator, starting in the Viet Nam era
By Hugh Bicheno, Conway Press, United Kingdom, (2012). Reviewed by Mark Lardas Up to the last 50 years or so Britannia ruled the waves. It remains able to project naval power. Many assume it was always that way, yet reality is different. Britain’s naval dominance dates only to early modern times. From Roman times to
By Steve Vogel, Random House, New York, NY, (2013). Reviewed by John Grady Through the Perilous Fight is a wonderful and most welcome addition to the books commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812. Steve Vogel, veteran defense reporter for the Washington Post and author of The Pentagon: A History several years ago, tells the story of
By Stephen Budiansky. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, (2013) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA. September 1, 2013 will mark the 74th anniversary of Hitler’s invasion of Poland and the start of World War II. Just two percent of the U.S. population is old enough to remember the war’s early years, so most Americans know
