Living Histories
To Honor, Educate and Preserve our History by Remembering and Honoring our Veterans.
A View from the Tonkin Gulf – Reflections of Michael Kuhne, LT, USN.
A View from the Tonkin Gulf Reflections of Michael Kuhne, LT, USN, A View from the Tonkin Gulf. I must tell you this before I begin my story: I never had to sleep in the rain or in a swamp or in a fox hole. I never had to be on point going down a trail in the jungle....
Merchant Marine, U.S. Army, and U.S. Navy – Harold Wellington
Harold Wellington (in Merchant Marine uniform) served in the Merchant Marine from 1942 to 1946, the U.S. Army in 1948, and the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1954. He served in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. A Young Man in Vermont joins the Merchant Marines Harold...
Joe Sansosti and the Fiercely Fought, Little-Known Battle of Dai Do
Vietnam Veteran Series - The Battle of Dai Do Joe Sansosti left Brevard High School at 18 to join the Marines. “My daddy told my brother, ‘that dummy doesn’t even know there’s a war going on,” he chuckled. “I just wanted to do something different.” He arrived in...
We took care of American POWs coming back from the Pacific.
Dorothy Managan's story: “I was born on January 5, 1923, in Flushing, New York, and grew up there. World War II was going on in Europe when I was in high school. I graduated in 1941 and went into the three-year hospital program for nursing to get my R.N. at the...
“We Shall Come Home Victorious.”
Gattis Ervin Allen (known as G.E.) was born on May 1, 1911, in the town of Marshall (Madison County), North Carolina. He passed away in 1997. Like many of our fathers, my daddy never talked to me about his service in the Pacific in WWII, and I wasn't smart enough to...
Serving in the Coast Guard on Both Coasts
John, standing, third from left with his Coast Guard buddies John was in the Coast Guard before and during World War II. When the war started, he was based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His wife-to-be, Laurel Crawford lived in Jacksonville, Florida. They met when John’s...
The Jolly Green Coasties
Submitted by Carl Burkhart[adapted from ‘The Coast Guard at War’ by Alex Larzelere] Smoke streamed from an Air Force F-105 Thunderchief as it flew south toward the demilitarized zone separating North and South Vietnam. It was the afternoon of 1 July 1968 when its...
Part 2 of Howard Hamilton Story
Geraldine Hamilton, wife of WWII veteran Howard Hamilton, speaking about her husband’s capture in WWII: This is from an article in the Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, May 21, 2000.They’d been married only three months when Howard Hamilton left. They’d known each other...
“When I got out of that plane, I kissed the ground.”
By Ed Cottrell Edwin Cottrell served in the Army Air Corps from August 1942 through 1945, then enlisted in the Air Force Reserves in 1950 and completed 28 years. His father, Dr. Elmer Cottrell, served in the U.S, Army in World War I. Also serving in the U.S. Army in...
Howard Hamilton
Howard Hamilton, father of Brevard veteran LTC Jana Gruber, USAR, Ret, was born October 28, 1923 in the small town of Augusta, KS. Upon graduating from high school in 1942, he joined the Army and became a bombardier on B-17 “Flying Fortress”, stationed at Thorpe...
Help us honor and celebrate Women in the Military at the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas. We will honor women who have served or are currently serving in the military in a special month-long exhibit during November.